Adverse environmental conditions, high rotational speed, and pressure levels place demanding requirements on sealing technology employed in the process industry. This has necessitated a robust local mechanical seal market, which was completely absent prior to the opening up of our economy.
This Indian market has been predominantly dominated by international players over the last five decades. The technology for mechanical seals employs high precision designing and production, which was not available in the pre-liberalization period.
In the early 1980s, the size of the mechanical seal market was merely Rs 15 crores; today, the same has grown exponentially to Rs 1500 crores. The GDP of India is USD 3 trillion and is one of the strongest and biggest globally. The infrastructure and core industry are growing rapidly, which will be the biggest driver for growth in the mechanical seal industry.
Back in the days, there were hardly any indigenous mechanical seals companies in the country; there were three big players from Europe and USA, which totally dominated the market until the Indian economy opened up in 1992 and created a level playing field where indigenous players like Sealmatic India Pvt Ltd could acquire technology and equipment from the western world with ease.
Sealmatic designs and manufactures mechanical seals and associated products mainly for the oil and gas, refinery, petrochemical, chemical, pharmaceutical, fertiliser, power, mining, pulp and paper, aerospace, marine and many more industrial applications.
Today, under the astute leadership of Umar AK Balwa, the Managing Director of Sealmatic India Pvt Ltd, the company provides a complete selection of engineered mechanical seals and sealing support systems. Sealmatic products are globally recognized as a trusted brand in the process industry. Sealmatic has proven itself with its heavy-duty mechanical seals with innovative and tailor-made sealing solutions guaranteeing longer service.
An Everlasting Legacy:
Sealmatic can help relieve stress and reduce the life cycle costs associated with the most critical aspects of plant operation. Dedicated to delivering the highest quality support, Sealmatic services and solutions integrate hydraulic, mechanical and materials engineering knowledge with creative solutions. It improves equipment reliability and system performance, reduces energy consumption and improves operations’ safety and environmental impact.
Umar Balwa shares, “At Sealmatic, we care. We ensure that we make each of our production processes safe for our employees and our environment.”
Each seal produced is proof of the endless dedication and passion each member of Sealmatic has. Today more than 100 associates are part of the Sealmatic family. Where each day becomes a new opportunity, where innovation and creativity meet fine craftsmanship, where knowledge, experience and hard work become the pillars and the vision to globalise becomes the foundation.
Excellence is the result of always striving to be better. “At Sealmatic, we make it happen,” says Umar Balwa.
An Ever-Shining Excellence:
Sealmatic has a longstanding tradition of providing seals and sealing services that are trusted by the industry. Sealmatic mechanical seals represent a collection of trusted products that are supported by strong aftermarket services, providing users with both safety and environmental benefits.
Sealmatic seals are employed on various rotating equipment, including pumps, compressors, mixers, steam turbines and other speciality equipment, primarily in the oil and gas, pharmaceutical, chemical processing, mineral and ore processing and general industries.
Sealmatic products guarantee the highest quality standards and application know-how with full service to its customers.
Protecting The Environment:
Over the years, the capabilities of Indian industry have improved dramatically and paved the way for induction of state-of-the-art technology in all the industrial fields, viz oil and gas, refinery, power, petrochemical, chemical, pharmaceutical, fertiliser, pulp and paper, shipping, aerospace etc. Thus, this created a massive demand for high-precision mechanical seals in India.
Mechanical seals are designed to prevent the leakage of exotic and hazardous media into the environment. Stricter legislation made it mandatory for the industrial plants to employ mechanical seals for all their rotary equipment. Thus, creating demand for sophisticated mechanical seals for rotary equipment’s.
Sealmatic’s Quality Benchmark:
The major expectations of customers in this field are reliability, application know-how and quick after-sales and service. The mechanical seal industry is highly competitive technically; it demands a proven track record while one serves for a customer’s application; hence knowing how to design a mechanical seal for a particular application is of paramount importance.
Keeping customers’ expectations supreme, every Sealmatic seal results from numerous steps involving extensive engineering and thus processing the same in various production steps. Umar Balwa reveals, “Our engineers at Sealmatic work with discipline and passion for maintaining high standards in their respective fields.” Every mechanical seal produced is tailor-made to suit the customers’ individual requirements.
Umar Balwa states, “We are well equipped and rather the only domestic company which has invested huge amounts in R and D, Designing, Quality Control and Production, we are the only mechanical seal company in the MSME segment which has been recognised by the DSIR – Department Of Science and Industrial Research under the Ministry Of Science and Technology.”
A Distinction Of Brilliance:
Sealmatic is a team of 200 associates and out of which it has a dedicated team of 26 engineers who are employed for the sole purpose of designing individual solutions for customers globally.
Umar Balwa expresses, “We are proud to state that we are the only Indian company which has the distinction of API Q1, ATEX and EU FDA certification for mechanical seals. Besides, again as a domestic mechanical seal company, we are the only one which employs FEA and FCD for the hardcore design and development of mechanical seals.
From Umar Balwa’s experience in this field of over 32 years, Sealmatic’s customers benefit from the enormous data that it brings to the table in terms of application know-how, troubleshooting and failure analysis; this is the key to its success in this highly competitive business.
Standing Firm And Tallest Of Them All:
According to Umar Balwa, Sealmatic enjoys an excellent position in this market both in terms of global and domestic exposure. Sealmatic’s range of mechanical seals is exported to over 45 countries and is well accepted when compared to the big players in the industry.
Domestically it is second to none in its offerings; it provides a comprehensive package to its customers, right from the selection of mechanical seals to the installation and training of the personnel at the end-user premises.
“We are the preferred vendor for various projects in the core industrial sector due to our knowledge and application-based solutions that we provide for critical equipment,” feels Umar Balwa.
Emerging In The League Of Global Players:
The mechanical seal industry is highly competitive; it requires a huge amount of time, money and energy to reach a certain level. When Sealmatic started in 2011 after ending its joint venture of 20 years with Feodor Burgmann of Germany in 2007, it consciously made efforts to set up its plant to match international standards and specifications.
Umar Balwa shares, “Not only in terms of employing hardware and software but also implementing very high international standards and a highly trained team, we are proud to state that we have more than 100 visits from international customers to our premises, and all of them have said simply one thing – ‘state of the art international facility.”
Sealmatic has tools such as MSD (Mechanical Seal Dictionary), SSG (Seal Selection Guide), AKH (Application Know How) and many other devices which have catapulted the company into the bigger league of international players. “We are perceived and respected globally as a high-quality mechanical seal company,” believes Umar Balwa.
Pursuing A High-Octane Future:
The mechanical seals business entails application know-how that comes through various years one serves in this technically competitive industry. Sealmatic devoted over 32 years to this high-octane business.
This requires out-of-the-box thinking in providing solutions for very difficult and complex sealing applications. Umar adds, “Our collective knowledge of many years in the sealing industry has helped us create programs that can solve any sealing questions at the click of a button.”
With the help of sophisticated tools such as the Seal Selection Guide and Mechanical Seals Guide, engineers at Sealmatic refer to a rich data bank of voluminous industrial applications; just by entering the product-media name and the requisite operating parameters, Sealmatic can offer tailor-made solutions immediately.
Sealmatic has a well-laid-out system for upgrading the skills and knowledge level of its employees to utilize advancements in technology effectively. “Robust designs are our constant pursuit of the present, future and forever,” concludes Umar Balwa.