Our Milestones through the years

Filter the events by entering relevant years below. The start year should be 1954 or after.

1938 to 2024
1938 - 1938
  • Murugappa Ajax Furniture Company in established in 1938

1954 - 1954
  • CUMI Established - CUMI started its voyage in 1954 as a tripartite venture between Carborundum of the USA, Universal Grinding Wheel, UK and the Murugappa Group, India

1964 - 1965
  • The Electro Minerals Division of CUMI, also known as CUMI Minerals, started as a supportive division to its Captive units – Abrasives & Super Refractories. Its supreme manufacturing facilities are strategically located in the Indian states of Kerala and Gujrat, leveraging maximum advantages of raw material availability, power costs, closeness to customers, logistic facilities and most importantly, availability of a large well trained work force.

    In The year 1965 CUMI started The Bauxite Mines and Calcination plant in Okha, Gujarat. This secured the Raw Material needs for Brown Fused Alumina manufacturing and even today continues to suffice the Bauxite requirements of CUMI.

  • The journey started in the year 1964, when CUMI Minerals commissioning its Brown Fused Alumina Plant at Kalamassery, Cochin. The very next year, CUMI spread its productive presence across India with a different perspective and advance technology added with maximum facilities.

1974 - 1974
  • Acquired Eastern Abrasives to address the market for woodworking with the manufacturing of flint paper sheets. Commissioned a greenfield facility in Hosur to manufacture vitrified and resin-bonded wheels for the engineering sector.

1984 - 1988
  • CUMI Minerals set forth its journey into non-oxide minerals. The Kerala Village Koratty at Thrissur witnessed the flourishing of a novel production unit of Silicon Carbide in 1984.

    Quick to realize the vast applications of SiC micro grits CUMI commissioned The SiC Micro Grit Plant at Koratty in 1988.

  • Invested in Wendt India, a manufacturer of diamond and vitrified cubic boron nitride abrasives and a machine tool builder, addressing a growing market for high precision and high productivity grinding needs of the auto component industry.

1992 - 1994
  • Apart from Bauxite, power is a key input in the manufacturing of CUMI Minerals. To secure this, CUMI Started the Hydro Electric Plant in Kerala at Maniyar near Pathanamthitta in the year 1994. This was another landmark which was a great support to its energy intensive units and today caters to more than 30% of the power requirements of the captive power requirements.

  • Knowledge in fusion helped the expansion into White Fused Alumina and Fused Mullite. In 1992, CUMI started White Fused Alumina Plant with a Tilt Furnace at Kalamassery.

    Acquired Sterling Abrasives (Ahmedabad), a manufacturer focused on the rice polishing and agro-processing segment.

1996 - 1996
  • Acquired and merged CUTFAST Abrasives (Chennai) that widened the coated abrasives product range, metalworking and auto-after applications.

1999 - 1999
  • Made the first overseas foray through an alliance with Cincinnati Milacron, USA. Set up CUMI America to service customers in the Midwest through products made in India.

2004 - 2006
  • Micro Grit Plant in Koratty was modernized in 2004 to enhance quality controls and product deliverables. Our most promising plant, the AzureS (Sol-Gel) Plant was commissioned in 2006 at Kalamassery.

    This plant today competes at a global level with leading players as a preferred product for both Bonded & Coated applications.

  • Set up CUMI Canada to expand the coated abrasives business in North America. Closed in 2009

2007 - 2008
  • Commissioned a Sriperumbudur plant to produce 15 Million square meters of coated abrasives (capacity doubled in 2020). Acquired Volzhsky Abrasive Works in Russia that provided access to large capacities in vitrified and resin-bonded grinding wheels and Russian and CIS markets.

    VAW is the 2nd largest manufacturer of SiC in the world and this put CUMI in the global arena of mineral players. CUMI then made its second global acquisition into the strategic materials of Zirconia with the acquisition of Foskor, Zirconia in South Africa in 2008. With this, CUMI added the Calcia Stabilised Zirconia & Monoclinic Zirconia products to widen its offering to the refractory market. 2008 was one another remarkable year which witnessed the initiation of the Treatments Plant at Kalamassery.

  • Global Expansion of EMD came about with the acquisition of the Russian Unit, Volzhsky Abrasive Works in 2007.

    CUMI Minerals today offers a wide variety of treated grains including – heat treated, blue fired, Red oxide or CC, High Temperature Ceramic Coating, Silane & also Chemical Coatings.

2010 - 2013
  • To meet the demand of micro products Microgrit plant at Kochi has been started in 2010. This plant support the export volume of micro ranges.

  • In 2013 CUMI started the Alumina Zirconia Plant at Kalamssery. A dedicated work force helped develop the entire manufacturing process from scratch that includes developing product compositions and specialized equipments that can sustain the rigorously demanding zirconia production processes. The plant today serves its produce to various abrasive, refractory and other wear resistance applications across the world.

2016 - 2016
  • To meet the demand of micro products Microgrit plant at Kochi has been started in 2010. This plant support the export volume of micro ranges.

  • In 2013 CUMI started the Alumina Zirconia Plant at Kalamssery. A dedicated work force helped develop the entire manufacturing process from scratch that includes developing product compositions and specialized equipments that can sustain the rigorously demanding zirconia production processes. The plant today serves its produce to various abrasive, refractory and other wear resistance applications across the world.

2022 - 2022
  • Acquired main assets of Awuko Abrasives in Germany, an established and wellknown manufacturer of wide belts for the leather and MDF/ plywood industry. Acquired RHODIUS Abrasives in Germany, a leading player in cutting and grinding wheels respected for innovation and product technology.

2024 - 2024
  • Acquired the assets, technology and brand of DRONCO in Germany