NEWBURYPORT, MA, USA – August 26, 2020 – Yesterday, Zampell and Somal Refractories of Ludhiana, India signed a cooperation agreement. The intent of this agreement is to provide an avenue for Zampell to expand its installation capabilities into the Asia marketplace and to give Somal opportunities to grow its products in Europe and beyond.
Somal Refractories can trace its history to 1880 and the construction of the first brick kiln in Northern India. It has since grown to be one of the largest refractory manufacturers in the region with the competitive advantage of being close to its raw material sources and many of the largest industrial customers in the area. From Zampell’s perspective, the most important component of the deal is that Somal identifies itself as a family company, now under the leadership of Gursimar Somal.
Brian Zampell remarked, “It’s been great getting to know Gursimar and hear his experiences growing up in a family business. It’s very similar to our story at Zampell. I think Somal is the right cultural fit for Zampell in taking our next steps towards investing in India as a huge industrial market for the future. It’s amazing to me that we got this agreement done despite the challenges of COVID-19, but it’s important that our customers and employees know we are still driving forward no matter what the challenges may be.”
Somal Refractories had initially intended to make contact with Zampell while Gursimar was studying for his MBA at Columbia University in New York City. Unfortunately, these plans we disrupted when his father, Guriqbal Singh Somal, was diagnosed with cancer and began treatment at Dana-Farber in Boston. When his father sadly passed away, Gursimar became Managing Director of Somal Refractories with the hope of continuing his father’s dream of making Somal a global refractory manufacturer. The future is bright for Somal Refractories given that India projects to be producing 300million tons of steel by 2030, up from 111million tons in 2019, creating a massive refractory demand in steel alone. The other industries in the area include power, cement, petrochemical, and fertilizer, which are all also projected to grow.
The next step of the agreement will be to identify and target potential clients in India with marketing, sales, and technological capabilities to inform and promote this new collaboration. Outside of India, Zampell will also work with Somal to identify various product opportunities that can be imported and supplied into its operations, while also identifying other materials and technology partners who can jointly collaborate with supporting technologies from across Zampell’s global footprint.
“This agreement will serve as a perfect foundation for our future endeavours,” remarked Gursimar Somal upon its signing.
Zampell is a family business that is chiefly involved with the engineering and construction of refractories, insulation, scaffolding, coatings, and corrosion within the industrial and commercial sectors, and facilities management in all sectors. It was established in 1966 by Tom Zampell and continues to grow due to its core value of quality craftsmanship. Zampell is headquartered in Massachusetts and has branch offices in Maine, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Oregon, and California. Zampell also has a subsidiary, Zampell A/S, with locations in Jutland and Sjælland in Denmark, and subsidiaries Zampell Ltd. and Vulcan Refractories, Ltd. in the UK. It also operates a janitorial products company, Custodial Partners, in Massachusetts, and ZAR-Tech, a refractories distribution company with locations in Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, and California. For more information on the Zampell family of companies, please visit their website at www.zampell.com.