“In aluminium extrusion, maintaining consistent thermal stability is essential to avoid product defects, de-stress, and increased rejection rates,” Soumo Roy, Director of Business Development at Tempcon

Soumo Roy is the Director of Business Development at Tempcon, where he leads global marketing initiatives and oversees end-to-end execution of industrial process cooling projects. An electrical engineer by qualification, he brings over 20 years of industry experience in delivering advanced cooling solutions for sectors such as steel, power, and mining.

Soumo has played a pivotal role in expanding Tempcon’s international presence by driving exports and ensuring the delivery of custom-engineered systems designed around each client's specific process, load, and operational requirements. His strategic approach and technical insight continue to position Tempcon as a trusted name in the process cooling industry across India, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

AL Circle: Congratulations on the successful delivery of a 250 TR water-cooled screw chiller with dual compressors to Hindalco Industries Ltd. Could you outline how effectively this unit cuts downtime and maximise energy efficiency?

Soumo Roy: Thank you. The 250 TR water-cooled screw chiller installed at Hindalco’s castor plant replaced their earlier cooling tower system, which was unable to maintain consistent temperature control—crucial for roller cooling.

Our chiller offers precise temperature regulation, ensuring consistent product quality and uninterrupted production. The dual-compressor system enables efficient operation across varying loads, significantly reducing energy consumption during part-load conditions. This results in 15–25 per cent energy savings compared to traditional systems and minimises unplanned downtime.

AL Circle: Please walk us through your 40-year journey in the industry, the legacy you've built over the decades, and how you plan to expand your business.

Soumo Roy: Tempcon began its journey over four decades ago with a mission to provide reliable, application-specific process cooling solutions for core industrial sectors such as aluminium, steel, power, and mining.

We have built a strong reputation across India and international markets through a diverse product portfolio that includes process chillers, oil chillers, panel air conditioners, crane cabin ACs, precision air conditioners, and dehumidifiers. Our focus has always been on engineering excellence, durability, and customisation based on customer requirements.

Currently, we supply extensively across India, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. To support our expansion into Europe and the U.S., we’ve already obtained CE certifications for all our products, ensuring full compliance with European safety standards. For the US market, we use UL-standard components in all our systems. These certifications are not just for export—they reflect our global quality benchmarks, with every Tempcon product tested accordingly.

We are now investing in R&D and export infrastructure to support our next phase of growth and to cater to global demand for energy-efficient and customised industrial cooling systems.

AL Circle: In an era where energy efficiency is the ultimate goal, has a high-performance industrial chiller become essential for modern aluminium plants? How much energy savings is possible in an aluminium extrusion plant with the installation of an industrial chiller?

Soumo Roy: Absolutely. In aluminium extrusion, maintaining consistent thermal stability is essential to avoid product defects, de-stress, and increased rejection rates.

By shifting from cooling towers or ambient systems to precision-engineered process chillers, plants can expect energy savings of 15-30 per cent, improved product consistency, faster cycle times, and reduced water consumption.

We also offer specially designed industrial air conditioners for aluminium extrusion environments, where most standard AC systems fail due to heavy dust and corrosive atmospheres. Our units are available in both air-cooled and water-cooled variants and feature nano-coated evaporators and condensers that can withstand corrosion up to 2–3 mm per year, making them ideal for long-term operation in harsh industrial settings.

AL Circle: Could you please give us an overview of the different types of chillers you offer, along with their key functions and benefits? Are all your chillers designed to meet the needs of aluminium plants, or do they require industry-specific customisation?

Soumo Roy: At Tempcon, we manufacture a comprehensive range of industrial cooling equipment tailored to diverse applications:

• Process Chillers (Air & Water-Cooled): For consistent cooling of production processes
• Oil Chillers: For spindle and hydraulic oil cooling
• Panel Air Conditioners: Prevent overheating of electrical panels in dusty and high-temperature areas
• Crane Cabin Air Conditioners: For operator cabins in hot zones such as rolling mills and smelters
• Dehumidifiers: Essential for controlling RH in sensitive production and storage areas
• Precision Air Conditioners: Maintain tight temperature and humidity control in critical environments
• Industrial Air Conditioners: Designed for tough industrial environments such as aluminium extrusion units, with nano-coated coils and robust enclosures

While we offer a standard range, most of our systems are customised based on the customer's industry, ambient conditions, thermal loads, space constraints, and compatibility requirements. Aluminium plants, in particular, require such tailored solutions, and Tempcon excels in delivering exactly that.

AL Circle: Which part of the world is your primary market for this product? Do you also serve the international markets, particularly Europe, where energy supply remains a challenge? In your view, can your chillers help extrusion plants in such regions overcome electricity shortages?

Soumo Roy: Our primary markets currently include India, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. In these regions, we’ve delivered customised cooling systems across a range of industries, including aluminium, steel, power, and chemicals.

We are actively working to establish a presence in Europe and the US markets. We already hold CE certifications for all our products and use UL-certified components across our systems, ensuring that our equipment meets the highest international standards for safety and performance.

In regions facing rising energy costs or electricity shortages, our chillers—equipped with load-adaptive controls and energy-optimised operation—can deliver stable performance while reducing power consumption. This makes them well-suited for extrusion plants seeking reliable, energy-saving cooling solutions in power-sensitive zones.

AL Circle: Could you share a few case studies where your chillers have helped prevent operational downtime by identifying temperature regulation issues in advance?

Soumo Roy: Certainly. At one aluminium extrusion plant, the customer was facing thermal shock in dies due to ambient temperature fluctuations. We installed a Tempcon process chiller with a programmable controller and alarm system that kept die temperature within a ±1°C range. This dramatically improved the surface finish and reduced rejection rates.

In another case, at a steel plant, our crane cabin AC units maintained a stable internal temperature in operator cabins located near smelting zones. This not only protected control systems from overheating but also improved operator efficiency and reduced downtime due to environmental stress on equipment.

AL Circle: Why is a chiller essential in an aluminium extrusion plant? Beyond preventing equipment downtime and enhancing energy efficiency, what additional benefits does it offer?

Soumo Roy: A chiller plays a central role in the aluminium extrusion process by ensuring precise and uniform temperature control for dies, rollers, and hydraulic oil. Without reliable cooling, production quality and machinery life are severely impacted.

In addition to reducing downtime and saving energy, chillers offer several other advantages:

• Improve surface finish and dimensional accuracy
• Increase machine and tool life
• Enable faster cycle times, improving plant throughput
• Support closed-loop water systems, reducing overall water usage
• Help meet environmental, process, and safety compliance standards

Tempcon also offers industrial air conditioners specifically engineered for the extrusion industry. These units withstand heavy dust, heat, and corrosion thanks to their nano-coated heat exchangers, making them a reliable choice where conventional ACs typically fail.

In short, a Tempcon chiller is not just a machine—it's a value-adding solution designed to enhance the entire extrusion process.