Pilot Gaskets aims to reduce India's use of asbestos and transition the country to asbestos-free products by 2020. It offers gaskets, packings, and other insulation products that are certified to international standards. Pilot Gaskets works with customers in the oil and gas sector to educate them on the health and performance benefits of asbestos alternatives. It has conducted case studies showing how asbestos replacement can increase refinery production by 17% and reduce emissions by 32%. Going forward, Pilot Gaskets plans to develop spare parts for refinery equipment in India to reduce reliance on imports and guide more engineering manufacturing to be outsourced from India.

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‘Make India Asbestos-FREE by 2020’
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Pilot Gaskets was established in 1981 primarily as a manufacturing arm of Supreme
Mill Stores. The parent firm Supreme Mill Stores, established in 1957, has a rich
history across the Indian Oil & Gas sector serving nearly all Indian Refineries for
more than half a century.
In 2011, the company pivoted the business model and started concentrating on
offering API & ISO certified sealing and insulation products in India, which was
ahead of its time in an Industry that still to this date indulges in Carcinogenic
Asbestos Fibre (CAF) at the Factory Level.“We are slowly educating our customers
about the alternatives, health benefits and savings associated with using correct
certified sealing,”explains Parekh.
The primary focus of Pilot Gaskets is to reduce the production downtime,
maintenance Schedules, shutdown timelines and fugitive emissions while
increasing the plant safety.“We have even conducted case studies where we have
successfully increased Refinery production by approximately 17 per cent and
reduced emission loss by 32 per cent just by replacing seals and Gaskets with the
correct nonAsbestos alternatives,”recalls Parekh.
Pilot Gaskets is India’s leading solution provider for 100 per cent AsbestosFREE
Gaskets, Gland Packings, Insulation, Fire Safety and Brake Liners. Pilot
Gaskets represents Manufacturers from Europe, USA & India that specialize
in Environmental Safe products and focus primarily on reducing Fugitive
Emissions across the Oil & Gas Sector.
Pilot Gaskets manufactures API 607
Certified Gaskets, API 622, API 624 for
Valve Packing, IS 16752 for Pump Packing,
and ISO 11612 for Fire Safety.“We are also
diversifying into a Nanotechnogy based
Universal Corrosion Prevention Coatings
that can be used across all surfaces
including Steel, Iron, Wood, Cement and
Ceramic,”elucidates Parekh.
Challenges & Opportunity to stay ahead in Indian Market
PILOT Gaskets considers Indian market always as a refreshing challenge with full of
opportunities. Contrary to popular belief, Indian Market is a value market bereft of
information. Since there is a genuine lack of information sharing, price is used as a
barometer for differentiation which gives an impression of being price conscious.
In fact nothing is further from the truth, affirms Parekh.
We have regularly seen Maintenance Engineer being open to understand our
product, our offered quality, and discuss the technical parameters used in
differentiating one product from another based on tests, performance, experience,
and International accreditation, he adds.
He believes that if a company is willing to discuss and share information and
expertise, Indian refineries are more open to change their methods and processes
for greater efficiency.
We conduct such honestTechnical Presentations at Refineries where we discuss not
only our strengths but also acknowledge our weakness.We even accept harsh facts
if a competitor product is better suited in certain applications than ours. In turn,
this realization drives us to encourage our R&D and Quality Control teams, he adds.
In 2017, we shall continue our approach of sharing knowledge and giving Engineers
the information they need to compare and make an informed decision, affirms
Parekh asserting‘PILOT Gaskets’vision to Make India AsbestosFREE by 2020’.
Continuing the Legacy of Providing Corrosion Resistant Products
The legacy of corrosion resistant products of Pilot Gaskets started while we
were experimenting with different coatings for our packing material when we
collaborated with Ultratech Brands, USA and introduced their range of Corrosion
Resistant Coatings. These coatings were developed by the United States Military
to keep Fighter JetVisors clean and manufacture Spill resistant Army Clothing.This
is actually a single type of Corrosion Resistant Coating that works on any surface
Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ Campaign has enhanced Indian reputation abroad as
a future Global Manufacturing Powerhouse. This has attracted Global Manufacturing giants to set up Equipment
Manufacturing facilities in India with their International quality standards, says Darshan Parekh,
Managing Director, Pilot Gaskets and Engineers.
DONITUsed Gaskets

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including Aluminum, Iron, Steel,Wood, Glass, Concrete, Clothing, Cement and also
has excellent hydrophobic and oleophobic properties, claims Parekh.
Imagine a surface that completely repels all forms of water, hydrocarbons, solvents,
paint, oil, dust, sea water and ice. All of these fluids just slide off and on top
of this, the coating also offers excellent abrasion protection and is completely
transparent, he states.
In making the Maintenance Engineer’s job as easy as possible, Parekh confirms
that the coating is going to create ripples in the Surface Coating Industry. The
current adoption is at the LNG Terminals where the coating ensures there is no
icing on any equipment, and the Indian Army that is conducting field trials for its
Hydrophobic Properties, he adds.
Need of R&D to Keep Pace with the Changing Indian Market Dynamics
Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s‘Make in India’Campaign has enhanced
Indian reputation abroad as a future Global Manufacturing Powerhouse. This has
attracted Global Manufacturing giants to set up Equipment Manufacturing facilities
in India with their International quality standards, says Parekh.
In fact, we are in the enviable position to carefully choose and select which
technology translates better to our environment and select our research and
development carefully. We can also learn a lot from failures of other countries -
for example; currently, Australia is facing extensive difficulties in working with a
Chinese Supplier that has been installing Asbestos laced products and now has to
reevaluate and overhaul their Entire policies, he adds.
Another aspect we concentrate on is changing the outlook of the Industry.
While India does fabricate some amazing technical marvels in terms of Boilers
& Turbines across India, the Design and Quality is strictly controlled by the
Overseas Customer. We want to portray the Indian Engineer to actually be a
valuable partner to their design rather than an outsourced manufacturer. Our
goal of offering Technological superior products and sharing our information
Flange Tightening
allows the Engineers to stand by us and get alternative local material approved,
considers Parekh.
Future Plans in India
Pilot Gaskets thinks imported spares are a great burden for the company thus
necessities to invest more on Equipment manufactured in Europe or Japan.Without
proper guidance or information, using an incorrect spare can ruin the equipment
resulting in huge loss to the customer, affirms Parekh.
The first step our company is planning to reduce dependency on Imported Spare
Parts for Refinery Process Equipment by developing them in India with the quality
standards demanded by the OEM. Once we reach the desired level in Spare qualities,
we can move to the more critical Equipment Manufacturing, he adds.
We are also implementing an easy identification system for Asbestos Free products
across India which will be used by all the major Manufacturers together.There are
discussions to have joint committee and bring all of Asbestos Free manufacturers
under one umbrella to offer best practices on par with international standards,
Parekh outlines.
We are also in extensive discussions with Ministry of Environment, Ministry of
Power, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Oil & Gas in establishing an Indian
Standard on par with Europe for Asbestos Free products and Fugitive Emission
standard. Lastly, once we have these quality standards in place it is only going
to encourage more Engineering Equipment manufacturing to be outsourced from
India, he adds.
While the challenges are enormous especially with India being the largest
importer and consumer of Asbestos in the world, Parekh assures that if we
avoid the mistakes made by the rest of the world, we can ensure that we reach
our vision of Making India Asbestos Free by 2020.
- Rakesh Roy