Industrial Visits

JinKang Precision Mechanism is a high-tech enterprise in Changzhou, China, specialising in the design and manufacture of motor production equipment. During my observership, I observed the stator manufacturing process, which begins with automated machines that carry out the initial production operations.

Stator production line

1. 1Slot insulation
2. 2Coil & wedge insertion
3. 3Coil pre-forming

Machines I observed

• Slot insulation machine: uses a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) to synchronise the main shaft and the stator indexing shaft.
• Coil-inserting machine: inserts the winding coils and wedge paper into the stator slots.
• Pre-forming machine: shapes the coils for the subsequent manufacturing stages.

Prabha Engineering manufactures wiper motors, washer units and sheet-metal fabrications, with plants in Mumbai, Pune and Chennai. Here, I learned the stages of a standard manufacturing line for automotive products.

Automotive manufacturing line

1. 1Sourcing
2. 2Fabrication & moulding
3. 3Assembly
4. 4In-line testing
5. 5Lab testing
6. 6Final QC & delivery

What happens at each stage

• Sourcing and contract manufacturing of components such as armatures, bottom covers and brush holders.
• Fabrication and moulding, where sheet metal is processed using robotic welding, powder coating and press brakes.
• Semi-automatic line assembly and automation, followed by in-line testing for cowl, noise, spray and endurance.
• Laboratory quality testing under controlled temperatures, covering endurance, motor performance, noise (in a noise chamber), humidity and more.
• Final quality control, followed by delivery.

DN Castech is an engineering-oriented foundry that manufactures industrial castings in grey iron and ductile iron, with about 1,000 tonnes of utilised capacity per month. I learned the end-to-end process of manufacturing castings.

Casting process

1. 1Tool design & development
2. 2Casting
3. 3Machining & finishing
4. 4CMM inspection
5. 5Quality control
6. 6Dispatch

Hindustan Electric Motors Industries, located in Daman, manufactures electric motors for industrial applications. During my observership, I studied the motor manufacturing process and observed the material inspection, performance testing and quality-control procedures that ensure every motor meets its required specifications.

Motor manufacturing process

1. 1Stator winding
2. 2Insulation
3. 3Vacuum Pressure Impregnation (VPI)
4. 4Motor assembly
5. 5Testing & quality control

At Paras Pump, I explored the manufacturing of pumps and the components required for their operation. I followed each production stage and examined how pump housings, flanges and terminal boxes are made and integrated into the final product.

Pump production

1. 1Metal stamping
2. 2Rotor die-casting
3. 3Rotor & shaft manufacturing
4. 4Rotor balancing
5. 5Housings, flanges & terminal boxes