The Hindu Business Line : Astra Poly to make US co's product in India

The Ahmedabad-based Astral Poly Technik Ltd, manufacturer and provider of chlorinated poly vinyl chloride (CPVC) piping and plumbing systems, will now manufacture and market the "BlazeMaster" fire sprinkler system under an agreement with the $4-billion global specialty chemical company, Lubrizol, whose wholly-owned subsidiary Noveon Inc., makes BlazeMaster.

Astral is the only licensee of this system in India and only the fifth in the world, its Managing Director, Mr Sandeep Engineer, told a news conference here on Wednesday. CPVC pipes have a very high temperature and pressure-bearing capacity and are sturdy and lightweight at the same time, he added.

Licence pact

For this purpose, Astral signed a licence agreement with Noveon to manufacture and market its fire sprinkler system under the brand name of BlazeMaster, which is a trademark of Noveon. BlazeMaster CPVC pipe and fittings are specifically designed for fire sprinkler systems and have various advantages like faster and easier installation process, light-weight material for ease of transportation and manoeuvrability on the job site, resistance to scale and corrosion to pipe and low flame and smoke characteristics.

Expertise tie-up

Mr Engineer said his company, in order to strengthen its business plans, had entered into a techno-financial joint venture with Specialty Process LLC of USA, which provided it the required technical expertise for manufacturing CPVC pipes and fittings for home and industrial applications.

Astral, whose turnover in 2005-06 was nearly Rs 52 crore, manufactured 4,450 tonnes of plumbing systems between a half-inch to eight inches in diameters at its two units in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. The company, with a compounded growth of 45 per cent, has 125 distributors across India.

Astral is also going for an IPO in the near future to further its growth plans.