Economy & Market

We prioritise long-term durability

Published

9 months ago

July 23, 2025

admin

Dheepan Ramalingam, Managing Director, Ringfeder Power Transmission (I), on blending German precision with Indian scale to deliver durable, high-performance solutions.

From German engineering to Indian cement plants, Ringfeder has carved a niche as a force driving efficiency and innovation. In this exclusive interview, Dheepan Ramalingam, Managing Director, Ringfeder Power Transmission (I), explains how Ringfeder is
powering cement operations, embracing sustainability and integrating smart technology to stay ahead of the curve.

Can you tell us about your company and its role in the Indian cement industry?
Ringfeder is a 102-year-old German company, originally established in Düsseldorf. We have been doing business in India for the last 25 years, and as Ringfeder India, we have been operating for 16 years now. We are known as the inventors of locking devices and damping solutions. These products are manufactured in our European facilities and are imported from Germany for distribution across India.
Until last year, we operated with a team of around 20 people, primarily focused on importing and distributing these products. However, in a major development last year, we acquired an Indian company—Rathi Transpower Limited—which
has a manufacturing capacity supported by a workforce of 500 people, with plants located in Pune and Kolhapur.
Today, our combined strength is around 550 team members. We are deeply integrated into the Indian cement industry. From the transportation of raw materials like limestone, to grinding, separation, packaging, and even the logistics of cement bags, our products play a critical role. Essentially, we offer complete product solutions for the entire cement plant machinery setup. We are proud to say that we currently hold a 30 per cent to 40 per cent market share in India for our category.

How do your products enhance efficiency and precision in cement operations?
Our product portfolio mainly includes two core technologies: shaft locking devices and precision couplings.
Let’s start with the locking devices. These are used to secure a hollow shaft onto a solid shaft and are applied in critical machinery like pulverisers, kilns, and separators. Traditionally, keyways are used for this purpose, but our locking devices offer a superior alternative. One of their main advantages is ease of maintenance. In a cement plant, maintenance is frequent due to the harsh operational environment, and our devices make the assembly and disassembly process quick and seamless. This significantly reduces downtime.
The second product line includes precision couplings. These are essential consumables, but it’s important that they are both reliable and durable. Our couplings—whether produced in Germany or in India—are manufactured to strict German standards, ensuring top-tier performance. These products are built to last and perform consistently, even under demanding conditions.

How do you ensure product durability in high-impact cement environments?
The products we manufacture are primarily made from 42CrMo4 alloy steel, which is well-known for its strength and durability. This type of steel is highly resistant to corrosion and mechanical stress, which is essential in an environment like a cement plant.
We also advise our customers to use protective covers while the machines are operating to further reduce environmental wear and tear. As for material performance, the tensile strength of the steel we use is around 900 N/mm². In comparison, many competitor products fail at around 600 N/mm². This shows that we never compromise on material quality, even if it means our costs are higher. We prioritise long-term durability over short-term price reductions, and this approach has helped us build a strong reputation
for reliability.

How are you addressing sustainability in your operations and offerings?
Sustainability is at the heart of our business ethos. Ringfeder is part of the VBG Group, a Swedish conglomerate known for its commitment to sustainable practices. Sweden, as you may know, is one of the most sustainability-focused nations globally. In line with that, we have set up dedicated sustainability departments in every country where we operate, including India. Within our own operations, we are making several changes. This includes using sustainable materials in our packaging, optimising our logistics to reduce emissions, and guiding our suppliers toward more environmentally responsible practices. We are also tracking our carbon footprint closely and have made it a goal to reduce emissions significantly in the coming years.
When it comes to the cement industry, we contribute to sustainability by offering products that are durable, reduce maintenance frequency, and minimise energy losses—ultimately helping cement manufacturers operate more efficiently and with fewer interruptions.

Can you share a recent innovation and how technology is improving your products?
At Ringfeder, innovation is continuous. We have a dedicated R&D centre in Germany and an extended R&D arm in India. Our focus has always been on enhancing functionality, durability and efficiency. Over time, we have made several improvements in the materials used in our products, ensuring they meet the toughest industrial standards.
One of the most exciting developments is the integration of electronic feedback systems into our product lines. This represents a step toward smart technology, where products can provide real-time performance data. We are currently working on embedding sensors and feedback modules into our systems, which can give users predictive insights and maintenance alerts. This will not only improve performance but also help reduce unplanned downtime—an important factor in industries like cement.

What are some challenges you face in the cement industry?
There are a few challenges that are quite specific to our line of business. First, our products fall into the category of capital equipment, which means the procurement cycles are longer and highly dependent on capex planning by cement companies. These purchases are not linear—they tend to follow the cyclic nature of the industry.
For instance, this year we saw a slowdown, primarily due to the uncertainty and cautious spending that comes with general elections. However, based on the current pipeline of cement plant expansions, we are optimistic that 2025 will be a great year—not just for Ringfeder, but for the entire cement sector.
To counterbalance the cyclic nature of cement, we also serve other industries such as textiles, bulk material handling and hydropower. This diversification helps us manage business continuity more effectively.

What is your view on Net Zero and your alignment with global goals?
Yes, this is a very important area for us. Ringfeder and our parent company, the VBG Group, are actively aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We’ve identified five key SDGs where we focus our efforts: reducing emissions, promoting gender equality, improving access to education, encouraging responsible consumption, and fostering decent work environments.
We believe that companies have a responsibility not only to their customers but also to society at large. Our sustainability team regularly evaluates our progress in these areas and works closely with local and global stakeholders. Our goal is to ensure that by 2030, we are not just meeting industry standards but are seen as leaders in sustainability and ethical operations.

Up Next

We manage our oil usage sustainably

Don't Miss

Smart Motion Systems Power Cement Plants

Economy & Market

TSR Will Define Which Cement Companies Win India’s Net-Zero Race

Published

2 days ago

April 27, 2026

admin

Jignesh Kundaria, Director and CEO, Fornnax Technology

India is simultaneously grappling with two crises: a mounting waste emergency and an urgent need to decarbonise its most carbon-intensive industries. The cement sector, the second-largest in the world and the backbone of the nation’s infrastructure ambitions, sits at the centre of both. It consumes enormous quantities of fossil fuel, and it has the technical capacity to consume something else entirely: the waste our cities cannot get rid of.

According to CPCB and NITI Aayog projections, India generates approximately 62.4 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, with that figure expected to reach 165 million tonnes by 2030. Much of this waste is energy-rich and non-recyclable. At the same time, cement kilns operate at material temperatures of approximately 1,450 degrees Celsius, with gas temperatures reaching 2,000 degrees. This high-temperature environment is ideal for co-processing, ensuring the complete thermal destruction of organic compounds without generating toxic residues. The physics are in our favour. The infrastructure is not.

Pre-processing is not the support act for co-processing. It is the main event. Get the particle size wrong, get the moisture wrong, get the calorific value wrong and your kiln thermal stability will suffer the consequences.

The Regulatory Push Is Real

The Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules 2026 mandate that cement plants progressively replace solid fossil fuels with Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF), starting at a 5 per cent baseline and scaling to 15 per cent within six years. NITI Aayog’s 2026 Roadmap for Cement Sector Decarbonisation targets 20 to 25 per cent Thermal Substitution Rate (TSR) by 2030. Beyond compliance, every tonne of coal replaced by RDF generates measurable carbon reductions which is monetisable under India’s emerging Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS). TSR is no longer a sustainability metric. It is a financial lever.

Yet our own field assessments across multiple Indian cement plants reveal a sobering reality: the primary barrier to scaling AFR adoption is not waste availability. It is the fragmented and under-engineered pre-processing ecosystem that sits between the waste and the kiln.

Why Indian Waste Is a Different Engineering Problem

Indian municipal solid waste is not the material that imported shredding equipment was designed for. Our waste streams frequently exceed 40 per cent to 50 per cent moisture content, particularly during monsoon cycles, saturated with abrasive inerts including sand, glass, and stone. Plants relying on imported OEM equipment face months of downtime awaiting proprietary spare parts. Machines built for segregated, low-moisture waste fail quickly and disrupt the entire pre-processing operation in Indian conditions.

The two most common failures we observe are what I call the biting teeth problem and the chewing teeth problem. Plants relying solely on a primary shredder reduce bulk waste to large fractions, but the output remains too coarse for stable kiln combustion. Others attempt to use a secondary shredder as a standalone unit without a primary stage to pre-size the feed, leading to catastrophic mechanical failure. When both stages are present but mismatched in throughput capacity, the system becomes a bottleneck. Achieving the 40 to 70 tonnes per hour required for meaningful coal displacement demands a precisely coordinated two-stage process.

Engineering a Made-in-India Answer

At Fornnax, our response to these challenges is grounded in one principle: Indian waste demands Indian engineering. Our systems are built around feedstock homogeneity, the holy grail of kiln stability. Consistent particle size and predictable calorific value are the foundation of stable kiln combustion. Without them, no TSR target is achievable at scale.

Our SR-MAX2500 Dual Shaft Primary Shredder (Hydraulic Drive) processes raw, baled, or loosely mixed MSW, C&I waste, bulky waste, and plastics, reducing them to approximately 150 mm fractions at throughputs of up to 40 tonnes per hour. The R-MAX 3300 Single Shaft Secondary Shredder (Hydraulic Drive), introduced in 2025, takes that primary output and produces RDF fractions in the 30 to 80 mm range at up to 30 tonnes per hour, specifically optimised for consistent kiln feeding. We have also introduced electric drive configurations under the SR-100 HD series, with capacities between 5 and 40 tonnes per hour, already operational at a leading Indian waste-processing facility.

Looking ahead, Fornnax is expanding its portfolio with the upcoming SR-MAX3600 Hydraulic Drive primary shredder at up to 70 tonnes per hour and the R-MAX2100 Hydraulic drive secondary shredder at up to 20 tonnes per hour, designed specifically for the large-scale throughput that higher TSR ambitions require.

The Investment Case Is Now

The 2070 Net-Zero target is not a distant goal for India’s cement sector. It starts today, with decisions being made on the plant floor.

The SWM Rules 2026 are already in effect, requiring cement plants to replace coal with RDF. Carbon credit markets are opening up, and coal prices are not going to get cheaper. Every tonne of coal a cement plant replaces with waste-derived fuel saves money on one side and generates carbon credit revenue on the other. Pre-processing infrastructure is no longer just a compliance requirement. It is a business investment with a measurable return.

The good news is that nothing is missing. The technology works. The waste is available in every Indian city. The government has provided the policy direction. The only thing standing between where the industry is today and where it needs to be is the commitment to build the right infrastructure.

The cement companies that move now will not just meet the regulations. They will be ahead of every competitor that waits.

About The Author

Jignesh Kundaria is the Director and CEO of Fornnax Technology. Over an experience spanning more than two decades in the recycling industry, he has established himself as one of India’s foremost voices on waste-to-fuel technology and alternative fuel infrastructure.

Concrete

WCA Welcomes SiloConnect as associate corporate member

Published

2 weeks ago

April 13, 2026

admin

The World Cement Association (WCA) has announced SiloConnect as its newest associate corporate member, expanding its network of technology providers supporting digitalisation in the cement industry. SiloConnect offers smart sensor technology that provides real-time visibility of cement inventory levels at customer silos, enabling producers to monitor stock remotely and plan deliveries more efficiently. The solution helps companies move from reactive to proactive logistics, improving delivery planning, operational efficiency and safety by reducing manual inspections. The technology is already used by major cement producers such as Holcim, Cemex and Heidelberg Materials and is deployed across more than 30 countries worldwide.

Concrete

TotalEnergies and Holcim Launch Floating Solar Plant in Belgium

Published

2 weeks ago

April 13, 2026

admin

TotalEnergies and Holcim have commissioned a floating solar power plant in Obourg, Belgium, built on a rehabilitated former chalk quarry that has been converted into a lake. The project has a generation capacity of 31 MW and produces around 30 GWh of renewable electricity annually, which will be used to power Holcim’s nearby industrial operations. The project is currently the largest floating solar installation in Europe dedicated entirely to industrial self-consumption. To ensure minimal impact on the surrounding landscape, more than 700 metres of horizontal directional drilling were used to connect the solar installation to the electrical substation. The project reflects ongoing collaboration between the two companies to support industrial decarbonisation through renewable energy solutions and innovative infrastructure development.