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Blue Star is India’s largest central air-conditioning company with an annual turnover of Rs 2270 crores, a network of 24 offices, 5 modern manufacturing facilities, 650 dealers and around 2500 employees. (figures as of 2008).
It fulfils the air-conditioning needs of a large number of corporate and commercial customers and has also established leadership in the field of commercial refrigeration equipment ranging from water coolers to cold storages. Blue Star’s other businesses include marketing and maintenance of hi-tech professional electronic and industrial products.
Blue Star has business alliances with world renowned technology leaders such as Rheem Mfg Co, USA; Hitachi, Japan; Eaton – Williams, UK; Thales e-Security Ltd., UK; Jeol, Japan; ISA, Italy and many others, to offer superior products and solutions to customers.
Blue Star was founded in 1943, by Mohan T Advani, an entrepreneur of exemplary vision and drive. The Company began as a modest 3-member team engaged in reconditioning of air-conditioners and refrigerators. Within three years, the Company secured the agency for US-based Melchoir Armstrong Dessau’s air-conditioning equipment. Shortly after, the Company was selected by Worthington, the US leader in air-conditioning, as its India based partner – these were the first of numerous foreign associations to follow.
An expanding Blue Star then ventured into the manufacture of ice candy machines and bottle coolers and also began the design and execution of central airconditioning projects. Then came the manufacture of water coolers. In 1949, the proprietorship company set its sights on bigger expansion, took on shareholders and became Blue Star Engineering Company Private Limited.
Ever since, there has been a constant and profitable growth. Blue Star diversified and took up agencies for Material Testing Machines and Business Machines. The export arena beckoned and the Company began exporting water coolers to Dubai, where in fact, ‘Blue Star’ soon became the generic name for water coolers.
The sixties and the early seventies witnessed Blue Star continuing to expand and thrive. Employee strength crossed the 1000 mark and the company went public in 1969 to become Blue Star Limited, as it continues to be called today.
In 1970, the Company took up the all-India distributorship of Hewlett-Packard products. As the Company’s reputation for delivering the goods in the most challenging of air-conditioning projects grew steadily, the early seventies saw a series of prestigious projects being entrusted to Blue Star – skyscrapers such as Air India Building, Express Towers, the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai, apart from several others. Revenues touched the Rs. 10-crore mark and staff strength doubled to exceed 2000.
The Company began building determinedly upon its existing overseas presence, Blue Star set up a joint venture with Al Shirawi in Dubai and went on to execute some outstanding projects in Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. To complement its air-conditioning projects and undertake turnkey industrial projects, an Industrial Division was set up in 1978.
In 1983 Blue Star set up a software export unit at Seepz, Mumbai. Then came associations with more global leaders – a collaboration with York International of USA for central air-conditioning equipment and joint ventures with Motorola and Yokogawa.
An advanced manufacturing facility was set up at Dadra in 1997, in technical collaboration with Rheem, USA, to enhance manufacturing competency. Today it bears the distinction of being regarded as the best such plant India-wide. The dealer network was strengthened and expanded to bring products within easy reach of every customer.
In the year 2000 the software unit was spun off into a separate company, Blue Star Infotech Ltd., while the export of air-conditioning products from the Dadra factory began and contract manufacturing for local and foreign brands commenced. Blue Star crossed the Rs.500 crore milestone in 2000 and the Rs.600 crore milestone in 2002-03. With the boom in construction activity and increased infrastructure investments, the Company leveraged its leadership position to grow aggressively. In the following three years, the Company nearly doubled its turnover, clocking Rs 1178 crores in 2005-06.
The Company has manufacturing facilities at Thane, Dadra, Bharuch, Himachal and Wada which use state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment to ensure that the products have consistent quality and reliability.
Blue Star primarily focuses on the corporate and commercial markets. These include institutional, industrial and government organizations as well as commercial establishments such as showrooms, restaurants, banks, hospitals, theatres, shopping malls and boutiques. In accordance with the nature of products and markets, business drivers, and competitive positioning, the lines of business of Blue Star can be segmented as follows:
Electro Mechanical Projects And Packaged Air-conditioning Systems
This comprises central and packaged air-conditioning as well as electrical projects. The central and packaged air-conditioning business involves design, engineering, manufacturing, installation, commissioning and support of large central air-conditioning plants, packaged air-conditioners and ducted split airconditioners. In addition to this, Blue Star promotes after-sales service as a business, by offering several value added services in the areas of upgrades and enhancements, air management, water management, energy management and LEED certification consultancy for Green Buildings.
The Company also executes building electrification contracting projects and offers expertise in the areas of electrical design and engineering, supply and installation of entire power systems as well as liasioning, approvals, commissioning and asset management.
Cooling Products
Blue Star offers a wide range of contemporary window and split airconditioners. The Company also manufactures and markets a comprehensive range of commercial refrigeration products and services that cater to the industrial, commercial and hospitality sectors. These include water coolers, bottled water dispensers, deep freezers, cold storages, bottle coolers, ice cube machines and supermarket refrigeration products.
Professional Electronics And Industrial Systems
For over five decades, the Electronics Division has been the exclusive distributor in India for many internationally renowned manufacturers of hi-tech professional electronic equipment and services, as well as industrial products and systems. The Company has carved out profitable niches for itself in most of the specialized markets it operates in, such as analytical instruments, medical electronics, data communication products, material testing, and test and measuring instruments.
Corporate Office:
Blue Star Limited,
Kasturi Building,
Mohan T. Advani Chowk,
Jamshedji Tata Road,
Mumbai – 400 020
India
Tel: +91-22-66654000
Fax: +91-22-66654151
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