P&S Group Promoter Subramanian

The Man With the 'Golden' Touch

GKS pioneered the concept of direct gold plating on stainless steel
without any under coat, and set up the first gold plating unit in India.
This year, he was adjudged the Best Entrepreneur …in the SME category.

Imitation is the best form of flattery. Especially, when you're talking about something as precious as gold. See the glittering domes in the famous Iskcon temple in Bangalore? Yes, they look like they are all made of gold. But no, they aren't. It's actually gold plating, an art, perfected to a science by the P&S Group.

P&S Group Promoter and KASSIA Member Sri G.K. Subramanian has taken gold plating to dizzying heights, capturing even the international market by storm. His company exports a dazzling variety of imitation jewellery and fashion jewellery products to countries such as USA, Latin America, France, Africa and the European Union. People from these countries vouch for the company's master class craftsmanship, latest world class designs, including customized designs for bulk orders, range and quality of their imitation jewellery.

World-class Products
The fashion jewellery that are a rage overseas range from bangles - popular in the European Union as Slip-ons or closed-end bracelets, beaded bracelets, solid link bracelets for both men and women, tennis bracelets, and filigree bracelets, to neck chains, anklets, ear drops and finger rings.

While the company has a hard earned reputation for plating of precious metals, it is equally competent in the manufacture of latest designs of imitation/fashion jewelry. "Our designs are comparable to the best in the world and we keep abreast of the latest designs ruling the fashion world. We have a team of competent professionals in our design studio continuously striving for new designs that are in line with international trends," says Sri Subramanian.

Pioneer of gold plating
A technocrat with over 25 years of experience in the field of gold plating, GKS pioneered the concept of direct gold plating on stainless steel without any under coat. Sri Subramanian was the first to set up a gold plating unit in India.

Gifted with a creative bent of mind, he nurtured many a innovation in his company, from direct gold plating on stainless steel in 1984, formulation of nickel palladium plating in 1989, gold recovery and refining technologies in 1990, automatic equipment for gold salt production in 1993, hard alloy gold plating process (Gee Clad) in 1995, ED painting technology for automobile parts and components in 1998, hollow light-weight jewellery through gold electroforming in 2001, dental electroform to produce hard gold dental caps in 2005 and hyd-embrittlement free coatings for critical auto component in 2005.

Not surprisingly, he has won several encomiums along the way, such as the national award for technology development from the Government of India for developing direct gold plating on stainless steel in 1990-91, another award in 1993 for the best industrial metal finisher, 'Technocrat of the Year 2001' from the Horological Industry Magazine Trade Post and award for excellence from the Peenya Industries Association in 2003. Apart from that, his company has also bagged merit certificates from the Government of India for excellent export growth in fashion, certificates for jewellery for the years 2000-2001, 2001- 2002 and Central Government's recognition for outstanding national export performance for the years 2003-2004, 2004-2005. This year, Sri Subramanian was adjudged the Best Entrepreneur by Canara Bank in the small scale industries and medium enterprises category.

Innovative R&D
At P&S, Innovations are the central theme of its corporate policy. And the company's motto is "Right, First Time". It is obsessed with Quality and timely delivery of gold plated products, an attribute endorsed by its ever growing clientele. In pursuance of its Quality First Policy, the company has been accredited with the ISO 9002 certification by KEMA of Netherlands.

"Our highly skilled and innovative R & D team is well equipped to accept any challenge in the field of plating, which is not only cost effective but superior to any other world-class manufacturer," says Sri Subramanian. The company's R&D unit has played a great role in achieving the best results in the field of plating technology. It has developed a new process namely Gee Clad 2000 as an alternate for Ion Plating. This process imparts a very high degree of hardness to the components and offers exceptional wear resistance with a very low thickness of Gold.

The company's state-of-the-art-facility undertakes precious metal plating on optical frames, watch parts, fashion jewellery, decorative components, electrical and electronic components and handicrafts items. It also specializes in nickel-free plating for the overseas market. The company's plating equipment facilitates control of deposition even up to 1 mg and can achieve uniform deposition throughout all areas of the component. Latest testing facilities are available to test the chara cteristics of plating, such as X Ray Fluorescence thickness tester, foil thickness tester 0.05 microns accuracy, synthetic sweat test, porosity/corrosion resistant test, tumbling test for abrasion and wear resistance, thermal shock test for adhesion and atomic absorption spectro photometer for material analysis.

Turnkey projects
The company undertakes turnkey projects for establishment of gold plating on items like watch parts, spectacle frames, fashion jewelry writing implements, lighters and any other customer specific req uirements, ranging from design and supply of equipments, supply of all necessary process chemicals, commissioning and establishment of the process and training of personnel & maintenance of the equipment and baths for a pre-determined period. It also undertakes consultancy services for precious metal refining, purification and conversion into various chemicals, and trouble shooting of precious metal plating.

At a sprightly fifty three years of age, GKS is today a shining exemplar in the field of gold plating and metal surface finishing. Given his humble beginnings, he never dreamt that success would shine on him like …gold. But it wasn't easy though. As a first generation entrepreneur, armed with nothing but a degree in chemistry, he took the plunge with a "fanciful" dream of making gold jewellery and gold gifts that would be affordable by all. Today, Sri Subramanian presides over a group that has a 'golden' reputation for making world class precious metal products and metal surface finishing processes, and is the proprietor of P&S Galvasols, partner of P&S GoldClads and director of Phorotech Surfin India (P) Ltd, and Plasma Gold Coating (P) Ltd.