1) Eaton Hydraulics Group has a plant in Pimpri, Pune that serves the agriculture, construction, stationary equipment, and medical sectors. 2) The plant manufactures hydraulic components for tractors, construction equipment, as well as cylinders for MRI machines. 3) Eaton invests in research and development at the Pune facility to develop higher power density components and more compact designs.

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by Indira Rao
Spread over 11 acres of land in Pimpri,
Pune is Eaton Hydraulics Group. The Eaton Group
marked its entry into India after acquiring Aeroquip
Vickers in 1999. This plant in Pimpri is one of Ea-
ton India’s oldest and has completed more than 32
years of existence as of this year. Musing over, Sub-
hasis Chatterjee, MD, Eaton Fluid Power, Hydraulics
group, said, “We started off with two manufacturing
units – one in Pimpri and the other at Kandivili in
Mumbai as Vickers Systems International. Subse-
quent to 1999 when Eaton took over Vickers glob-
ally, their Pune plant was consolidated and Kandivili
plant was closed. Thus, Pune which earlier used to
cater to only a limited range of hydraulics compo-
nents now also housed a complete portfolio of mo-
bile as well as stationery hydraulics components.”
Mobile components relates to products manu-
factured for equipment manufacturers like in the
agriculture and construction sectors. Examples of
Pumping it upBacked by strong manufacturing, the Eaton Hydraulics
plant at Pimpri has emerged as a premier Global supplier
such equipment are tractors, harvesters, backhoe-
loaders, etc. Stationery on the other hand refers to
project business and has products essentially for
sectors like mining, oil and gas, power and steel
plants, injection moulding, machine tools etc. “Af-
ter the consolidation we started getting into sectors
that we hitherto were not a part of. That is when
our association with one of the global majors in the
healthcare industry started,” stated Chatterjee.
The plant makes cylinders for them which ulti-
mately go into their Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(MRI) tables. Talking of the association, Chatterjee
said, “They were looking for a partner for hydraulics
and they zeroed in on Eaton India. Since then we are
the single supplier source for them for the hydraulic-
cylinders and pumps.” Pointing out the complexities
in producing these products, he further added, “You
need to understand that we are a mechanical en-
gineering company, where everything typically starts

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conditions. This also helps the tractor to protect
the expensive implements from fouling with unwar-
ranted objects. “This product is highly technology
intensive and we are proud to produce it at this
facility. We also export this product to US, China,
etc.” mentioned Chatterjee.
The Pimpri plant is also home to an Eaton Cen-
treof Excellence (COE) for gear pumps and has now
expanded to manufacturing steering control units.
The facility was earlier manufacturing low pressure
pumps made out of aluminium, which catered to
the agricultural sector. Of late they have started
venturing into the high pressure range of gear
pumps, which mainly includes construction equip-
ment. “In order to handle high pressure we had to
start producing another range of gear pumps that
was casted out of iron instead of aluminium. Now,
these developments are done from India because
this is specific to the domestic market. This facil-
ity is a COE for gear pumps in India because the
engineering as well as manufacturing is done out
of here. We also produce it in other countries like
1. Hydraulics plant
shopfloor at Pune.
The plant serves
agriculture,
construction,
stationery, and
medical sectors.
1
Mexico,Japan etc., but majority of the production
is here and therefore, it becomes a kind of a hub
for manufacturing and also exports,” explained
Chatterjee.
He also mentioned that almost all the products-
manufactured here are indigenous. Elucidating with
an example, he stated, “If a valve is made typically
in the US or Europe, and we want to produce that
valve in India we will have to adapt it to local con-
ditions. First of all the valve is going to a certain-
machine. That machine adaptation can be different.
For instance, a tractor in the US is typically 100 HP
or above, whereas a tractor in India is somewhere
around 30-50 horsepower. So, if you are putting the
same valve over here, it will be an over-fit. There-
fore, a different flange or body or shaft are needed.
In the same token, we have to research, evaluate
and manufacture our entire product ranges to suit
the Indian conditions.
and ends with steel. With these specific challenging
project, pumps and cylinders had to be non-ferrous
because it handles magnet. If there is even one fer-
rous particle it will be catastrophic. So, it has to be
made completely out of brass or non-ferrous stain-
less steel, which is something very unique and also
very compact in size. Typically MRI tables are small
and therefore the valves that go into these tables, as
a part of these pumps and cylinders are as small as
the ones in aerospace.”
Hitch valve is another component which the
company manufactures for the tractor industry. The
hydraulic hitch-system was introduced for lifting
and lowering the implements at the headland and
for transportation. When ploughing the system was
switched in the float position, so that the plough
worked with constant working depth and could
freely follow the soil-surface even under undulated
“We are determined
to give world class
products to the
market.”
– Subhasis Chatterjee,
MD, Eaton Fluid Power,
Hydraulics group

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There is also Eaton India Engineering Cen-
ter (EIEC) in Pune that helps the company in its
R&D. In fact, it is the company’s largest integrated,
multidisciplinary research, development and engi-
neering centre globally. “Today, technologists, en-
gineers and designers work in virtual teams with
their counterparts from Eaton’s aerospace, elec-
trical, hydraulicsand vehicle businesses and the
corporate research and technology (*CRT ) teams
are spread across the globe. EIEC has developed
Centers of Excellence in modelling and simula-
tion, embedded systems, intellectual property and
even for safety, reliability and sustainability,”
mentioned Chatterjee.
The EIEC team collaborates with global teams
of engineers for their respective business groups
to drive the product-centric compliance require-
ments such as ROHS/ROHS2, REACH, ELV and
IHM focused on material and chemical contents.
This team also specialises in applying the ‘design
for environment methodology’ to new product
development processes.
Design for environment enables lifecycle ap-
proach to evaluate and manage the impacts on en-
ergy and resource efficiency, recyclability and com-
pliance to regulations. Talking on the various ways
in which these measures have been put in place
in the facility, Chatterjee averred, “Power density is
one area where most of the R&D goes on. It is not
easy to fulfill the challenge of producing more with-
less. For example, we have customers who want
construction equipment with higher horsepower but
it has to be more compact. So instead of 250 bar
we have to make hydraulics components produc-
ing 300-400 bar. This adjustment will allow them to
produces same horsepower at a smaller envelope/
size. This is power density.”
There is a system at Eaton called Management
of Environmental Safety and Health (MESH), which
further helps them focus not only on safety but also
the environment. Elucidating, Ashutosh Nadgauda,
general manager, operations, Eaton Fluid Power,
Hydraulics group said, “We have received the Silver
Safety Award from the president for not having a
single accident on record for more than 1000 days.
There are no alternatives to safety in our factory.
One of the ways we ensure our people are safe
is by machine guarding. This basically ensures
that the machines are foolproof and are guarded
in such a way that the risks of operating the ma-
chines are minimum. Our third-party consultants
basically help identify the machines into low, medi-
um and high risk category based on standards set
by them. We are currently running a programme
where in the first phase we brought our entire high
risk category of machines to medium or low risks
and in second phase we’ll bring the medium risk
ones to the low category.”
“When we started out in India as a part of Eaton
Group, we had only two plants —today we have
seven. This shows our commitment to the country.
With respect to the Pune facility, expansion plans
may be on the anvil depending on the market situ-
ation. Moving forward, we are definitely going to
make the Indian corporation a bright star within
Eaton global. We are determined to give world
class products to the market so that customers
do not have to run around the globe in search
of a good product as far as hydraulics is con-
cerned. Our ultimate aim is to be the most admired
company in whichever business we are in,”
concluded Chatterjee.
2. Rockshaft control
valve test stand.
3. Industrial cylinders.
2 3
Training school
Eaton India hydraulics business also runs a
Hydraulic Training School out of Pune. It of-
fers customers, distributors and employees
opportunities to learn basic and advanced
hydraulics both for mobile and stationery ap-
plications in areas of agriculture, construc-
tions, material handling, machine tools, dis-
crete manufacturing, steel and power plant,
oil and gas, alternative energy etc. The entire
curriculum is focused around hydraulics and
offers industry-specific courses and prod-
ucts. The school trains and certifies people
interested in the field of hydraulics to handle
Eaton hydraulics components, products,
systems and solutions.
“We have received the
Silver Safety Award
from the President for
not having a single
accident on record for
more than 1000 days.”
– Ashutosh Nadgauda,
general manager,
operations, Eaton Fluid
Power, Hydraulics
Group