Cover Story
for valves.“ Enhancing service levels in the North America market is an integral part of our growth strategy,” Mr Venkatesh explains.
Strategic expansion: the Saudi Arabia facility
The establishment of a manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia, which was formally inaugurated on 5 May 2024, was another major strategic initiative for L & T Valves. The decision aligns with Saudi Aramco’ s iktva( In-Kingdom Total Value Add) programme and the Saudi government’ s Vision 2030. The Saudi Arabia facility is designed to mirror L & T Valves’ Kancheepuram operations, ensuring that the company can provide the same high-quality valves that customers trust globally. The facility produces a range of valves, including gate, globe, check and ball valves- products that have long been integral to L & T Valves’ offering.“ We started working on this factory in 2021 as part of the iktva programme of Saudi Aramco,” explains Mr Venkatesh.“ In addition to addressing the need for localisation, the manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia provides faster delivery times and more competitive pricing. The move to Saudi Arabia is also about building closer relationships with key clients in the region. This initiative not only helps us meet the needs of customers such as Saudi Aramco, but also resonates with the country’ s vision for long-term economic growth and diversification.”“ We decided to go in with a 100 % owned factory in Saudi Arabia because we then
“ We’ re upgrading our products to meet customer demands for more efficient and cost-effective solutions”- Mr S Venkatesh
Miles of smiles guaranteed. 36-inch Class 600 Ball Valve for cross-country gas pipeline
have better control over the manufacturing aspects as well as on decisions about expansions, market access, etc.,” Mr Venkatesh notes.“ The factory doesn’ t depend on the India factory and has its own independent supply chain management team”. While maintaining the same quality standards, the Saudi Arabia facility has incorporated learnings from the Indian operations.“ Leveraging the advancements we made over the last 60 years, we have also been able to build a leaner operation at the Saudi plant,” explains Mr Venkatesh.
Doubling capacity through strategic consolidation
One of the most significant achievements for L & T Valves in recent years has been
“ At L & T, we believe our people are the prime movers”- Mr Krishna Kumar
Triple-offset Cryogenic Butterfly Valve: The product where two focus areas of L & T Valves converge
the successful consolidation of two manufacturing facilities in India into a single, optimised plant whose combined output exceeds that of the standalone units.“ Growth was our mantra when we moved in the direction of consolidation,” explains Mr Krishna Kumar.“ While we anticipated quite a lot of challenges, the consolidation turned out to be smooth and incident-free.” The company approached this consolidation as an opportunity to completely reimagine its manufacturing process. It hired third-party consultants who conducted comprehensive‘ brown paper mapping’ exercises, engaging employees across all organisational levels to identify pain points, non-value-added activities and opportunities for improvement.“ In the whole process, we had the primary objective of enhancing the capacity and the initiative was named‘ Doubling the Speed’. In other words, doubling the speed, doubling the capacity, doubling customer delight,” says Mr Krishna Kumar. This ambitious transformation went beyond simple consolidation. The company implemented several key changes, including the lean flow line concept and new digitalisation initiatives. The entire plant was reorganised around the lean flow line concept, with a centralised machine shop equipped with the latest 5-axis machining centres and CNC machines that feed into the flow lines. This systematic approach to reengineering helped address waste at every point in the process.
Digitalisation Digitalisation has been central to L & T Valves’ capacity expansion, as all components are
10 Valve World June 2025 www. valve-world. net