Champion Contributes To New Nokia India Plant

08/12/06 - Located in India's southern city of Chennai and online since March 2006, Nokia's first Indian mobile handset manufacturing plant combines state-of-the-art technology with world-class production facilities. Taking only six months from construction to production, the new facility features major contributions from two of Australia's industrial engineering leaders, a showcase of Australian export success.

Prominent Australian project development and contracting group, Leighton Contractors, managed the major construction project, and selected Australian industrial air compressor designer and manufacturer, Champion Compressors, to provide a fully-engineered and tailored compressed air solution.

According to Leighton Contractors, the new manufacturing facility represents an engineering and construction accomplishment of high order. With a tight construction schedule and a requirement for plant-wide systems redundancy, much of the manufacturing technology had to be made to order.

Champion showed the good old Aussie spirit and did not shirk the challenges put before them. Champion was able to tailor and engineer the compressed air system to suit Leighton's particular requirements.

Like several electronics manufacturing plants, if the compressed air system fails, production comes to a standstill. Leighton chose Champion because of the reliability of both its products and its engineering expertise. It was reassuring to know that Leighton could rely on Champion to meet the tight project time schedule, and to provide the made-to-order compressors it needed without complication.

The compressed air supply at the new plant has been provided by three Champion 185-kW VOC185 air compressors, two operation units plus one stand-by. These compressors were fitted with an automatic sequence controller, allowing the three units to share the workload evenly, or vary the compressed air output depending on the plant demand. Not only does this allow for flexibility, but it ensures that all three units share the load and operating hours equally.

The compressed air system has a storage capacity of 80,000 litres, which can service the plant's essential compressed air needs in the event of a power outage and until the generators come online.

With temperatures in Chennai consistently hovering above 40 degrees Celsius during the summer months, a dual-cooling feature was engineered into the compressor package. This aids the energy-efficient operation of the compressor package and the production plant as a whole. In addition to the standard fan-driven air cooler, a water-cooled heat recovery system was incorporated into the compressor package. The heated water from the water-cooled heat recovery system is recycled and used in other processes within the manufacturing facility.

Champion compressors are designed and engineered to ensure the superior reliability and performance required for continuous operation in the hot, humid and dusty conditions, often experienced throughout India.

As part of Champion's comprehensive after-sales service, it provided Leighton's on-site engineers and maintenance crew with a thorough training program, covering principles of operation, overview of major components and maintenance procedures. On-site training gives users the opportunity to apply theory to the compressors they will be operating on a daily basis.

With India set to become the world's second-large mobile device market, the new manufacturing facility has been designed to increase its production capacity two-fold. A fourth compressor is to be installed to accommodate this projected increase in production, and will result in a sequence-controlled three-operation-plus-one-stand-by compressor configuration. This particular compressed air system is easily added to, allowing trouble-free expansion.

Having satisfied Leighton with the calibre of its products and engineering design and support, Champion Compressors will supply Leighton with a further three air compressors for its recent Indian construction project, located 10 km from the Nokia Chennai site.

What Our Customers Think

"We were doubtful other compressors would be able to service our air demand as efficiently as Champion’s VOC compressor. Power savings came to approximately $145,000 per year.”

Paul Timmermans - Mars Petcare