BHEL to name foreign partner for nuclear venture soon: Rao

An unprecedented rise in the demand for power and bigger possibilities in nuclear and solar energy have led to Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) BP Rao, Chairman and MD, BHEL
revisiting its working plan. Company’s chairman and managing director, B P Rao, discusses the challenges before the engineering major in an interview with ET Bureau.

Is BHEL prepared for explosive demand for power equipment?

No doubt the country will add more power generation capacity in the Eleventh Plan than it has ever seen in the past. We have adopted a three-pronged stategy to cater to this level of growth. First, we have expanded our manufacturing facility to produce 15000 MW of main plant equipment annually. This capacity has been developed for all fuels, be it thermal, hydro, gas. Second, we have concentrated on vendor development and added more than 700 vendors cutting across various products in last year alone. This has ensured that our manufacturing does not suffer due to inadequate support from vendors. Third, we have expanded our own resources. We are adding around 4,000 people a year to ensure that manpower does not become a constraint. We have also focused on material supply and have upgraded castings and forgings plant to reduce dependence on imports. The UK-Based Sheffield has also become a technology partner in this initiative.

more at :
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/interviews/BHEL-to-name-foreign-partner-for-nuclear-venture-soon-Rao/articleshow/5736871.cms