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An unforgettable experience
of two days, full of enthusiasm, energy and
enlightenment would be the best suiting
description for the Industrial Visit 2007
organized by IEEE-VESIT.
Being the most awaited event of
even semester, it gathered an overwhelming response
from the IEEE members of VESIT. It was planned to
visit the industrial area of Nashik on 8th
and 9th of January, 2007. Thus, a
pleasantly cold morning of 8th January
saw all the eager voyagers setting out on their
journey to Nashik in two busses. Accompanied by four
college professors of VESIT, namely Mr. Ravishankar,
Mr. K. A. Sheikh, Mrs. Madhumati and Ms. Sheetal
Jagdale.
The journey was surely not so
peaceful or calm. An excellent and equally rare
opportunity of getting mixed with all the friends in
leisure time was surely not to be missed by anyone.
Busses roaring with cheers and noises were traveling
through the beautiful and huge terrains of Western
Ghats. The council served the members some snacks.
At around 1:00 PM, we reached the MIDC area situated
in the outskirts of Nashik. Hotel Tapovan seemed to
be a perfect choice to relax at, and have lunch with
beautiful lawn all around.
Now it was time for the major
reason for our visit – the industries. A small bus
ride was enough to get us at the gates of our first
company on the list, which was Crompton Greaves
Ltd., at 3:00 PM. The enormous area occupied by
the company premises was only a first impression of
the students about the company. We were greeted and
escorted by the HR Manager Mr. Malik of CG (Crompton
Greaves). In two groups, members were divided and
given the charge of to Mr. Joshi and Mr. Malik.
Members were warned about their safety precautions
beforehand.
During the course of the tour
of the CG premises, the engineering students of
VESIT gradually became acquainted with many of the
interesting facts about Crompton Greaves history,
their scope of business and their products. CG is
involved in design, manufacture and marketing of
products related to power generation, transmission
and distribution, with the status of an Indian
multinational. Apart from this, the members were
amazed to see that the company also takes care of
the environmental side of their business, by
undertaking programmes like vermiculture
development and sewage and effluent treatment. The
members were totally immersed in the breath-taking
machinery and technology, which was responsible for
the manufacturing of a number of products like
lightning arrestors, indoor and outdoor circuit
breakers and different kinds of switch gears. At
5:00 PM, all of them with the teachers were asked to
gather in the conference hall of the company, where
a question-answer session took place with the
technical representatives. The members were also
shown two short films featuring Crompton Greaves’
all over India plants and the company facts. A
session of refreshments was offered by the company
followed which the members set off towards their
lodging at Hotel Cool Palace situated at the heart
of the city of Nashik.
At around 8:30, freshened after
a bit of rest in their cozy rooms, all the members
were served a delicious dinner. Tired completely
after such an action packed day, all the members
retired to sleep afterwards.
Next day, on 9th of
January, with a little foggy atmosphere all around
the city, everyone woke up to a slightly shivery
morning. Breakfast awaited the members at around
9:30 AM at the tables, having which, all of them
were off to the next destination in the industrial
visit, which was ABB – a company in
electrical industry engaged in manufacturing indoor
and outdoor switchgears, ring-main units and compact
secondary substations. On behalf of the company, Mr.
Rodriguez greeted us in the company premises, and
led us on a tour of the company in groups along with
Mr. Rao and Mr. Lingayat. The highlights of the
entire tour were the ABB robot used for arc
welding of the ring-main unit cases and also
used by Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd., and the
indoor and outdoor switchgear manufacture.
Principle of circuit breakers using magnetic
actuators or by using universal motors, power
wastage control by using tracking method were
some of the concepts that the members got an
opportunity to get familiar with.
After the one and the half hour
tour, all members gathered at the entrance of ABB
from where they were taken back to have the lunch of
the day in the Hotel Cool Palace.
On the way back, there was
another surprise waiting for them. Situated within
the serene beauty of grape-yards spanning 335 acres,
was the Sula Wine Yard. A knowledgeable
representative of the wine producing factory briefed
the members about the factory’s manufacturing
process and other aspects of wine making. It was
very interesting to learn the process of making
white, red or blush wine (non-sparkling wine types)
from green or red grapes. Enormous stainless steel
tanks and a sophisticated pipeline network in a
temperature controlled chamber were put to work for
wine making. Step by step process, consisting of
crushing of grapes, filtration and temperature
control of the juice, primary and secondary
fermentation and finally maturation in oak barrels
for a specific time period was explained to the
members by the representative.
Now finally it was time to turn
back to home, and the busses full of members and
lots of memories to cherish set off on their return
path. Though it was almost the end of an experience
worth a lifetime, it was not really an end. The
members still had some energy left in their lungs to
sing their hearts out and put the journey time to a
good use. With a little break at around 8:00 PM for
a bit of refreshments, all the members were back to
Mumbai by 10:00 PM, safe and sound. Though the
bodies denied any further exertion, minds were still
wandering around the handful of experiences gained
in the past two days…