Dr Ajay Ranka, Managing Director & CEO, Zydex IndustriesZydex Industries is trying to establish itself as a quality solution provider with practically no failures and a longer life-span. Says Dr Ajay Ranka, Managing Director & CEO, Zydex Industries, “Hopefully, as the stakeholders realise the importance of quality and longevity, the acceptance will follow. Currently in a noisy market, it is not easy to be heard – that is our major challenge. Technical servicing, customer connect and communicating effectively is going to be crucial and that is what we are focusing on. By 2020-21, we do see a good year emerging.” He shares more...Introduce us to your popular products.One of our breakthrough products in construction chemicals is the ‘Cold Bond’. Buildings develop cracks because of cold joints. When you construct intermittently, cold joints are caused between the old and newly cast part. That means there is a weak joint between one portion to another. And it is that interface of the two, the cold cement and the hot cement that generally cracks. We have a nano-polymer, which is reactive to sand and cement, and is as strong as cement concrete itself. Construction following the application of this polymer has reduced the opening up of the cold joints by 90 per cent and above. It can be used for ceilings, post plastering, post construction repair maintenance. The same technology platform for Cold Bond has been extended to tile adhesives. ‘Zycofix’, a Nano-polymer, is applied on the back of stones or tiles that can be fitted on as big as an 8 x 4 ft slab of granite, with a strong unbreakable bond. This technology, which comes in ultra-super and normal range, can be used right from kitchens all the way to external façades. When it comes to waterproofing, Zydex has penetrative silanes, which can penetrate the normal concrete such as M20- M25 up to 3-4 mm and dense concrete such as M35-M40 up to 2-3 mm. The Zycosil Nano-sealer can be injected in the crack to make the whole structure waterproof. It can then be sealed up with a sealant, like our water based sealant ‘Seal It’. This eliminates the membrane coating, and so, the entire surface remains breathable. With this technology, buildings become breathable and easy to repair. We also offer elastomeric membranes that are flexible and can elongate up to 600 per cent – this is huge! This is a major differentiator as we now have systems that can actually react with the cement surface.A key advantage of the Zydex Waterproofing system is that they not only penetrate the surface but also make it bondable on account of the polymeric component. Zydex offers a strongly bonded penetrative waterproof system, which is our USP.In the background of projects across various infra sectors, how do you see opportunities coming along for the company?Building infrastructure has already been discussed above. We have a huge technology development in the road sector. Zydex is one of the few companies that has invented and patented on a global scale, technologies which can make the basic stone aggregate itself waterproof and allow it to bond with the bitumen like a skin instead of a band aid. Our technology has been successfully able to convert the bitumen band aid into bitumen skin that eliminates potholes and the destruction of road due to monsoons. Our technology has been commercially adopted right from Peru, all the way to US, Europe and South East Asia, making it globally significant. Another breakthrough technology in the road area is the ability to take soil, murumand granular based material and convert it into stone like structure. These stone like structures are strong, flexible and semi-rigid. In addition to that you now have a base which is strong, bonded and waterproofed.The whole idea is to now build with this technology what we call climate resistant perpetual roads, which is what Zydex is a pioneer in.For airports, there are specialised runways and other infrastructures where Zydex plays an important part. Our technologies definitely add value in the construction and maintenance of highways, runways and so on, right from the base stabilisation all the way up.