Block Making Machine

Name : Arjunbhai M. Paghdararjunbhai

District & State :  Junagadh, Gujarat

Category : Engineering

Award :   National

Award Function :   8th National Grassroots Innovation Awards

Award Year : 2015

Innovator Profile

 

arjunbhai-innScout: SRISTI

Manually block/ brick making is a very laborious and time consuming process where mostly women and children are employed as workers. Arjunbhai has developed a block making machine, which has mechanized the process and improved efficiency.

Background

Arjunbhai (52) was born in an affluent family with his late father being the Nagarpalika Pramukh of Keshod. His father was an administrator and a social worker and earned a lot of social capital for his work. Arjunbhai has two brothers and four sisters; all of them are married and settled. His mother lives with his younger brother who is into construction business. Arjunbhai and his younger son live together while his wife lives with his elder son and his family. The younger son is also in the business of brick making like Arjunbhai while the elder one is in construction business.

As a naughty and mischievous child, Arjunbhai used to get reprimanded by his teachers and parents alike for his acts of mischief and disobedience. He was keen on tinkering with anything he could lay his hands on. Not able to pass class 12, he dropped out and started the manufacturing of box strapping machine in 1984 with the help of his father and a partner. With no local competitor, his business grew significantly however as local manufacturers started making the machine, business slowed down. He moved to Ahmedabad and continued his business however eventually returned back to Keshod after a few years and settled there.

Arjunbhai is not only an innovator; he is also good in sketching and poetry. He recalls that in school when the teacher turned to the blackboard, he used to start sketching anything that came to his mind in his notebook. He has also sketched the portraits of his father, mother and uncles in pencil. Among other things, he has written a Gujarati poem where a person is complaining to God about the late rains with God replying back that it is a result of the misdeeds that man has done to nature. Apart from the brick/block making machine, he has also made a wood splitting machine, cow dung log & pot making machine and a mobile chabootra (bird feeding platform).

Genesis

During 2005-06 he purchased a JCB machine and two tractors trying to make foray into another sector. However, late payments, diesel theft by his staff, and the ban of stone digging at the Arabian Sea coast by the government, forced him to sell his machines and wrap up this business. But this short business stint was very useful as he learnt about hydraulics using his JCB machine, which led him to start working on a brick making machine in 2007. Brick making requires a number of labourers and much time. Generally women and children are employed in the brick making plant. The process includes breaking of soil lump manually by legs, mixing of soil, fly ash, lime and water and tightly packing the mixture in moulds. Sometimes, scarcity of labour and high demand of bricks creates operational problems. After a number of trials over a period of two years, and developing three versions of the machine, he could finally come up with the complete machine in 2009. He has been engaged in the business of making bricks and blocks using this machine ever since.

http://nif.org.in/innovation/brick-block-making-machine/788

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