MELDING EXPERIENCE WITH INNOVATION
When Tata Motors, India’s largest automobile company, and Marcopolo, the Brazil-based global leader in bus body building, set out to create a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Dharwad in Karnataka, they turned to Praxair India to optimize their process.
If there isn’t a solution, we’ll build one
At the start-up of the joint venture, the group was experiencing issues. The galvanized iron sheets that were available in India were not meeting the quality specifications set in Brazil. As a result, the welding wire was sticking to the base metal, increasing spatter, waste, repair and rework. So in 2008, Tata Marcopolo opened their doors to Praxair to supply carbon dioxide for their welding processes as well as nitrogen for a painting application.
Instead of simply supplying CO2 for welding, Praxair India’s Met Fab team, along with the U.S. R&D Lab, developed a custom shielding gas blend of argon, helium and carbon dioxide that generates higher welding speeds and better burns the zinc layer of the weld pool — delivering better washing along the side walls, superior control on bead convexity, substantial reduction in spatter, and optimized use of wire and gas. The mixture was just what Tata Marcopolo needed.
“Winning this prestigious contract with Tata Marcopolo demonstrated our capability to develop new applications for the fast changing & competitive environment.”
Douglas Steyer GMN leader for Metal Fabrication, Praxair India
Creating a successful outlook
The joint venture company, which spreads over 123 acres, manufactures and assembles fully built buses and coaches for export as well as caters to India’s growing need for world-class fully-built buses for intra-city and inter-city transportation with international standard comfort, quality and safety. At its full capacity this plant will be Marcopolo’s largest bus body manufacturing facility in the world.