The FDF, the Kingpin of Coimbatore, is to have new wings to fly high

At last, the long cherished aspiration of Coimbatore Engineering Industries now has become the reality.

It is the foundry industry, the heart that controls 25 percent of Coimbatore GDP, either directly or indirectly.

It would not be an exaggeration even to call it the mother of all industries.

But that’s not all.

Besides a significant contribution to GDP, it is a major employment generator for Human Resources across the social spectrum.

In the past few years, the foundry industry has skyrocketed to meet the ever-growing qualitative and quantitative needs, apart from the increased strength-to-weight ratio and closer dimensional tolerances, which means this is in fact a call for improvement in both modern methods and people, to understand and to manufacture metal castings to suit the needs.

A few eminent industrialists from Coimbatore, headed by Late Shri C.R.Swaminathan (CRS) envisaged the need for an exclusive skill development and process excellence centre for foundry industry sector that resulted in the emergence of Foundries Development Foundation (FDF), a Section 8, a nonprofit organization in Coimbatore.

Since its inception, the FDF has been working on a few crucial areas to improve the performance of Coimbatore Engineering Industries to global standards.

Today, the FDF has three verticals — Material Exchange, Centre of Excellence and Exhibition & Conferences, each focusing on optimising foundry processes and outputs.

FDF Material Sourcing, FMS, is a platform to bring together foundry needs and supplier capabilities. So far, about Rs 150Cr+ transactions have been carried out through FMS, resulting in considerable savings to both foundries and suppliers.

FDF Centre of Excellence, FDF COE, has been envisaged to create a hands-on-skill development of metallurgically sound castings. FDF COE will be established at a cost of Rs 32Crs in Codissia Industrial Park Moperipalayam.

This is a JV project with TIDCO as the partner and contribution from Members of Coimbatore Foundries and User Industries. FDF COE will house a Modern Foundry Complex with all casting manufacturing processes inbuilt for providing the required Hands on Skilling of Foundry Technicians and Engineers, apart from being an extended arm for the Manufacturing Sector to develop Metal Castings. FDF COE will consist of both Ferrous and Non Ferrous Casting Development and Manufacturing.

The FDF Exhibition (Interfoundry) and Conference is planned as a bi-annual event at CODISSIA Trade Fair Complex to facilitate knowledge transfer and adoption. This Exhibition & Conference shall focus on Mid-Management Professionals and Technicians in the Metal Castings Value Chain.

Shortly, FDF also expects to bring in European Collaborations and Leading Institutions for Foundry Skill Development and Casting Excellence.

All these changes and development points towards the fact that the long felt need of Coimbatore Engineering Industries is becoming a reality.