Techno Gear Works Pvt. Ltd. has been in the precision gear manufacturing business for more than 50 years. They also contributed to the recent and successful lunar landing where they provided their gear cutting services for critical precision machined parts for liquid engine assemblies (Vikas Engines) which are used in the rockets to carry satellites/any spacecrafts to the Earth’s orbit.

Gear Technology India spoke with Mr. Kansara, Partner at Techno Gear Works Pvt. Ltd. about the company, their offerings, and more.

Please tell us a bit about your company’s history in gear manufacturing, especially for precision machined parts used in liquid engine assemblies?

We have been in precision gear manufacturing business from more than 50 years. We started with four machines and now we have more than 150 machines at our workshop. We have manufactured many critical components for BARC research project, NPCIL commercial projects, indigenization of critical gears for Indian railway, and developed many gears for different defence applications. Additionally, we supply to many OEMs, and export to USA, Canada, Sweden and other countries.

What types of gear cutting services do you offer, and how do you ensure precision and accuracy in the production of critical parts?

We have state-of-the-art gear manufacturing facilities under one roof. These are CNC VTL and Lathes, CNC and Convention Hobbing and Shaping Machines, 5 Axis and 3 Axis VMCs and HMC, Heat Treatment plant, CNC ID/OD Grinder, Surface Grinding Machines, and CNC Gear Grinding Machines also.

Our product range covers spur and helical gears, straight and spiral bevel, worm wheel, worm shaft, precision rack, pinion and spline shafts.

Besides this, we also have the latest inspection facilities that comprise CNC Gear Tester, CMM, Video Measuring Machine, Spectrometer, CNC Universal Tester and more. These coupled with trained and experienced quality assurance team ensure precision measurements of the components.

How did Techno Gear Works Pvt. Ltd. come to be involved in this project?

Around 2012, engineers from Vikram Sarabhai Institute and ISRO visited our factory for their requirements of precision gear manufacturing service. They were satisfied with our setup and recommended our name to Brahmos Aerospace, and later on to Godrej Aerospace, for critical gears of liquid engine assemblies.

We supply components to them for precision gear manufacturing for many projects, with Chandrayaan-3 being one of them, for the last ten years.

These components are very precise and very complicated to manufacture. Godrej Aerospace then took the gear components for further assembly, and supplied it to ISRO for the Chandrayaan project.

What is your approach to handling design specifications and tolerances, especially when it involves intricate and highly precise gear components?

Every new component is deeply studied by our experienced process engineering team who prepare a process sheet considering the tolerance requirements.

This process sheet includes the details of machines, tooling, and special fixture requirements which ensure that the specified tolerance be achieved.

How would you describe Techno Gear Works Pvt. Ltd.’s approach to lead times and delivery schedules when working on time-sensitive projects?

Lead time and delivery schedule depends on the priority of jobs, the complexity of the components, new tooling, and fixture requirements.

Our team always aims to meet the specified delivery schedule and urgency of the customer.

What were some of the biggest technical challenges your team faced, and how did they overcome it?

As we manufacture a large variety of gears, we do run into some technical challenges or the other. However, our biggest challenge involves the development of very small precise gears for the defence sector; it not only involves the manufacturing difficulties, but also precise measurements.

Initially, we struggled to manufacture the parts for the project since the quantity was less, but for our country, we gave it our all to develop these parts.

Measuring these parts was equally challenging with measuring instruments; however, this was achieved by the high magnification video measuring system.

We have designed many new fixtures, and used the latest manufacturing machines like the 5 Axis VMC. Thorough knowledge of manufacturing and design is key to overcome technical challenges.

Please tell us what it means for you and Techno Gear Works Pvt. Ltd. to be involved in a huge project like Chandrayaan.

We believe that achieving anything meaningful starts with doing what is fundamentally correct.

Every component manufactured by us, be it aeronautic applications or machine tools, we steadfastly follow all the processes and procedures without accepting any deviation. So, while we feel proud to work for the nation, our best reward lies in our customer satisfaction.

How does your company stay updated on emerging technologies in gear cutting and precision machining?

It is very important to keep yourself and the company updated with new technology. We do so by regularly taking part in different exhibitions like Motion + Power Technology Expo USA, SUBCON in UK, IPTEX-GRINDEX India etc.

By also visiting EMO Hannover, IMTEX, and other exhibitions, we learn about the emerging technologies by gear machine manufacturers.

We also read and watch the latest articles on modern manufacturing technologies in magazines like Gear Technology, and on YouTube as well.

What lies ahead for the future of gear technology and space exploration?

The future of the gear technology depends on the new engineering talent entering the gear manufacturing field.

That being said, we do feel there is a dearth of skilled engineers, and a shortage of new skill talent.

Multi-tasking CNC machines, Automation, Robots, Smart Manufacturing are the future.

As India moves quickly in space exploration, there are plenty of opportunities in the market for gear manufacturers to capitalize on this.

Bhupendra Kansara is the Director of Techno Gear Works Pvt. Ltd. He has five decades of experience in the field of gear manufacturing, and holds a diploma in Mechanical Engineering