{"id":2390,"date":"2026-07-07T12:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T12:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/2390\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T12:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T12:35:10","slug":"robotic-welding-yes-yes-iot-a-big-no-no-in-the-hvac-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/2390\/","title":{"rendered":"Robotic Welding -Yes, Yes! IoT- a big No-No! In the HVAC industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shree Refrigerations Limited (SRL) is a defence-focused manufacturer of advanced refrigeration and HVAC systems, and is serving the Indian Navy and strategic defence sectors. Recently, the company inaugurated its manufacturing facility in Karad, Maharashtra with advanced manufacturing equipment like robotic welding, laser cutting, bending machines etc. The company calls it a significant milestone for India’s defence manufacturing ecosystem. RG Shende, Chairman and Managing Director of Shree Refrigerations Limited opens this door and tells us what cool things lie inside – specially in the technology compartment. Maybe it\u2019s not compartmentalised anymore. Let\u2019s peep in.<\/p>\n

What role has technology played in your business, so far – specially in manufacturing and supply chains? Also, any special need\/help due to the critical nature of your business segment: the defence industry?<\/p>\n

Technology is essentially at the heart of Defence Manufacturing ecosystem. It is also imperative that the equipment manufactured for the Defence sector has cutting-edge technology. We need to leverage technology in all stages of the process such as designing, manufacturing and testing. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

At Shree Refrigerations, all equipment is designed and manufactured using latest software such as CNC (Computerised Numerical Control) equipment and robotics. It is also tested in advanced test rings like control ambient test room, ABN (Airborne Noise) and SBN (Structure-Borne Noise) platforms using data acquisition systems. We have also deployed new technologies like oil-free magnetic bearing compressor-based air conditioning plants, submarine package ACs and a variety of power and electronics systems to mitigate harmonic distortion. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Any use of digitisation tools (CAD\/CAM\/Digital twins\/AI) or any technology innovation for this expansion? Anything being done with technology for your move into backward integration?<\/p>\n

Use of artificial intelligence in Defence segment<\/a> is strictly restricted because of the concerns about data privacy. However, use of digital technology like design software for mechanical, electrical, thermal as well as HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) engineering is a prerequisite, and has already been deployed.<\/p>\n

The backward integration in terms of in manufacturing consists of latest CNC (Computerised Numerical Control) machines, robotics, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and other planning software. More importantly, developing skilled manpower to handle all the new technology and equipment has always been our strength.<\/p>\n

What made you move towards robotic welding? What are the challenges and opportunities with Robotics and automation in Indian factories?<\/p>\n

Robotic welding is a guarantee of quality and speed when it comes to fabricating equipment for air conditioning systems. Extensive sheet metal fabrication and heavy fabrication is required to be carried out in-house to establish a control. By control, I am referring to the total control on quality, cost and delivery. Having said that, it is also important to have trained manpower who can use such systems for optimal efficiency and maximise the output.<\/p>\n

For us, developing in-house painting capability was essential to mitigate delays, quality issues, and transit damages arising out of remote vendor base where we are a small customer and are always in queue behind larger customers of the vendor. Developing all these capabilities ensures that Shree Refrigerations\u2019 assembly lines are always supplied with quality fabrication component on time, reducing delays and inventory.<\/p>\n

\"RGIt is also important to have trained manpower who can use such systems for optimal efficiency and maximise the output:RG ShendeWith 35 years of experience in the refrigeration industry, SRL pivoted to the defence sector less than a decade ago. Does technology accelerate or augment the indigenisation<\/a> drive for Indian manufacturers? \u00a0Specially for this vertical?<\/p>\n

If an Indian manufacturer<\/a> aspires to compete with the world\u2019s best, it is imperative that they use the world class equipment, technology, and processes. Any compromise in any of the segments will result in deficiencies in quality, cost, deliveries. Therefore, uncompromising competitiveness and reliability are the two most important aspects of becoming a successful Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) for mission-critical Defence sector.<\/p>\n

Any big 30,000 ft. level changes that will happen in the HVAC industry due to AI? Like AI-driven buildings, AI cooling and heating measurement? Or Cooling of new data centre<\/a>\/AI Infrastructure?<\/p>\n

AI today is really AI, that is All Inclusive. The real benefits of AI come from uploading and accessing data on the internet. However, this is a challenge in defence applications. As demonstrated by the recent conflicts, a simple street camera can be hacked and that can compromise privacy and security.<\/p>\n

For any defence-focused manufacturing firm, the priority must be ensuring Data security, because no sensitive data can be uploaded to cloud for any analysis. IoT<\/a>, per se, is a \u2018No-No\u2019 in this segment.<\/p>\n

What are your plans with use of technology in the next two to three years?<\/p>\n

The correct word here is not technology. They are automation and standardisation. As the business volume grows, these are the two pillars that will ensure competitiveness and expeditious deliveries of quality equipment. At Shree Refrigerations, we along with our customers, are working towards harvesting the benefits of these strategies. We all are working to minimise variability across equipment, and that will ultimately enhance maintainability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shree Refrigerations Limited (SRL) is a defence-focused manufacturer of advanced refrigeration and HVAC systems, and is serving the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1654,1657,1658,38,14,1656,398,1655,1653],"class_list":["post-2390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-ai","tag-cad","tag-cam","tag-defence","tag-defence-industry","tag-hvac","tag-indigenisation","tag-iot","tag-robotics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}