“Logistics industry and especially warehousing segment have grown significantly in the last few years which has given boost to the PEB technology,” says D. Raju, Vice President, Kirby International

Kirby India is one of the leading players in the PEB segment. What is your current position in this business?
Kirby India is a leading player in the Indian PEB market with a market share of over 30 per cent. It has over 27 sales offices and a network of more than 100 certified builders. The company has served over 4,500 customers with more than 15,000 buildings spread over an area of 20 million sq.m. since its inception. Kirby India has the privilege of partnering who’s who of corporates both from national and international front operating across all industry segments. The company has always been in the forefront of innovation by investing in new production technologies and evaluating the performance through continuous product development. Integrating the company’s strength and expertise along with innovation has helped us lead the Indian PEB market.

What are the products and solutions you offer for warehousing segment?
Logistics industry and especially warehousing segment have grown significantly in the last few years which has given boost to the PEB technology. FDI in retail has also increased thedemand for proper supply chain management which is further giving boost to the logistics industry. Setting up of warehouses and supermarkets across the country has increased as most of them are giving preference to metal buildings over conventional one. Kirby India is a leading player in the warehousing segment and has already completed many such projects across India. Currently, more than 80 per cent of the warehouses are built using PEB and the segment is witnessing an increasing demand. Warehouses are increasingly addressing specific requirements for its customers such as offering bare storage, storage with crane facilities, food storage, storage with multi-level stacking and open storage.

Kirby India provides a package solution for these types of requirements with its new concept of rack supported warehouses based on the end use at warehouse. We are the only player to offer such packaged requirement and have already supplied such buildings to leading logistic companies.

How to select the right roofing materials for warehousing?
Kirby has its own roofing systems that are provided with the building as a total solution. There are two types of roofing systems, KR (Kirby Roof) and KSS-600 (Kirby Standing Seam Panel System), which are Kirby’s proprietary roofing systems. The KR system is profiled at our factory as per the standards developed by the company. Metallic plain or colour-coated profiled steel sheets are used as roof sheeting. The steel sheets are generally made from zincalume or galvalume coils in thickness range of 0.47 mm to 0.55 mm and are of 550 MPa. These various colour coatings on the base steel with galvanised or zinc aluminium coating provides suitable resistance for various kinds of environment hazards. Metal roofing profiles can be manufactured to any length but they are usually limited to 12 metres for transportation constraints.

KSS-600 with double lock standing seam ends, eliminates the risk of roof leakage at fasteners and side and end laps due to the concealed fastening system and provides excellent protection in all weather conditions. It assures consistent weather tightness with virtually maintenance free performance for many years. The profiling of KSS-600 roofing systems is carried out at the site itself with no limit in lengths. Roll forming machines have been developed which permit rolling at the eaves level so that even the task of lifting and shifting the rolled profiles can be avoided.

KSS-600 profile has gained popularity with many clients, consultants, architects and contracting companies since its introduction. In order to upgrade the product and to ensure that itscustomers get the most reliable systems of international standards, Kirby India tested its standing seam roofing system at FM Global Laboratories at Boston, USA which is anindependent third party testing facility of world repute.

Kirby’s standing seam roofs were tested to check the wind uplift resistance by wind tunnel testing. The KSS-600 roofing system received a 90 psf rating approval from FM Global. Thisensures that Kirby’s roofing systems are safe and can withstand very high uplift pressures in extreme weather conditions. Kirby is the first PEB manufacturer in India having its roofingsystem certified by FM Global.

Acceptance of PEB among the Indian corporates is still moderate in compared to developed countries. Why is it so?
One of the main challenges faced by the PEB industry in India include acceptance among the Indian corporates which is still moderate when compared to developed economies. But in the last decade there has been increased acceptance of PEB due to rapidly expanding industrialisation in the country. The changing market environment has led to an increase in shift towards more advanced technologies with one of them being PEB due to increasing demand from customers for faster project completion which in turn will give faster return on their investment. Thus, usage of PEB is definitely expected to increase across the country and the industry is expected to catch the growth curve in coming years.

How does Kirby fare in such a challenging scenario?
In the developed markets, PEB is already being used for low rise structures (G+5) such as offices, hospitals, retail malls, housing and resorts whereas in India, PEB is yet to venture in these areas. For instance, over the past five years, Kirby India has made technical improvements in its product, construction time, aesthetic efficiency, etc.

Apart from the functional requirements, the company has incorporated curved roof panels, wall claddings, flashings, aluco-bond panels and many such features to improve the aesthetics of the building as the industry is witnessing a new trend with demand for structures that are different in nature in all aspects. The company has already constructed many low-rise structures and has also successfully ventured into many unexplored territories like power plants, bridge girders, shipyards, offices, commercial buildings, residential buildings,multiplexes, multi-level car parking structures, and airport terminal buildings.