Manufacturing

"To deliver world-class customer experience", has been the core philosophy of Blue Star. The Manufacturing division of the Company also aspires to be of world-class caliber.

Blue Star's foray into manufacturing was a modest effort at producing ice candy machines in the 1940s, at first from a small office in Forbes Street at Colaba in Mumbai. It was only in the mid 1960s that Mohan T Advani expanded Blue Star's manufacturing base by buying a factory in Thane, then a distant suburb in Mumbai. Currently, the Thane Plant manufactures a range of screw chillers in air cooled, water cooled and flooded types, with all products being AHRI certified. It also manufactures the innovative Water Cooled Centrifugal Chiller.

The second Plant was built in 1980 in Bharuch in Gujarat to manufacture water coolers, deep freezers and bottle coolers.

In the late 1990s with the software boom driving the economy, investments in manufacturing sector were dwindling. Manufacturing facilities started become an unviable proposition. As a result, a lot of manufacturing units had to be closed down. However Blue Star management was convinced that manufacturing would be an important driver in the value chain and was important for the Company to be successful in the longer run.

A new and exciting chapter began with the inauguration of a world-class factory in Dadra in 1997. The project at Dadra was incorporated with state-of-the-art technologies, quality standards and manufacturing process with consultations from Rheem USA.

After the success of Dadra, Blue Star has been able to transplant the manufacturing philosophy and attitude to the other factories at Thane and Bharuch as well.

The two fundamental transformations of Blue Star's manufacturing took place in improving operational efficiencies and quality improvement, resulting in competitiveness in terms of price and delivery. Blue Star remained competitive in the market where prices of airconditioning products fell constantly since the late 1990s. The introduction of world-class manufacturing facilities coupled with IT, automation and an overall positive morale amongst the employees resulted in reduction of manufacturing costs.

With the addition of Himachal Plant in 2005, which was built with in-house expertise, Blue Star has been able to meet the increasing market demand of room airconditioners. Himachal Plant holds the advantage of augmented scale of operations. With the second factory in Himachal introduced in 2011, the two facilities manufacture room airconditioners as well as storage water coolers, both being signature products enjoying enviable market patronage. The second HP Plant also houses one of the few, state-of-the art MCHX coil ( aluminim heat exchanger) manufacturing facilities in the country.

The Wada factory was established in 2008 which is Blue Star's largest manufacturing facility and manufactures air handling units, screw chillers, scroll chillers and refrigeration units for cold rooms. It is also a contract manufacturer of sophisticated condensing units and roof top units for a few multinationals. Driven by the ice cream, frozen foods and dairy segments, the commercial refrigeration business of Blue Star has been on the rise. Considering the expected demand surmount in the near future, the Company considered it prudent to expand its manufacturing capacity for refrigeration products by setting up another plant in Ahmedabad in 2012. This has made the current production capacity for these products quite robust.

Blue Star's seven modern manufacturing facilities coupled with an able product development team, the country's most advanced AHRI-certified chiller test lab, significant support from original equipment manufacturers and a good footing in the export market has given Blue Star a cutting edge in manufacturing.