NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

,KARNATAKA, SURATHKAL

INDUSTRIAL VISIT
REPORT
For the industrial visit conducted on 10 October 2014

By

Dennis Joshy Manjaly

Roll no: 13ME228

In order to observe and understand the various manufacturing processes being

taught in class, an industrial visit was made to the factories in Baikampady, dated
10th of October 2014. A total of 4 factories were visited which undertook different
manufacturing processes.
This includes
1.
2.
3.
4.

Chemicon industries
Deccan Plastics
GCAW Casting
Lamina suspensions

It was a unique opportunity to see various processes such as welding, cutting,

turning operations on lathes, forging and some sophisticated manufacturing
equipment in action. Photographing the operations and the equipment were allowed
on a small scale. The operators were also willing to explain to us the details of the
works that were in progress at the time of our visit.

CHEMICON INDUSTRIES
The chemicon industries was the first factory visited on that day. It undertook
several machining processes. It houses 3 lathes, one of conventional type run by a
motor, a modern Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) lathe, and a very large
conventional type lathe meant for undertaking large operations. The employees
were also performing arc-welding on some components. There was also a computer
aided cutting machine, which cut out parts in well-defined paths as specified by the
user. It had a monitor to show the path of the cutting tool during operation and a
keyboard to feed in values and specifications. The factory uses a crane mechanism
which lines the roof to aid in moving the partially finished/fully finished parts from
one place to another. The professors explained the intricacies of the processes. To
the rear of the compound is a large shed in which sand blasting is done. There was
a large cylinder on the outside which contained compressed air for this purpose. The
inside of the shed was covered with fine sand, the lights hanging from the roof-tops
were also had a film of fine sand covering it.
At the time of our visit, the factory employees were working on a heat exchanger
component, which had several tubular structures held in-between by clamping parts
and on either end by plates with holes. There were machines undertaking the task
of making holes and using cutting fluid in the process to cool the tool to work
interface. The CNC lathe was also involved in the process and the chips formed by
the process were neatly segregated in a pile.

DECCAN PLASTICS

Deccan plastics company was visited next. It was right across the street from
chemicon machining company and primarily made plastic chairs and other plastic
utensils. The factory floor had huge numbers of finished plastic chairs stacked up.
There were 3 machines of which two were meant for the chairs, which were
functioning at the time, and the other for a hemispherical utensil.
The chair making machines followed the principles of a standard die-casting
procedure. It had movable die and a fixed die. The dies were moved towards each
other and sealed and the molten plastic was injected into the pattern enclosed
within them. This was allowed to cool and solidify. After the solidification, the dies
were separated and the chair was allowed to fall onto the ground, after a period of
time. From there, the factory employees would drag it out and cut off the protruding
parts of the finished chair.
The aforementioned machines were very large in size and had the capacity to make
the chairs at a very fast rate.

GCAW CASTING

The GCAW castings company had a foundry floor, labs to inspect the properties of
castings and sand, machining areas for finished castings etc.
The foundry floor consisted of an induction furnace, along-side of which was kept
various molds. To the right of the entrance was the pattern shop, in which wooden
patterns of various sizes and complexity were kept in shelves. The gating and
risering systems were also visible.
Outside the foundry floor, there was a sand preparation mechanism. There was a
long pipe between 6-8 inches in diameter and was held at an angle to the
horizontal. The bottom of the pipe was heated using a flame. Sand was put in from
the raised end and allowed to fall on the other end, which had a sieve at the bottom
to separate sand of a particular fineness. The sand was then well stoked by the
foundry men.
The prepared sand was then taken inside and molds were prepared. The employees
were hand molding using CO2 molding. The pattern was used to prepare the mold
and an entrance point was left outside. CO 2 gas from a nearby cylinder was made to

pass through the hole. The sand contains sodium silicate which in the presence of
the optimum moisture forms a silica gel. The silica gel binds the sand particles
together providing strength.
The induction furnace was not functioning at the time of the visit. The top part of
the furnace was coated with a thick black residue. All the characteristic parts of the
furnace were visible.
Within the foundry floor, there was also a lab which tested the properties of the soil.
The lab consisted of borosilicate equipment needed to perform chemical tests. A
spectrographic testing machine was also present in one of the inner rooms, but was
not functioning at that time. We were not allowed access as it they made all
attempts to keep it free from contamination, which was crucial to its operation.

Finished Castings
The finished casting was taken to the machining area, which consisted of several
manually operated machines used to cut off the gates and the risers. Piles of gates
and risers could be seen in the area. Another room of the factory housed the
grinding and the milling areas. This was being done manually with various tools and

machines. This room also housed a steel shot-blasting machine. The shot blasting
machine had a raised platform on which the castings were kept and a very heavy
door. Heavier castings were lifted up with a crane mechanism and kept on the
platform and the door was closed. High velocity steel shots were made to strike the
casting. The process took about 1 minute. In the adjacent room, a Universal
Machining Centre was housed along with other equipment. The tool post and the
robotic arm were kept in a casing and a joystick and keypad were provided to input
values and specifications. It had a separate jet of cutting fluid for cooling purposes,
and the chips from the work piece were segregated carefully.

LAMINA SUPSENSIONS
The Lamina Suspensions Company manufactured predominantly leaf springs mainly
used for suspensions systems of heavy-duty vehicles and eye rolled beams. It is a
large scale production unit with wide-ranging functionalities.
The beams were first heat treated and were made red hot so that they became
plastic. Next it was placed between two curved, concave upwards dies and closed
on both sides to get its characteristic shape. The red hot beams are now placed in
water to cool it in batches. A furnace was built next this area for further heat
treatment.
A laboratory used for mechanical testing and weighing samples was also present.
Special eye-rolling machines were also present to create different kinds of eyes on
either end of the beam.