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Total, a leading international oil and gas company, and the world’s second-ranked solar energy operator facilitates technical assistance and R&D in the areas of lubricants, special fluids, fuels additives and fuels at their Research Centre TCAP (Technical Centre Asia Pacific) in Mahape, Mumbai. The Research Centre caters to the entire Asia Pacific as well as the Middle East region and provides value added technical support to the partners and customers in the areas of product development, analysis, product training and field-testing.
Established in September 2012, TCAP is a major strategic advancement by Total to step up its activities in the entire Asia Pacific and Middle East region. The key functions of the Centre are as below:
- To develop adapted products and to provide technical support to key industrial customers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) according to their specific requirements in synergy with the main R&D center in Europe.
- To assess customer needs and provide solutions after thorough analysis and studies and adapt existing products through integration of local components when required.
- To organize technical training sessions for the customers.
In this Research Centre, one can find activities on Lubricants (Automotive, Transmission, Off-Road, Industry), Special Fluids (Hydrocarbon Solvents), and Fuel additives. TCAP is responsible for the evaluation and homologation of the Group I and Group II base oils for Total lubricants globally. It has become the global competence Research Centre within the R&D organization of TOTAL on various ranges of products such as Motorcycle oils, plasticizers, textile lubricants or Quenching oil. The Research Center has now gained a lot of recognition in formulating and developing lubricants that meet even the highly specialized demands of their industrial customers. In terms of Safety, Health, Environment and Quality (HSEQ) standards, TCAP is certified to ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 and BS OHSAS 18001:2007 for Quality, Environment and Occupational Health and Safety Management systems respectively.
Dilip Vaswani, Chairman and Managing Director of Total for South Asia said – ”TCAP will facilitate development of products that can meet the unique needs of customers to save costs, reduce downtime and improve performance; test products in simulated conditions in-house before they are used in actual conditions; and train customers on product selection, application, and best practices. At Total, we constantly aim to deepen our partnership with our customers and therefore TCAP will help us strengthen our base in the entire Asia Pacific and Middle East region.”
TCAP’s initial aim was to provide technical assistance to the product lines as well as scientific support to the subsidiaries and their customers in the APAC and Middle East region, however now it interlaces these technical skills and expertise in the areas of R&D as well. The Research Center carries out R&D work in different areas, including developing lubricants using local components, developing a new customized formulation, and improving the performance of an already existing lubricant.
The TCAP team consists of 30 highly skilled researchers and the technicians can conduct more than 150 tests and analyses with the help of some 100 scientific instruments. The Research Centre is fully equipped with all modern and cutting-edge equipment; the range includes both traditional as well as specialised equipment to perform various functions such as quality control, analysis and various tests. Recruitment of Engineers and Technicians is very selective and of high level. Most of the Engineers have PhD degrees and have international working experience. 90 % of the technicians have masters in science degrees while the others are engineering graduates.
Total Oil India Private Limited (TOIPL) is a part of TOTAL S.A. – started operations in India since 1993. In India, the company has growing presence in businesses namely lubricants for automotive and industrial applications, LPG for domestic and commercial applications, modified bitumen products, special fluids and solar managed through a team of over 600 employees. Total is committed to energy that is safer, cleaner, more efficient, more innovative and accessible to as many people as possible.
@EPC World Media Group
