Why High Alumina Bricks Are So Much Favoured By User Industries?

High alumina bricks contain aluminum oxide and traces of several other materials. Their refractoriness – ability to withstand extreme heat conditions – increases with an increase in alumina percentage. This means the more alumina you put into a brick, the more heat resistant it becomes. However, more alumina also means the cost of the bricks would increase.

Alumina – the oxide - offers incredible benefits like hardness, strength and spalling resistance. The oxide is insoluble in water and super-heated steam, and in most inorganic acids and alkalis.

High alumina bricks are most commonly used in cement, lime and ceramic kilns, hearth & shaft of blast furnaces, and in lead drossing furnaces. The experts say high alumina bricks carry the all-purpose characteristics of fire clay bricks into higher heat conditions, making them fit for lining the furnaces operating up to 3350°F.

High alumina bricks can be segregated as mullite refractories and corundum refractories. Mullite refractories contain 72 per cent alumina and 28 per cent silica. Corundum, on the other hand, contains 99 per cent alumina!

Besides alumina refractories, a typical refractory plant produces fire clay bricks, castables, ramming masses & mortars, and gunning mixes. Steel, glass, non-ferrous, and aluminum are among the top consumers of refractories products in the world.

Nearly a Third of India's Top Companies Under Debt-Stress

The depressing economic conditions have jolted a number of top performing companies in India. As a rough estimate, nearly a third of India's top companies are seeing their profits dipping, and debts rising like never before. In good times, these Indian top companies had launched aggressive growth plans, mainly funded through debts, hoping the demand growth would remain robust in the coming years. It didn't.

Unfortunately, things didn't go their way. And that pushed these companies deep down into debts; many of these companies are now either financially insolvent or on the verge of it. And they can't even use equity market to raise capital to ease their sufferings. These companies are finding themselves in a spiral of plummeting profits, increasing liabilities and shrinking markets. The economic slowdown has clearly taken a heavy toll on the financial performance of these companies.

However, many industry insiders say there is nothing much to worry about. The situation like this is pretty normal in an economic downturn. They are quite optimistic about these companies getting back to the normal track. And the projects - that were started when the economy was doing good – are likely to pay back sufficient to cover debt servicing. But all this remains to be seen. Till then we can only keep our fingers crossed and wait.

Mission Everest – A Promise To Keep Growing On Every Dimension

Mount Everest is the highest peak in the world; and, this peak grows every year! This means every time you go up, you have something more to explore. There is no stopping for this peak. If you look a little deeper, you'll realize that there is so much that we can learn from the Mount Everest, and the fact that this peak grows every year.

Organisations should also have a mission, which we may call, "Mission Everest", to grow on every dimension, every year, in fact, every day.

Dalmia Bharat is one of the leading companies in India, with strong presence in sugar, cement, refractories, and power. It's a large conglomerate, which too has its Mission Everest; which fires the imagination of every member of Dalmia Bharat to learn something new every day, and grow on every possible dimension.

It's this mission that helps an organisation realize that business is more than profits; that business is also about achievement, learning, contributing, growing, and amazing the world.

You'll always see leading companies in India thinking beyond the obvious; they are always up to something new; and, they love the challenges. They know there is still a lot to learn, to grow. This is what makes them the best in their markets.

Think about your "Mission Everest."

For more about Dalmia Bharat Group, click here, http://www.dalmiabharat.com/

Let's Find Out What Goes On In The Minds Of Young Entrepreneurs Of India

An entrepreneur is by nature inquisitive and comes out with solutions for people's everyday problems. So, be it the Bangalore based entrepreneurs, who spotted the problem of college students not having time to wash their clothing and shoes, and thus, came out with a laundry service, or a genius like Puneet Dalmia, who gave birth to JobsAhead.com, which was later acquired by Monster.com. The breed of young entrepreneurs of India is always restless and up to one thing or another. He now heads the 7000 crore plus business empire of Dalmia Bharat Group.

An entrepreneur looks at the world from an altogether different perspective; he/she spots the issues that common people grapple with every day, and then finds a solution for them.

Entrepreneurs often start out without having a 100-page business plan; they start out with an ‘Idea', and learn the secrets of the trade on the way. While most of us wait for all lights to go green, they just start out with their passion and vision.

It's not that they always succeed with their start-ups. A lot of these businesses die within 5 years of their inception, due to lack of sufficient working capital. But, as they say, challenges are not there to put you down, they are there to make you realize who you are.

So, go ahead, and put your idea to action.

Dalmia Bharat Group – A Professionally Run Family Business That Is More About Values Than Profits

Dalmia Bharat Group's Story started in the pre-independence era; 1935 was the year of foundation. And, it was 1939 when the cement division of Dalmia was established. Right from the beginning, there were certain values, which became the foundation of this family business in India; those values are still very much held high by Puneet Dalmia, promoter, Dalmia Bharat Group.

The growth of this family business in India amazes. Headquartered in New Delhi, Dalmia Bharat Group, today, has its presence in sugar, cement, refractories, and power.

It's the first cement company in India with an 'R&D' lab of its own. Its power business not only meets the power requirements of Dalmia Bharat Cement and Dalmia Bharat Sugar, but also exports to the state grid. There are so many milestones that this business group has achieved in these 7 decades. Today, Dalmia Bharat Group has become a brand that millions trust upon! There won't be any exaggeration in saying that we have been the backbone of India's Infrastructure even before independence.

Keeping up with its decades old business values and a sense of responsibility towards the society, Dalmia Bharat Group not only runs various welfare programs for its employees and their families, but also for the villages in and around its plants in various states. Be it opening schools for the kids, or setting up training institutes to prepare the youth for the job markets, or educating the sugarcane growers on the latest farming methods, Dalmia Bharat Group has been doing it all for years.

For more on Dalmia Bharat Group's CSR activities, visit its website, http://www.dalmiabharat.com/index.php?act=cms&cat_id=4

So, How Do We Create Value For All Our Stakeholders At Dalmia Bharat Group?

No matter which sector you operate into, the end objective should be to create value for all involved. At Dalmia Bharat Group, we achieve this objective by sticking to the values that have guided us through thick and thin. These values not only help us keep focused and grounded in the present, but also, in some way, prepare us for the endless opportunities that lie in the future.

Our four core values are:

• Learning

• Team Work

• Speed

• Excellence

Interestingly, we've also developed an acronym by picking up letters from each of the values; the acronym is, LET's EXCEL.

When we look back, we amaze how many decades have passed since we started our journey in the pre-independence years. A lot has changed and evolved since those days. The only thing that, however, didn't change with the passage of time is our belief in 'value creation' for all our stakeholders. Be it a dealer in South India, a supplier in North, an employee, shareholder, business partners, or customers, we have strengthened ourselves along with the quantifiable growth for all our stakeholders.

Today, we're one of the most-reputed brands in the Indian manufacturing sector. Be it cement manufacturing sector, sugar, refractories, or power, we've our presence in all these sectors, and are aggressively expanding.

At the core of everything that we do every day and what we've achieved till date lies our values, and commitment to 'value creation' for all involved in the Dalmia Family.

Dalmia Bharat Group – A Success Story of ‘Business and Ethics’

So, what does it take to rise above the rest, set standards for the industry, while still holding on to values and ethics? At Dalmia Bharat Group, we’ve been practicing this tough art for decades; our roots lie in pre-independence era, when Mr. Jaidayal Dalmia dreamt to make a difference to the world of business, and founded the company in 1935.

Today, Dalmia Bharat Group is a very renowned name in the business world, with its presence in sugar, cement, refractory, and power.

The group not only looks after the interests of its employees and their families, but also contributes to social good. Numerous programs have been launched by the group to better the lives of its employees, their families and all the stakeholders of Dalmia Bharat Group.

The initiatives by the group include running schools for the employees' children, providing scholarships to outstanding students, operating milk distribution schemes, and organizing various cultural activities, tournaments and employee engagement programs. Dalmia Bharat Group on its founder’s day takes up a cause for that day wherein all the 4000 + employees across locations from India contribute towards that cause. The group has won National Energy Conservation Award, Excellence in Water Management, Green Tech Environmental Excellence Award, CII-ITC Sustainability Award, and Excellence in HR among many others in the area.

Besides fulfilling its social responsibility, the group is also committed to sustainable development; every effort is taken to reduce carbon footprint on the planet by making the most of conservative resources, and exploring and exploiting the renewable energy resources. Dalmia Bharat Group is one the three cement companies in India to adopt the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) Charter.

This decades old commitment to employee welfare, social good and sustainable development is what truly makes Dalmia Bharat Group one of the most ethical companies in India.