Canada’s H2O Innovation Inc announced on 6 April 2011 the opening of a 10,000 ft² (929 m²) manufacturing plant for its Indian joint-venture H2O Innovation India Ltd near Vadodara, Gujarat.
The Indian company has secured Can$ 4.2 million (US$ 4.37 million) in bookings of water treatment systems and equipment for industrial Indian customers since its creation in February 2010.
H2O Innovation India is a joint venture with Chembond Chemicals Limited of Mumbai, India, which owns 51% of the shares. As of 6 April 2011, its Indian sales backlog stands at Can$ 2.6 million (US$ 2.71 million).
The new plant’s manufacturing capabilities are equivalent to those of H2O Innovation’s plants located in Ham-Nord, Quebec, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. It will enable H2O Innovation India to locally ensure detailed engineering, together with assembly, welding, pipe fitting, in-house performance testing and programming, among other operations.
It will also give the company better control of delivery schedules and strictness in honouring its commitments towards its customers. The capital expenditure for the plant construction has been assumed by Chembond, and H2O Innovation India has entered into a lease agreement with Chembond.
With an extended footprint in India through its partner Chembond, coupled with an in-depth knowledge of membrane-based water treatment systems, H2O Innovation India can now provide water treatment solutions and operation & maintenance services to other countries in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.
H2O Innovation India already provides full operation & maintenance to a multi-national industrial client in Central India. The company has partially outsourced to H2O Innovation India three major international membrane filtration projects for industrial customers in the petrochemical, power generation and oil & gas markets.
“We are proud to see that H2O Innovation India has successfully secured these contracts within the first year of operation, while constituting a sizeable backlog and developing a growing sales pipeline in such a short period of time”, stated Nirmal V Shah, managing director of H2O Innovation India. “We are confident that H2O Innovation India’s devoted team of water treatment experts will build on these contracts and our extended local presence to sustain its growth objectives while focusing on the execution and management of the projects.”