Pricol Technologies ties up with U.S. firm The Hindu at 2nd June 2005 Pricol enters IT consultancy The Economic Times at 17th August 2005 The global manufacturing chain Pricol Tech ties up with Blue Ridge The Economic Times at 3rd June 2005 Pumpset Sector goes in for IT Design The Hindu at 22nd December 2005 Pricol Tech forays into product development The Hindu at 13th June 2006 Pumpset Sector goes in for IT Design Not for aesthetics, but operational efficiency For pump set manufacturers here computer designing is not just for aesthetics any more. It is also to achieve better operational efficiency. "Earlier we used to have draftsmen to prepare the drawings. Now computers do the job," says Jayakumar Ramdass, vice-Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Coimbatore Zone. Units are able to respond to market demands faster as computer designing gives them flexibility to modify the product. It helps them visualise the product function on the computer and make changes. At one of the leading pump manufacturing units here, a new product is developed every four to six months and major changes made in the existing ones every two months. The leading 10 to 15 units have separate research and development wings that use information technology to design casings and components. Advanced packages These packages help the industries not only to design new products but also estimate the flow pattern. With computers and these packages becoming affordable, more entrepreneurs prefer to use them. The trend started five to seven years ago and now they are going in for updated versions and advanced packages. According to K. Viswanathan, Senior Manager, Pricol Technologies, some manufacturers here have evinced interest in its "CFDesign" package, which helps the designer analyse the product function at the drawing board level itself. This helps bring down the number of prototypes made for a new product. He says that the pump manufacturers are already using 3D modeling software as they have Computerized Numerically Controlled machine to make the components. Now "they can optimise the performance also." The new packages will help the units branch into different types of pump sets, such as process pumps, as it helps evaluate precisely the operation parameters. At a recent conference on pumps, organised by the CII, a separate session was held on IT designing to create more awareness on the use of IT.