Macneill Engineering Diversifying Into Polypropylene Bags

Pradip Churiwal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Macneill Engineering Ltd. (MEL), the 65 crore Kolkata-based company in manufacturing and rendering services in the materials handling equipment sector, outlined his company’s future in a detailed interview with BE’s Kingshuk Banerjee.

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Q. How did Macneill Engineering Ltd. (MEL) ensure its turnaround? A. Macneill Engineering Ltd. is a forklift and material handling company. It was originally part of Macneill Magor Ltd. and in 1988 it was separated and converted into a public limited company, belonging to the Willamson Magor Group. In 2003, the Star Track Group took over MEL. Star Track is primarily in steel and warehousing business.

MEL got an opportunity to develop flame proof forklift for IOCL Panipat through their EPC contractor Larsen and Toubro (L & T). At that time, this kind of forklift was not manufactured in India. MEL developed flame proof forklifts and supplied it. That was the turning point for our company. Subsequently, MEL bagged the order of supplying 54 forklifts worth 12 crore.

From 2004 to 05 fiscal to the 2008 to 09 fiscal, the rate of growth of production was 80% to 100% per annum and in 2009 MEL cleared its 12 crore bank loan.

Q. How did the company get into the service sector?