Hindusthan National Glass & Industries Ltd (HNG) expects its fully-owned German branch, Agenda Glas - now renamed HNG Global - to break even this fiscal, and is also looking forward to enhancing capacity. HNG acquired Agenda Glas for 40M Euros in 2011. According to HNG's senior VP and CFO, L N Mandhana, an additional 12M/Euros was invested to remove bottle-necks and improve operational efficiencies at the German unit. "Following additional investments and improvements in operational efficiencies, we are hoping the German unit will break even by the end of this fiscal," Mandhana said, adding: "Increasing production and reducing the reject ratio was high on the agenda of the new HNG-led management. After the takeover, HNG reduced rejects from as much as 40% down to 23-24%, aiming to restrict damages within 10%." The company also streamlined logistics operations by moving warehouses from rented premises to company-owned facilities, closer to the factory, also focusing on reducing contingencies such as hotel bills and transportation. "The existing plant has a 320/tpd furnace. We might add one more of similar capacity at the existing location at an expected cost of around 55M/Euros," he said.
