Metal Finishing

In this industry, we have delivered low cost process improvements resulting in up to 27% savings in chemical use per unit of production.

Savings from reduction of usage of chemicals has multiple benefits, though these are not often recognised, particularly by Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs) and more so in the metal finishing industry. The so called hidden cost of use of chemicals; those costs that come from suitable disposal of waste chemicals, handling and storage amongst others, are not tracked by SMEs. Therefore reducing chemical use results in much more savings than just the cost of purchase cost of chemicals. We help optimise the use of chemicals through simple and low- or even no-cost process improvements, training and capacity building of line operators, best practices in handling of chemicals, substitution to less harmful chemicals and even on chemical recovery and reuse opportunities prior to proper waste treatment of chemicals. We are also promoting the concept of Chemical Leasing as a business model for smart usage and recovery of chemicals under the Circular Economy.

An example of impact of a single improvement - A power coating SME in Aurangabad was helped by us to reuse process water for rinsing and save Rs 2.4 lakh per year through lower purchase of de-mineralised (processed) water in this water stressed part of India.

An example of impact of multiple improvements - At an electroplating SME in Gurgaon, through the implementation of 16 process improvements using our RECP approach, we helped reduce use of chemicals by 23%. This saved Rs 4.3 lakhs of annual operational cost for the SME including the reduced cost of wastewater treatment due to lower load on the effluent treatment plant.