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Fired by industrious energy even at the age of 65, chairman and managing director (CMD) of Industrial Boilers Limited (IBL) Homai Engineer has been honored with the Rash­triya Sanman Puraskar (Industrial Excellence Award). Presented by the National Educational and Human Resource Development Organisation, Engineer received the recognition at a function at the Ravindra Natya Mandir in Bombay on March 1, 2006. 

 "We are number one in Gujarat in manufacturing boilers and in the top bracket in India,” Engineer told Parsiana on the phone from Vapi where IBL has its plant. "The Gujarat government is very positive and the industrial climate here is excellent for engineering units. We have established our name. Our order book is full for the next one-and-a-half years. Exports are around 30 percent of sales.” 

Looking after production/design/marketing, etc from Vapi is Homai’s elder son Rohinton. Second son Cyrus ignites opportunities for business from their factory near Delhi. IB Turbo Private Limited was set up around three years ago in Noida (Uttar Pradesh) and manufactures back pressure turbines of 700 kilowatts for captive power plants. "A new factory is coming up at Greater Noida. Turbines of larger size are being taken up for manufacture,” Cyrus says. Both brothers have engineering backgrounds and are on the board of directors with their mother of the ISO 9001:2000 company. 

Mid April, Homai and Cyrus jetted off to Germany to participate in Hannover Messe - 2006, the prestigious worldwide industrial and trade exhibition. "We export to countries like Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Burma and have now started exporting to Australia. We also have a market in Africa (South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania) and South America. By our participation in Hannover, we hope to explore possibilities in the European market. Our main business is of course boilers, constituting 80 percent of turnover,” states Cy­rus. Putting the surge of electricity into the captive power plant business is very much on the anvil, asserts Homai.

In Sri Lanka, IBL has set up a 1.5 megawatt agro-based power project, which has been supplying power to their national grid. "We are promoting agri waste fired boilers in countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, etc. Oil is a very precious commodity. Agro based fuel is not used in any other country except India,” observes the CMD. "Our boilers are suitable for alternate fuels – rice and groundnut husks, plantation wood, etc. The world is now facing a severe power and energy crisis with oil prices rising. So both the boiler and turbine businesses will grow together. Things look very promising,” asserts Rohinton. 

IBL is the only company in the range to manufacture both boilers and steam turbines for complete power generation projects, states their website www.indboilers.com Other products mentioned are autoclaves, pollution control equipment, other equipment like hot air generators, mini sugar plants, fly ash brick plants. Production encompasses robotics, fabrication bay, etc. IBL’s quality control lab at Vapi is approved by the Lloyds Register of Shipping and Boiler Inspection department, the website adds. IBL has 15 marketing offices in all parts of India and in Dhaka and Colombo. The workforce consists of over 200 qualified engineers and managers controlling over 1,000 employees, state company sources.

"Our export and domestic market has grown by leaps and bounds. With orders increasing, space requirements will be far larger,” asserts Minoo Marphatia, vice president, administration. Creating the enabling environment, the company is working on the nuts and bolts of expansion, both at Vapi and near Delhi. 

Putting the steam into business were the earlier generations of the family. "Our ambition had always been to make boilers,” Homai relates. "My grandfather-in-law Bomanshaw Engineer had been in the boiler line in Hubli and knew a lot on the subject.” The major world oil crisis of the mid-1970s saw the company looking to manufacture simple to operate, maximum efficiency boilers using oil substitutes. "My paternal grandfather Naoroji was the inspiration and man behind the business. He set up boiler manufacturing in a small way in Bombay in 1974,” Cyrus fills in the details. Father Rusi, actively involved with the company earlier, is no longer on the board. IBL were pioneers in fluidized bed combustion (FBC) boilers and India’s first commercially operative FBC boiler commissioned in 1985 still operates trouble free, the website states. 

 "In the early years the market was very tough. Even now I work 10 hours a day,” declares Homai. "She is the driving force and decision maker, with her sons, of what I would term an industrial enterprise, rather than a family business,” opines Marphatia. Putting in efficient energy too are the daughters-in-law. "I look after administration, human resources and a bit of finance/accounts and have been involved with IBL for 22 years,” states Rohinton’s wife Dilnavaz in Vapi. Their son Zaraan is doing mechanical engineering from Poona University while Zaraan’s sibling Meher­nosh is in the 10th standard. At Delhi, Cyrus’ wife Kaenaz looks after accounts and day-to-day administration of the Noida operations. Children Yohan and Rukshin are in the ninth and eighth standards respectively. "Ours is a very specialized business. For women, my message is ‘go ahead, do something. Feel proud, for yourself and for your family,’” asserts the CMD.