Kolkata. 10 August 2020. Taking the Self Reliant India Mission forward, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd., a Miniratna Category 1 Defence PSU and premier warship builder of the nation, launched two new facilities today. As part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Week Celebration, a state-of-the-art indigenous underwater CNC Plasma Cutting Machine and a Modern Hull Block Fabrication Complex, were virtually inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at GRSE’s Rajabagan Dockyard Unit, Kolkata.
This marks the achievement of a major milestone by the Shipyard in their ongoing modernisation plan. Rear Admiral VK Saxena,IN (Retd.), Chairman and Managing Director, GRSE, Cmde. Sanjeev Nayyar, IN (Retd), Director (Shipbuilding), Cmde. P R Hari, Director (Personnel) & Shri R K Dash, Director (Finance), and Senior Officials of GRSE were present on the occasion.
The CNC Plasma Cutting facility set up at a cost of Rs.4.14 Crores will enhance the plate cutting capacity by 30% and the Complex constructed at a cost of Rs.19 Crores for Hull block Fabrication will enable concurrent construction of large sized (40 Ton) hull blocks in a covered environment, which will facilitate modular Integrated Construction of warships with an enhancement in production capacity of hull blocks by 25%. Both these facilities will go a long way in enhancing the production capacity of the shipyard, especially during execution of the three major warship building projects comprising of 15 warships that GRSE is presently handling for the Indian Navy- the P17A Stealth Frigates, the ASW Shallow Water Craft and the Survey Vessels (Large).
The CNC Plasma cutting machine facility shall have the ability to cut plates with cutting capacity of 3 mm thk to 65 mm thk carbon steel plates, 30 mm thk stainless steel plates & 50 mm thk Aluminium plates with an accuracy range of 1 mm max. This machine also has an underwater plasma cutting torch to cut the plate in submerged condition to reduce fume and pollution. The machine has the capability for bevel cutting upto 45 degree which is expected to enhance production rate from 2000 to 3000 MT per day as per the requirement and nesting pattern and obviate duplicate activity which was otherwise done separately.
The Industrial Shed, Area-1 (85M x 27M), also inaugurated today enhances GRSE’s capability for construction of higher capacity block to meet the production requirement for the ongoing prestigious P17A Project at Main Works Unit of GRSE. The complex constructed at a cost of INR 19 crores for Hull Block Fabrication, will enable concurrent construction of large sized (40 Ton) hull blocks in a covered environment, which will facilitate modular integrated Construction of Warships.
Celebrating the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan, GRSE has a few activities planned to be undertaken during the Week including Inauguration of a New Product, The Portable Pedestrian (Assault) Bridge, which is a first of its kind. GRSE is a diversified Company with its strong foothold into Engineering Production including Portable Steel Bridges and Deck Machinery Items. A Webinar with MSME Vendors for promotion of registration in GeM and Launching the Online Vendor Grievance Redressal Portal shall be the other highlights to mark the event.