‘Our products are innovative, high quality, safe and energy efficient’

Gandhi Automations is one of the most sought after manufacturers of clean room high speed doors for the pharma industry. Samir Gandhi, Director, Gandhi Automations, reveals different aspects of their products in discussion with Sachin Jagdale

What are the different types of products you manufacture?

We design, manufacture, supply, install and maintain highly sophisticated industrial and commercial doors and loading bay equipment. The doors meet various objectives like temperature control, dust ingress, noise control, maintain hygienic conditions etc. At the same time it allows seamless traffic of forklifts, pallet trucks etc. All our products are manufactured by European and American technology that conform to very high standards of safety. Our dock levelers also adhere to the most advanced concept. The pre-fabricated solutions for quick construction of loading bays allows a cut by 60 per cent of the construction time of pits and dramatically reduces the need of man labour.

Our product range includes high speed industrial doors, high speed clean room doors, sectional overhead doors, dock leveler, dock shelters, rolling shutters, fire rated rolling shutters, fire sliding doors, swing doors, aircraft hangar doors and shipyard doors, swing gates, sliding gates, retractable gates and boom barriers.

Which are your pharma specific products? Besides pharma, which other industries do you cater to?

We manufacture clean room high speed doors especially for the pharma industry. In this industry, clean room doors play a crucial role in the manufacturing of pharma products which require the environment to be free from microbial and particulate contamination and protected from moisture– controlled environment. These industries make high demands with respect to hygiene, sealing, operating reliability, fitting and a trouble free after-sales service. Our clean room high speed doors satisfy all these requirements and work in strictly regulated operating conditions.

Apart from pharma, we cater to logistics, warehousing, cold chain, food, safety, commercial, residential, etc. Basically our products are high in demand in industries which require safety and quick open and close applications at the entry and exit points where controlled environment needs to be maintained. This helps in not only maintaining the hygiene but also the temperature within the area and lower energy consumption thus reducing the costs substantially.

Apart from doors, we also manufacture loading bay equipment for efficiently loading and unloading of goods and maintain quality of the goods during loading till they reach to the consumers. We also manufacture aircraft hangar doors for aviation industry, shipyard doors for ports, gates and boom barriers for residential and commercial establishments.

Briefly describe these products.

• High speed industrial doors: Gandhi Automations develops prime range of high speed automatic doors used for fast access for internal and external areas of buildings. Prime high speed doors are designed and manufactured with German collaboration using innovative and creative engineering technology for frequent use in high traffic areas with opening speeds up to 3 m/s. The high opening speed reduces time taken in movement of material thus accelerating the logistics process. A wide range of prime high speed doors are available for various operations, including areas with special requirements for temperature control, hygiene, pharma, storage and handling of frozen foods, ATEX explosion proof areas, deep freezer, warehouse, loading bays and on conveyor systems. Prime reset features a special innovative self-repairing system.
• Loading bay equipment: Gandhi Automations offers complete logistics solution by providing dock levelers, dock shelters, scissor lifts, sectional overhead doors, high speed doors and dock houses. The dock equipment conforms to the highest safety standards like EN 1398 for dock levelers and EN 1570 for scissor lifts in addition to the CE mark on the products.

1. Dock levelers: Dock levelers are the most essential part of the material handling system. It improves safety, security and fast loading and unloading of goods at the warehouses, loading dock by compensating the difference in heights between the loading bay and the vehicle. It’s the most convenient way of loading and unloading goods. Dock levelers offered by Gandhi Automations are manufactured conforming to EN 1398 standards and using the advanced robotic welding technology to create a precision engineered product. A single push button activates the dock leveler into operation.
2. Dock shelters: Dock shelters cut off the inside environment from the outside. It is not only useful to the human working conditions, but also for avoiding useless wastes, therefore resulting in energy saving, ecological safeguard, protection of perishable goods and greater working efficiency. Gandhi Automations offers a complete range of dock shelters available for every kind of use and environment from the outside cold conditions or the chilled ones from outside heat and also from rain, wind, snow and dust. Dock shelters seal the gap between the building and the vehicle in such a way that when the sectional overhead door opens, goods and personnel are protected against the harsh weather conditions outside.
3. Sectional overhead doors: Porto sectional overhead doors are ideal for all industrial and logistics needs. The design and different solutions offered ensure the door to be aesthetically pleasing and perfectly suited to any architectural environment — from modern and traditional industrial buildings to fine commercial buildings. Porto doors are built to ensure the highest ease and flexibility of use which, in turn ensures a quick, hassle free and accurate replacement of old shutters. Depending on the structure of the building and the requirement, a choice can be made from a standard lift, vertical lift, horizontal lift, low headroom or inclined lift. The range consists of a wide series of track systems, panel options and safety features. Special glazed doors provide excellent lighting and vision into the building where required.
4. Scissor lift tables: Gandhi Automations offers lift tables that enhance the loading and unloading operations and conforms to EN 1570.

1. Rolling shutters:

Gandhi rolling shutters — Classic, are ideal for situations where side room is at a premium and security is required. Our rolling shutters require very little headroom above the structural opening. They combine strength with elegance along with durability and are designed for both external and internal applications. Gandhi rolling shutters are fabricated of interlocked galvalume, galvanised insulated and non-insulated, stainless steel, patented aluminum or polycarbonate profiles and patented bright steel bar rolling grills. Each of our rolling shutters is solidly constructed to promote trouble-free operation and long life. The rolling shutters can also be designed as per client’s specifications or conforming to IS 6248.

All our rolling shutters are automated using robust drive technology with manual override in case of power failure and is compact, noiseless and reliable with low decibel level.

Gandhi rolling shutters fit openings to a maximum width of 30,000 mm and height of 40,000 mm with an endless array of options to satisfy both aesthetic considerations as well as working requirement.

2. Aircraft hangar doors and shipyard doors:

Aircraft hangar doors — Hoist-up and sliding offer remarkable advantages for versatility to be suitable for aircrafts in different sizes. Optimum reliability and operational safety are important design principles. The hangar doors are designed for tough environments with extremely large openings. The sliding aircraft hangar doors are recommended where no headroom is available and side clearances permitted, whereas hoist up doors obviates the need for heavy foundation under the door for bottom tracks.

3. Industrial sliding doors:

Motorised heavy industrial sliding doors are excellent for large openings and are custom built to meet the requirements of our customers. They are ideal for industrial applications, both as external and internal doors where maximum door opening is required. The doors are designed for tough everyday operation, extremely sturdy, resistant to impact and effectively corrosion-protected.

4. Commercial doors:

• Sliding doors: Automatic sliding doors are solutions devised to meet the modern requirements of interior design. They smartly enhance the look of commercial areas and work environments. These are ideal for office buildings, shopping malls, apartments, hotels, restaurants, conferences and others. Gandhi offers a complete range of automatic systems for sliding pedestrian doors (single leaf, double leaf, telescopic) curved doors.
• Swing doors: Gandhi Automations offers automation for swing doors that have very distinctive features. While being elegant they also comply with European regulations and are sturdy to be used for heavy duty application.
• Garage doors: Garage doors open vertically, they slide upwards, then along the ceiling, through the guides provided, making them ideal when space is at a premium or when the garage door opens directly onto the pavement. Garage doors help in sound proofing and have a heat insulation coefficient, due to their insulated panels, which ensures insulation rating from heat/ cold and contribute to saving energy.

5. Fire rated shutters and doors:

• Fire rated rolling shutters: Fire rolling shutters are rated physical barriers that protect wall openings from spread of fire. They provide automatic closing in the event of fire detection. Fire rated rolling shutters provide up to four hours protection against fire. The operating system can be directly wired for activation by fire alarm systems or smoke detectors.
• Fire rated sliding doors: Fire sliding doors are ideal for wall openings where headroom is limited and frames can butt up to a ceiling or fix directly to overhead lintels. The counterweight on the door is linked to the fuse and closes the door only when the fuse breaks at a temperature of 74°c. The sliding door remains in a ‘normally open’ position and goes to a complete closing in case of fire. Available in single and double leaf options.

6. Gates:

Gandhi designed and fabricated gates are not only aesthetically pleasing, but sturdy and perfectly aligned. The pre-tensioning of the gate leaf construction reduces the risk of bending. The leaf design is available in standard form or custom made to suit the client’s requirements. Electromechanically driven steel gates are robust and suitable to be installed at any industrial, commercial or residential premises. The automated gates ensure long-term reliability and superbly blends in with the style of the buildings. We offer different types of gates like: conventional sliding gates, telescopic sliding gates, cantilever sliding gates, retractable gates and swing gates.

7. Boom barriers:

The soft edges, rounded corners and high performance boom barriers offered by Gandhi Automations are suitable for any type of installation environment. The wide range of lengths and accessories available ensures that all installation requirements are met. All models are equipped with a provision of manual operation in the event of power failure and battery back-up facility in selected models. Wide range of models suit various applications like car parking sites, condominiums, toll collection and industrial entrance. The models are available for boom length up to 8.4 m. They can be opened up to 16.8 m, which can be covered with two barriers operating as master/ slave. The boom barriers can be manually released in case of power failure. Battery backup facility is available in select models.

Tell us about your infrastructure?

Our company is headquartered in Mumbai. We have state-of-the-art manufacturing and warehouse facility of 300,000 sq ft in Bhiwandi. With offices in 23 major cities of India and a strong team of more than 500 people, we have a strong national presence and international footprint.

What is your total market share in India?

We are the leaders in entrance automation and loading bay segment with a market share of more 70 per cent in India i.e. three out of every four entrance automation or loading bay equipment have been sold and installed by us. Our products are innovative, high-quality, safe and energy efficient. Our passion and commitment to quality propels us to continuously thrive to do better for our customers by exceeding their requirements and expectations. Gandhi Automations is committed to provide excellent customer service by prompt response to customer queries. Our customer care team is available to our customers 24*7.

How will you describe Gandhi Automations growth prospects in India?

The market for our industry has been growing at a steady pace over the past couple of years in India. Entrance automation and loading bays have become a common sight in several types of industries nowadays. Rapid industrialisation and the steady growth of the commercial realty sector have been behind this growth. The thrust being given to the manufacturing sector is what has brought this product category into sharp focus. With several Special Economic Zones (SEZs), National Manufacturing Investment Zones (NMIZs) being announced, apart from the various industrial corridors that have been proposed, it is not surprising that entrance automation and loading bay industry is rapidly growing. The market that has been tapped till now is only the tip of the iceberg. With a ready made market available, this could be one product category which could witness double digit growth rates over the next decade.

Which marketing strategies have you adopted that have led to the success of your products in India?

Our strategy is not to appoint dealers for marketing and selling our products. All our contacts with the clients are done directly by our staff themselves. We believe that a dealer will never be able to service a client with the same passion as we do. In this industry, the model of appointing dealers to service a client is an absolutely unsuccessful one which ultimately results in the client being unhappy.

What are the key strategic moves that have engineered the success of the company?

We constantly strive to grow. Our strategy is to focus on some of our key areas of operation. It is all about offering technologically advanced products to our customers. We understand the needs of our clients and offer them the best products along with high levels of service. We are having 3,00,000 sq ft of manufacturing and warehouse facility at Bhiwandi where we carry out our manufacturing process. Apart from catering to the Indian market, we have also been exporting our products to the US, Far East, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

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