lightweighting the heavyweights

Fleetguard Filters is one of Asia’s leading manufacturers of heavy-duty industrial filters. The company is part of the international Cummins Group, founded in 1919 in Indiana, USA. Philip Yorke reports on the latest developments at Fleetguard India and its move away from metal assemblies to speciality plastics for its automotive oil and fuel filtration products.

Cummins began its operations in India in 1962 in a joint venture with the Kirloskar Group. Today the Cummins Group has a turnover of more than US$20.4 billion worldwide. Fleetguard Filters is an important affiliate of Cummins with a turnover in excess of $2.0 billion and around 10,000 employees in India. It is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) that supplies state-of-the-art products to the world’s leading automotive and industrial engine and equipment manufacturers. Fleetguard operates six modern manufacturing plants in India. These are strategically located at Hosur, Jamshedpur, Pune and Sitarganj. It also manufactures coolants and other chemical products for a broad range of industrial applications in the marine, agriculture, mining, construction and automotive sectors.

The Cummins Group conducts a significant proportion of its R&D in India at the Cummins Research and Technology Centre, established in Pune in 2003. Furthermore, it is building an advanced technical centre in Pune, which will house more than 2000 engineers. The Cummins operation in India has also made

significant contributions to local skills development by establishing the Cummins College of Engineering for Women, which is a woman-only engineering college that is also located in Pune.

lightweight solutions

Today’s oil and fuel filters have to operate in hot, mechanically challenging environments close to the engine with both internal and external exposure to aggressive oils and fuels, as well as vibration, and lowtemperature cold-start conditions. Metal has been traditionally used for the protective outer casings and fittings of filters. However, automotive OEMs are increasingly waking up to the possibilities of advanced resinbased materials that can fully replace metal ones. These new, hightech materials offer lighter weight with equal or better burst strength and impact, as well as improved resistance to temperature fluctuations and hazardous chemicals.

The metals to plastics trend has been successfully demonstrated by Cummins Fleetguard Filtration, which has developed a new generation of its well-known Fleetguard® User Friendly Filters (UFF) for the global light- and heavy-duty truck markets. The new resin polyamide casings are 50 per cent lighter than the traditional metal components, are easier to install and remove and are more resistant to dents and damage compared to metal filters. This is thanks to Fleetguard’s transition to outer shells and assemblies, enhanced by Dupont’s unique Zytel® polyamide resin.

The lightweighting, durability and cost saving benefits of this new raw material also extend to the outer shell and fittings of Fleetguard’s oil/water separator assemblies for large diesel service applications.

The company also selected Dupont’s Izne® anti-counterfeit label technology in order to authenticate its products and provide protection in the interests of both Fleetguard and its users.

What’s more, Fleetguard’s UFF filters benefit from an easy spin-on and take-off filter that provides easy disposal, reduced energy consumption and improved environmental protection.

embracing new technologies

As a market leader in the development and manufacture of heavy-duty filters for the commercial truck industry, Fleetgurad has always placed a high priority on new product development and the employment of the latest manufacturing technology. The company’s export sales continue to grow as a result of its innovative products and competitive pricing policy. In Europe, Fleetguard’s presence is being enhanced by its stateof-the-art products and advanced manufacturing processes.

Europe is one of Fleetguard’s most important export markets and it continues to work on new technologies in order to meet the latest, and most stringent EU emissions regulations. The company’s latest Plant in Pune covers more than 100,000 square metres and is producing sophisticated filtration products that contribute to the ‘zero emissions’ requirement of the EU.

In addition, it is fully automated and conforms to all relevant ISO certifications, including ISO 9000, ISO 14001 and others pertaining specifically to the automotive components industry. All the company’s R&D is handled in-house and it has its own advanced testing equipment and quality control facilities. Fleetguard also provides training programmes for its OEM customers.

Care for the environment is also an integral part of the company’s remit and culture and it is proud of its record when it comes to recycling and the saving of energy and waste water. Fleetguard uses solar panels extensively and also optimises the availability of natural sunlight whenever possible. Technology led

Fleetwood Filters is very much a technology-led company that is both flexible and dynamic, able to customise products and create innovative solutions and filtration systems for its customers.

Customisation is important, especially for its large European OEM car manufacturers such as Audi, where new models in their original form are not designed for use on Indian roads and their rough terrain. Therefore, Fleetguard customises the filtration products for any new models to suit the challenges of the Indian market. n For further details of Fleetguard Filters’ innovative products and customer services visit: www.fleetguard-filtrum.com