HD Fire Protect’s foam use fell while gas capacity idled

HD Fire Protect’s Foam Equipment & Suppression Systems utilisation fell to 63.40% in Fiscal 2026 from 90.98% in Fiscal 2024, although installed capacity remained 48,420 Equivalent Production Units. At the same Jalgaon facility, Gas Suppression recorded zero production against 1,550 EPUs of capacity in Fiscal 2026.

What happened to HD Fire Protect’s foam use?

HD Fire Protect’s foam use declined because Foam Equipment & Suppression Systems production dropped after Fiscal 2025 while installed capacity did not change. Utilisation was 90.98% in Fiscal 2024, 84.94% in Fiscal 2025 and 63.40% in Fiscal 2026, a 27.58-percentage-point fall over two fiscal years. The installed capacity was 48,420 Equivalent Production Units, or EPUs, in each of the three fiscal years.

Actual production in the foam category increased from 29,528 EPUs in Fiscal 2024 to 41,129 EPUs in Fiscal 2025, before declining to 30,659 EPUs in Fiscal 2026. Since the capacity denominator was unchanged, the Fiscal 2026 utilisation decline reflects lower output rather than an expansion of reported foam capacity. The company says product mix, customer requirements, raw-material availability, market conditions and production planning affect utilisation.

The three months ended June 30, 2026 showed a lower reported rate for the foam category. HD Fire Protect recorded 5,650 EPUs of production and 46.80% annualised utilisation against 48,420 EPUs of annualised installed capacity. The company specifically states that utilisation for the three-month period is annualised, so this percentage is not a completed fiscal-year measure.

Why was HD Fire Protect’s gas capacity idle?

HD Fire Protect’s Gas Suppression line was idle in Fiscal 2026, with zero reported production and 0.00% utilisation against installed capacity of 1,550 EPUs. The same category also recorded zero production and 0.00% annualised utilisation in the three months ended June 30, 2026. The disclosure does not identify a product-specific reason for the absence of output.

The zero-output result followed declining use in the preceding two fiscal years. Gas Suppression produced 1,116 EPUs in Fiscal 2024, equating to 72.00% utilisation, and 847 EPUs in Fiscal 2025, equating to 54.65%. Capacity stayed at 1,550 EPUs across Fiscal 2024, Fiscal 2025 and Fiscal 2026, meaning the reported change was in production rather than installed capacity.

Gas Suppression is measured on a one-actual-unit-to-one-EPU basis. Foam Equipment & Suppression Systems use a mixed EPU methodology: bladder tanks in the specified 500-to-3,000 range count as one EPU, while other products in that category use one actual unit per EPU. The gas-suppression 0% result therefore represents no actual units produced under the company’s stated capacity measure.

Was lower use spread across the Jalgaon facility?

HD Fire Protect’s lower foam use was not shared by every Jalgaon category, as Deluxe, Valve, Deluxe Skids & Pre-Action Systems reached 80.90% utilisation in Fiscal 2026. That category produced 12,584 EPUs against capacity of 16,800 EPUs, compared with 78.02% in Fiscal 2025 and 66.48% in Fiscal 2024. The product-line data show that utilisation differed materially within the same facility.

The contrast is clearest between the 80.90% utilisation of the deluxe and valve-related category and the 0.00% rate for Gas Suppression in Fiscal 2026. Foam Equipment & Suppression Systems stood between those outcomes at 63.40%. HD Fire Protect therefore reported uneven production use across its three disclosed Jalgaon categories rather than a common movement for the facility.

HD Fire Protect operates two manufacturing facilities, in Thane and Jalgaon, Maharashtra, covering a combined 8.50 acres. Products made at its own facilities represented 63.49% of revenue from operations in Fiscal 2026, while contract-manufactured products represented 36.71%. A capacity table limited to internally manufactured categories consequently does not measure all products supplied by the company.

How are HD Fire Protect’s capacity rates calculated?

HD Fire Protect calculates annual utilisation by dividing actual production for the relevant fiscal year by aggregate installed capacity at the end of that fiscal year. Installed capacity as of March 31, 2024, March 31, 2025 and March 31, 2026 is presented on an annualised basis. For Fiscal 2026 foam equipment, the disclosed calculation compares 30,659 EPUs of output with 48,420 EPUs of capacity.

The company’s capacity assumptions include 300 working days in a fiscal year, 26 working days a month, eight working hours a day and up to four overtime hours when required. Its machine shop, fabrication and painting departments use two shifts, while assembly uses one shift; only selected machines are used in the second shift according to requirements. These assumptions determine the installed-capacity denominator rather than representing actual production in every period.

HD Fire Protect also says its production-capacity information considers actual monthly production, machinery and equipment set-up time, manufacturing wastage and product demand. The reported figures are based on internal production records, management explanations, operating periods, raw-material availability, unscheduled-breakdown downtime and expected operations. Capacity utilisation is therefore an operational measure that depends on demand, inputs and plant conditions as well as installed equipment.

What could keep HD Fire Protect’s foam use below capacity?

HD Fire Protect says lower-than-anticipated customer orders, order cancellations and changes in customer policies can lead to under-utilisation. The company makes production schedules, personnel and resource decisions using estimates of customer orders, and an error in those estimates can result in overproduction or under-use of capacity for a particular product. Sustained higher foam use would therefore require orders and production planning to align with the 48,420-EPU capacity base.

Raw-material availability is another disclosed condition for utilisation. HD Fire Protect maintains minimum inventories of raw materials and contract-manufactured goods for 45 to 90 days, while supplier quotations are generally valid for 45 days. Imported raw materials and contract-manufactured goods accounted for 37.11% of total purchases in the three months ended June 30, 2026, and China accounted for 24.98% of total purchases in that period.

Additional shifts are not presented as an automatic way to increase production. The company says expanding shift operations to more departments could reduce operational efficiency, increase maintenance downtime and put pressure on workforce productivity. HD Fire Protect also states that a shortage of raw materials could prevent optimum capacity utilisation and create operational inefficiencies affecting financial performance.

Conclusion

HD Fire Protect’s Fiscal 2026 disclosures show that foam use fell after output declined from 41,129 EPUs in Fiscal 2025 to 30,659 EPUs, while foam capacity remained 48,420 EPUs. The simultaneous 0.00% gas-suppression utilisation and 80.90% utilisation in the deluxe and valve-related category show that the operational pattern was product-specific within Jalgaon.

The next capacity disclosure will indicate whether the 46.80% annualised foam rate reported for the three months ended June 30, 2026 develops into a full-year outcome. HD Fire Protect identifies customer order volumes, cancellations, product demand, raw-material availability, downtime, production planning and shift operations as the factors that can determine future use of its Thane and Jalgaon facilities.