Could you give us an overview of DEE and explain how the company has evolved as an engineering and manufacturing solutions provider?

DEE has been a pioneer in process piping systems. What began as an engineering consultancy is now a one-stop shop for the procurement, engineering and manufacturing of piping systems.

Today, we have seven manufacturing facilities, including one in Thailand. Our annual capacity is 93,500 metric tonnes for piping systems and a further 32,500 metric tonnes at our heavy fabrication facility. Our primary sectors are oil and gas, and power.

What is the demand outlook for specialised piping solutions and engineered components, and which sectors offer growth opportunities?

The demand outlook is great, driven by India’s power capacity additions, refinery and petrochemical investments, and energy transition projects. Our current order book is Rs 24 billion, which speaks to the visibility across these sectors. We currently have demand from power, oil and gas, and petrochemicals. Data centres are also in the pipeline. In DEE’s 40-year history, we have never had any dearth of orders.

We see significant opportunities in the nuclear and data centre sectors. With the coming of AI, there is a lot of demand for power, and DEE can play a very big role in the data centre sector. In the nuclear sector, we are already in talks with a global player. There could be a proposed joint venture, which should materialise into revenue within two years from now. We also see opportunities in green hydrogen and semiconductors, and may eventually step into these sectors. Nuclear and data centres are our two prime areas of focus.

What manufacturing strengths and technologies enable DEE to deliver customised solutions, and how are they improving productivity and quality?

We have a high level of automation, including automated welding techniques from ABB and Coco Robotic. We also have automatic blasting and painting treatments, digital radiography and software-led shop-floor planning.

We use 3-hour software to track the live movement of spools, one of our main products, from cutting through engineering to dispatch. Our equipment also includes a 105-inch beveling machine, MID orbital welding systems and CNC cutting machines. At our Palwal plant, we use SAW, alongside a mix of semi-automated and fully automated welding techniques.

At Anjar and Palwal, automated blasting and painting machines expedite these treatments. Our automated machines and robotics give us very good daily output, reduce lead time and improve weld quality, with fewer retakes. Digital radiography and these other processes reduce human intervention and result in no repairs or very few repairs. We continue to invest in technology and have automation across welding, blasting, painting treatments and radiography.

How does DEE ensure material consistency, quality and reliability across complex projects?

We work with different kinds of metallurgy, including carbon steel, stainless steel and alloy steel. Each project has specific customer requirements, geometric drawings and a complex mix of metallurgy. Every metallurgy requires a different kind of welding and process, and our experience across these materials helps us deliver the product properly.

Our products go through multiple stages of testing, including a final dimension check and non-destructive examination. In some cases, we conduct one more test as well. Welding, NDT, documented control and strict quality control help maintain material consistency and the required properties.

How have the Anjar and Palwal facilities helped improve project execution, material movement and logistics?

Each plant has its own capacity. Anjar handles our oil and gas projects, while Palwal handles our power projects. In oil and gas, the weight is less and the volume is more; in the power sector, it is the reverse.

At Anjar, we have three fabrication bays, each 200 metres long. Their design enables one-way material movement, minimising material handling and unnecessary movement. Earlier, when Palwal handled both oil and gas projects and power projects, material handling was a major issue and led to expenditure reflected in the balance sheet. With the Anjar plant, we are now ready to cater to everything and execute projects efficiently.

Anjar is also close to the port: Mundra Port is just 30 kilometres away, which makes logistics easier. We also have our own seamless pipeline for backward integration and manufacture our own alloy steel pipes, including P92, for these fabricated projects. Everything is in-house.

What are the biggest manufacturing challenges in complex assemblies, and how does DEE address them?

The main challenge is maintaining dimensional accuracy, weld integrity and material consistency across complex assemblies. Each project can involve customer specifications, different metallurgies and geometries, making skilled welding, non-destructive examination and end-to-end traceability essential.

We address these challenges through our four decades of experience, trained people and automated technologies. We have the automation in-house to work with different materials and complex assemblies, and we do not go outside for anything.

One example is our induction bending machine, which is primarily used to make bends for the power sector. We installed it many years ago. When the power sector was in a downturn, demand was low and we were not using the machine at 100 per cent capacity. Today, we have a full plate of power-sector orders, and the machine is being utilised at more than 100 per cent. Had we not had it, we probably would not have been in a position to execute those orders.

What does DEE’s India–Thailand footprint mean for its participation in domestic and global supply chains?

We have a unit in Thailand as well. Our India–Thailand footprint demonstrates this model. The Indian facilities are large, providing scale and sector depth, while Thailand supports access to Southeast Asian and global customers.

India can move up the global manufacturing value chain by combining competitive engineering talent with scale, supply-chain resilience and faster execution.

How can engineering manufacturers move beyond being suppliers and become long-term technology and solution partners to global customers?

This is an ongoing process. The way we are evolving, maybe a day will come when we will be long-term solution partners to them. We are working towards that.

We can build our capabilities by keeping pace with technologies and automation, which we are already doing. That is the answer, I think, to the requirements of global markets and next-generation industries.