Auto Monitor - 16-31 July 2011 by Infomedia18

I N D I A ’ S N O . 1 M A G A Z I N E F O R A U T O M O T I V E N E W S , V I E W S & A N A LY S I S

Auto Monitor Vol. 11 No. 13

www. amo n l i n e . i n

16-31 July 2011

INTERVIEW EFFICIENCY DRIVES TYRE OUTSOURCING FOR US Arnab Banerjee, Executive Director, Ceat

Pg 08

NORTH-INDIA SPECIAL Pg 16-36

Profitability Performance

(` Bn)

` 50

(%)

120 110 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

16 14 12 10 08 06 04 02 0 Q1

2009-10 Net sales (LHS)

2010-11 Op margins (RHS)

Net margins (RHS)

AUTOMOBILES Q1 2011-12: REVENUE GROWTH SLOWS DOWN, MARGIN PRESSURE INCREASES Pg 14

Carmakers strategise with revised marketing, new variants

Ashok Leyland, Krishnapatnam Port enter into partnership

Nabeel A Khan New Delhi

A A

shok Leyla nd a nd K r ish napat na m Por t Company (KPCL) recently entered into an agreement for inter-carting operations at the port. ALL will provide 85 U-Trucks to KPCL, for all its inter-carting operations. The current arrangement is for the new generation trucks which are on Annual Maintenance Contract and covered by Allcover, Ashok Leyland’s exclusive service product.

Fiat appoints Enrico Atanasio as SVP

iat India Automobiles has appointed Enrico Atanasio as the Senior Vice President, C om merc i a l O per at ion s. Atanasio will provide strategic leadership for all aspects of commercial operations, which include growth through product innovation, network excellence and developing the Fiat brand in alliance with the company’s mission.

fter recording a dip in sales due to the continuous rise in fuel prices, interest rates and input costs, carmakers are unanimously relying on updating their marketing strategy and f looding customers with new offers in order to sail across the tough tide. A good number of car makers are contemplating on maximising local content. The industry experts also felt that these preparations would push the growth better than that was projected by the Society for Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). “The schemes and introduction of new models should continue to excite the market and keep the interest of the customers. The updated marketing strategy and schemes are very good factors for the recovery in the sales growth,” said Leader, Automotive Practice, PwC India, Abdul Majeed. Toyota recently launched two new models–Corolla Altis and Etios Liva. The waiting period for the Etios will be now three-four weeks from few months earlier. “We will continue to launch new

Illustration: Akmal B Rahman

NEWS IN BRIEF

variants to keep the excitement in the market”, Deputy MD, Toyota Kirloskar Motors, Sandeep Singh said. The Japanese car maker does not seem to be deterred and continues to be bullish. It plans to ramp up production in India to 210,000 vehicles by 2012, from the 96,000 units in 2010. It also plans to boost capacity by transferring production of the Corolla sedan by the middle of next year from plant one to the second plant, which began operations at the end of last year. Toyota is also increasing its production capacity of second plant from 70,000 units to 120,000 in the next calendar year. From new entrants to the seasoned carmakers, all are gearing up to offer maximum number of

Domestic Sales Sector

May-10

May-11

Change

190,646

206,194

8.16%

48,479

56,314

16.16%

33,140

35,991

8.60%

936,555

1,792,202

91.36%

TOTAL

1,208,820

2,090,701

72.95%

Sector

May-10

PV CV 3W

Exports May-11

Change

33,175

34,286

3.35%

4,843

7,467

54.18%

19,919

32,357

62.44%

121,218

159,663

31.72%

TOTAL

179,155

233,773

30.49%

variants in each segment to spike up the sales. The leading carmaker Maruti Suzuki has a l ready launched its new variant of SX4 diesel and contemplating new variant of Swift and other hatch back variants. Renault India, which made its fi rst solo entry to India with the launch of its sedan—Fluence is expecting a positive trend and is ready to add at more models. Other major player—Hyundai has introduced a variant of Verna. Skoda and other GM group are also following suit. All the major OEMs are either contemplating on increasing localisation to be more competitive in the Indian market. “In the next three years we are increasing localisation by 60 percent in all our five models to be introduced in India in two years,” Deputy MD Renault India Sudhir Rao said. Abdul Majeed opined, “I think localisation is an important strategy for the OEMs because I firmly believe that it cannot import for long and keep importing because

the currency is going to be difficult to predict. The best mantra for the manufacturer is to go into localisation mode.” In a move to up localisation Honda Siel Cars India has recently signed with number Indian suppliers for its vehicles including the much awaited small car Brio. The car manufacturers have armed itself with innovative and updated marketing strategy. We have a better packaged value for the customer, like presales fitting of accessories in the vehicle, offering good exchange bonuses or offering fi nancing options. I think, at this point of time, we should offer greater value to customers,” said Chief General Manager, Marketing, Maruti Suzuki, Shashank Srivatsava. Maruti Suzuki will continue its strong marketing expenditure. Last year, it invested `250 crore in marketing which includes below-the-line and above-the-line advertising initiatives. To achieve the target, it holds that enhancing consumer satisfaction will be important as word of mouth and referral helps greatly in enhancing sales. If the current customers are satisfied then it has won half the battle.

Delphi to steer innovation, refrain from low-cost vehicles T Murrali Detroit

DATA MONITOR

* Source: SIAM/ ** all sub segments considered

64 Pages

AUTONOMICS

elphi, which is in the transition stage after it emerged out of Chapter 11, has set its strategy straight that it would focus on technology aimed at safety and connectivity but certainly keep itself away from low-cost vehicles. As per its tagline—‘innovation for the real world’ the global Tier I company will strive to develop technology to cater to its customers’ requirements in terms of safety, increased performance, reduced emissions besides, being light weight. Delphi has not taken off in India in a big way since most of the vehicles manufactured in India do not adopt to superior technologies. Chief Executive Ofﬁcer and President, Delphi, Rodney O’ Neal, said, “We have some outstanding products,” but in general the vehicles that are sold in India

Rodney O’ Neal, Chief Executive Officer and President, Delphi

are not coming up with the content and sophistication like the ones Delphi has. “Technologies do cost and there is a price point to be reached in order to successful for consumers as well as for Delphi.” Taking a cue from Tata Nano he said, “it is a wonderful car but it is not sophisticated in terms of its content. We won’t be participating in the entry level

vehicle category, except perhaps on the powertrain side as we do have injection systems for motorcycles. We spend about a billion dollars every year on engineering but to lose tremendous money at the altar of strategy and learning doesn’t make business sense to Delphi. I respect the innovation in Nano but we will not be learning in those types of vehicles,” he said. Therefore most of the company’s products do not naturally ﬁt in low cost vehicles. It does not have technologies nor is it planning to develop those that will cater to small or micro vehicles. The Executive Director and Chief Technologist, Delphi, Andrew Brown, while elaborating on the host of innovations, said the company’s focus on technology has enabled it to offer solutions to not only for its customers for their respective future programmes but also on generic applications,

for the benefit of the industry as a whole. For instance, the ‘Wireless Charging System’ that is currently being developed by Delphi allows the drivers to simply park their electric vehicle over a wireless energy source that sits on the garage floor, or is embedded in a paved parking spot, to get the vehicle recharged. No plugs or charging cords needed, he said. According to O’Neal, till a few years ago, about 70 percent of the business came from North America and balance from the rest of the world. Now it is viceversa, with Europe becoming the largest market and Asia becoming the significant portion—growing from about six percent to about 20 percent. “The goal is to get 30 percent each from North America, Europe and Asia and the balance from South America. We might see Asia to be bit bigger, based on how the markets emerge,” he said.

CONTENTS CORPORATE Achates Power to conduct field trials

Achates Power believes that opposed piston technology can help Indian OEMs to have vehicles that are more fuel efficient besides being cleaner in terms of e`missions

06 GLOBAL WATCH Daimler gears up for increased sales in China

Mercedes-Benz sales in China rose 52.3 percent to 92,174 units this year with deliveries in June rising by 19.1 percent compared to June 2010, with 16,278 units sold

VAmerican Axle closing Detroit plant, to layoff around 260

VAmerican Axle & Manufacturing Holdings notified the 300 remaining workers at its Detroit manufacturing complex that the facility will close as early as February 2012

German car registrations up 10 percent in June

New car registrations in June rose 10 percent from a year earlier and are likely to see further growth in the second half of the year according to VDIK estimates

Ford ramps up China presence

Ford has released plans to introduce 15 new vehicles and more than double the number of its dealerships and iwork force in China by 2015

Antonov to make automatics in China through JV with Landai

Antonov Automotive Technologies is setting up a manufacturing facility in Chongqing region in China to make automatic transmissions in an equal JV with Landai

Bosch to ‘remote service’ diagnostic tools beyond Europe

THE OTHER SIDE

Robert Bosch is planning to extend its next generation after sales service for its equipment— ‘Remote Service’ to its customers present beyond Europe in coming months

Komax to raise automation level

Wire processing machinery maker Komax Group is planning to introduce products with a higher level of automation to the Indian market

Kay Jay Group to assemble two-wheeler engines

Kay Jay Forgings has bagged an order from TVS Motor to assemble engines for its two-wheelers and three-wheeler models as well as supplying hand starters and crank shafts

Subros forays in to air conditioners for bus, trucks

Rohan Verma, Director, CE Info Systems

Subros is gearing up to supply air conditioning systems for low floor buses & trucks and equipments to a refrigerated van to be developed by Tata Motors on its ACE platform

NK Minda Group bags first alloy wheel order

A Stanford University graduate, Verma leads MapmyIndia’s marketing efforts, focusing on building the brand ‘MapmyIndia.com’ and MapmyIndia Navigator in the Indian market

NK Minda Group has bagged orders from Toyota Motors and Nissan to supply about three lakh units of alloy wheels through the Kosai JV for Etios, Etios Liva, Innn`ova and Micra

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Auto Monitor

16 - 31 July 2011

CORPORATE CORPORATE

Achates Power to conduct ﬁeld trials The new technology can help India to manage fuel economy and emissions T Murrali San Diego

he San Diego based Achates Power, the company that has pumped adrenaline into the two-stroke opposed piston diesel engine technology, will be conducting field trials in the coming years. The company believes that this technology will help countries like India, which heavily depends on oil imports, to have vehicles that are more fuel efficient besides being cleaner in terms of emissions. Founded in 2004 with the mission to build fundamentally better engines, the company has developed a more efficient and lower cost engine that can be applied across market segments and around the world. Conceived in 1998, the company was founded in 2004 by NAE Member, Jim Lemke, and the late John Walton. The company has demonstrated and validated performance based on more than 1900 test hours. The President and CEO, Achates Power, David M Johnson said the engine meets the most stringent emissions standards, achieves

breakthrough fuel efﬁciency, a 19 percent demonstrated advantage versus state-of-the-art diesel engines, and saves costs as a result of 40 percent fewer component parts and engine downsizing. The competitiveness of low cost countries including India will help to manufacturer the engines in a more cost effective way, he said.

David M Johnson, President & CEO, Achates Power

Can you compare the power-to-weight ratio for both the engines? Since our engine is two-stroke, we have the opportunity to have a power density improvements by the factor of two. In our design, we are currently using some of the power density to increase fuel efficiency. As a result, our designs are not less than 50 percent in mass. It is reduced by 20 to 30 percent. Therefore it is a smaller engine with higher fuel efficiency. Our objective is to achieve better efficiency followed by low cost and lower weight.

Technology Achates uses a patented combustion chamber formed by two pistons in a common cylinder. This arrangement provides for uni-flow scavenging, that is, single direction flow of fresh air into the cylinder and exhaust gases out of the cylinder—a highly efficient design. Air charging is assisted by a combination of turbo-charging and super-charging to achieve the greatest efficiency and outstanding responsiveness. Fuel is injected at the centre of the cylinder, between the two pistons, by one or more high pressure, common rail fuel injectors. Fuel injection, and therefore combustion, occurs each and every time the pistons come together and therefore with every rotation of the crank shaft—a two-stroke cycle which enables higher power density and great fuel efficiency then conventional four-stroke engines. In Achates Power engines designs, multiple cylinders are arranged next to each other in a line formation and, due to the inherent balance of the design, can be configured as a single cylinder, two-cylinder, three-cylA47 engine inder or more.

in our engine; therefore there is a potential for higher life.

You have taken a technology that was shelved in 1940s and working on it. Tell us about the adrenaline that you injected? We have modernised the technology by providing common rail injection. In those days people did not have access to high-tech machining centres, super computers, computational fluid dynamics and all the metallurgy. We have applied all these suite of technologies to an old but virtuous and special engine. In addition, we have included sinificant amount of innovation. How do you balance higher fuel efficiency and competitive manufacturing cost? Our engines do not have some of the most expensive parts (like cylinder head, valve train, etc) and so the actual cost of the engine, architecturally, will be 10 to 15 percent less than the conventional engine. Besides, the reduction in mass can be quiet substantial. It can be up to 30 to 40 percent. Do you think the life of the engine will increase as there are less moving parts limiting the vibrations? Its possible; those parts that are problematic in the conventional engine are eliminated

Is there a limitation to this technology in terms of engine displacement? We think the technology is scalable. We can change the displacement of the single cylinder and we can have multiple cylinders. Conventional engines cannot have cylinders in odd numbers but there is no limitation for our engine. Is the engine compatible for ﬂexi fuels? The key ingredient for diesel engines in general is the compatibility with injection systems, contaminants in the fuel and lubricity. Bio-fuels have some challenges. The fuel systems manufactured by several companies including Bosch, Delphi, Denso and the likes are applicable to our engines as they are to the conventional engines. Would you be working on similar technologies for gasoline engine? We could; there is no fundamental reason why we could not make a spark ignited opposedpiston engine. Tell us about the response from vehicle manufactures across the world and especially in India? In general, we had good discussions around the world. I can tell you that our customers say that 10-15 percent of fuel efﬁciency and cost reduction is mind boggling. We have already demonstrated Euro V, Euro VI and USEPA-2010.

Auto Monitor

16 - 31 July 2011

INTERVIEW

‘Efﬁciency drives tyre outsourcing for us’ Tyre manufacturers are staring at lower demand from Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and battling rising input costs. But the business scenario is not completely gloomy for players willing to take risk and evolve. In a recent interaction with Auto Monitor, Executive Director, Ceat, Arnab Banerjee emphasised rational growth expectations in the auto sector in the medium term and underlined the growing role played by outsourcing of capacity in the tyre industry. Abhishek Parekh What is the current scenario in CV sector in respect of radialisation? Radialisation in the CV sector in India is picking up gradually and we are already seeing production of close to two lakh tyres per month in India. Cross ply or bias tyre capacity is currently around 12 lakh tyres per month but all the new capacities coming in the market is radial tyres. There is an overcapacity in bias tyres and we would be able to sell more radials, if we are able to produce more. We need to be prepared for the burgeoning demand and shift to radialisation in CV

segment. It has been our experience that as the radialisation level touches around 14 to 15 percent level, it takes no time for the level to touch 45 percent with aftermarket and OEM adoption before there is stability as newer capacities kicks in to cater to the demand. What is the demand scenario in aftermarket in the CV segment? We will continue to see signiﬁcant demand of close to ﬁ ve lakh tyres in very light commercial vehicle segment. This is excluding the demand from OE segment. Both OE and aftermarket demand in this segment (10 to 14 inch diameter tyres) is

likely to grow in double digits. And contrary to perception, bias tyres are very much here to stay in near to medium term given the nature of market in pockets of CV segment. Could you elaborate further on cross ply demand from the CV segment? A peculiar phenomenon in the ‘very light commercial segment’ like Tata Ace and similar sized vehicles is that even though most of these vehicles are ﬁtted with radial tyres, the owners/ operators opt for bias tyres in the aftermarket. The key reason for the phenomenon is that the vehicles are massively overloaded, and commute in a range of topographies leading to major wear and tear of tyres. In other words, we are catering to a growing demand for radial tyres for these vehicles from OEMs and simultaneously gearing up for massive demand for bias or cross ply tyres for the same vehicles in the aftermarket. What is your outlook on the overall growth of the automobile sector? High interest rate regime and fuel price hikes are likely to dampen the demand going forward. But expecting 20-25 percent growth year-after-year is wishful thinking and is not a realistic or sustainable scenario.

Are unabated imports of tyres a concern for the industry? Customers here have to be educated as far as CV radials is concerned and it is a relatively newer phenomenon in India. If the customer is using radials in the same way as he was using bias tyres, it would be a bad investment and may derail the whole process of radialisation as it would be perceived in a negative light. There is no issue in the scenario of long term players importing tyres and subsequently providing service as well as educating customers on the benefit of adopting radial tyres. The concern arises when non-serious players come into the market with a short term view and earn the industry a bad name. Given the beneficial duty structures in many cases and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), we will have to accept imports of tyres as a reality. Moreover, we are looking forward to a globalised market for tyres as most of the tyre manufacturers are exporting their products to neighbouring countries as well as to developed markets in North America and Europe and hence we need to be tolerant of imports coming into India. How are domestic manufacturers likely to compete against imports? It is difficult for me to speak for the industry as a whole, but

as far as we are concerned, it is likely to be a game of identifying target markets and focusing on segments where one can be competitive. We are in the proc-

We are catering to a growing demand for radial tyres for the vehicles from OEMs and gearing up for massive demand for bias or cross ply tyres for the same vehicles in the aftermarket

ess of tapping the latent equity and brand recall of Pirelli in many of East European and Latin American markets after acquiring the brand last year. Going forward, we will seek to establish dealership or distribution network baked by quality service in markets where we hope to grow our presence and be counted as a long term player. We are hoping to leverage the advantage of farfetched reach and network to grow and have significant presence in small tyres (12 to 14 inch diameter) where it is difficult for multinationals and even many domestic competitors to have profitable growth. How has the experience been with motorcycle tyres for Ceat? Our entry into the motorcycle tyre segment is relatively recent and we are happy with the market response. We are outsourcing the tyres for motorcycles from an associate based in Hyderabad and are already chalking out expansion of capacity at the associate’s facility. Currently the associate is supplying around half million two-wheeler tyres per month and this will be ramped up to around one million tyres per month this fiscal. We have had a good experience with outsourcing arrangements and are evaluating such arrangements in various other segments of the market as well. In the future, we are likely to outsource most of our incremental bias or cross ply tyres requirements through outsourcing arrangements rather than our own investments. But outsourced production, which is touching almost 20 percent of our total sales, is driven by efficiency gains rather than cost reduction.

EDITORIAL Holistic approach needed

harity begins at home—thus goes the adage; but in most cases it is the other way round. And it is very true in the case of trade agreements like the FTA that the country has signed with a few countries including Thailand, which is more specific to the automotive industry. The movement of trade between the India and the countries that had signed FTA is smooth; whether it helps or kills the domestic industry, is a different question. However, is the trade within the country—amongst the states smooth? Certainly not, especially in the National Capital Region, which encompasses parts of the states of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh (UP). In addition to VAT, the UP government levies an entry tax of five percent. There are many automotive companies, both vehicle and component manufacturers in the State especially in places like Noida, Greater Noida and Ghazhiabad, that are closer to national capital. However, raw material availability is an issue. Except for steel, the manufacturers have to depend on other states; therefore, in addition to sales tax suffered at the point of sale, the buyer has to pay an additional tax in the form of entry tax of five percent. And the manufactured goods suffer 13.5 percent VAT for consumers within the state while there is an additional levy of two percent for goods delivered outside UP. More than the fi scal burden on account of levies, the procedural delays hamper the manufacturers further. Every time a consignment is moved through the manufacturers’ own transport, they have to produce at least four documents including Form 38, bills, the challan and those pertaining to transporters. These disturbances only encourage the government officials to demand bribes. However, there is a solution for this in the form of parcel services and transport operators, where the charges to move goods are at least 50 percent more, since these service providers have to include ‘everything’ in the transportation charges. In order to make the manufacturing industry competitive, every state government should have a holistic approach and coordinate with its neighbouring states. To put it simply,

the octroi and entry tax should be included as part of GST. The problem with UP is that it has only few places including Noida and Faridabad that generate revenue for the exchequer; hence the state is trying to stretch its limits to enhance its revenue while the resources have already started depleting with companies looking at greener pastures elsewhere for their new projects. While UP was attractive till a decade ago, the state is losing its charm due to the administrative hassles and shortage of electricity. Haryana, though better, issues like land availability and skyrocketing real estate prices makes it impossible for new projects. Therefore the new comers are looking at Rajasthan, as the power availability is better besides competitive land prices. In addition, close to 40 percent of the Delhi-Mumbai corridor pass through the state that propels better economical activity. There needs to be joint initiatives amongst the states for NCR to continue to maintain its status as the leading automotive hub in the county. The focus of this issue is North India and my colleagues Nabeel A Khan and Shambhavi Anand have strived hard to make this a special one. Wishing you much pleasure reading. Do send us your feedback.

T. Murrali t.murrali@infomedia18.in

IMAGE of the fortnight

FORTNIGHT’S QUOTES “We cannot afford to lose the race to build the clean energy technologies of the future to countries like China” Senator Debbie Stabenow on new legislation to boost EV batteries production

“The investments in this technology are huge and there are not many companies that can really come through this period where you just don’t make money”

“With Liva, we’ll now be a complete manufacturer in India, offering a full range of products” Hiroshi Nakagawa, Managing Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor

Peter Tyroller, Board Member for Sales and Marketing, Bosch

“There will be tension, that is certain, but I don’t think we’ll suffer because of that” Carlos Tavares, Chief Operating Officer, Renault SA

L-R (Yoshinori Noritake, Chief Engineer-TMC, Hiroshi Nakagawa, MD-TKM, Vikram Kirloskar, Vice Chairman-TKM, Hiroji Onishi, President, TMAP-TMC,Sandeep Singh, DMD, Marketing-TKM )

“We have not taken any decision yet (on plant location) and the Board of Directors will finalise the matter” Gregoire Olivier, Chief Executive Officer, Asian Operations, PSA Peugeot Citroen

Auto Monitor Editorial Team Editor T. Murrali Principal Correspondent Abhishek Parekh Senior Correspondent Nabeel A Khan Correspondents Shambhavi Anand, Bhargav TS, Akmal Rahman B Senior Copy Editor Nandita Rohit Kapadia Contributing Editors Sirish Chandran Bertrand D’Souza

Design & Photography Chief Photographer Mexy Xavier Photographer Neha Mithbawkar, Joshua Navalkar Asst. Art Director Varuna Naik Senior Designer Mahesh Talkar Scanning & Colour Correction Ravikumar Potdar, Ravi Salian, Sanjay Shelar Production Team Dnyaneshwar Goythale, Vikas Bobhate, Pravin Koyande

Send in your feedback and comments to: The Editor AUTO MONITOR, Infomedia 18 Ltd, 6th Floor, Kannammai Bldg, 611, Anna Salai, Chennai - 600 006. Ph: +91 44 3986 4200. Email: automonitor@infomedia18.in

Toyota strengthens mass segment Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) recently made the much awaited entry into mass segment by launching its hatchback Etios Liva in New Delhi. The hatchback car inherits its name from its sedan, Etios. The vehicle will be available in four variants, J, G, V and VX, competitively priced between `3.99 lakh and `5.99 lakh, ex-showroom Delhi. According to the company, the petrol variant of the car will give a mileage of 18.31 km a litre and is available in seven colours. The booking has already begun since the day of the launch. The company has no plans for a diesel variant, as of now. Speaking on the occasion, Hiroshi Nakagawa, MD, TKM, said “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our Etios customers. After the good response received by the Etios, we further expanded our production in order to cater to the huge demand. The annual production capacity will be increased to 2,10,000 units by the Q2 of 2012.”

Auto Monitor

Antonov to make automatics in China through JV with Landai The company develops high-efﬁciency transmission for electric vehicles T Murrali Detroit

Uncertainty on plant location mars Peugeot entry into India Our Bureau Mumbai

he UK based Antonov Automotive Technologies is setting up a manufacturing facility in Chongqing region in China to make automatic transmissions. The company has established a 50:50 joint venture with Landai and ﬂoated a new company–Chongqing EFA Transmission to make transmissions. Landai specialises in the manufacture of automotive transmissions, transmission parts and gearbox casings. With over 1,400 employees and an annual turnover of RMB500 million (Euro 54m), the company also produces engine cylinder blocks and motorbike gears. This attribute has been the key parameters for Antonov to establish a joint venture with Landai, which has been operating in China for about 12 years now. Recently the Chinese company commenced assembly of manual transmission for few of its domestic customers. Speaking to a group of Indian journalists here, the Managing Director of Antonov Automotive Technologies, Simon Roberts said, the company’s immediate “objective is to identify, interrogate and nominate production suppliers of automotive component for our transmission.” The company has accomplished about 90 percent of the objectives and it hopes to get in to ﬁ nal pre-production of TX-6 automatic gearbox for Chinese carmakers. It will be validated next year, he said. The company is in talks with several home grown OEMs in China. The strategy is to focus on

16 - 31 July 2011

CORPORATE CORPORATE

Antonov 3-speed EV transmission coupled to electric motor

Chinese domestic brands as the company believes that it can offer six-speed automatic solutions, which is not available locally. Landai has already been exporting to several countries including India, Malaysia and Korea and the association will help Antonov to actively penetrate these markets. Antonov is also developing three-speed transmission for electric vehicles. The company is currently investigating its potential to build electric vehicle transmissions at its upcoming plant in China and for low volume customer requirements to supply components for ﬁ nal assembly at Warwick in the UK, he said. According to Roberts, the majority of electric vehicles currently use a single speed reduction gearbox, but this compromises driver acceptability of the vehicle in terms of launch performance and range, especially for high performance vehicles and commercial load carriers such as delivery trucks and buses. Moreover, a single reduction set of gears often dictates a high torque motor, requiring considerable space for packaging as well as signiﬁcant weight and cost implications for the motor and power electronics. And while two ratios can improve

Simon Roberts, MD, Antonov

acceleration and top speed, the necessary large step between two ratios and the insufficient overlap can seriously impair shift quality and clutch durability without really benefiting overall vehicle performance. Roberts stated that the main benefit of an Antonov multi-speed transmission, with a minimum of three speeds or more, is that an electric motor can be maintained within its peak efficiency speed range for most of the time. The electric motor operates at over 90 percent efficiency. And the gear ratios can be optimised for economy, performance and durability, he added. “The virtues of downsizing an electric motor in pursuit of increased vehicle efficiency and performance applies to electrical machines just as much as internal combustion engines. Component mass and size are everything and our transmission design facilitates smaller electric motors, which are better for powertrain efficiency, overall vehicle performance, packaging and cost. A powershift transmission with its choice of multiple gears allows a motor to operate within its most efficient speed range, effectively increasing the performance and range of the vehicle.”

n a curious turn of events, Peugeot has refused to conﬁrm the location of its manufacturing or assembling unit in India even as automotive industry continues to speculate on French car majors delayed entry in the Indian market and likely manufacturing base. The company has chosen to keep its options wide open and appears to be carefully evaluating various possible alternatives at different locations before making a decision. Earlier, the company had been in advanced stage of negotiations with Tamil Nadu government for a setting up a manufacturing facility in the state. The company was said to have signed an expression of interest with the Tamil Nadu government in order to facilitate further feasibility study and other procedural for-

malities in run up to setting up a manufacturing base. However, a company official was quoted as saying that the French car major had not yet taken a decision on location of the facility and it was studying possible sites at Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh in addition to Tamil Nadu. Recently a delegation, comprising Asia CEO, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Gregoire Olivier and MD, Peugeot India, Fredric Faber met the Gujarat CM at his official residence. Olivier later retreated that the company was in talks with three states: Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh for setting up PSU Peugeot Citroen’s fi rst plant in India and further clarified that the company had not taken a fi nal decision about the location of their proposed plant yet. Peugeot plans to invest around `4,000 crore for setting up a plant with a capacity to produce up to three lakh units a year.

Auto Monitor

16 - 31 July 2011

AUTONOMICS

Automobiles Q1 2011-12: Revenue growth slows down, margin pressure increases

s vehicle prices increased by onethree percent since April 2011 over and above a four-eight percent increase in 2010-11, sales volumes across automobile categories grew at a sedate sixeight percent in the first quarter of 2011-12, compared to the over-30 percent growth in the same period in 2010-11. Sales volumes of cars grew by eight-nine percent, and those of commercial vehicles and two-wheelers by a relatively healthy 15 percent and 17 percent, respectively. Given the lower volume growth and increase in vehicle prices, CRISIL Research expects automobile companies to report a revenue growth of 12-15 percent for the first quarter of 2011-12 against a 46 percent growth in Q1 2010-11. We also expect the companies to declare lower profitability, despite the price increases, as raw material and operational costs continued to rise during the period. The moderate volume growth in AprilJune 2011 follows four quarters of healthy growth–automobile companies’ revenues grew by 32 percent in 2010-11, driven by volume growth across all major segments. New model launches, an increase in consumers’ disposable incomes and a favourable financing environment revved up sales volumes of cars and two-wheelers; a sustained eight percent GDP growth boosted commercial vehicles sales. Besides, an increase of four-eight percent in vehicle prices–as automobile companies sought to offset increased raw material prices–supported revenue growth. Prices of key raw materials for the industry, however, rose sharply in 2010-11, affecting profitability of manufacturers. Operating margins of cars and utility vehicle manufacturers fell by 340 basis points; two-wheeler and commercial vehicle manufacturers reported a fall of 240 and 120 basis points.

Sridhar C Head, Automobiles, CRISIL Research

Hetal Gandhi Team leader, CRISIL Research

(in '000s)

Total Car Sales

800 700 600 500 400 300 200 Q1

Profitability performance

(` Bn)

(%)

140

20 18

120

100

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10 60

8 6

2 0

0 Q1

2009-10

Q1 P 2011-12

Op margins (RHS)

Net margins (RHS)

Commercial Vehicles: Domestic sales volumes

2009-10

2010-11

Total Commercial Vehicles (` Bn) 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Q1

2010-11

Net sales (LHS)

(in '000s) 200 175 150 125 100 75 50 25 0 Q1

Q3 Q

LCV

Profitability performance: Commercial Vehicles

2009-10 Sales (LHS)

2010-11 Op margins (RHS)

2011MHCV 12

(%)

15 13 11 9 7 5 3 1 -1 -3 -5

Q1 P 201112

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2010-11

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(` Bn)

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(%) 16

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14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Q1

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(mn units)

Q1 P

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2011-12 Net margins (RHS)

Two-wheeler sales

4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 Q1

2009-10

CVs: Sales grow moderately, margins continue to slide

2009-10

Sales volumes of commercial vehicles grew at a significantly lower 15 percent for the quarter April-June 2011–sales volumes had grown by 59 percent in the same quarter in 2010. Declining profitability of transporters was a key reason for the drop in volume growth momentum. An increase in diesel prices and interest rates on vehicle loans, and a two-four percent increase in commercial vehicle prices in April 2011 eroded transporters’ profitability. Despite the lower volume growth, CRISIL Research expects the companies in our sample set–Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland–to report a 14-17 percent rise in revenues during the quarter over a 74 percent increase during the same period last year, bolstered by the increase in vehicle prices. We, however, also expect them to report a decline in operating margins of up to 150 basis points to 9.4 percent, given a sustained increase in raw material costs. CRISIL Research’s price index of basic raw materials for the automobile industry rose by eight-10 percent in the fi rst quarter. Sales volumes of commercial vehicles rose by 27 percent in 2010-11, boosting revenues by 38 percent. Operating margins, however, fell by 120 basis points to 8.5 percent, as raw material costs increased sharply.

Cars: Rising costs and subdued sales growth maintain pressure on margins Car companies are likely to report a revenue growth of seven-nine percent in April-June 2011—a sharp deceleration from the 32 percent growth in the same quarter in 2010-11. A 14-15 percent rise in cost of ownership affected car purchases. An increase in fuel prices accounted for almost 45 percent of the escalation in cost of ownership. Domestic sales volumes rose by seven percent, compared to a 34 percent rise in the previous year. Exports declined by 15 percent, given a persistent weakness in European car sales. We expect car com-

2010-11

Q1 2011-12

panies to report operating margins of 9.8 percent, as increased raw material costs, selling expenses and royalty payments continued to exert pressure during the quarter. Sales volumes of cars and utility vehicles rose by 25 percent in 2010-11. Raw-material costs, however, shot up by 28 percent, pulling down operating margins by 340 basis points to 10.1 percent. Net margins dropped 230 basis points to 6.3 percent, as a decline in the industry’s debt levels reduced interest expenses.

Two-wheelers: Growth slows down, margins pressure is steep Sales volumes of two-wheelers grew by 18 percent in April-June 2011, compared to the 32 percent growth in the same quarter in 2010-11. A buoyant demand in rural markets and a sharp–28 percent–growth in exports supported growth in volumes. Domestic sales volumes, however, are likely to slow down during the remainder of 2011-12, as cost of vehicle ownership has increased and purchasing power of consumers has declined amid higher inflation. CRISIL Research expects two-wheeler companies to report a revenue increase of 23-25 percent for April-June 2011 quarter, as vehicle prices increased, on an average, by about five percent over September 2010 to June 2011. Increased competition in the motorcycle segment and greater raw material costs and selling expenses will however diminish pricing flexibility of two-wheeler companies. We therefore expect the companies to report a fall in operating margins by around 150 basis points to 14.5 percent. In 2010-11, sales revenues of two-wheeler companies had increased by 32 percent, driven by buoyant sales volumes. Profitability of two-wheeler companies, however, deteriorated–operating margins fell by 240 basis points to 15.1 percent. (Please note that the views expressed here are those of CRISIL Research and not of CRISIL’s Ratings division.)

16 - 31 July 2011

CORPORATE

Auto Monitor

Bosch to ‘remote service’ diagnostic tools beyond Europe T Murrali Bangalore

obert Bosch GmbH is planning to extend its next generation after sales service for its equipment— ‘Remote Service’ to its customers present beyond Europe soon. The global company has introduced the concept to European customers recently, which helps them offer better and faster service to vehicle owners. At a recent interaction with this publication, the Head of Business Unit Diagnostics and Vice President (Automotive Aftermarket), Robert Bosch GmbH, Olaf Henning, said ‘Remote Service’ helps the customers to minimise the downtime of equipment and the vehicles at the workshops eventually enhancing profitability. Typically, if a service engineer of garage experiences difficulties with the diagnostic equipment or its application, he calls the hotline and the engineers from Bosch headquarters will reach the equipment through the internet to fi x the problem. It is a paid service and will be required only if the customers are in dire need of support. This is an additional service and the customers are willing to pay since they get faster service and the equipment available time is increased significantly. “At the moment we have rolled out the service in Europe and the global launch will be during next year, but cannot say the exact time. It also depends up on the requests from the specific markets as the service requires high-speed internet connectivity. Our global approach strategy will have both on-line as well as off-line solutions,” he said. Asked about the timeline for this service to be launched in India he said it is based on the demand. The Vice President, Automotive Aftermarket, Bosch, S Muralidharan clarified that the garages in India have been evolving over a period of time and reached to the current level where they manage with software, manual and instructions through compact discs. It will take some more time for these service centres to embrace remote service, he added. The Chairman of Business Unit of Diagnostics, and Vice President, Automotive Aftermarket, Robert Bosch GmbH, Ulrich Thiele, said, globally the demand for these kinds of next generation service is increasing as the vehicles are getting more complex being driven by regulations and customers’ expectations. “If you open the hood of any car you won’t be able to understand anything; therefore you need diagnostics tools. Since the complexity is growing, diagnostics has become the enabler to understand the problems. If we want to be the best partner for the workshop operators we must offer them efficient diagnostic equipment,” he said. Emerging nations including India also demand next generation technologies but at affordable cost. Seeking his views how Bosch is addressing the issue, Henning said garage operators in India, for instance need both high-end and low-end equipment due to the presence of wide range of vehicles. Therefore, the company focuses on devel-

opment of equipment based on the local demand. “India is an integrated part of our global approach” in the development of diagnostics equipment and parts, he said. Increasing the presence in emerging markets including India would help the division to notch the numero uno status in the world by middle of this decade from the second position now, he added. Thiele said, India needs to be integral part of global approach, since, “we need to integrate the team, which also means we are looking for local talent. And this is the philosophy of Bosch—we want to grow in the most interesting areas of the world and India is one of the most interesting countries and the fastest growing economies with signiﬁcant young population.” This is because the automotive sectors

The customer call the hotline and the engineers from Bosch headquarters will reach the equipment through the internet to fix the problem

in countries like India and China have begun to grow from the middle of the growth trajectory of the automotive industry of the developed world. Therefore the requirements are different and, “they will not make the mistakes like what the other industrially developed countries did.” For instance these markets need low emission and higher fuel efﬁcient engines, which require better diagnostics tools. To address these markets, especially India, the global company will look at several options right from developing the product locally and manufacturing them. It will also look at importing CKDs and SKDs and assemble in India to be cost competitive, he said. Muralidharan added that currently over 100 engineers are working on developing diagnostic products.

Auto Monitor

16 - 31 July 2011

CORPORATE

North India: Mapping The Automotive Industry Our Bureau New Delhi

aced by serious, though not unique problems, like land, labour, power and movement of goods, the automotive industry in Northern India is witnessing certain trends that might give them respite from such issues. New emerging automotive clusters, adoption of higher levels of automation and infrastructure development initiatives seem to be helping the region to keep up its prominence in the automotive space as a destination of choice for both vehicle and component manufacturers. While the emerging areas like the industrial cluster in Rajasthan seem to be a preferred destination for setting up new shops, the existing automotive clusters like in Manesar, Haryana continue to face infrastructural and labour challenges. Smaller places like Kanpur, Ludhiana and Lucknow are putting up satisfactory performance in terms of labour environment, availability of land and power situation.

Land Sky-rocketing prices of land and also its availability in the existing automotive clusters in the National Capital Region (NCR) and adjoining areas of Haryana are posing serious challenges. “The land that earlier cost about `1,000 per sq foot is now being sold at `12,000. It will be impossible to recover this kind of cost for those companies who are looking to set up a greenﬁeld projects in the region,” Chairman, North

Region, Automotive Component Ma nufacturers Association (ACMA), Rattan Kapur said. The current owners of the nearby land, which can be acquired in order to expand the existing area of the cluster (who are mostly farmers), have become aware of the worth of their asset. Hence they demand for higher prices for it. This has led to the emergence of new regions like Bhiwadi, Neemrana and Tapukara in Rajasthan as the next destination for the companies looking to set up new plants. Its proximity to the NCR and western markets of India make it even more sought after destination. The presence of Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) and Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI) has acted as a catalyst in the development of an automotive zone in this region. Presence of major automotive component makers like Shriram Piston also added to the value of the region. In the states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh land availability is not an issue. A signiﬁcant number of Tier II and Tier III suppliers have set up shop in places like Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kanpur and Lucknow. The production facility of Tata Motors in Lucknow that was set up in 1992, where it produces commercial vehicles, has led to the development of some component manufacturers. The company has further plans for expansion which has encouraged some suppliers to consider setting up shops there. “We have bagged orders for manufacturing truck chassis

long members for Tata Motors and so have proposed to set up a plant in Lucknow for the same. We have already acquired land and the work will begin in a month or so. The plant is expected to commence in 2011. It makes sense to be near to our customers because the transportation cost can be done away with. Also, land availability is not an issue there,” Managing Director, International Electron Devices, Sudhir Kumar Kaura said.

Labour Like the rest of the country, North India is also facing several issues including non-availability of manpower and the presence labour unions. The recent strikes in Manesar have showed that a lot of union activities are taking place which might come in the way expansion plans of several companies with manufacturing units in these areas. In terms of labour situation Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh are being preferred because of favourable government policies in these states. “Inspite of the government making issues like contracts and wages clear, this problem keeps resurfacing. I think the workers are seeing the growth in the region as the malls are coming and lots of things are happening, which increases their aspirations. The company with multiple unions has a bigger challenge. The government should work on having single internal union policy as it will be easier to handle,” Kumar said. The problem of availability of labour has been fuelled by

the recent schemes of the government in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Workmen prefer to stay back at home intensifying the shortage further. Many companies have resorted to automation as the solution to this problem. Ludhiana-based forging machine maker, NKH Industry, is undergoing a strategic shift from conventional method of manufacturing to completely CNC line in order to cope up with rising labour crisis. The company has recently invested over `seven crore in importing new machines from Spain and Germany. “The eight conventional bed milling machines would require eight people and we have to pay at least `10,000 per month to each of them. But by replacing these eight machines with one CNC machine the number of operator can be reduced to one. And even if we pay `25,000 per month to this operator we will be in a better position,” Operations Head, NKH Industry, Zailinder Singh said.

Power While Haryana is facing acute power shortage, situation in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh seem to be better. “The power situation in Rajasthan is much better than the neighbouring states. We get electricity for around 13-14 hours a day. This is a pretty decent supply when compared to the other areas in northern India,” Vice President, Sale and marketing, Ocap India, Ravi Jaitley said. Ocap India has an existing plant in Bhiwadi Rajasthan. It is planning to set up another one in the state, favour-

able power situation being one of the reasons. Companies based in Uttar Pradesh also seem to be satisﬁed with the power situation. The scenario may be gloomy when it comes to domestic supplies but the industries seem to be getting enough. Some companies also have their own supplies to generate power. “Though the power situation in the state is good, we have our own gas lines. Our Kanpur plant as well as the Ghaziabad plant have their own gas lines,” Kaura said.

Logistics Delhi and Haryana have excellent road network which facilitate faster transportation of goods from the point of production to the point of consumption. The governments of upcoming destinations like Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh are also focusing on good network of roads to increase connectivity with the leading markets. Close to 40 percent of the 1,483 km Delhi-Mumbai Freight Corridor (DMFC) falls in Rajasthan and the availability of land on both sides of road has accelerated the development of an auto zone in the state. The industries in Uttar Pradesh are anticipating the same with the upcoming Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) which intends not only construction of the 165 km expressway between Greater Noida and Agra, but also ensures planned development of areas along the route. In spite of the good network of road in major part of the region, toll-nakas and check posts form a major hurdle.

16 - 31 July 2011

NORTH INDIA SPECIAL

Auto Monitor

Komax to raise automation level Shambhavi Anand New Delhi

witzerland-based Komax Group, the manufacturer of machines for wire processing, is planning to introduce products with a higher level of automation to the Indian market. It is also planning to showcase some more machines by next year. “We are introducing new products to the Indian market. We will showcase some more machines to the market by next year. These products and technology will help our customers in attaining higher level of automation. The products were already there with our parent company, but we were not selling them in the Indian market yet,” Managing Director, Komax Automation India, Pradeep Kaura said. The new products belong to the Gamma series which is already popular in the global market and well-known in India. These machines will help in producing complete sub-assemblies of the wire harness. Starting from cutting, striping, crimping and inserting crimped ends in transmission, the machines can handle the entire process without the involvement of manual labour. Such a high level of automation increases the level of precision in the end products (wire sub-assemblies) reducing the chances of error to an almost negligible amount. “We think this is the right time to introduce such products here as the Indian market is moving towards sophisticated, technology driven products. The response to the new machines is encouraging,” Kaura informed. Sophisticated sensors and wire assemblies are used while manufacturing automotive parts like air bags and advanced lighting parts. The company, which started its Indian operations in 1986 through channel partners, earns around 65 percent of its revenue from the automotive business. Later in 2008, it set up an ofﬁce in the national capital region to take care of sales and customer support system. It also supplies wire processing machines to the medical sector, photovoltaic cell and other special purpose machines. Among its customers are Delphi, Motherson Sumi, Tyco, Dhoot Transmission, Al Composite, Minda Group and some Japanese companies. Komax has machines which can execute all kinds of wire processing starting from cutting, stripping, sealing or crimping to all the processes together. After forming the wire harness, the machines also inspect terminals and welding parts, checks crimp force and height for errors and quality. The company has its manufacturing facilities in several countries like China and Malaysia in Asia. It imports machines to India mostly from China though some machines are imported from Switzerland. The unit in Malaysia manufactures special purpose machines like ink jets. The plant in China caters to the requirements of the Asian market. In Asia, the company has presence in Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, India and China. “We keep bringing in new technology and foresee the future requirements. We are also developing machines for newer requirements,” Kaura adds.

(L) Gamma 263 (R) Zeta 633 (Inset) Pradeep Kaura, MD, Komax Automation India

Talking about the possibility of setting up a plant in India, the MD said “There will be no manufacturing unit in India for the next two to three years at least. Possibilities for such opportu-

nities are regularly discussed in our headquarters. But for setting up a plant we require land, some clearances and vendors. It is not the right time to set up a manufacturing unit here.”

The turnover of the Indian chapter of Komax in FY 2011 was close to `30 crore and the company expects to do better this year. “In a good year like last year, we sell up to

60 machines. This year we aim to achieve similar targets or more though the high interest and raw material rates have increased pressure,” Kaura said.

Auto Monitor

16 - 31 July 2011

NORTH CORPORATE INDIA SPECIAL

Kay Jay Group to assemble two-wheeler engines

udhiana-based forged, machined and precision sheet metal components manufacturer, Kay Jay Forgings (KJF), has bagged an order from TVS Motor Company to assemble engines for its complete range of two-wheelers. The company is also entering into the threewheeler segment by clinching another deal with the same vehicle manufacturer to supply hand starters and crank shafts for its recently launched threewheeler—King. The forging company is already the sole supplier to TVS and Hero Honda for a range of components including connecting rods, crank shafts and brake pedals. In order to cater to the demand for the new products, KJF plans to expand its plants in Hosur near Bangalore where it will assemble two-wheeler engines. Currently it has four facilities in Ludhiana, which the management feels is a highly viable location in terms of availability of skilled manpower at suitable cost.

Kay Jay Forging plant in Ludhiana (Inset) Naveen Behl, ED, Kay Jay Group

percent of its total revenue, which stood at `300 crore. The company expects to hike its exports to 20 percent of its total revenue by the next ﬁ scal. It also remains bullish in terms of growth projection. It expects to grow by at least 20 percent in the coming year. While looking

A range of forged and sheet metal components for two-wheelers by Kay Jay Group

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Change Suprajit ion plans Domest pany is the current to compo d from OEMs. embarked compo cables manuf ore and Apr-11 y expans nonin hoping l deman ny has e the crore in Bangal capacit y Apr-10 ering is plastic s 14.13% Its capacit t EOU for the is in contro Sector mmes its The compa to increas 50 t in t Engine 485,122 percen raise ise progra mme to segmen Supraji its expert around 425,058 at 100 enits bid 13.87% India t. e on a progra ty by HHML tive cable implem logy in North cables 218,321 leverag capaci 50 percen consol idatautomo stage of the the 191,726 sing techno e base. overall t 100 million cables 16.26% also in ny’s by around BAL proces fy its revenu percen t from the fi nal compa ny is 158,829 million es. 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Additio the low also establi Apr-11 to `33.3 d addiship positiosaid Vice n North tage of It is Apr-10 same period acquire 22.61% r, Supraji a ss,’ ers in India. in Chaka Sector in the ny has asandr busine 34,044 Rai. base in ing Directo r facility heeler the compa in the Bomm a cable 27,766 -0.80% anothe in and Manag K Ajith Kumar to four-w up TML land ing sales set 8,145 to ering, of mainly tional 8,211 Engine that the overall likely to rial area requirements -14.92% to cater M&M is Indust ers. 5,082 t He added bile sector meet the custom percen 5,973 28.86% plant to India-based ALL 10 to 15 the automo 3,206 south te around years with its of 2,488 modera VECV t grownext couple -2.24% over the Eicher eeler segmen 1,658 1,696 the two-wh segments

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Photographs: Nabeel A Khan

“Our new project is with TVS Motor Company for engine assembly and we will be starting this project by expanding our Hosur plant with an investment of `15 crore mainly towards purchasing new machinery. We hope to start the operations by October this year,” Executive Director, Kay Jay Forgings, Naveen Behl told Auto Monitor. Initially, it will assemble engines for the Moped range, and then gradually it will start assembling engines for all the two-wheeler vehicles of the company. In efforts to expand its volume and revenue, the forging company is trying to double its exports revenue by next ﬁscal year. The company has added six to seven new products to its exports to ZF Steering System Nacam in the US and France. The company exports the steering system for four-wheelers through ZF steering system to Japanese carmaker- Nissan. However, Ludhiana-based manufacturer did not disclose details about new products that are to be exported. In the current year, exports contributed around nine

Nabeel A Khan Ludhiana, Punjab

at the increase in volume due to opening up of multiple demands, the company is now looking for land in Ludhiana to set up another plant. Basing its growth on satisfying customers by providing timely delivery and quality products, the component producer has a ﬂeet of 20 trucks dedicated to delivering the products to the customers on time. Besides, it claims to have a policy of upgrading technology continuously. Currently the company has close to 100 percent CNC lines in die casting and machining. It has also replaced the hammers with the pressing machine. It has complete inhouse facilities to perform different functions of the manufacturing process including machining, heat treatment and testing, which gives it an edge. Its list of products include crank shaft, connecting rods, brackets, lever kick starter

assemblies and precisions sheet metal components such as fuel tanks engines / side fairing and seat base catering to domestic market. On the export front, it ships several parts including steering components such as the pinch bolt, lower shaft clamp, offset gear, pin and shaft, yoke ball and splined connector. Through continuous communication from top to bottom levels and team building activities, the component maker has been able retain its manpower by having less than three percent attrition rate. “We have family get-togethers with every worker on occasions like Diwali. We also have a fair salary structure and moreover, we go to every individual from time-to-time to check on their requirements and needs, which gives them a sense of belonging and they remain loyal towards the company,” he concluded.

Auto Monitor

NORTH CORPORATE INDIA SPECIAL

16 - 31 July 2011

Subros forays in to air-con for bus, trucks Nabeel A Khan New Delhi

ndia’s leading auto air-conditioning system manufacturer, Subros, is diversifying into commercial vehicles including low ﬂoor buses and trucks. The company will also supply the equipment to a refrigerated van to be developed by Tata Motors on its ACE platform for carrying food stuff. In order to enter in to the new segment, the Noidaheadquartered manufacturer has acquired a 10-acre plot near Chennai to build a new plant.

Ramesh Suri, CMD, Subros

The construction of the plant, at an investment of `55 crore, has already started and the facility is expected to be operational by the end of this ﬁ nancial year. “We have chosen this location for close proximity to the OEMs in CV segment. We are trying to rope in Daimler as this plant

Noida Plant at Subros

will be close to them. However, Tata Motors and Volvo (through our partner Denso) will be the ﬁ rst customers in this segment,” Chairman, Subros, Ramesh Suri told Auto Monitor. He said that it has not yet worked out on the volume as the requirement of ACs in buses and

A view inside the plant

trucks is very low. This year, the volume may not be high as this is just a beginning but next year, it hopes to attract a good number with the plant getting fully operational by the last quarter of this year. By ﬁ nancial year 2012-13, it expects to have a supply of up to 5,000 units annually in this

segment. Subros is also looking to supply to low ﬂoor buses, luxury and tourist buses. “We are already supplying to Force Motors for mini-buses like the traveller,” he said. The company has clinched the deal to supply an AC system for this ﬁ rst organised refrigerated

Work in progress at Subros plant

Tej Control Systems Pvt Ltd Plot No.329/331, Road No.25, Wagle Industrial Estate, Thane(W) - 400 604. Tel. +91 22 2583 8191 to 98, Fax: +91 22 25838199 Email: tivs@tejcontrol.com, vision@tejcontrol.com Website: www.tejivs.com

van from Tata Motors. The vehicle has been specially designed to carry food stuff. Though there have been such vehicles in India, but not in an organised form. Subros is working on these lines with Tata Motors. It has already started supplying AC equipment to Tata Motors for this soon-tobe launched refrigerated van. The refrigerated vehicle is going to be developed on Tata Motors famous one-toner ACE platform and expected to be ready by the end of this financial year. Expecting a big volume contract from its customer in its existing segment also, the auto air-con maker is on an extensive expansion drive at all its plants. The company is expanding its production capacity in Pune, Noida and Manesar. However, he did not divulge more details on these projects. Apart from that, the company is ready to build capacity at any location where its customers move on. Responding to the recent news about Maruti Suzuki entering Gujarat for a new plant Suri said “We have to follow our customer, we will move along with them; they are looking at Sanand in Gujarat and once they fi nalise their plans we will start fi nding a place to build a plant near them to cater to the demand.” Subros closed the financial year (2010-11) with a growth of about 22 percent, which it termed a good year as far as the bottom line is concerned, but not as good as far profitability is concerned. The profitability of the company stood at nearly three percent of the net sales. Last fiscal year the company had reported a turnover of `1,203 crore from `983 crore in FY 10. The company is hoping that the profit margin will be better this year than the last year as the imports will be low following localisation of some of the products. The AC maker has started in-house production a number of sub-components like RS Evaporator and Heater pore at its Noida plant. It sees the increase in price of the input materials as temporary phenomena and felt that as far as the sales of the cars are concerned it is bound to pick up because now-a-days the trend has changed and owning a car has become necessity.

Auto Monitor

NORTH CORPORATE INDIA SPECIAL

16 - 31 July 2011

Metalman banks on technology for growth Nabeel A Khan Ludhiana

e-aligning its strategy to sustain the newer challenges, Ludhianabased, manufacturer of sheet metal and tubular components, Metalman Auto is gradually shifting its focus towards reducing its dependability on labour by increasing low-cost automation at its plants. The medium size company is considering putting up its ﬁ rst centralised tool-room in this industrial city of Punjab apart from diversifying into three-wheeler and four-wheeler segments. “The only weak point in our company is that we don’t have a tool room and design centre to cater to all the units, but now we will start a centralised tool room here in Ludhiana which will cater to all the three plants. This will be operational by the end of this year,” Managing Director, Navneet Jairath told Auto Monitor. The sheet-metal component

Vehicle chassis

Motorcycle chassis developed by Metalman

maker so far has been Tier I supplier to Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda and Mahindra & Mahindra in two-wheeler segment. It also supplies complete driver cabin for backhoe loader to New Holland Case. It has manufacturing units at three different locations which include two plants in Indore and one each in Aurangabad and

Ludhiana which are capable of carrying out tubular and sheet metal component production for two-wheeler, three-wheeler and four-wheeler. One of the Indore plants which is dedicated to supplying components to Mahindra two-wheelers and Eicher Motors CVs has recently undergone

Navneet Jairath, MD, Metalman Auto

Driver cabin for New Holland Case

technological upgradation and expansion at an investment of around `8 crore. The investment has been made on enhancing its engineering quality by introducing latest technologies like laser

cutting machine and welding robots apart from constructing new building for expansion of volume. On the similar lines, the Aurangabad plant will be having newer technology like more wielding robots and presses with bigger size. So far, it has 100-tonne presses and by September they will expand to 250 and 500-tonne presses. Currently, the company produces around 3,600 chassis per day which is expected to rise to 4,000 units per day after expansion here. This facility will also cater to accommodate the demand arising due to diversiﬁcation into three-wheel and four-wheel segments through a deal with Bajaj Auto. While the expansion and upgradation of technology will help manufacture bigger size sheet metal components that were procured from other vendors in Pune and Aurangabad. After installing over 14 new wielding robots it will try to introduce low cost automation

wherever possible, to reduce its dependability on labour, which the component maker thinks is not only cost effective but will also help address the issues relating to availability of skilled labour. Watchful of the other factors like resource efficiency, Jairath said, “Ludhiana offers skilled labour which is required for good bufﬁ ng of motorcycle handles when compared to Aurangabad. The productivity of the plant in this city is higher than Aurangabad.” Keeping this in mind, the people at the Aurangabad plant have also gone through extensive training through advance cluster programmes for automotive industry. This is the ﬂagship unit having facilities like press shop, fabrication, various types plating and powder coating facility. Metalman also has a subsidiary, National Industries, which supports as a Tier II supplier for leg-guard being supplied to Bajaj Auto for its motorcycles.

Auto Monitor

NORTH CORPORATE INDIA SPECIAL

16 - 31 July 2011

Caparo expanding capacity; to foray into energy, hospitality Shambhavi Anand New Delhi

aparo India, a subsidiary of the UK-based engineering conglomerate, is planning to ramp up its capacity in the automotive business. The company, which earns a major share of revenue from the auto sector, has also made huge investments in the energy and hospitality sector. “We are on an expansion mode. With one of our major customers, Maruti, growing so fast, we too are constantly adding up capacity. Our plant at Bawal, which caters to the Manesar plant of Maruti, has a lot of space which is being utilised,” Director,

Sourcing and Marketing, Caparo India, Alok Chatterjee said. The company is also adding new blanking lines to its existing facilities. This is an operation which takes place before pressing. The blanking line at Sanand facility has almost reached the stage of commissioning. It is expected to start sometime in July. Another line will start at the Bawal facility. The company is working with some vendors to establish these lines in its plants in North India. With another major customer, Eicher also growing very fast, the two plants at Pithampur which cater to the needs of Eicher are also increasing capacity. “Since we are short of capacity for Eicher, we are trying to utilise the Sanand facility

high and so we can divert certain amount of resources for the Pithampur plants for Eicher,” Chatterjee said.

Widespread Net The Indian subsidiary of Caparo, which has presence in almost 50 countries, has two business division for their automotive business in India—Caparo Maruti, with the country’s largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki and Caparo Engineering India. Caparo Maruti has three Alok Chatterjee, Director, Sourcing plants under it in three difand Marketing, Caparo India ferent places— Gurgaon for meeting the requirements. The (Haryana), Halol (Gujarat) and volumes at Sanand are not very Bawal (Haryana). The plants

We are talking to Rolls Royce for setting up another power plant of 500 MW capacity. The deal is still on papers. There is a lot of scope for growth in this sector,” Chatterjee added. The company will be setting up more plants soon in different parts of the country at Gurgaon and Bawal supply to Maruti’s plants at Gurgaon and Manesar respectively. The Halol plant supplies to GM. Caparo Engineering India has 16 plants in various parts of the country. It has two plants in Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh which supplies to Eicher. There is one plant in Greater Noida and Uttaranchal, both catering to the needs of Tata Motors. The Greater Noida plant also supplies components to Honda and JCB. The company has another plant in Halol under Caparo Engineering India (other than the one under Caparo Maruti) which too supplies to General Motors. The Chennai metal system plant supplies to the vehicle manufacturers based in the southern region of the country like Ford, Nissan and TAFE. It also has a forging and aluminium cast component manufacturing plant for auto components in Chennai. The two plants in Pune and Jamshedpur produce metal systems. Other than stamping, the company also manufactures fasteners and high tensile bolts near Bhiwadi. It also makes shock absorbers and front forks for two wheelers at its Dewas plant near Indore. The major customers of this plant are Gabriel and Tennaco among several others. Caparo Engineering India has a tool room and R&D center in Chennai. The company earns up to eight percent of its revenue from exports which is predominantly to the European market. Looking at the rapid growth in the domestic market it is not planning to explore any new export market.

Diversifying Into New Sectors Apart from the two engineering companies, Caparo India has three more companies— Caparo India, which is into hospitality, Caparo Financial Solutions, a non-banking ﬁ nancial company and Caparo Energy. In order to optimise the utilisation of its existing resources, the company has ventured in the energy sector. The company has a JV with Wartsila to set up a 26 MW power plant in Bawal. The plant will be commissioned this month. “We are also talking to Rolls Royce for setting up another power plant of 500 MW capacity. The deal is still on papers. There is a lot of scope for growth in this sector,” Chatterjee added. The company will be setting up more plants soon in different parts of the country.

Auto Monitor

16 - 31 July 2011

NORTH CORPORATE INDIA SPECIAL

Nabeel A Khan Jalandhar

fter clinching major orders in both domestic and export markets, Jalandharbased, drive line component manufacturer GNA Udyog is ramping up its complete product range by at least 40 percent in the next ﬁscal year. The company has recently set up a fully equipped R&D centre where it is developing innovative products for light weighting and vibration control. For the ﬁ rst time, it has designed and developed a propeller shaft at this R&D and design centre for Ashok Leyland-Nissan joint venture LCV- Dost. The component maker used to make around three lakh units of propeller shafts annually for various customers. Now it will increase the capacity to 4.5 lakh by March 2012 as it has bagged new orders from Piaggio for its global LCV requirement and also from Ashok Leyland for Dost. GNA has already started sup-

plying for these orders. So far, the company used to get designs from customer and based on that it would produce the components. It expects to supply around 30,000 units of propeller shaft to Dost till March 2012. In terms of the intermediate shaft, from current annual production of 3.5 lakh units the company is going to hike it to ﬁve lakh units by next ﬁ scal. This is due to the increasing focus on diesel engines and capacity expansion by few of its customers including Maruti Suzuki. Maruti is upgrading a number of models leading to increase in the demand of this component in the domestic market. GNA produces around 50,000 steering columns every year and is likely to increase to 1.6 lakh as it has won a major contract from an OEM in Europe where it would be supplying up to 80,000 units annually. It will also supply to the domestic market. Being bound by a non-disclosure agreement, the company did not divulge the details of the deal.

A range of products from GNA

The component maker is also ramping up production of its off-highway components like hydraulic lift axles and pivot pins. It used to produce 2.5 lakh units of hydraulic lift axles for tractor and construction equipment which is expected to go up to three lakh units by the next fi nancial year. While in terms of pivot pin, it envisages a bigger leap from five lakh units in FY11 to 10 lakh unit by FY12. For the coming one year, it will not expand outside or put up a new plant but utilise the existing space at all its three plants in the region. The company heavily relies on backward integration which it thinks has given enough reason to be economical and competitive in the market. “This is the only integrated propeller shaft plant in India or anywhere you can say. Because most of the people bring in products like forgings from outside and then assemble but we are doing everything within this campus. Backward integration is the beauty of our group and this is also our backbone”, CEO, GNA Udyog, Maninder Singh Seehra told Auto Monitor. Most of the manufacturers here outsource forging components because putting up such a facility may cost over `600 crore today. However, GNA being an old company, has slowly build up the integrated facility over last 60 years. GNA offers another attractive policy of upgrading the skill and qualification of individual worker. “Suppose a guy is 12th pass and working here and he wants to pursue Industrial Training Institute (ITI), we teach him here and give him proper training and then we send him to

Photographs: Nabeel A Khan

GNA Udyog bags new orders across product segments

Products from GNA (Inset) Maninder Singh Seera, CEO

take up exams. We have internal teacher and training room here. The workers are very happy with this,” Sheera said. The R&D facility was established around one and a half years ago with an investment of around `seven crore on technology and equipment, is enabling the company to face the competition. It foresees competition for propeller shafts heating up in India and globally . There are some customers who would give only the vehicle speciﬁcations and the component makers are to design and develop the products. For such customers, the R&D and design centre would act as a boon. Now it has made a major technology shift because of the changing demand in order to be globally competitive. “We have insta lled a dynamometer through which we can simulate what happens in the lifetime of a propeller shaft on a test rig. This test is not conducted either at ARAI or any other institution. Any vehicle can be tested here as we are setting up a new dynamometer HCVs also,” Sheera asserted. It also looks at

going into a more specialised field of research and working on advanced materials like light weighting of component and vibration control which was not considered five years ago. GNA has also been working on developing an aluminium propeller shaft where it can reduce the weight by 30 percent. Based on this technology it has already developed a prototype. The component maker sees a lot of potential in this product as in next five years the light weighting and reduction in noise level are going to play a big role. The component maker has successfully developed the tubular steering product and now working with a number of OEMs for implementing it. Apart from this, GNA is also working on reducing the size of the component and also mulling product diversification. It will invest around `1.5 crore every year. Relying on its expansion and value engineering, it is expecting to double its revenue by the next fi nancial year. The company reported a turnover of `110 crore in FY11.

Auto Monitor

Ocap India scouting for land for new Rajasthan plant Shambhavi Anand New Delhi

fter bagging a good number of orders from commercial vehicle and tractor manufacturers, Ocap India is poised to set up a new plant to attend to the demands of the Indian market. The company which worked as an ancillary to its Italian parent, Ocap Italia, earlier, started addressing the Indian market only since mid-2010. Ocap India, which at present manufactures tie rod assemblies, drag link assemblies, ball joints, stabiliser links and control arms, will also be diversifying into new products. Following the footsteps of its Italian parent, it is also planning to manufacture aluminum die casting products. The aluminum products are long lasting. Within the short span of one year of starting its operations

16 - 31 July 2011

NORTH CORPORATE INDIA SPECIAL for the Indian market the company has bagged orders from some of the leading commercial vehicle as well as tractor manufactures. It already has orders from Mahindra and Mahindra, New Holland, JCB, Terex, Dana and Ognibene in its kitty. It is in conversation with more OEMs. The Italian parent already has Fiat, Nissan, Ashok Leyland and other European tractor manufacturer as its customers. In order to be able to meet these orders it requires more capacity. Its current plant is working up to 70 percent capacity. The remaining capacity will be utilised to fulﬁ ll the immediate orders. However, by the end of this year there will no scope left for further expansion. “Looking at the demand we will deﬁnitely need a new plant by next year,” Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Ocap India, Ravi Jaitley, told Auto Monitor.

The company, which has an existing plant in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, is scouting for land in the same state. It is in touch with Mahindra World City for the same. The new plant will have the best of technologies from the Indian and the Italian manufacturing units. It has not yet finalised the capacity or the investment for the new plant. The existing plant at Bhiwadi earns 80 percent of its revenue by supplying to the parent c om p a n y he a dq u a r t e r e d in Turin, Italy. It produces 3, 00,000 assemblies ever y month. The plant, which was set up in 2001, has 300 people on its rolls. Currently, the company with its headquarters in Turin, Italy, produces products for all the segments of the automotive industry ranging from passenger vehi-

cles and commercial vehicles to tractors. It has considerably high stakes in Dana, the European producers of axles for tractors to which it is almost a single source supplier. It earns its maximum revenue by supplying to tractors maker which contribute 37 percent to its earnings followed by passenger vehicles (35 percent) and commercial vehicles (25 percent). Ocap India is planning to expand its design team also. The major share of designing work for the whole company happens at the design centre in India. The `550 crore company, has six plants globally—four in Italy and one each in India and China. The company has grown by 15 to 20 percent in the last ﬁ scal. The Indian subsidiary achieved a turnover of `50 crore in FY11 and targets to reach `65 crore this year.

IED to make truck chassis long member for Tata Motors Shambhavi Anand New Delhi

he Ghaziabad based International Electron Devices (IED), is foraying into several new product ranges for the Commercial Vehicle (CV) segment. The company will be producing truck chassis long member for Tata Motors. It will also manufacture skin panels and cabin parts for trucks. “We will be manufacturing truck chassis long members for one of our clients, Tata Motors. Till now, it is mostly manufactured by the OEMs themselves. But it is the ﬁ rst time that Tata Motors has outsourced the production of this component to us,” Managing Director, International Electron Devices, Sudhir Kumar Kaura told Auto Monitor.

K Kaura, MD, IED

The company has proposed to set up a plant in Lucknow for manufacturing and supplying long members to the Tata Motors’ plant in the capital city of Uttar Pradesh. The new project will require an investment of `65 crore and will have the capacity to manufacture components for 50,000 vehicles every month. “It makes sense to be near to your clients because the transportation costs can be done away with. Currently, we will be supplying chassis long members only to Tata Motors. We might get more customers in future,” Kaura said. Chassis long members provide support to the chassis of a vehicle and are as long as the chassis. The company will also be producing skin panels and cabin parts for trucks in future. IED currently has two plants, one in the Ghaziabad district and the other one in Kanpur district, both in Uttar Pradesh. Owing to the increase in the volumes of its customers in the CV segment, it is expanding its capacity at the existing plants also. Its customers in the segment are Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland. The main products manufactured in the two existing plants are silencers, cross members and main frame a shocker assemblies, wheel rims, air tanks, fuel tanks, sheet metal parts among others. With a turnover of `540 crore in FY11, the company has an employee strength of up to 3,400 people. Moreover, IED supplies silencers, rims and several sheet metal parts to LML, a major OEM based in Kanpur. “The company also supplies gears to Lucknow-based Scooters India. It also caters to the requirements of the aftermarket of the two-wheeler segment, producing silencers, rims, clutch-plates among many others. It does not cater to the needs of the passenger vehicle segment but is ‘open to the idea if there is an opportunity,’ Kaura said.

Auto Monitor

NORTH CORPORATE INDIA SPECIAL

16 - 31 July 2011

Marshall CNC to sustain 100 percent growth Nabeel A Khan Ludhiana

NC lathe machine manufacturer, Marshall Industries, which sells over 70 percent of its products to automotive industry, is conﬁdent of growing over 100 percent for the next three years. The company has recently bought a new factory at an investment of `10 crore, which will be operational in four months. The CNC lathe maker has started the process of expansion in February by utilising the spare space it had and converted it into a modern and fully air-conditioned shop ﬂoor by purchasing the latest and the high-end mother machinery from Europe. It then moved on to buy a sick unit spread across 25,000 sq feet and started refurbishing it. “The entire trend is very positive because

Gaurav Sarup, Director, Marshall Industries

the country is growing very well encouraging people to buy automobiles. Those who were using the cycle are now migrating to motorcycles and those who were riding motorcycle are upgrading to cars. So there is a positive sentiment as the trade and commerce is booming. And because of these

factors the commercial vehicles segment is also growing as more roads are being added,” Director, Marshall Industries, Gaurav Sarup told Auto Monitor. In FY 11 it sold around 204 machines with a turnover of `50 crore. The turnover in FY10 was at `20 crore. Now it has set a target of `100

(L) Combo version one side linear other side turret model: Twinturn BT (R) With linear tooling model: Twintum 6L

crore turnover by FY12 which it hopes to achieve comfortably due to its expansion plans and technological upgradation. Over 70 percent of these machines are bought by the car and component makers while the rest is by a host of industries including the general engineer-

ing companies. However, the company still holds a small market share of the machine tool industry in the country. The total market for CNC tool cutting machine in India is estimated between 10,000 and 12,000 units a year. Even if the lower figure of 10,000 is considered, about 7,000 machines are of CNC lathe machines which are the largest volume. Marshall has sold only around 200 machines last year. Riding on the efficiency of the products range, the company looks at achieving a 25 percent share of the CNC lathe machine market in the coming year mainly with its double spindles machine. The company expects to sell around 400 units in FY12 of which 360 will be double spindle. Marshall has also introduced a machine that combines the operations of CNC lathe and vertical machining centre. This machine apart from turning also carries out drilling and cutting operations eventually saving time and labour. The two most valuable parts of any manufacturing unit is the shopfloor, as it generates revenue and second, skilled manpower. Both are becoming scarce. In this situation, machines like double spindles, which provides over 30 percent additional productivity compared with the single spindle ones, becomes a boon for the enterprise. The double spindle is around 25 percent costlier than single spindle but gives around 60 percent of higher output. The customers of the company include Mujal Showa, Shivam Autotech, Rockman Industries and Bajaj Auto’s ancillary companies. In non-automotive sector, the Havel group is also its customer. The machine maker remains undeterred by the negative indicators like inflation and increase in raw material cost. “We think that this is the right time for the manufacturing companies to upgrade technology as the new high-productivity machines will help reduce cost, eventually enabling them to be competitive,” Sarup said. The company started as a general lathe machine making company around 50 years ago and had been growing steadily, but fell due to the terrorism in Punjab. It started manufacturing CNC machine in 1990. Since CNC machines manufactured in north India was not considered good, the company took some time to get market acceptance. In 2005 it shut off all the manual machines and became a full-fledged CNC machine maker. The company has collaborated with a German company called Spinner to set up the fi rst Indo-German turnmill design centre in India. Marshall fi rst tied up with this company in December 2010 to sell and service its products in India.

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Auto Monitor

NORTH CORPORATE INDIA SPECIAL

16 - 31 July 2011

‘Tier-II, Tier-III, weakest link in the chain today’ Land crisis is emerging as the biggest challenge in the northern region as there is almost no space left in Delhi and NCR. The companies should move towards Rajasthan which is going to be next hub for the automotive industry. However, the big gap in electricity requirements continues to play spoilsport. Chairman, ACMA-North Region, Rattan Kapur tells Auto Monitor that a single-internal union can provide an ideal solution to the labour-management tussle in the region. Nabeel A Khan For quite sometime we have not seen any increase in the number of ACMA members from North India region. Why? The numbers have not remained stagnant; we have 15 to 20 new companies coming in as part of new members and 70 new members have come in as individuals. However, the ACMA ﬁgures show that the numbers are almost the same since few memberships were discontinued due to non-receipt of fees in the last two to three years. We have cancelled memberships of 12 companies in the last three months. Our membership would have actually gone up by three to ﬁve

percent but it did not reﬂect due to this offset. What could be the reason for non-renewal of membership and what type of companies are these? We have asked the ACMA secretariat to analyse the possible reasons. In 2008, some

companies complained that we were focusing more on training junior level staff, so in 2009-10 we shifted our focus to mid-level management. Last year’s participation from the mid-level management was 32 percent and this year, it was 52 percent; at the top management the participation was 10 percent last year which went down to six percent this year. But these 12 people are not participating. We have 600 members out of which only 12 people are not interested that doesn’t make sense to me. There are some big companies—Tier I including multinationals and so the reason is not clear. Recently two of these 12 companies have written to us to renew their membership. They are most welcome, but they will have to pay one year penalty fees. What steps are you taking to boost the number of members? We have organised a buyer-seller meet in Ludhiana (Punjab) in February, where we invited everybody involved in the automotive industry. We gave them ACMA membership forms and explained the beneﬁts of joining the association. The response has been excellent. Like I mentioned, we have 70 new individual members

who have joined us. So these are potential new members, out of 70, even if I get 10 to 15 percent, who are very much interested it would be great. We are talking to them and I think the membership will go up by at least 10 percent in the north. We have organised a similar event in Gurgaon in April and we had about 40 participants; we also invited non-members and that has generated a lot of interest. We are now segregating and ﬁnalising the new membership list. Some Japanese trading companies have shown interest in joining us. But we are not interested in them we are more focused on because w manufacturing companies. manufactu Why is ACMA reluctant in membership to trading offering m companies? companies ACMA is a manufactures’ association. The traders may associatio ACMA data to push up use the AC business interests and their own b industry may not be able to the indust beneﬁt from them. We will be discussing the issue during our meet in Pune. What steps are you taking to groom tthe Tier II and Tier III suppliers? Originally ACMA was not Origina open to Tier Ti II and Tier III combut now we are pushing panies, bu companies because we these com find that this is the weakest the chain today. OEMs link in th mostly train tra Tier I companies. In order to raise the bar for Tier II and Tier III companies, them through we are training tra the ACMA cluster. Around 40 programmes are planned for programm every aspect this year covering c including management, kaizen, manufacturing and carlean man

bon footprint. The onus for the development of these companies is on Tier I suppliers. They must involve Tier II, III at the initial stage itself rather than just giving a prototype to develop a product. Any special programme for North Indian companies? Yes, we have introduced a programme on lean tools, quality circles and training in goal setting. We also have workshops on enhancing persona l effectiveness, market access and so on. In October we are going to have a programme on carbon footprint and renewable energy. We have hired an agency which has done a detailed study on this and shared the experience with companies in the region. What kind effort is ACMA taking to tackle the labour crisis in the region? We do not interfere with companies for direct negotiation as we leave it to the company management to deal with their workers. However, the atmosphere in the Gurgaon region is pretty much disturbed as a lot of union activities are taking place. I ﬁ nd this cycle repeating every ten years. It happened ten years ago and Maruti got involved; decisions were taken and everybody was happy. I don’t know why this keeps happening, although the government has made everything clear from wage to contract issues. I think the workers are seeing the growth in the region as the malls are coming and lots of things are happening, which increases their aspirations. The company with a multi-union are faced with bigger challenges. The

16 - 31 July 2011

government should work on having a single internal union policy as it will be easier to handle. Has there been a labour shortage due to recent government schemes in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh? Certainly, there has been shortage of labour and I guess this is going to intensify further. The only option left with the industry is to handle it with the help of automation. What is the roadmap for improving infrastructure in the region? We don’t have any role in interacting with the state governments in providing electricity or land. Our job is to train and raise the standards of component manufacturers. There is a big gap in the region as far as the availability of electricity is concerned. Also, land availability is a serious issue because of sky-rocketing real-estate prices. It will be impossible to recover the kind of cost for those who are looking to set up a Greenfield project in the region. Land that was costing about `1,000 per sq ft is being sold at `12,000. Customers are not going to pay you for the land. Therefore the government should provide land at cheaper rate. The farmers are getting wiser and they are anticipating higher price. Thus it is a very difficult time for everyone. The profit margins have gone down. Today, most of the companies have profit margins of two to three percent. The future destination for setting up a plant in north India is going to be Jaipur highway eventually getting into Rajasthan because we don’t have land in Delhi and Haryana. Rajasthan seems to be the future of the industry in the north region.

NORTH INDIA SPECIAL

Auto Monitor

Aida to target Tier I, II suppliers Shambhavi Anand New Delhi

he Indian chapter of the Japanese manufacturer of mechanical presses, Aida Stamping Technology, is planning to increase its presence in the Indian automotive environment by focusing more on Tier I and Tier II suppliers. “We already have most of the vehicle manufacturers as our clients. So we will be looking at the Tier I and Tier II suppliers now,” Regional Manager, Aida Stamping Technology India, Pankit Shah said. Another important reason for this shift is that the volumes in the smaller companies are better than the OEMs as they buy smaller machines and then graduate to the more advanced ones. The OEMs buy big machines that are also few in numbers. The company which set up shop in India 2008, has a whole range of metal forming machines starting from smaller ones useful for suppliers as well as huge ones for OEMs. “We have smaller machines which are more suitable for the Indian market,” Shah said. The Indian market is price sensitive and the margins for the suppliers are thin. Such constraints prevent them from investing signiﬁcant amount in machinery. Hence we have smaller machines for them, he added. The company, which has manufacturing units across the globe, imports its machines to India from Malaysia. Aida Stamping Technology India is subsidiary of Aida Singapore which is again, a subsidiary of Aida Japan. The metal stamping machines can be used for shap-

ing metal parts of an automobile like fuel tank, doors and engine parts. The machines with capacity from 80 tonnes to 300 tonnes are the most popular ones in the Indian market. “We are selling some machines like motor valves beyond our expectations. They are high speed and power saving machines,” Pankit informed. Since the machines are more expensive than the other such products in the Indian market, the volumes here are not very high. But AIDA is hopeful of having better volumes from the Indian market after 2015. The company produces machines for two-wheelers and passenger vehicles. “They yield best results in cases of innovative products and huge volumes. They are extremely fast when com-

We have smaller and more suitable machines for the Indian market. The Indian market is price sensitive and the margins for the suppliers are thin. Such constraints prevent them from investing in machinery. Hence we have smaller machines for them

pared to other such machines in the market and can reduce manpower requirement dras-

tically. Since our machines are more expensive than the other such machines in the Indian market, they might not give high returns on investment if used in case of commercial vehicles,” Shah said. The company has clients like Hero Honda, Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Bajaj among others. It claims to have manufactured the fastest servo machines in collaboration with Honda which can make 18 parts per minute. Aida has a presence in 50 countries around the globe and has facilities in 17 of them. The products are manufactured in several countries including Japan, Malaysia, the USA, China and Italy. It also provides after sales service to its customers.

Auto Monitor

16 - 31 July 2011

NORTH CORPORATE INDIA SPECIAL

NKH banks on automation for growth Nabeel A Khan Ludhiana

Photographs: Nabeel A Khan

udhiana-based forging machine maker is undergoing a strategic shift from conventional method of manufacturing to completely CNC line in order to cope up with rising labour crisis. The company has recently invested over `seven crore in importing new machines from Spain and Germany. The industrial equipment maker has imported a CNC bed milling machine which will replace the eight conventional machines. The new machine is also expected to reduce the production time apart from reducing the manpower requirement. This CNC machine can produce 10-tonne single piece in three to four hours while the conventional machine would require around a week’s time.

Forged components

Hammers produced by NKH

The other beneﬁt with this technological upgradation is that the waiting period for the delivery of the forging hammer will dip to two to three months from

six to seven months now. This will eventually enhance the sales of the product. “The eight conventional bed milling machines would require

eight people and we have to pay at least `10,000 per month to each of them. But by replacing these eight machines with one CNC machine the number

of operator can be reduced to one. And even if we pay `25,000 per month to this operator we will be in a better position,” Operations Head, Zailinder Singh told Auto Monitor. It has already installed this ﬁve-axis CNC bed milling machine and waiting for another CNC machine with higher capacity, which it has already purchased. The new machine, is expected to be delivered by next month, will have seven metre x-axis with 12 axes. The hammer maker is also importing CNC lathe machine from Taiwan. It went for upgradation of technology after it witnessed a heavy attrition rate. It has over 150 workers in its company which has fallen to 100 people. With the company shifting its focus to be more productive at low cost, the only

Zailinder Singh, Operations Head

option is technological upgradation, which can be fulﬁ lled with automation. NKH perceives a huge opportunity in store and in order to utilise that it is gearing up to ready itself for the market. Being a mother machine manufacturer, it will automatically grow with the automobile industry. It gets around 70 percent of total revenue from this industry. The total revenue it earned from the machines business in FY11 was `15 crore. It sells around 18 hammers and power press. The price of one hammer varies between `15 lakh and `one crore. The company also manufactures spare parts for hammers and other forging machines as well.

Forged Components NKH is enhancing its forged component manufacturing unit by at least double by the end of this year. For this the company has started construction of a new plant in Ludhiana which is expected to be operational by the end of this year. It currently forges close to 200 to 250 tonne of components every month for customers including Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and Bajaj Auto. With the new plant coming into operation, it will be able to produce over 500 tonne of forged components. Currently, it produces the forged components from the same plant where it also manufactures hammers. The new plant in Ludhiana will be dedicated to forged components and once the construction is over it will start installing hammers. “We get over 80 percent of revenue from the auto sector for forged equipment and the rest comes from power generat ion,w i nd m i l l and engineering segment. The company exports about 10 to 20 percent of the total production of forging components. It is concentrating on European market enhance its export business, he added.

16 - 31 July 2011

NORTH INDIA SPECIAL

Auto Monitor

NK Minda Group bags ﬁrst alloy wheel order Nabeel A Khan New Delhi

Photographs: Nabeel A Khan

a nesa r-based auto component ma ker, NK Minda Group has bagged orders from Toyota Motors and Nissan in India for their cars like Etios, Etios Liva, Innnova and Micra to supply about three lakh units of alloy wheels. This is the fi rst order the company has bagged since it signed a joint venture with Kosei Aluminium, a leading alloy wheel maker in Japan. The company has started construction of the plant in Chennai this month and hopes to start the supply in the middle of fi nancial year 2011-12. The two component makers have signed the joint venture in the end of 2010. The capacity of the new plant is six lakh units in the fi rst phase and it has already bagged order for the 50 percent of the capacity. Talking about further diversification plans, the Chairman and Managing Director of the group, NK Minda told Auto Monitor that, “we have converted our company into different domains, like engine and exhaust, electrical, interior control and safety. These are the domains where we will diversify in the future. Any diversification will be driven by the gap in demand and supply. We will bring those products which have demand but not enough supply, provided they fall under these domains. We are planning to launch new products but right now, I cannot share any details.” He feels that diversifying into alloy wheel will increase the quantity of the metal bought so the price will be competitive. Minda has also been talking to Tata Motors, Volkswagen, Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki and hopes to clinch a deal within three months. The group has also set up a target for every division to reduce the cost and increase the productivity. It claims to have maintained around five percent profit margin on the net sales in the last fiscal while the industry is struggling to get to this level. Most of the manufacturers are earning around three percent profit margin. “We have tried to maximise the utilisation of resources. We share the manpower for various applications and also use lab validation for our collaborators. We also look at utilising other facilities; for instance, we have a press shop and so we can supply press job to our JV companies; similarly, we can support moulding facility to cut down the cost,” Minda said. NK Minda Group, one of the technology leaders in auto components industry, is a supplier of proprietary automotive solutions to OEMs and Tier Is. It manufactures switches, electric mirrors, horns, lamps, blow moulding components, electronics and sensors, CNG-LPG kits, batteries and seats for OEMs. It is rapidly expanding with increased market share in its product lines. Streaming with the ambitious growth projections of the automotive component sector, the NK Minda Group is looking to tap the largest possible share in the growth story by introducing new product lines, signing new JVs and exploring new markets. This year the apex body of component indus-

We have converted our company into different domains, like engine and exhaust, electrical, interior control and safety. These are the domains where we will diversify in the future. Any diversification will be driven by the gap in demand and supply. We are also planning to launch new products

NK Minda, Chairman & Managing Director, NK Minda Group

try, the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) has estimated that the industry will touch a turnover of $110 billion by 2020. The group clocked a net turnover of `1,700 crore which it hopes to touch `2,200 crore. However, rate will be faster if there is in-organic growth. The company has recently set up design centre in Taiwan and looks at increasing contribution from its international business and exports to over 25 percent from current 11 percent. The group has its manufacturing presence in Indonesia and Vietnam and ofﬁces in Japan, Europe and China. It has 21 manufacturing plants in India and has JVs/technical agreements with several companies including Tokai Rika- Japan, Soft Italia- Italy, Kyoraku, Indonesia, Emer, Italy.

Auto Monitor

NORTH CORPORATE INDIA SPECIAL

16 - 31 July 2011

“We are committed to support our customers’ growth plans” Visteon, the leading global automotive supplier that designs, engineers and manufactures innovative climate, interior, electronic and lighting products for vehicle manufacturers has recently forayed in to manufacturing Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) coolers through its business division—Visteon Climate Systems India (VCSIL). The company is also planning to expand its capacity if the demand from OEMs increase. In an exclusive interview to Auto Monitor, Managing Director VCSIL, Amit Gupta, says Visteon’s knowledge across the different product group offering enables to provide innovative solutions the customers. T Murrali At VCSIL, you currently make fuel delivery modules, heater cores, intercoolers, radiators and engine cooling modules. What is the roadmap for manufacturing other products under Visteon’s Climate Systems? In addition to the systems and modules mentioned by you, we have recently started manu-

facturing EGR coolers that are required in diesel engines to meet emission norms, eg Euro IV. Visteon has the capability to offer all climate control systems components and can further expand depending on customers’ requirements. Are you working on introducing R744 climate system? Can you give us an update on this?

Visteon has the technology to support alternative refrigerants such as R744 and R1234yf systems, which could be introduced in India should it be required by our customers. Electronics seem to be the mainstay of all the Visteon products. How is it helping VCSIL, with respect to not only products but also the manufacturing process?

Visteon has four main product lines: climate control systems, electronics, interiors and lighting. We leverage our capabilities in electronics to provide the full offering in climate control systems including control modules and climate control heads. Our knowledge across the different product group offering enables to provide innovative solutions that take into consideration the whole cockpit experience to our customers. Maruti is looking at setting up a plant in Gujarat. Will VCSIL follow suit to be closer to manufacturing facility? Maruti Suzuki is an important customer for Visteon and we are committed to support their growth plan. Are you obligated to supply

only to Maruti or you are free to supply other OEMs also? While Maruti Suzuki is our largest customer, VCSIL can also cater to other customers. We continue to look at opportunities to grow our business with Indian and global automakers. Reducing the weight has been the agenda of all the OEMs—in what way is VCSIL contributing to the cause? Reducing the components’ weight remains top-of-mind in the industry and with our customers. Visteon globally has been dedicated to developing thinner heat exchangers and alternate materials that allow us to reduce the overall weight. VCSIL continues to introduce such thin heat exchangers and alternate materials, which has been well received by our customers. What new technologies are you working on now? Visteon continues to focus on developing products for the global and Indian market. Our efforts are aimed at developing technologies that reduce weight, require less package space, less energy consumption and reuse of energy. To further help cater to specific Indian requirements, VCSIL has opened an engineering centre dedicated to developing products tailored specifically for the Indian market with the support of our global technology centres. Are you looking for alternate materials for the same? When developing a new product or technology, we consider how we can use alternative materials to reduce the weight of a performing system. Most of the OEMs are working on projects pertaining to several systems and modules including HVAC, to reduce cost of ownership. What is CSI’s experience? One of Visteon’s key strengths lies in its full system integration. We design, engineer and manufacture complete climate control systems and components. With our broad global footprint, we are able to offer the full product line to our customers at a cost competitive price by leveraging our global footprint. Any plans for diversifying your product portfolio? Our focus is to provide our customers with solutions that exceed their expectations. We have an extensive portfolio that covers climate control systems, interiors, electronics and lighting and one that we can leverage should it be required. What opportunities does VCSIL perceive based on the mega trends that Visteon identified? L everag i ng it s st rong research capability and market insights, Visteon has captured the key market trends in passenger car climate industry as green, smaller and lighter, higher efficiencies, cost-competitive and consumer experience. We have spent lots of our resources on developing products that cater to these key market trends. VCSIL has also provided various climate products to customers, especially customers in north India, which address these trends.

Auto Monitor

16 - 31 July 2011

CORPORATE

An SOS for the OEMs supplier’s problems cascaded the entire supply chain and the OEM production schedules got seriously affected despite the demand.

Case Study 2

Kiran Kothekar

very large auto OEM Company contributes signiﬁcantly to the country’s economy. Not only does it contribute through its own business but also through a large cluster of Tier I and Tier II suppliers, which are set up to supply parts to the OEM company. With a innumerable parts going into one automobile, the number of vendors involved is huge. The volumes done by the vendors are tightly linked to the volumes produced by the OEM. No other industry is so tightly coupled. With such an industry structure, the actions of the OEM have cascading effects in the entire supply chain. To understand more, let us go through the two case studies.

Case Study 1 In Oct 2009, I met the owner of a Tier II supplier to the auto industry. He was at his wit’s end in managing supplies to the OEM customer and was under considerable stress. By this time, for the OEMs, the so called recession was over, and OEM’s production fi gures had improved considerably. Though the OEM’s production fi gures had increased, the supplier’s business fi nancials were in a mess. His cash was completely drained out and his borrowings had increased significantly as he was not making enough money for pay off his fi xed expenses and earlier purchases. His interest burden had increased significantly. He was struggling to get the skilled manpower to manage the increase in load from his customer – the Tier I supplier. He was struggling to even produce quantities which he could manage easily before the recession. He was struggling to get manpower and at same time, due to his cash position, he was hand to mouth in raw material. The situation was further compounded by the changing schedules from his customer. If the schedule changed he had to buy the new requirement of raw material, while his already scarce cash was locked in something he had bought three days back. His deliveries to his customer (Tier I supplier) were suffering in terms of quantity and reliability. As is the normal tactic, in such situations, each supply chain partner threatened the other with business diversions if they did not fall in line. In the short run, business transition is difficult, so the

Let us take another case in “normal” circumstances. One OEM had to meet the year end stretch target, so it started a promotion campaign to push a particular model. The OEM decided to produce this specific model at three-four times higher rate than the normal rate. The plan was made for Jan to March 2011 with very short notice. They did produce the quantity in January to March, and achieved very good numbers for the year. After March the rate dropped to less than 40 percent of the rate of January to March, as a substantial quantity of these vehicles produced in January to March are either in FG of the OEM or in the FG of the distributors. Higher numbers means great figures for all suppliers as well. Right? Not so for some! One of the parts required an imported raw material, which the supplier had planned according to normal rate. The lead time to get the material under normal circumstances by ship is about 60-70 days. As they were single source, they had no choice but to airfreight this material to make it available for higher quantities from January itself. Unfortunately the airfreight charges for this material are more than 15 percent of the cost of this material, and this material was nearly 50 percent of the material cost of the final product. Also they had to arrange for additional borrowings for the huge increase in this material’s requirement as the terms for this material was on payment on landing in the country. The supplier also had to ramp up its production capacity to cater to this huge rate which required investment in certain fixed assets. With firefighting, increased expenses and additional investments they did meet the OEM’s requirement. Could they make the planned profit for this product? Don’t require much imagination to calculate that. Compound this with fact that this supplier also ordered material to arrive by ship to cater to the higher rate for April-June as well. As the volumes have decreased considerably, this inventory went upto nearly 120 days of requirement. Fortunately the product is not the highest volume product for this supplier, hence it could still manage the burden. What about the others who do not have this advantage? They can become weak due to increased expenses and considerably increased working capital. This does affect their delivery performance to the OEM, which in turn affect the plans of the OEMs and then the vicious cycle of continuously changing plans start affecting other suppliers and OEMs. The two case studies are not isolated. Industry players will

During the time of growing demand, organisations have a way to stay in equilibrium and make some money despite the severe issues of flow in the entire supply chain. But the chain can inflict devastation on itself when the end demand starts moving downwards

agree to this and can narrate many other stories. Is this not what Lean was supposed to solve? One of the management philosophies which have inspired almost all auto companies is the Toyota Production System or the concepts of lean management. One of the fundamental philosophies of lean is the concept of flow —the inventory in the entire supply chain should flow at a rate dictated by the pace of the market demand. Many auto companies swear by the concepts of lean thinking but the above case studies point to lack of flow in the entire chain. Is it a case of ‘lip service’ to lean or is it that most auto companies are actually not in a position to implement the flow concepts of Lean beyond their production shopfloor? For answers, let us understand the OEM way of working.

The OEM Way Most OEMs provide monthly requirements of components which are derived from their sales forecast of vehicles but prefer to pick the components on a daily basis based on actual consumption. They limit their component inventory to maximum of a day or two and their offtake is aligned to actual consumption – a perfect pull system. But at the same time, they expect the suppliers to operate on a push mode – the monthly or weekly forecasting system. As with every forecasting, the actual vehicle production is different and as a result, the vendor production system is in a frequent mode of expediting. Not expediting every time helps, which means some vendor misses out on the immediate requirement of component. The problem aggravates as OEM is an assembly plant. Even a single missing part prevents the production of the vehicle. But at the same time the OEMs want their capacity to be utilised fully. With many items in various states of availability, they have no option but to load the lines with anticipated arrivals, resulting in some vehicles being loaded much more than the daily rate conveyed to the suppliers. A small variation in forecasting in one model can result in surge of production in some other SKUs. If the suppliers do not supply according to the daily changed plan and cause line stoppages with the OEM, they get penalised. Frequent failures to supply carry a huge business risk for the supplier—they may lose business permanently. So suppliers try to overcome the problem

with their own buffering—build fi nished goods inventory to cater to any increases. They do their own forecasting on what will sell and try to maintain high inventory of parts / subassemblies from Tier II suppliers. The same logic applies to Tier II suppliers, but they have to keep even higher level of inventory as the Tier I is producing in batches, which means that if the OEM is carrying two-three days of parts, the Tier I will carry 15-30 days of FG and 15-30 days off parts inventory. The Tier II carries about a month of FG+ WIP (due to high batches of production) and about 30-45 days of RM. The problem is despite all the inventory, the supply chain is in continuos state of expediting due to poor availability at an SKU level. This is a normal state of affairs for managing an auto supply chain. Frequent schedule changes and expediting is the way of life. During the time of growing demand, organisations have a way to stay in equilibrium and make some money despite the severe issues of flow in the entire supply chain. But the same supply chain can infl ict devastation on itself when the end demand starts moving downwards.

Blaming Recession Let us analyse the events in the middle of 2008. OEMs were getting the signals that market was slowing. The fi nished goods inventory was pilling up and distributors are fi lled up to the brim. Under the pressure to utilize capacity the OEMs kept on producing to full capacity, obviously based on a forecast, for about two months. When fi nally it was no longer possible to push further, the OEMs took the decision to cut down their production, nearly three months of FG was available in the sales pipeline. The same effect was seen with the Tier I suppliers, they continued to produce full blast even after the OEMs started to reduce their production. Same effect was seen in the Tier II suppliers, which lead to their inventory ballooning up. With the lower sales rate, the FG inventory at TierI and Tier II suppliers was nearly 45-60 days and so was their RM. In the period that the OEMs were asking for much lower volumes (their factories were operating, at lower production rates), the suppliers were supplying from FG. They could foresee their workforce idling for about two-three months, while the net inflow in the company reduced significantly. They had no option but to trim down the workforce considerably. The TierI slowed down for additional three months, and the Tier II for an additional 6 months. When the time came to ramp up, the workforce and capital was not available and these suppliers took time to gather workforce and capital. The last to react and last to ramp up was the Tier II/III supplier. By the ninth month the inventory in the pipeline dried up. Meanwhile the reduced output did not bring in enough gross contribution to pay all the fi xed expenses. The other fi xed cost head that gets compromised in such situations is the interest on working capital. So when the OEM wanted to ramp up, the suppliers was not ready, that took another four-six months.

The OEMs are better equipped to survive the slowdown for a shorter period of six-nine months. Are the Tier II equipped to ﬂoat for 12 months or more at less than half the capacity utilisation? They are not, and hence you hear horror stories. Also those who survived are not ready to further the risk by increasing investments. If they increase investments ie ﬁ xed costs, the period for which they can survive such a slowdown decreases. So we have a key question before us “Was the impact of recession so bad?” or the OEM way of operations worsened the situation and caused the real damage.

What Do We Learn? When demand started falling decisively, the level of corrections imposed on the supply chain partners farther away from the consumption point was very severe. This effect is known as the bull-whip effect and this time the whip almost wiped out few players. The reason for such devastation is the lag in reaction to the change in market demand. The higher the lag in response, bigger is the damage. The lag in response is triggered because of a push mode of operations between the distributors and the OEMs which cascades into push mode between suppliers and OEM production. The monthly forecasting system, along with pressure on department managers to meet their monthly or quarterly performance targets increases the lag in reaction time in such supply chain. So what we need is a supply chain inherently reacting to the consumption or in other words we have an operation in the entire supply chain which is similar to the offtake of components from the supplier’s warehouse – supply and produce only according to actual consumption. So instead of limiting the principles of pull limited to off take of components, we have to extend the same principles in the entire supply chain right from distributors to Tier II suppliers. But is this not what Kanban supposed to do? Why it is not implemented in the entire automobile supply chain. There is not a single case study in India of principles of Kanban implemented right from distributors to Tier II component suppliers. This is despite the fact that principles of TPS are well documented and known to the industry for decades.

Theory of Constraints (TOC) Approach Eli Goldratt in his path breaking article ‘Standing on the Shoulder of Giants’ clearly proved why it almost impossible to implement Kanban in an environment of changing product mix and varying demand loads across time buckets, rapid new product introduction at component levels, unless one is able to impose smoothening of demand on to its customers, the way Toyota has done. Not many auto OEMs are in a position to implement such smoothening. So they implement only parts of lean management which is easier to implement (like principles of SMED,5S, standardisation etc).

Contd. on Page 40

Auto Monitor

Contd. from Page 38

The TOC flow solution framework for the entire supply chain from dealers to Tier II suppliers The extent of variation in demand of the vehicles across weeks at the secondary sales level is not as high as the eventual variation imposed on the supply chain. But it does exist, and is not entirely uniform across weeks. A mechanism that buffers the supply chain partners even from this variation will reduce the emergencies and chaos to a great extent. Such a solution should reduce the level of variability in and prevent misuse of capacity (producing what is not required immediately) and locking of working capital. OEMs should hold a Finished Goods (FG) Inventory buffer, designed at an SKU level. This is different from the default FG carried by OEMs. The central warehouse is the place to hold the

16 - 31 July 2011

CORPORATE designed buffers as it is the aggregation point, for all FG inventory. The forecasting accuracy is better at the aggregation point than at the dealer level. But to always maintain the designed buffers, it should not push the inventory to the dealer to meet targets of primary sales. They should supply only to real demand and not supply for inventory. Supply has to be as per consumption or pull from the secondary sales or a direct end customer order. For some SKUs where tolerance time for customer to wait is lower than transportation time from central warehouse to dealer, the dealer can keep a buffer, of regularly sold SKUs, to cover paranoid sales in the replenishment time from the OEM FG warehouse. For other infrequently ordered SKUS can be ordered from the OEM FG warehouse, as for such items the customer’s do have adequate tolerance time. The dealers communicate their daily buffer status and OEMS dispatch

to fill these buffers as they get truckloads (Order daily, Replenish Frequently). The buffer depletion of the central warehouses provides the order quantities to the plants which the plant can club over SKUs to get the best out of their plants. So the plant does operate on sales and production forecast – they operate their production based on consumption signals from central warehouse. The priority can be simple signal of the risk to stockout which in the TOC solution is called buffers management (the stock is divided into three equal zones, with the 0-33percent stock level being red, the other being yellow and the green zones). The ‘red’ SKUs always gets the ﬁrst priority. The plants should not produce more than the quantities suggested by the buffers. This prevents the bullwhip effect to the suppliers. The negative is that some production lines may not be used from time to time

when correction is required. The periods of small corrections is far better than taking a huge correction of operating at half the load or shutting it off for long period of weeks/ months when the inventory piles beyond the working capital capacity of the OEM. The above steps will help in smoothening of production to large extent. Further smoothening can be done for the Tier I suppliers, who can also maintain similar designed buffers decided by consumption by OEM rate per day x their production lead time x a factor of safety. The OEM relays its daily requirement to the ﬁ rst tier and it supplies from its buffer. Thus the OEM can get varying quantities across components. The depletion of all SKUs is relayed to the plant everyday. Based on the buffer penetration and colour priority the Tier one takes up its production. Thus it is decoupled from the daily ﬂuctuations of the OEMs and can plan its batches.

Vital LINK between

Manufacturers and End-Users

The TOC system is built on the flow principles of Toyota Production System. It is a paradigm shift in managing distributers & suppliers. The starting point is the flow of inventory between distributors and OEMs The buffer can be reduced by reducing the production lead time, the Tier one maintains a buffer of its components and raw material, again in buffers with the three colours. These buffer status (stock level and colour) are relayed to the Tier II who supply from their FG buffers to ﬁ ll these buffers. What happens when secondary sales rate changes? There exists a mechanism in TOC called the Dynamic Buffer Management which adjust the buffers of SKUs as the sales/ consumption rate or the lead times change. If the SKU is in red continuously for the replenishment time, the buffer is increased by 33 percent and if green for more than two replenishment times it is reduced by 33 percent. With this system any variation in the OEMs sales is relayed within days to the Tier II and III suppliers. The OEMs can plan as per the market requirement and get out of the vicious loop of unwanted inventory of vehicles piling up in its warehouses at the dealers and affecting the sales as credit limit of distributor dries up due to non moving stocks. The plants of the Tier I and Tier II suppliers are decoupled from the ﬂuctuations of the OEM by the buffers, allowing getting the maximum out of their plants. The system also prevents inventory buildup against a forecast, which could go wrong, thus assisting in effective working capital.

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The TOC system is built on the flow principles of Toyota Production System. However it scores over the Kanban system as there is no need to force the smoothening of production to the final customers. The TOC concepts of aggregation at central warehouse and supply only as per consumption prevent the artificial spikes, the actual demand variation in secondary sales is managed using the dynamic buffer management instead of a forced smoothening to the end consumer. The implementation of flow principles is a paradigm shift in managing distributers and suppliers. The starting point is the flow of inventory between distributors and OEMs. Hence this can only be lead by the OEMs. If an OEM implements the principles of flow, it not only helps itself but also protects a cluster of companies from the damaging bull-whip effect. (The author is the Founding Director of Vector Consulting Group. Please send in your comments to kiran@vectorconsulting. in. Vector Consulting Group (www. VectorConsulting.in) is the leader of ‘Theory of Constraints’ consulting in India. Vector has been working closely with some of the well known retail chains, FMCG, fashion products and auto companies to improve their overall profitability through supply chain effectiveness.Views expressed are personal. )

16 - 31 July 2011

Auto Monitor

NORTH INDIA SPECIAL

Madras SAF Holland manufacture air suspensions Bhargav TS Madurai

adurai-based Madras SAF Holland, a Tier I supplier of suspensions systems to the commercial and automotive vehicle industry has developed and started supplying air suspension systems for luxury buses and trucks. The company has commenced manufacturing air suspensions after the joint venture between Madras Suspensions a nd SAF Holland. In a recent interaction with Auto Monitor, the company’s Managing Director, Ligi George, said, “The new air suspension, which we have developed, has several advantages by giving right comfort, better vehicle handling and several technical advantages. The air suspension is 30

In another five-seven years most buses will run on air suspensions due to increased levels of comforts besides it being easier to maintain the vehicle

percent less in weight is unique in the segment and will enhance the performance of the vehicle,” he said. The company has a manufacturing facility in Madurai and produces around 3,000 air suspension sets annually and providing complete solution in air suspension system. Madras Suspensions, a specialist in suspension manufacturing, has moved out of mechanical suspensions to air suspensions after the JV with SAF Holland. The JV started in 2007 and took around two years to develop and prototype the new product. SAF Holland embraces a special technology in manufacturing systems and components for commercial vehicles (trucks and trailers) as well as buses and recreational vehicles. Its product range primarily comprises axle systems, ﬁ fth-wheel couplers, landing legs and kingpins. “Ensuring quality, reliability and cost-effectiveness for our customers is our priority while developing and manufacturing products. In addition to our insistence on quality, our light weight components also help to reduce the operating costs of trucks and trailers over their lifetime,” said the company’s Vice President, M Selvarathinam. According to George, in another ﬁve to seven years almost all the buses will run on air suspensions. This is primarily due to the people’s ever increasing expectations on increased levels of comfort besides, being easier to maintain the vehicle. The main success of the company is that the product has been validated in the manufacturing facility itself while it is normally validated at the customers’ place. This helps in reduction of faults. Selvarathinam said, “We design, develop and offer products according to our customers’ requirements; thus we work with them right from the initial stage and engineer the product into their chassis basically.”

M Selvarathinam, VP, Madras SAF Holland

Currently, Madras SAF Holland imports some of the parts from different subsidiaries and then assembles at its Madurai plant. “The company is yet to indigenise the process because it’s quite a difﬁcult task to indigenise the whole product due to low volume output. So we are quite comfortable with the current situation; once the volumes go up, we can

Air suspensions system by Madras SAF Holland

think in terms of more indigenisation and strengthening our base here,” George added. The company doesn’t have major development centre as of now, but later it would be adding it. The present one is being used to support the existing products. The major product development for air suspension for buses is made in the US and while the

centre in Germany is meant for axles. Today the transport industry is challenged with rising costs and several difﬁcult conditions including additional requirements in terms of safety and reliability besides, shrinking margins and stringent regulations. So the company has been continuously developing solutions

matching the growing needs of customers. Recently, the company has received enquires from Brazil and it is looking at possibilities of exporting some of its products that have been primarily developed for Indian market. Last year Madras SAF Holland registered a growth of 20 percent and it is expecting a similar growth in the current year too.

16 - 31 July 2011

Auto Monitor

CORPORATE

Tespa introduces seven-axis robot in India UNIDO-AIEMA organises unique programme for SMEs

Collaboration with Nachi to supply Presto MR20 Akmal Rahman B Chennai

Our Bureau Chennai

espa, a metrology products manufacturer and a supplier of Tesa Swiss products, has entered the robotics segment in India in collaboration with Nachi Fujikoshi of Japan. Nachi is one of the largest manufacturers of sixaxis robots globally with payloads ranging from ﬁve kg-700 kg. Nachi has introduced a newly developed seven-axis vertical articulated type robot called Presto MR20 in India, which has several advantages. According to the Managing Director, Tespa India, Sujit Shetty, the company has introduced the seven-axis robot in India from Nachi to take the robotics offerings to the next level.

Design The seven-axis design allows the robot to closely emulate the motions of a human arm enabling it to perform more com-

Sujith Shetty, MD, Tespa

plicated jobs, even in constricted work areas. Cooperative motion allows multiple arms to work together for assembly processes and increases the payload of up to 50 kg. The purpose is to save space and make the maintenance operation easier, Shetty added. Tespa has been associated with Tesa Switzerland for the past 18 years for marketing and system integration of measuring machines. It operates a calibration lab in the country so far catering to about 2,000 clients till date. The company partnered with Nachi in 2008 to start a new division called Tespa India to cater the demand for robotic automation.

Expansion Plans The company is addressing the automotive market and other sectors that require robotics. It has also tied-up with another Japanese company OTC Daihen, which manufactures welding robots. “OTC has special welding called MAG stitch pulse, a unique technology for higher quality output. We are supplying the same technique to TI cycles,” he said. It has introduced the usage of robots for welding in manufacturing bicycles in the country starting with TI cycles and now other manufacturers are looking at introducing this technolog y during their expansion plans. Tespa has a manufacturing facility for providing support solutions for the robotics as the robots are imported from Japan. The company provides turnkey solutions and builds the system along with the robots for customers. It has four robots to train its customers and the student community. It provides customised solutions based on the customers’ requirements. The company’s clientele include Toyota Kirloskar, LMW, TI,

U Presto MR20

Fiat, Kali, ABI, Jana Engineering, Brakes India and Ashok Leyland. Tespa has three calibration labs with two mobile laboratories in Chennai, Coimbatore and Bangalore. It is the exclusive calibrator for Indian Space Research Organisation, Liquid Propulsion Systems Cent re, Bha rat Dynamics, Defence Research

Nachi VS-05E

and Development Laboratory and Hindustan Aeronautics. The company has an InfoTech Division and is an authorised partner for SAP. Welding is an area where most industries are interested in deploying robots due to the lack of skilled labour, environmental conditions, and other factors.

NIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organisation) with the support of AIEMA (Ambattur Industrial Estate Manufacturers Association) organised an awareness-cumdiscussion programme on ‘Theory Of Constrains (TOC) for SMEs’ by Goldratt Consulting. Held at Ambattur Technology Centre in Chennai recently, the programme dwelled up on development of business by focusing on operations, project management, sales, supply chain and marketing functions. It also analysed the major conﬂicts faced by the SMEs. UNIDO along with AIEMA has been organising intensive projects for SME development like auto cluster units besides,

inviting MSME companies to support them in becoming globally competitive. Dr Goldratt and his partners started Goldratt Consulting that provides result-based projects. Dr Goldratt’s concept of ‘Theory of Constraints’ are management philosophies and a powerful and common sense approach to improve the performance continuously for any system towards its goal. Goldratt’s business knowledge is been helping many companies worldwide to successfully manage their organisation. The TOC mainly focuses on the efforts in the right place to achieve maximum beneﬁts. The right place to focus would be on a factor that limits the organisation most from achieving its goals, which is deﬁ ned as a constraint in TOC parlance.

Auto Monitor

16 - 31 July 2011

CORPORATE CORPORATE

Nexteer’s third plant to start production by 2012 T Murrali Detroit

etroit headquartered Nexteer Automotive, currently owned by Paciﬁc Century Motors of China, has renewed its focus on electric power steering as it believes it to be a green technology, which enables automakers to get increased fuel economy. The President and CEO of the company Robert J Remenar said the company has put more than 15 million EPS units on the road, saving more than 1.3 billion gallons of fuel during the last 12 years. Close to 90 per cent of 2013 model-year pickups in North America will be ﬁtted with electric power steering system manufactured by the company, he said. Similarly, around half of the vehicles manufactured

he said. Towards this, the company is emphasising more on this technology while also refining the conventional hydraulic system. This is part of the new owner’s intent to strengthen its footprint across the globe. Recently Nexteer has added more than 100 engineers to augment its research and development activities around the world. As part of its strategy the $two billion company is setting up four plants in Robert J Remenar, President and CEO of the company the world including one in India, which is coming in the world will have electric up in Pune at an investment of steering system in a year or two,

$six million. Nexteer already has two plants—in Bangalore and Gurgaon with about 650 people working in these facilities. The Bangalore plan has been operational for the last 16 years and currently a third of products manufactured is shipped few customers including Suzuki in Japan, Hungary and Indonesia in addition to GM in the US. The plant makes several components including steering column and drive shafts. Nexteer is investing $four million at its Bangalore, where it has already spent $30 million, to expand capacity by 1,500 sq metres. It will augment the existing 6,500 sq metre and meet the increasing demand. It calls for additional employment of 40 people and with the expansion in place the company hopes to fetch another $16 million revenue. Further expansion is also on

the cards, he indicated. The Gurgaon plant assembles half shafts and steering columns, predominantly catering to the requirements of Maruti Suzuki. The company will be recruiting about 150 people to man its upcoming plant in Chakan near Pune. The 7,000 sq metre plant will cater to the requirements of GM India, Mahindra, Tata and Fiat. Peerage amongst Paciﬁc Century Motors and SAIC might help Nexteer in Pune to grow its business rapidly since the latter will be using GM India’s Talegaon plant for assembling its vehicles. Initially, Nexteer plans to make steering gears, pumps and steering columns and latter it will manufacture the complete system. The plant will commence commercial production during the ﬁ rst quarter of calendar 2012, he added.

Change of Guard at the IndoGerman Chamber of Commerce

he Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC) in Chennai has a new Regional Director—S Raj, who has taken over from the veteran T R Gopalan, who retired after 27 years.

S Raj, Regional Director, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC), Chennai

Raj has joined the Chamber after a successful stint of over two decades with the Automotive Component Ma nufacturers Association (ACMA). He was responsible for setting up the Southern Region office of ACMA. He was also responsible for successfully rolling out the Golden Jubilee celebrations of ACMA comprising landmark events and commemoratives in the form of a book and fi lm on the history of Indian automotive industr y. With his ex per ience, net work a nd understanding of business, IGCC is confident to further strengthen the ever increasing bilateral relationship between India and Germany. With his vast experience in the automotive sector, Raj will also be the Automotive Expert of the Chamber in India. At IGGC’s head office in Mumbai, Zarir Desai has taken over as Director-Finance, Administration & Company Affairs. A commerce graduate and a Certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers, and prior to joining IGGC, Desai was serving Deutsche Bank in India (since its inception) as Head, Trade Finance Operations-India for 20 years.

16 - 31 July 2011

Auto Monitor

CORPORATE

Precision Engineering plans new facility Bhargav TS Chennai

hennai-based Precision Engineering, manufacturer of diesel pump components will soon manufacture components for aerospace and defence at its own premises. The company plans to expand its business by setting up a new manufacturing unit in AMRL multi product SEZ —Nanguneri in Tamil Nadu. Initially Precision Engineering will be investing around `10 crore in the new facility and looking to expand its product portfolio, said the company’s Managing Partner, P Arumugam in an exclusive interview with Auto Monitor. The company is also eyeing a joint venture to export its products to European and other markets. Established in 1998, the compa-

Elchem’s new technology to drive growth Bhargav TS Chennai

hennai-based Elchem, a Tier II supplier, has commenced supplies of its inhouse designed and developed encapsulated solenoids. The new technology will help reduce the cost by about 30 percent besides, marginally increasing the performance. The company has been manufacturing solenoids, automotive switches, coils and wiring harness for the past four decades and supplying to major OEMs like Bajaj, TVS, Maruti and Hyundai through Tier I suppliers. In the recent interaction with Auto Monitor, CEO, Ashis Kumar Chakraborty, said, “Our new design has been approved by major OEMs and Tier-I suppliers, which helped us in gaining more market share.” Initially the company was carrying out winding of coils alone, as per the requirements of the OEMs. As it wanted to reduce the cost of the products and also manufacturing process, it developed the new technology. Elchem encapsulated the wiring in to a shell and molded the entire coil, which reduced the manufacturing time while adding value to the product. According to him, it further reduces the process time and as well as raw material cost. Over the last few years, Elchem has increased capacity through productivity improvements and low cost automation. It has created a dedicated manufacturing line for its customers to cater to the demand and ensure consistent quality. The manufacturer has been supplying switches, solenoids, coils and wiring harness to Ucal Fuel Systems and SMR group, which eventually supplies to a host of customers including Maruti, Hyundai, TVS Motors, and Bajaj. Commencing operations in 1970, Elchem was in to manufacturing chemical and electrical components catering to defense requirements. After 1988, the company moved out of chemical products and specialised in making solenoid, coils, wiring harness and automotive switches. Around 80 percent of the company’s turnover comes from automobileindustryand20percent from others.

Arumugam P, Managing Partner, Precision Engineering

ny manufacturs small components for the auto industry and currently it is one of the main suppliers for a few Tier I manufactures. “We began our journey with just one CNC machine and currently, we have eight component-specific dedicated CNC machines and four imported sliding head lathe machines, in addition to few sets of machines,” he said.

Precision Engineering specialises in manufacturing precision turned auto components from round and hexagonal bars of ferrous and non-ferrous metals. The product range include plungers, nozzles, deliver y valves, feed pumps, hand primers, nozzle testers, injectors, overﬂow valves, test benches, single cylinder pumps and diesel ﬁ lter assemblies. Precision Engineering has been supplying around 40,000 components to Turbo Energy (TEL) and around one lakh components to DelphiTVS per month. Arumugam said, “Our objective is to provide top of the line products at competitive pricing through innovation. We equip ourselves with the latest grade of machinery and a dependable workforce to deliver consistent

Diesel pump components manufactured by Precision Engineering

diesel fuel injection products.” Unido cluster programme helped the company to scale up in terms of technology that eventually enhanced quality, he added. The company will be investing around `two crore in their current facility in Ambattur, Chennai to cater to the demand from Delphi-TVS, TEL, defence and aerospace. During the

expansion mode the component manufacturer will install new machineries and expanding its facility. Precisions Engineering plans hopes to get approvals for supplies to new overseas customers. The company registered a turnover of `ﬁve crore last year and is expecting around `eight crore in the current year, Arumugam said.

Auto Monitor

16 - 31 July 2011

STUDY

Challenges of urban mobility in India & T

he law of urban road congestion states that the number of vehicles plying on the road is directly proportional to the number of empty spaces on the road. More empty spaces on the road would mean increasing vehicle sales, and more vehicles coming out of parking lots. Hence, bringing in more and improved public transport or addition of new roads will not help improve this situation because new vehicles will come to occupy the empty spaces left by people migrating to public transport. The sale of new cars should not be disincentivised in any way. Everyone has the right to safe, private, and comfortable mobility, and one of the best options available today is a personal vehicle. While the long-term rise in fuel prices could

be a key restraint in car sales, this would be balanced by an increase in the total purchase potential of the Indian urban market. The inevitable problems of road congestion and subsequent loss of personal and public productivity in time and fuel costs, environment pollution, global warming, and an overall degradation in the quality of urban life need to be effectively tackled. Developments in urban mobility in the US and Europe hold some lessons in this direction. Trends reveal that whatever happens in the US and Europe in almost every consumer market inevitably takes place in India some years later with some ‘Indianisation’— with tweaking of product designs, service delivery mechanisms, and business models to suit the differ-

ing needs of the Indian market. It is estimated that by 2025, close to 60 percent of India’s population will be residing in mega-corridors (cities with population of more than 1.5 crore, connected by industrial and residential hubs), MumbaiP u ne, Del h i-Cha nd iga rh, Chennai-Bangalore being prime examples. With the development of the mega industrial corridor Mumbai-Delhi-Kolkata, it is estimated that close to 50 percent of India’s population will be residing in this region. Mumbai and Delhi will continue being the largest markets for personal mobility, each with a set of distinct challenges for urban commutation. The solutions for urban mobility problems are likely to be tried, tested, and implemented here, before being

used across other urban centres in India. Most solutions will be based on those already implemented in developed markets. With long product development cycles in the auto industry and time taken for infrastructure projects, the next five years’ mobility requirements in India are already being taken care of by public and private sector participants. Hence, those in the automotive ecosystem should focus on the mobility requirements from 2016-2026 and initiate the thought process now. The next five years of mobility challenges would be taken care of through some initiatives, currently under various stages of implementation in the public and private sphere. Looking at a post-fi ve-year

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horizon, two initiatives carry a strong potential for solving the next phase of urban mobility challenges in India: 1. Creation of smart green zones and 2. Evolution of multi-modal mobility planning services These should create opportunities for a large number of participants in the automotive ecosystem. These include vehicle and component manufacturers, transportation providers in the public and private sphere, technology solutions providers in both, hardware and software, Internet service providers, telecom companies, financial institutions and payment vendors and utility companies in power and fuel creating the infrastructure solutions.

Developments in urban mobility in the US and Europe hold some lessons. Trends reveal that whatever happens in the US and Europe in almost every consumer market inevitably takes place in India some years later with some ‘Indianisation’—with tweaking of product designs, service delivery mechanisms, & business models to suit the needs of the Indian market. Mumbai & Delhi continue being the largest markets for personal mobility, each with a set of distinct challenges for urban commutation Creation of Smart Green Zones are the next imperative for Mumbai and Delhi, which will have restricted presence of conventional personal vehicles during daytime and presence of private and public vehicles offering very low to zero emissions. These will be administered in a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode and will be model zones for the green initiatives of the government. These initiatives include the presence of green and intelligent buildings, significant proportion of energy from renewable sources, intelligent water management, intelligent communication systems connecting office, home, cars, etc. on single wireless platforms, smart infrastructure for commuting outside the zone, and presence of Smart Mobility inside the zone. The basic concept is creation of business districts within cities, along with an entire range of services for accommodation and entertainment. These districts will be characterised by the presence of huge parking lots at specific sites, with internal travel restricted to zero-emission vehicles; these would include microelectric vehicles (EVs)/hybrids run by private players in partnership with companies operating in the

16 - 31 July 2011

Auto Monitor

STUDY

opportunities for automotive players region. The districts will also have facilities for electric passenger and commercial vehicles such as quadricycles run in PPP replacing conventional taxis and rickshaws. Another opportunity is for electric bikes (ebikes) on a paid basis. The districts will also be markets for creation of EV-charging infrastructure, such as charging stations, plug-in hybrid products by utility and engineering companies. The transportation infrastructure will be supported by metro trains and sky buses reaching key hubs in the districts. This has the potential to create markets for EVs, by providing minimum efﬁcient economies of scale to the OEMs and infrastructure companies for manufacturing and marketing, for an eventual foray into the mainstream commercial markets. Neighbourhood electric vehicles (NEVs) like Reva G-Wiz with low range and prices, along with other Indian low-cost versions and commercial vehicles like Mahindra Bijlee, will get a base to jumpstart their EV business. A similar platform will be provided to companies looking at the EV infrastructure space. The government will have a huge role to play to help create and then sustain the green zones through incentives and subsidies at various levels. The business districts of Masdar in Abu Dhabi and Zuidas in Amsterdam are worth studying, as they have been operating successfully on the Smart Green Zone concept.

Evolution Of Multi-Modal Mobility Planning Services The mobility integrators are new business models providing services for complete transport planning for urban commuters in some select cities in US and Europe. For example, Autolib of France is a government initiative in vehicle sharing, where EVs will be made available to the public on a shared basis; Avega in Spain, is a private initiative which tracks real-time information on empty seats in cars of registered users and makes them saleable under car sharing to a selected community. This is backed by real-time information and plans support for the next phase of travel on public transport systems. A similar initiative by Mu of Peugeot is being implemented in Paris. While sharing of space in a personal vehicle on a public sphere may be a difﬁcult business proposition in India, social networking websites can partner with telecom companies to make real-time private car sharing possible for a community of users. Private car travel companies in partnership with telecom service providers can also provide realtime tracking of empty seats on vehicles, travel routes, and user requirements. Though driven by private enterprises, the government can encourage this activity by providing discounts and incentives on road tolls, zero congestion charges in select zones, discounts on parking, access to carpooling lanes, all done through real-time connectivity by collaborating with telecom service providers. The next step in this activity would be the integration of public transport systems for inter-city or suburb-city commutation. Commuters should be able to key in their source and

destination with travel time, and a complete travel itinerary will become available from various service providers suggesting the best routes and modes, along with travel time and costs. Real-time tracking of a public transport vehicle in trafﬁc, following its online booking, arrival departure intimation etc. will also become a possibility. Users would also be able to work on their carbon and water footprints from travel, and monetise these in future. Navigation and infotainment products like Ford SYNC and GM OnStar as OE ﬁts in all Indian cars, which can then become a part of this programme and also include options for electronic and mobile payments for various mobility services. This calls for a complete

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ecosystem of telematics and navigation services coming together with the government for a greener, comfortable, and faster urban commute experience, thereby creating significant business oppor t u n it ies. Automot ive players in the developed market

ecosystems are now increasingly focusing on total mobility as a value proposition—meeting the integrated lifestyle needs and transportation requirements of the consumers, rather than providing just pure vehicles and associated services. This

will soon become imperative for players in the Indian automotive ecosystem. (Authored by Automotive and Transportation Practice, South Asia, Middle East and North Africa, Frost & Sullivan.)

Auto Monitor

16 - 31 July 2011

STUDY

Upgrading the HIL testing system T

he challenge was to make a generic test setup for Hardware-In-loop (HIL) and in-vehicle testing for automotive aggregate units like EGR and Glow Plug controller.

The Solution For the HIL testing, the test setup would be used to simulate synchronised engine signals like throttle, the engine RPM and the coolant temperature. The analogue and discrete signals were generated using the CRIO system. A parallel data logging mechanism was also designed so as to integrate data logging into the same unit. A TPC was also included in the entire system so as to make the test system capable of in vehicle testing as well.

Introduction With the rapid growth of the automotive industry, the need for reliable test systems has been on the rise. Traditionally, the testing facilities restricted themselves to HIL testing as in-vehicle was expensive and infeasible. The challenge was to develop a single reliable and cost-effective test system to carry out HIL testing during development as well as in-vehicle data logging and testing after production. The basic block diagram for the HIL testing is shown above. All the blocks communicate through Ethernet; the TPC and Laptop communicate through a patch cable.

System Description The system is capable of gen-

ture and the status of the solenoid and actuators to feed to the controllers for the HIL testing and also log the actual signals during the in-vehicle test. There are two CRIO systems in the HIL setup, and both are used to facilitate debugging during the development process. For field data logging, the TPC is used where the data is easily stored in the USB storage. The communication between CRIO and TPC are The hardware in loop test setup worked out two ways, using RS-232 and Ethernet. While erating signals like throttle, implementing complex control engine RPM, coolant tempera-

Offers 4 weeks comprehensive course Batch 4 05 - 30 Sep 2011, Bangalore

IMTMA’s “FINISHING SCHOOL IN PRODUCTION ENGINEERING” will train young engineers on all aspects of Production Engineering. ŸEngineering Drawing ŸLimits/Fits & Tolerances ŸGD & T ŸSoft Skills

ŸProcess Planning ŸSelection of Cutting Tools ŸCNC Programming ŸImproving employability

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This course will enhance skill sets of fresh engineers in Mechanical Engg. with a blend of Practical sessions, Hands-on training on CNC Turning & Machining Centres with industry visits.

Eligibility : Fresh engineers (BE/Diploma) in Mech engg or allied disciplines and New recruits / Trainee engineers / Practicing engineers from industries Venue : IMTMA Technology Centre, BIEC, Bangalore

algorithms the Ethernet-based communication is the easier and better one because the communication setup and the programming in shared variables is more convenient that serial communication through RS-232.

The hardware-in-loop test setup The test system comprises three parts: the Windows host, the CompactRIO RealTime host and the FPGA target onboard the CompactRIO. The CompactRIO RealTime environment makes the acquisition deterministic. Coupling it with the FPGA, one can handle parallel I/Os with ease and at very high rates. In this application, the onboard FPGA has been used to acquire data at the default FPGA clock rate of 40MHz. The analysis of data takes place in the RT host. The pictures below show the snapshots of the RT Host VI front panel and block diagram respectively. As can be seen, a reference to the FPGA is used to handle the properties of the FPGA like the timing and the physical data acquired by it.

Host VI In the second loop as can be seen, the FPGA loop rate for the measurement is specified. The data transferred from the FPGA to the host is a binary representation of an I32 value. This is because the FPGA can handle only integers. This integer has to be converted to the actual floating point analogue value that the sensor measures. The conversion takes place within the binary to nominal VI inside the for-loop. The resultant output is a floating point numeric value which can thereafter be displayed, as is done in this case, or used for further analysis. The graphical, dataflow programming env ironment of LabVIEW makes the development process easier and faster. The LabVIEW programming platform inherently appeals to engineers and scientists who can adopt it readily without having to spend time and effort on learning syntax. The add-on toolkits and modules, like the FPGA and RT module that are used in this case, make it possible to use LabVIEW for domain specific industrial applications. The advantage of using the RT system is that it is a stand-alone system which can perform the operations deterministically, thus reducing human involvement and providing accurate and realistic results. For hardware level simulation and control, FPGA forms an ideal platform. It is the best option for prototyping and reduces development time and cost. It can also handle parallel operations at the same rates because everything happens at the hardware level.

Conclusion For further details and registration please contact :

Mr. Anuj Kumar Phone : 080-66246514/66246600 E-mail : anuj@imtma.in Website : www.imtma.in

Using NI Compact RIO, eased the development process and reduced development time immensely and the result is a system that can effectively carry out simulation, data logging and implement complex control algorithms. (The case been authored Instruments.)

study has by National

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16 - 31 July 2011

CORPORATE CORPORATE

Innovative packaging solutions M

umbai based Supreme Industries prov ides cost-ef fective solutions for every need related to packaging and cushioning, and it also extends its support for related requirements like thermal and acoustic insulation. The company offers integrated solutions— construction, automobile, industrial goods, consumer durables, sports goods, toys, healthcare, defence, marine and exports, which

Supreme-017066

are some of the industries that Supreme’s Protective Packaging Division is serving.

What They Offer The division offers a range of products including crosslinked and non-crosslinked foams formulated with speciality ingredients for speciﬁc applications. While most of these are manufactured in-house, others are outsourced from manufacturers. For instance, crosslinked PE

Supreme-017068

foams are offered in both, blocks and continuous rolls; in a variety of densities, hardness, colours and sizes. Speciality variants in this category include two-stage low density block foams in collaboration with the world leader Profile: Supreme Industries has 18 advanced facilities are powered by technology sourced from across the world and complement the company’s extensive facilities for R&D and new product development. Supreme is credited with pioneering several products in India. These include cross- laminated films, HMHD films, multilayer films, SWR piping systems, PP mats and more.

Sanwa Kako of Japan. The EPDM closed cell block foam and rubber blended foam for heavy duty applications is developed by Supreme’s research team. Other crosslinked products developed inhouse include DU R A membra ne — a h ig h performance waterproofing membrane; superior flexibility fire resistant foam (BS 476 certified by CBRI, Roorkee); and premium quality foams for high-end shoes, sports and orthopaedic uses. For

Car door Trims packing

applications like insulation and packaging, a variety of composite laminates combined with air bubble ﬁ lm are available. Following tie-ups with global companies has enabled the division to offer high technology products like reticulated PU foam, ﬁ re resistant melamine foam, open cell EPDM foam among others.

Equipped To Deliver Wit h

t h ree

ma nu fac-

Engineering components

turing plants and eight converting facilities spread countrywide, along with its global supply chain capabilities, the division provides door-step packaging services. Conversion facilities are regularly upgraded with advanced equipment to keep pace with global standards and the demanding requirements of discerning customers. Supreme is now also offering turnkey packaging solutions. Besides designing the packaging. The division oversees the actual packing operations at the customer’s site, sourcing and incorporating other materia ls in t he process wherever necessary. Whether a client is a large scale manufacturer with heavy and regular packing needs, or a small exporter with the occasional requirements, it can offer complete end-to-end solutions ranging from recommendation and selection of the right material, customised design and fabrication, packing, and dispatch. Significantly, the packaging can also be standardised and benchmarked. The bottom line is the dual advantages of cost effectiveness and convenience. DuraboardHD100—the company’s expansion joint filler has been awarded the BIS certification. The division continues to address all environmental concerns. Some of the products are ROHS and REACH compliance. Moreover, the use of alternative eco-friendly fuels has been initiated. Each manufacturing plant is ISO 9001, EMS 14001 and OHSAS certifi ed—and stands com m it ted to relent less upgradation of its facilities at every opportunity. Protective packaging division had developed customised solutions for the requirements of various industries to take care of problems like breakages, scratches, dents, abrasions and corrosion. We have also developed a range of superior insulation products to deliver better energy savings. Each of these products have been developed after continuous interaction and understanding the needs of the changing demands of the new generation equipments. Its insulation products are manufactured from virgin raw material, and undergo a comprehensive quality check thus assuring the best quality, and thereby offering value for money.

16 - 31 July 2011

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TECHNOLOGY

element14 introduces Tektronix intuitive analysis solutions O

ne of the industry’s ﬁ rst fusion of commerce and community supporting engineers and purchasing professionals, element14 (formerly Farnell), has recently announced the expansion of their 130,000 strong inventory with the addition of Tektronix precise and intuitive oscilloscopes. These high performance and easy-to-use solutions provide the maintenance and repair, and electronic design engineering sectors as well as aspiring engineers in schools with effective tools to measure and evaluate their designs. As manufacturing industries around the globe continue to shift their operations to the Asia

We design products that are easy to use and provide the highest level of precision. With this partnership with element14 in Asia, their extensive network and logistical expertise helps ensure that engineers throughout the region can access our latest technology Pacific, this trend has created a rich ecosystem of technological sophistication that supports the production of a wide spectrum of electronics. As a result, design support and maintenance engineers are constantly challenged to find versatile analysis solutions that are capable of evaluating complex systems. There is also an increased demand for simpler tools so that engineers are able to apply these solutions more easily and proficiently across several product categories, thus improving time to market while supporting the development process from concept to end of life. “As the world’s leading manufacturer of oscilloscopes, Tektronix is in the business of helping design engineers to solve their day-to-day challenges,” said David Carew-Jones, Vice-President of Marketing, Service Solutions Organisation, Tektronix. “We do this by designing products that are easy to use and provide the highest level of precision, and it is important that our customers have the easiest access to the tools they need to do their job. Therefore, we are delighted with this partnership we have with element14 in Asia as their extensive network and logistical expertise help to ensure that engineers throughout the region can get easy access to our latest technology.” “As the electronics manufacturing sector continues to expand in the Asia Pacific, there is also a corresponding growth in the number of electronic engineers the region. element14 understands that evaluating the validity of designs is an essential phase of design cycles,” said Head of Product Management, element14, Asia Pacific, Marc

Grange. “New engineers can learn and build up their proficiency through Tektronix analytical tools which are speciﬁcally designed for learning purposes. In addition, element14 also offers 24/5 online technical support, relevant technical information and a complete suite of design software to help professionals, hobbyists and students to overcome any challenges.”

Easy-to-Master Measurement Solutions With Precision And Performance One of the Tektronix oscilloscopes that element14 offers is the TSD1000C-EDU series that

is designed for ﬁ rst time users. It features an intuitive interface that has dedicated per-channel vertical controls, auto set-up and auto ranging, making the oscilloscopes simple to operate to reduce the learning time.

Premier Farnell Profile Premier Farnell is leading the way in the high service, multichannel provision of essential products, information, software and technology solutions to electronic design engineers, maintenance and repair engineers and purchasing professionals globally. With sales last year of £990.8m and underlying proﬁts of £93.3m the group distributes

• • • • • •

Precise and reliable performance Captures signals accurately with at least 10X over-sampling on all channels, all the time with Tektronix’s proprietary sampling technology Advance triggers: rising/ falling edge, pulse width, and video – to help identify and isolate the signals of interest Advanced math capabilities and sixteen different automated measurements Integrates USB port to enable users to save their instrument settings, screenshots and waveform data easily Comes with an Education Resource CD that contains a library of information and guidance tools

its comprehensive portfolio of products and services throughout Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, supported by a global supply chain of over 3,500 suppliers and an inventory

proﬁ le developed to anticipate and meet its customers’ needs. It was recently awarded Platinum status by the Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index.

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GLOBAL WATCH

16 - 31 July 2011

International auto round-up AMERICA GM recalling 10,000 trucks, SUVs GM is recalling 9,215 2011 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon vehicles that could roll away when shifted into park, because of a faulty part produced in China. GM dealers will install new automatic transmission adjustment clips. The problem was discovered when a vehicle at a GM assembly plant wouldn’t start. The recall includes 6,700 vehicles sold in the United States. In the second issue, GM is recalling 891 SUVs and trucks for steering problems, including

739 in the US. The intermediate steering shaft bolts may not have been properly tightened and it could result in a loss of steering. The recall includes some 2011 Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Silverado, Suburban, Tahoe, GMC Yukon and Sierra vehicles.

American Axle closing Detroit plant, to layoff 260 American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings notified the 300 remaining workers at its Detroit manufacturing complex that the facility will close as early as February 2012, when the current labour contract expires. The announcement follows six months of negotiations with the United Auto Workers to keep the plant open. That effort failed largely because there is no new work for the plant. American Axle makes front and rear axles as well as steering linkages for full-size trucks, which have seen a drop in sales in recent years. Its main customer is GM, which uses the parts in its fullsize pickups. GM has discontinued

its truck-based SUVs that used the axles, replacing them with unibody crossovers for better fuel economy. The work done in Detroit is expected to be consolidated at American Axle’s facilities in Three Rivers, Michigan or in Silao, Mexico. Three Rivers supplies GM truck plants in Flint and Fort Wayne while Silao ships to GM truck plants in Mexico and Arlington, Texas. UAW recently negotiated a new agreement with competitor Dana and offered similar terms to American Axle, but they were rejected as not being competitive enough.

Toyota to recall hybrid SUVs Toyota will recall about 82,200 hybrid SUVs in the United States,

after government investigators opened an investigation into stalling. The Japanese automaker said it will recall 45,528 20062007 Toyota Highlander hybrids and 36,745 Lexus RX500h models. In this latest recall, Toyota said the transistors in some control boards are faulty and could be damaged by heat during highload driving. In some instances, the power supply circuit could blow and the hybrid system could stop during driving. The National Highway Trafﬁc Safety Administration opened a probe into the 2006 Highlander hybrid after it received 32 complaints. In most of the cases, the vehicle wouldn’t restart. Toyota will replace the intelligent power module in some vehicles.

Impala owners sue GM over alleged defect causing tyres to wear out A class-action suit has been fi led against GM, complaining that GM fi xed rear-end problems on police versions of 2007-08 Impalas, but not those owned by some 400,000 other drivers. The problem, according to the lawsuit fi led in federal court in Detroit, causes owners to burn through rear tyres. The suit was brought on behalf of a Pennsylvania woman and wants GM to replace potentially faulty rear suspension rods. The Detroit-based automaker sold 423,000 Impalas over the two-year period. The suit could cost GM millions of dollars in replaced tyres and parts. The only owner currently named in the suit, Donna Trusky, of Blakely, Pa., bought a new Chevrolet Impala in February 2008 and said the tyres wore out within 6,000 miles. Her GM dealer replaced the tyres and provided an alignment, but didn’t disclose the spindle rod issue, she said. According to the suit, GM issued a service bulletin in 2008 for police versions of the Impala. Americans spend about $20 billion annually on about 200 million replacement tyres, according to a 2006 government report. Alignments and other related issues add billions in annual repair costs to the nation’s more than 250 million vehicles on the roads.

Technology company files patent suit against Ford A technology company has filed a lawsuit against Ford, claiming several of the electronic features the automaker includes in its vehicles violate the company’s patents. Eagle Harbour Holdings and subsidiary, MediusTech, fi led the patent infringement case against the Dearborn, Michigan, car company in federal court in Tacoma, Washington. The lawsuit centres on patents involving software and electronic components that are used in features to make phone calls, play music and access navigation tools with vocal commands. The patents also make possible car safety features that rely on sensors, such as parking assistance and stability control. Eagle Harbor claims that Ford has used and continues to use the companies’ patented technology in multiple vehicle systems, including SYNC, active park assist, blind-spot identification system with cross traffic alert, integrated control system for stability control and MyKey.

16 - 31 July 2011

Auto Monitor

GLOBAL WATCH

International auto round-up EUROPE German car registrations up 10 percent in June New car registrations in June rose 10 percent from a year earlier and are likely to see further growth in the second half of the year, the German auto importers association VDIK said. VDIK expected the growth trend to continue in July and in the months to follow. In the fi rst half of 2011, 10.5 percent more cars were registered than a year earlier, it added. According to figures provided by the German government’s Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt, German registrations totalled 288,383 cars in June and 1.62 million units between January and June of this year. German car output rose fi ve percent in the fi rst half of this year to 2.988 million vehicles, German automotive industry association VDA said. It confi rmed its forecast of 3.1 million new car registrations in Germany for this year, up from 2.92 million last year.

SPX to provide European automaker with EV charging solutions SPX Service Solutions, a developer and maker of automotive diagnostic systems, provides electric vehicle chargers and installation services to a ‘premier European manufacturer’, a company’s top executive said. SPX Service Solutions, which is subsidiary of the US based SPX Corporation, is GM’s recommended supplier of chargers to Chevrolet Volt buyers in the United States, where Arﬁ said the company has already installed 1,000 charging stations. The company offers the same services in Europe, where it has installed 50 charging stations. SPX Service Solutions aims to ﬁ nish the year with a combined 1,000 installations in Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK.

Saab gets EIB nod for property deal The European Investment Ba n k approved Swedish Automobile’s request to sell part of Saab’s property unit to a consortium of Swedish real estate investors. Swedish Automobile, formerly known as Spyker Cars NV, signed a 28 million euro deal to sell 50.1 percent of Saab’s property unit to a consortium of investors led by Hemfosa Fastigheter as part of efforts to ease its cash crunch. The property deal still needs approval by the Swedish government, which declined to comment.

VW secures majority in MAN as it pursues truck merger Volkswagen secured a majority in MAN after more shareholders than expected accepted the takeover bid. V W will own 55.9 percent of the MAN’s voting rights after the deal closes, the Wolfsburg-based company said in a statement recently. The stake is larger than the 40 percent that V W initially sought when it started the bid in May. Europe’s biggest carmaker triggered a mandatory bid for MAN by raising its stake on May 9 to 30.5 percent from 29.9 percent to pave the way for closer cooperation between the German

Land Rover begins production of Evoque

truckmaker and its Swedish rival Scania, a unit of V W. The German carmaker estimates that a three-way truck alliance

may save as much as Euro one billion ($1.45 billion) in annual costs including purchasing and development outlays.

Land Rover started production of its Range Rover Evoque at its UK Halewood plant in Liverpool. The automaker says it has already received 18,000 orders globally for the vehicle, which is one of 40 new products the company is planning to launch in the next ﬁve years. In preparation for production and delivery of the Evoque, JLR has doubled its Halewood workforce to 3,000 employees. The carmaker expects to export 75 percent of output at the plant. Land Rover says the Evoque’s starting price in the UK will be 27,955 pounds (around Euro 32,000) and that the SUV will be offered in both ﬁve-door and coupe body styles and will go on sale in September.

It will be offered with two 2.2-litre turbodiesels, one that offers 148 hp and the other 187 hp, and a 2-litre gasoline engine with a performance rating of 237 hp. All variants will be offered with six-speed manual or automatic transmissions, and, for the ﬁ rst time in a Range Rover, the option of front-wheel drive as well as four-wheel drive.

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ADVERTISERS’ LIST CORPORATE

16 - 31 July 2011

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Ltd. ..............................................+91-250-2481735...........................info@eschmanntexturesindia.org ........................... www.eschmanntextures.de 13...............Escorts Limited ...........................................................................+91-129-2293990 ..........................shivam.sawhney@escortsed.com ........................... www.escortsgroup.com 35...............Ferromatik Milacron India Ltd ...................................................+91-79-25890081 ..........................salesfmi@milacron.com .......................................... www.milacronindia.com 30 ..............Flir Systems India Pvt Ltd ...........................................................+91-11-4560 3555 .........................manpreet.kaur@ﬂir.com.hk .................................... www.ﬂir.com 5 ................Francis Klein & Co Pvt Ltd ..........................................................+91-80-22272781 ..........................sales@francisklein.in .............................................. www.francisklein.in 24...............G W Precision Tools India Pvt Ltd ...............................................+91-80-40431252 ..........................info@gwindia.in ...................................................... www.gwindia.in 25 ..............Godrej & Boyce Mfg. 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Ltd. ............................+91-20 -66538604 .........................ASharma@iacna.com .............................................. www.iacna.com 48 ..............Indian Machine Tools Manufacturers’ Association .....................+91-80-66246514 ..........................anuj@imtma.in ....................................................... www.imtma.in 54 ..............Indian Machine Tools Manufacturers’ Association .....................+91-80-66246600..........................imtma@imtma.in .................................................... www.imtma.in 17...............ISMT Limited...............................................................................+91-20-66024901 ..........................sachin.joshi@ismt.co.in........................................... www.ismt.com 55...............Jyoti CNC Automation Pvt. Ltd. ...................................................+91-2827-287081 ..........................info@jyoti.co.in ....................................................... www.jyoti.co.in 2 ................Kamal Envirotech .......................................................................+91-124-4367305 ..........................enquiry@kamalcedsolution.com ............................ www.kamalenvirotechgroup.com 51...............Komax Automation India Pvt. Ltd. .............................................+91-124-4599100...........................info.dei@komaxgroup.com ..................................... www.komax.com 23 ..............Larsen & Toubro Limited ............................................................+91-9967800456 ...........................SM.Haridas@larsentoubro.com ............................... www.larsentoubro.com 3 ................M And M Auto Indus Ltd .............................................................+91-124-4763200...........................corporate@mandmsprings.com.............................. www.mandmsprings.com 12...............Mahr Metrology India (P) Ltd. .....................................................+91-44-42170531 ..........................r.ganesan@mahr.com ............................................. www.mahr.com 32,33..........Meiban Engineering Technologies Pvt Ltd .................................+91-80-26860600 ..........................sales-turning@meibanengg.com ............................ www.meibanengg.com 64 ..............Micromatic Grinding Technologies Ltd .......................................+91-120-2712137 ...........................info@micromaticgrinding.com ............................... www.micromaticgrinding.com 1 ................Micromatic Machine Tools..........................................................+91-80-41492285 ..........................mmtblr@acemicromatic.com ................................. www.acemicromatic.com 8 ................Mipox..........................................................................................+91-80-65830898..........................rag-rao@mipox.co.jp............................................... www.mipoxindia.com 57 ..............MMC Hardmetal India Pvt Ltd ....................................................+91-80-23516083 ..........................mmcindia@mmc.co.jp ............................................ www.mitsubishicarbide.com 42...............MMI India Pvt Ltd .......................................................................+91-22-42554719 ..........................bhupinder.singh@mmi-india.in .............................. www.productronica-india.com 39...............Napino Auto & Electronics Ltd. ..................................................+91 124 2290050...........................info@napino.com .................................................... www.napino.com 9 ................Oetiker India Pvt Ltd ..................................................................+91-2192-250107 ...........................akeswani@oetiker.com ........................................... www.oetiker.com 45...............Omron Automation Pvt. Ltd. ......................................................+91-80-40726400..........................in_enquiry@ap.omron.com .................................... www.omron-ap.com 49...............Padmini VNA Mechatronics Pvt. Ltd...........................................+91-124-3207398 ...........................sales@padminiengg.com ........................................ www.padminivna.com 22 ..............Patvin Engineering (P) Ltd ..........................................................+91-22-27780310...........................patvin@patvin.co.in ................................................ www.patvin.co.in 16...............Precision Components Corporation ...........................................+91-40-65229339 ..........................info@dynatherm.in ................................................. www.dynatherm.in 31...............Rohan Standox Autolack.............................................................+91-22-65803331 ..........................sales@spraytec.net ................................................. www.spraytec.net 36 ..............Shimadzu Analytical (I) Pvt. Ltd..................................................+91-22-29204741 ...........................info@shimadzu.in ................................................... www.shimadzu.in 19...............Shriram Pistons & Rings Ltd .......................................................+91-11-23315941 ...........................aarti.anandan@shrirampistons.com 20 ..............Sreelakshmi Traders ...................................................................+91-44-24343343 ..........................sreelakshmitraders@gmail.com.............................. www.sreelakshmitraders.com 41...............Starragheckert Machine Tools Pvt. L ..........................................+91-80-42770600..........................sales.in@starragheckert.com .................................. www.starragheckert.com 29 ..............Subros Ltd...................................................................................+91-11-23414946 ...........................pmehra@subros.com .............................................. www.subroslimited.com 27 ..............Tata Motors Ltd...........................................................................+91-22-66561866 ..........................charu.gulati@tatamotors.com ................................ www.tatamotors.com 20 ..............Tej Control Systmes Pvt Ltd ........................................................+91-22-25838191........................... tivs@tejcontrol.com ............................................... www.tejivs.com 15...............The Indian Electric Co.................................................................+91-20-24475845 ..........................iecmktg@indianelectric.com .................................. www.indianelectric.com 6 ................Time Group.................................................................................+91-22-42119500...........................3sautocomponent@gmail.com, ............................. www.timetechnoplast.com 37...............Titan Industries Limited .............................................................+91-4344-664846 .........................senthilm@titan.co.in ............................................... www.titanautomation.in 61...............Varroc Engineering Pvt Ltd .........................................................+91-240-2556227 ..........................varroc.info@varrocgroup.com ................................ www.varrocgroup.com 21...............Yamazaki Mazak India Pvt Ltd ...................................................+91-2137-668800 ..........................sudhir_patankar@mazakindia.com ........................ www.mazak.com

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16 - 31 July 2011

Auto Monitor

GLOBAL WATCH

International auto round-up ASIA GM says China sales up 5.3 percent

GM’s ventures in China sold a record 1.27 million vehicles in the ﬁ rst half of the year, the company says, though growth slowed sharply from the doubledigit pace of recent years. Sales by GM and its local ventures rose 5.3 percent in January-June from the same period last year, as its

Mitsubishi Motors unveils cheaper i-MiEV electric car

mini-vehicle venture SAICGM-Wuling’s sales dropped 5.4 percent to 641,324 units, the company reported. GM’s sales in June rose 9.9 percent over the year before to 193,878 vehicles, it said. Minivan sales had been a major driver of growth in 2009-2010, thanks to government incentives that expired early this year. GM’s JV, Shanghai GM, saw sales jump 25 percent from the year before to a record 600,002 units, GM said. Strong demand for the Cruze and Sail small cars pushed Chevrolet sales up 14.5 percent to 297,841 vehicles, while Buick sales jumped 28 percent to 324,919 vehicles.

Mitsubishi launched two new versions of the i-MiEV electric car, slashing the price on one and extending the range on the other to appeal to more consumers in the nascent zero-emission fi eld. Mitsubishi became the fi rst major automaker to massproduce pure electric cars with the egg-shaped i-MiEV and leads the segment so far with 10,000 vehicles sold globally since mid2009. It has exported another 4,000 electric cars for sale under PSA Peugeot Citroen’s brands. In the i-MiEV’s fi rst remodelling, Mitsubishi will offer an entry-level ‘M’ version, with a sticker price of 2.60 million yen ($32,000), down from 3.98 mil-

lion yen, and a shor ter ra nge of 120 km (75 miles), compared with 160 km (100 miles) for the previous model. The higher-grade ‘G’ version carries a suggested retail price of 3.80 million yen and can go 180 km (110 miles) on a full charge measured under a stricter Japanese fuel economy reading. Mitsubishi plans to sell 6,000 i-MiEVs in Japan in the business year to

next March 31 and 25,000 EVs globally, including those produced for Peugeot-Citroen.

Ford ramps up China presence Ford’s sales in China were up 14 percent for the first half of the year compared with 2010. The Dearborn-based automaker had wholesale sales of 274,510 cars and trucks in the fi rst half of the year, including 44,442 units in June— an 11 percent increase from June 2010. By 2020, Ford wants 32 percent of that volume to come from the Asia Pacific and Africa region. That would more than double the current volume. Ford’s passenger vehicle joint venture partner in China, Changan Ford Mazda Automobile, sold almost 36,000 vehicles in June, up 16 percent from a year ago, and total sales for the first half of the year totalled 209,100. Ford’s commercial vehicle partner, Jiangling Motors, recorded a 19 percent sales increase for the first half of the year, with more than 105,300 vehicles sold. Ford has released plans to introduce 15 new vehicles and more than double the number of its dealerships and its work force in China by 2015. Changan has a $500 million engine plant under construction in Chongqing to increase annual production capacity to 750,000 units by 2013.

Aston Martin plans China push Aston Martin plans to increase sales to emerging markets and will soon start importing cars to China, as it keeps its sights on an initial public offering. The car-

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ROUGHING Carbide inserts maker, sold by Ford to a group of private investors including Kuwait’s Investment Dar, in a deal valuing it at 479 million pounds (Euro 535 million) in 2007, is expanding its model range to boost sales in emerging markets as demand for luxury cars recovers. The automaker which produces the 125,000 pound DB9, currently sells its cars through independent auto retailers in China and is targeting a network of as many as 14 dealers in the world’s largest auto market. Aston Martin, which delivered 4,299 vehicles for the year ended March 31, expects to sell ‘a few hundred’ vehicles in China this year.

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Auto Monitor

16 - 31 July 2011

EUROPEAN SALES

New Vehicle Registration in Europe -by Manufacturer GROUP

BRAND

MV-Motor Vehicles (LV+CV) Aston Martin Aston Martin BMW BMW Mini Other Total China Brilliance Changan Great Wall Landwind Lifan Other Total Chrysler Chrysler Dodge Jeep Total DAF DAF Mercedes Daimler Smart Other Total Fiat Alfa Romeo Fiat Iveco Lancia Other Total Ford Ford Mercury Other Total GM Chevrolet Opel Other Total Jaguar Land Rover Jaguar Land Rover Total Japan Daihatsu Honda Mazda Mitsubishi Nissan Subaru Suzuki Other Total Korea Daewoo Hyundai KIA Other Total MAN MAN Other Total MG Rover Rover Porsche Porsche PSA Citroen Peugeot Total Renault Dacia Renault Other Total Scania Scania Toyota Toyota Lexus Total Volkswagen AG Audi Seat Skoda Volkswagen Other Total Volvo Trucks Volvo SAAB Other Volvo Other Total Total PC- Passenger Cars Aston Martin Aston Martin BMW BMW Mini Other Total China Brilliance Changan Great Wall Landwind Lifan Other Total Chrysler Chrysler Dodge Jeep Total DAF DAF Mercedes Daimler Smart Other Total Fiat Alfa Romeo Fiat Iveco Lancia Other Total Ford Ford Mercury Other Total GM Chevrolet

2011 APRIL

Source: Association Auxiliaire de lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Automobile

% CHANGE

YEAR TILL DATE 2011

26.92 3.23 13.90 -29.55 5.09 -100.00

842 212001 51015 186 263202

1 4 162 614 363 1801 2778 3273 65325 7238 256 72819 12690 78799 7486 8095 446 107516 103207 0 0 103207 14786 88494 97 103377 1129 5290 6419 1232 10248 10669 12902 41241 3587 15569 1399 96847

182 52059 11212 44 63315 1 0 71 0 1 5 78 1079 1350 1251 3680 2750 65662 7831 209 73702 7814 87487 7179 9159 619 112258 102771 1 102772 15331 86578 185 102094 2175 5802 7977 1641 15057 14317 9342 36125 3817 16965 1351 98615

-100.00 0.42 -3.55 2.21 -47.57 1.26 -48.09 -8.82 -19.53 -24.92 -31.94 -25.48 38.11 14.16 -6.03 -8.23 3.55 -1.79

6 7 1052 2603 1597 6697 10897 12844 255266 27952 735 283953 52665 327450 29570 33949 1683 445317 459308 2 4 459314 59732 384042 389 444163 7588 31089 38677 4783 59516 56074 53655 187281 15990 68524 6617 452440

35794 21846 523 58163 4223 58 4281

27492 23469 638 51599 2813 53 2866

30.20 -6.92 -18.03 12.72 50.12 9.43 49.37

138280 90722 2319 231321 16500 137 16637

3751 72247 87199 159446 21874 107874 8 129756 2915 47566 3292 50858 59003 26788 40195 166925 206 293117 3563 1923 22121 4700 28744 1297763

3495 86239 105570 191809 21890 124018 0 145908 2034 49915 1680 51595 56886 26941 39706 157769 206 281508 2135 1198 21627 3931 26756 1327128

7.32 -16.22 -17.40 -16.87 -0.07 -13.02

13165 345798 399462 745260 91010 481761 22 572793 11324 222082 9789 231871 231789 108195 168606 643682 655 1152927 13875 9276 90605 17130 117011 5518885

231 53715 12767 31 66513

26.92 3.24 13.88 -29.55 5.10 -100.00

1 4 64 535 315 1736 2586

182 52030 11211 44 63285 1 0 26 0 1 5 33 1027 1273 1152 3452

48154 7238 55392 12665 60931 85 8092 446 82219 88080 0 0 88080 14769

231 53739 12770 31 66540 1 156

1 58

2010 APRIL

119.72 0.00 -20.00 107.69 -43.10 -73.11 43.96 -24.51 19.02 -0.51 -7.57 22.49 -1.20 62.40 -9.93 4.28 -11.62 -27.95 -4.22 0.42

GROUP

Jaguar Land Rover

Japan 2 1037

Korea

MAN MG Rover Porsche PSA

Renault

Scania Toyota

Volkswagen AG

Other

BRAND Opel Other Total Jaguar Land Rover Total Daihatsu Honda Mazda Mitsubishi Nissan Subaru Suzuki Other Total Daewoo Hyundai KIA Other Total MAN Rover Porsche Citroen Peugeot Total Dacia Renault Total Scania Toyota Lexus Total Audi Seat Skoda Volkswagen Other Total SAAB Volvo Other Total

2011 APRIL 81462 62 96293 1129 4441 5570 1232 10242 10536 10839 36948 3576 15514 358 89245

Total

YEAR TILL DATE 2011 352086 318 412020 7585 26523 34108 4763 59496 55190 44345 166995 15943 68218 1395 416345

27142 23363 607 51112

30.87 -6.89 -19.77 13.01

136858 90357 2129 229344

3726 58850 73966 132816 20696 84882 105578

3495 70948 91052 162000 20249 100786 121035

6.61 -17.05 -18.77 -18.01 2.21 -15.78 -12.77

13025 284129 340245 624374 85926 384091 470017

44277 3292 47569 58861 26670 39893 150305 206 275935 1923 22074 2049 26046 1135627

46625 1679 48304 56787 26785 39397 142916 206 266091 1198 21599 1688 24485 1175613

-5.04 96.07 -1.52 3.65 -0.43 1.26 5.17 0.00 3.70 60.52 2.20 21.39 6.38 -3.40

207458 9786 217244 231233 107660 167448 577889 655 1084885 9276 90378 7674 107328 4839714

-10.00

185

45 52 76 99 227

117.78 51.92 -36.84 -34.34 -15.42

557 397 298 276 971

10651 10 14893 4019 2 18924 12077

5.21 150.00 16.52 2.86 50.00 13.70 23.28

43037 85 67517 16457 10 84069 64672

32 6114

-46.88 14.12

113 31795 68

7 6153 488

-100.00 14.22 -100.00

0 4 180 2052 3645 12 77 1012 6982

50.00 -26.11 -11.11 15.97 -8.33 -28.57 -14.13 2.05

123.08

2 480

0.00 -20.00 93.94 -47.91 -75.26 50.69 -25.09

6 7 495 2205 1296 6421 9922

49417 7831

-2.56 -7.57

188640 27951

57248 7804 72167 125 9157 619 89872 90412

-3.24 62.29 -15.57 -32.00 -11.63 -27.95 -8.52 -2.58

1 90413 15298

-100.00 -2.58 -3.46

216591 52580 258249 252 33939 1683 346703 393442 2 4 393448 59616

LBC- Light Buses & Coaches upto 3.5 tn Mercedes Daimler Fiat Fiat Iveco Total Ford Ford Opel GM Chevrolet Total Japan Nissan Toyota Total

842 211823 51008 186 263017

% CHANGE 1.25 -64.77 0.38 -48.09 -16.43 -25.62 -24.92 -31.96 -25.47 53.22 14.02 -6.02 -8.14 95.63 -2.13

35521 21753 487 57761

LCV-Light Commercial Vehicles up to 3.5t ** BMW 27 BMW Mini Total China Great Wall 98 Chrysler 79 Chrysler Dodge 48 JEEP 65 Total 192 DAF DAF Daimler Mercedes 11206 Fiat Alfa Romeo 25 Fiat 17354 Iveco 4134 Lancia 3 Total 21516 Ford Ford 14888 Other Total GM Chevrolet 17 6977 Opel SAAB 34 Other Total 7028 Jaguar Land Rover Jaguar Land Rover 849 Japan Daihatsu 0 Honda 6 Mazda 133 Mitsubishi 1824 Nissan 4227 Subaru 11 Suzuki 55 Other 869 Total 7125 Korea Daewoo Hyundai 273 KIA 93 Other 36 Total 402 Porsche Porsche 25 Citroen 13386 PSA Peugeot 13190 Total 26576 Renault Dacia 1178 Renault 20470 Total 21648 Toyota Toyota 3266 Audi 142 Volkswagen AG Seat 118 Skoda 299 Volkswagen 16357 Total 16916 Other Volvo 47 1203 Other Total 1250 Total 133012

-11.07 43.31 -4.71 95.95 -1.43 3.72 -0.57 1.23 5.80 0.00 4.12 66.89 60.52 2.28 19.56 7.43 -2.21

2010 APRIL 80458 176 95932 2175 5314 7489 1641 15053 14137 7074 32404 3805 16888 183 91185

31976 4569 20 20 884 8362 20001 47 306 4548 34188

350 106 31 487 0 15279 14468 29747 1641 21310 22951 3262 99 156 307 14585 15147 28 904 932 128106

-22.00 -12.26 16.13 -17.45 -12.39 -8.83 -10.66 -28.21 -3.94 -5.68 0.12 43.43 -24.36 -2.61 12.15 11.68 67.86 33.08 34.12 3.83

1420 365 190 1975 140 61624 59048 120672 5084 87727 92811 14538 556 534 1148 64897 67135 227 4503 4730 566225

58 26 33 59 79 60

138 21 7 28 41 6

-57.97 23.81 371.43 110.71 92.68 900.00

309 116 53 169 306 121

100.00

16 - 31 July 2011

GROUP Korea

PSA

Renault Volkswagen AG

Other

BRAND Hyundai Kia Other Total Citroen Peugeot Total Renault Audi Seat Skoda Volkswagen Total Dodge Other Total

2011 APRIL

2010 APRIL

% CHANGE

YEAR TILL DATE 2011

-33.33 -50.00 -42.86 -53.33

10 6 16 83

GROUP Ford GM Japan

2 2 4 28

3 4 7 60

MAN

164

105.00

330

PSA

116 571

75 436

54.67 30.96

570 1914

-10.00

185

Renault Scania Volkswagen Volvo Trucks Others Total

45 52 76 99 227

44.44 50.00 1.32 -36.36 -3.96

557 397 298 276 971

10789 10 14914 4026 2 18952 12118

4.49 160.00 20.21 8.15 50.00 17.72 23.82

43346 85 67633 16510 10 84238 64978

32 6120

-34.38 14.80

113 31916

7 6159

428.57 15.02

68 32097

488 0 4 180 2052 3646 12 77 1012 6983

74.80 50.00 -24.44 -6.73 16.29 -8.33 -25.97 -8.79 4.35

4569 20 20 884 8362 20005 47 306 4548 34192

Total Light Commercial Vehicles up to 3.5t (LCV+LBC) BMW BMW 27 Mini Total China Great Wall 65 Chrysler 78 Chrysler Dodge 77 JEEP 63 Total 218 DAF DAF Daimler Mercedes 11273 Fiat Alfa Romeo 26 Fiat 17928 Iveco 4354 Lancia 3 Total 22311 Ford Ford 15005 Other Total GM Chevrolet 21 7026 Opel SAAB Other 37 Total 7084 Jaguar Land Rover Jaguar Land Rover 853 Japan Daihatsu 0 Honda 6 Mazda 136 Mitsubishi 1914 Nissan 4240 Subaru 11 Suzuki 57 Other 923 Total 7287 Korea Daewoo Hyundai 271 KIA 93 Other 41 Total 405 Porsche Porsche 25 Citroen 13477 PSA Peugeot 13205 Total 26682 Renault Dacia 1250 Renault 20434 Total 21684 Toyota Toyota 3279 Audi 143 Volkswagen AG Seat 120 Skoda 309 Volkswagen 16443 Total 17015 Other Volvo 48 Other 1223 Total 1271 134484 Total CV-Commercial Vehicles (trucks) over 3.5t ** Other China Chrysler Other 1 DAF DAF 3244 Daimler Mercedes 5416 Fiat Fiat 509 Iveco 2774 Total 3283 Ford Ford 28 GM Chevrolet 0 Opel 18 Other 1 Total 19 Japan Mitsubishi 227 Nissan 66 Other 170 Total 463 Korea Daewoo MAN 4141 MAN PSA Citroen 7 Peugeot 32 Total 39 Renault Renault 2523 8 Other Total 2531 Scania Scania 2926 Toyota Toyota 22 Volkswagen AG Volkswagen 132 Volvo Trucks Volvo 3378 Other 756 Total 26379 BC-Buses & Coaches over 3.5t DAF DAF Daimler Mercedes Others Total Fiat Fiat Iveco Total

Auto Monitor

EUROPEAN SALES

66 557 287 844 26 484 510

350 106 31 487 0 15282 14472 29754 1641 21370 23011 3262 99 156 309 14663 15227 28 979 1007 128542

-22.57 -12.26 32.26 -16.84 -11.81 -8.75 -10.32 -23.83 -4.38 -5.77 0.52 44.44 -23.08 0.00 12.14 11.74 71.43 24.92 26.22 4.62

1421 365 190 1976 140 61634 59054 120688 5084 87810 92894 14543 556 535 1158 65216 67465 227 5073 5300 568139

1 2718 4815 382 2544 2926 52 1 0 2 3 216 75 152 443

0.00 19.35 12.48 33.25 9.04 12.20 -46.15 -100.00

2616 7 41 48 1822 0 1822 1880 29 162 1977 750 20242

58.30 0.00 -21.95 -18.75 38.47 38.91 55.64 -24.14 -18.52 70.86 0.80 30.32

15732 27 116 143 9785 22 9807 10883 84 494 13065 2339 100604

32 641 209 850 24 484 508

106.25 -13.10 37.32 -0.71 8.33 0.00 0.39

123 2200 734 2934 177 2085 2262

-50.00 533.33 5.09 -12.00 11.84 4.51

4 12720 21082 1391 10723 12114 196 2 39 3 44 948 281 667 1896

BRAND Ford Chevrolet Opel Nissan Mitsubishi Toyota Others Total MAN Others Total Citroen Peugeot Total Renault Scania Volkswagen Volvo

2011 APRIL 160 0

% CHANGE -15.34

YEAR TILL DATE 2011 692 2

-75.00

194 53 247 2 5 7 40 154 28 158 514 2731

25.77 5.66 21.46 -50.00 60.00 28.57 -62.50 -33.77 -21.43 72.78 -2.33 2.67

7 7 763 137 900 8 47 55 75 441 83 810 2044 10428

1 2750 5456 209 5665 406 3028 3434 241 1 0 2 3 216 75 156 447

0.00 20.36 9.48 37.32 10.50 31.77 7.60 10.45 -21.99 -100.00

2810 53 2863 9 46 55 1862 0 1862 2034 29 190 2135 1264 22973

56.05 5.66 55.12 -11.11 -13.04 -12.73 36.31 36.73 48.87 -24.14 -18.95 71.01 -0.47 27.03

16495 137 16632 35 163 198 9860 22 9882 11324 84 577 13875 4383 111032

2353 2921 1196

18.95 22.46 5.27

11170 13607 4965

12 1916 1302 0 1302 1868 1820 351 13739

91.67 60.91 53.76 54.15 56.64 76.70 -19.66 39.55

61 11668 7939 18 7957 10878 12441 845 73593

50 317 287 604 360 224 56 280

11 430 209 639 323 187 53 240

354.55 -26.28 37.32 -5.48 11.46 19.79 5.66 16.67

103 1229 734 1963 1520 690 137 827

102 273 328 1997

154 158 336 1861

-33.77 72.78 -2.38 7.31

441 810 1296 6960

20.52 16.20 37.32 17.44 6.58

11273 14835 735 15570 6485

91.67 91.67 57.25 5.66 55.98 53.76

61 61 12358 137 12495 7939 18 7957 11319 13251 2141 80553

1 1 244 56 300 1 8 9 15 102 22 273 502 2804

Total Commercial Vehicles (Trucks) & (Buses) over 3.5t Other China Chrysler Other 1 DAF DAF 3310 Daimler Mercedes 5973 Others 287 Total 6260 Fiat Fiat 535 3258 Iveco Total 3793 Ford Ford 188 GM Chevrolet 0 Opel 18 Others 1 Total 19 Japan Mitsubishi 227 66 Nissan Others 171 Total 464 Korea Daewoo Hyundai Total MAN MAN 4385 56 Others Total 4441 PSA Citroen 8 40 Peugeot Total 48 Renault Renault 2538 Others 8 Total 2546 Scania Scania 3028 Toyota Toyota 22 Volkswagen AG Volkswagen 154 Volvo Trucks Volvo 3651 Others 1258 Total 29183 HCV-Heavy Commercial Vehicles (trucks) over 16t ** Other China DAF DAF 2799 Daimler Mercedes 3577 Fiat Iveco 1259 Ford Ford GM Chevrolet Japan Other 23 MAN MAN 3083 Renault Renault 2002 Other 5 Total 2007 Scania Scania 2926 Volvo Trucks Volvo 3216 Others 282 Total 19173 HBC-Heavy Buses & Coaches over 16t DAF DAF Daimler Mercedes Other Total Fiat Iveco MAN MAN Others Total Renault Renault Scania Scania Volvo Trucks Volvo Others Total

2010 APRIL 189

Total Heavy Commercial Vehicles (Trucks & Buses) over 16t China Other DAF DAF 2849 2364 Daimler Mercedes 3894 3351 Other 287 209 Total 4181 3560 Fiat Iveco 1619 1519 GM Chevrolet Japan Others 23 12 Total 23 12 MAN MAN 3307 2103 56 53 Others Total 3363 2156 Renault Renault 2002 1302 5 0 Other Total 2007 1302 Scania Scania 3028 2022 Volvo 3489 1978 Volvo Trucks Others 610 687 Total 21170 15600

-50.00 533.33 5.09 -12.00 9.62 3.80

54.15 49.75 76.39 -11.21 35.71

4 12843 23281 735 24016 1568 12808 14376 888 3 40 3 46 948 281 674 1903

*EU 15 + EEFTA (Iceland, Norway & Switzerland) + Western Europe (10 new members) â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;(*) EU27 including Bulgaria and Romania; data for Malta and Cyprus not available

Auto Monitor

PRODUCT INDEX

16 - 31 July 2011

Abb motors eff 1 ........................................................15

Dimensional inspection .............................................20

Pneumatics & hydraulics-cylinders............................53

Acc. Padel sensor assy ................................................49

Door and trim systems ...............................................7

Polymer conveyer belt ...............................................35

ADEA - Automotive Dealership Excellence Awards .....50

Drilling tools...............................................................63

Powder coating system ..............................................22

Advanced auto crimping ............................................51

Drills ...........................................................................28

Power chucking cylinders ..........................................1

Aftermarket magzine .................................................40

E-coatings solutions ...................................................2

Precision grinders ......................................................64

Air chiller ....................................................................35

Egr valve .....................................................................49

Press tools ..................................................................25

Aluminium endmills...................................................28

Electronic control unit ...............................................49

Press tools engineering services.................................25

Analytical instruments ...............................................36

Encoders.....................................................................45

Pressure regulators ....................................................53

Auto Monitor magzine ...............................................18

Envirnmental monitoring systems .............................36

Programmable logic controller ..................................20

Automatic painting system ........................................22

Exhibition - Engineering Expo ....................................4,26,46

Programmable logic controllers ................................45

Automotive electrical components ............................61

Extension springs .......................................................3

Programmable terminals ...........................................45

Automotive wire harness ...........................................39

Five axis machining centers .......................................41

Proximity sensors .......................................................45

Bbl brake moters........................................................15

Flange mounting b5/b35 motors................................15

Quality steel ...............................................................11

Bbl/kec ﬂame proof motors .......................................15

Flooring and acoustic systems ...................................7

Rainﬂaps ....................................................................6

Belt and roller ............................................................51

Four axis horizontal machining centers .....................41

Reamers .....................................................................63

Brake shoe .................................................................13

Granulator ..................................................................35

Resistor assembly .......................................................39

Burs ............................................................................28

Grinder .......................................................................35

Rﬁd .............................................................................45

Bus a/c ........................................................................29

Grippers......................................................................53

Robot system..............................................................35

Buses ..........................................................................27

Gun drills ....................................................................63

Robotic assembly lines & robotic weld cells ..............37

Capacitors discharge ignitors .....................................39

Headliner and overhead systems ...............................7

Rotary assembly machines.........................................37

Car paints ...................................................................31

High performance drills .............................................28

Safety light curtains ...................................................45

Car polish ...................................................................31

High performance endmills .......................................28

Sealer dispensing system ...........................................22

Carbide burrs .............................................................28

Hollow bars ................................................................17

Seat assemblies ..........................................................61

Carbide routhing endmills .........................................28

Hopper dryer..............................................................35

Self adhesive tapes .....................................................20

Carbide tools ..............................................................28

Hopper loader ............................................................35

Siemens motors eﬁ 1 ..................................................15

Ced/ktl coatings .........................................................2

Horizontal CNC machines...........................................55

Solenoid valves ..........................................................53

Chemical etching........................................................52

Horizontal machining center .....................................55

Solid carbide drills .....................................................24

Clamps........................................................................9

Hot,Cold & warm forged machined parts ..................61

Solid carbide drills with ic ..........................................24

Clutch plates...............................................................13

Hvacs & evaporators ..................................................29

Solid carbide mills......................................................24

CNC .............................................................................55

Ic engine valves ..........................................................61

Solid carbide reamers ................................................24

CNC hmcs ...................................................................55

Induction heating equipment ....................................16

Solid carbide reamers with ic.....................................24

CNC lathes ..................................................................1

Industrial automation ................................................20

Solid carbide special drills .........................................24

CNC machines ............................................................55

Industrial control & sensing devices ..........................45

Solid carbide special mills..........................................24

CNC oval turning centers ............................................55

Industrial scientiﬁc instruments ................................36

Solid carbide special reamers ....................................24

CNC turn mill centers .................................................55

Inspection system ......................................................20

Solid carbite tools ......................................................57

CNC turning center .....................................................55

Instrument panels ......................................................7

Soses & tubes .............................................................29

CNC vertical machining center ...................................55

Invertor/variable frequency drives ............................45

Spade drills.................................................................28

CNC/vmc machines.....................................................21

Jobber length drills ....................................................28

Special purpose machine ...........................................25

Combination switches ................................................39

Kec ac motors .............................................................15

Spray guns ..................................................................22

Combined drills & countersinks .................................28

Kec dc motors ............................................................15

Spray painting equipment .........................................31

Commercial vehicles ..................................................27

Kec slipring crane duty motors ..................................15

Spray suppression system ..........................................6

Compact chiller ..........................................................35

Lean assembly lines ...................................................37

Standard endmills ......................................................28

Compression springs ..................................................3

Level controllers .........................................................45

Straight ﬂute drills......................................................28

Compressors ...............................................................29

Linear assembly lines .................................................37

Strip steel ...................................................................11

Condensers .................................................................29

Lubes ..........................................................................43

Stub length drills ........................................................28

Consoles and cockpits ................................................7

Lubricants ..................................................................13

Super finishing film - variofilm...................................8

Contour evaluation in single trace .............................12

Machine tools .............................................................5

Switching relays..........................................................45

Coolants .....................................................................43

Machinery steel ..........................................................11

Taps ............................................................................63

Cooling module ..........................................................29

Marpreset ...................................................................12

Tempurature controllers ............................................45

Counters & power supplies ........................................45

Marsurf ld 120 roughness ..........................................12

Texturing ....................................................................52

Countersinks ..............................................................28

Material handling .......................................................47

Thermal imaging cameras .........................................30

Countersinks ..............................................................63

Measurement .............................................................12

Thermocompression moulds .....................................25

Cutting oils .................................................................43

Measuring & monitoring relay for 1ph/3ph ...............45

Timers ........................................................................45

Cutting tools ...............................................................57

Metal cutting tools .....................................................24

Tool bits .....................................................................11

Cylindrical grinders ....................................................1,64

Metﬁn compounds .....................................................8

Tool presetters ...........................................................12

Decimal endmills .......................................................28

Metric endmills ..........................................................28

Tool presetting ...........................................................12

Dehumidiﬁed air dryer ..............................................35

Milling cutters ............................................................63

Tool steel ....................................................................11

Diamond tools............................................................63

Modular tooling system .............................................63

Torsion springs ...........................................................3

Die casting dies ..........................................................25

Motion controls ..........................................................45

Total data management .............................................12

Die casting engineering services ................................25

Mould temperature controller ...................................35

Tungsten carbide metal cutting tools ........................23

N/c spotting drills .......................................................28

Turning machine solutions.........................................32,33

Other interior and exterior components....................7

Turrets ........................................................................1

Paint circulatin system ...............................................22

Vaccum pump ............................................................49

Paint pumps ...............................................................22

Ventilators ..................................................................20

Looking for a Supplier?

Pbegl geared motors ..................................................15

Vertical line series ......................................................55

We will make your search simple. Just type AM (space) Segment of the Supplier and send it to 51818.

Photo electric sensors ................................................45

Vertical machining centers.........................................1

Physical testing & measuring equipments .................36

Vision inspection systems ..........................................37

Pistons & pistons rings ...............................................19

Vision sensors.............................................................45

eg. AM (space) Castings and send it to 51818.

Pistons & pistons rings ...............................................34

Vmc-linear series ........................................................55

Plastic moulded components ....................................61

Wire forms ..................................................................3

FIC : Front Inside Cover BIC : Back Inside Cover BC: Back cover

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THE OTHER SIDE

Getting Personal with Rohan Verma, Director, CE Info Systems If not in the industry, where would you be? I have many ideas and dreams. If I wasn’t in the industry, I would be either pursuing business in other industries I am passionate about and have strong convictions in. Else, I would be performing on stage or television or working at the grassroots for development of India and other emerging countries. I hope at some stage in my life I can do all those. What car do you drive? What do you dream of driving? I drive a Honda Civic. I dream of driving either an Audi A8, a BMW 7 series, or the Maserati which has just come to India! Your most recent indulgence… iPhone 4 for my wife (which I secretly use a lot!) What are you currently reading? River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh What is Mr Verma doing when not talking about the industry? Enjoying with my family and close friends. Dancing. Combining holidays with work travel! Outdoor activity you would miss ofﬁce for… Any good sport like cricket, tennis, football, golf or swimming! Unfortunately I am not very good at missing ofﬁce Where did you go for your last holiday? Leh Ladakh—it was surreal! You get angry when… People misbehave What is the one thing you would like to change about you? Get angry less often. Best thing to have happened to you… Getting married to my wife Namrata last year!

An experience I won’t forget…

Illustration: Sachin Pandit

Travelling to Leh Ladakh is an experience I won’t ever forget. Right from the flight where we could see the massive snow-capped Himalayan peaks, to the distant planet-like terrain of Ladakh, to white-water rafting in the ice cold water under a sunny, clear blue sky of Zaskar river valley flanked by massive cliffs on either side , to seeing the beautiful Pangong Lake of 3 idiots fame which changed to bright gleaming turquoise blue as the sun came out, and driving up to Khardungla pass in heavy snow and having a snow-fight on the highest motorable road of the world, to the hospitality and friendliness of the locals and buying a simple prayer wheel and putting all our memories of a wonderful trip into our mind’s eye. Leh-Ladakh is a paradise like no other place on this Earth. I will certainly never forget it!

16 - 31 July 2011

In Person Rohan leads MapmyIndia’s marketing efforts, focusing on building the brand by introducing innovative and disruptive products to Indian market, such as MapmyIndia. com and now, MapmyIndia Navigator, both of which are owned by CE Info Systems. Rohan is also responsible MapmyIndia’s distribution business across over 700 automotive, electronics and lifestyle showrooms and retail outlets in India. Rohan conceptualised and created MapmyIndia.com in the summer of 2004, after tanford University, completing his ﬁrst year of college at Stanford ident’s Award USA. At Stanford, he received the President’s for Academic Excellence, and was also awarded Best Work Study Student by the University Registrar in 2004. He graduated from Stanford in n Electrical 2007 obtaining a Bachelors of Science in Engineering. After graduation, Rohan decided to ial arena as plunge into the Indian entrepreneurial a second-generation entrepreneur, armed with hich was conthat conviction that MapmyIndia, which 992, could help ceived and started by his parents in 1992, ments in India consumers, enterprises and governments ps and locabeneﬁt hugely from the power of maps tion-based services. ance Rohan is 26 years old. He enjoys dance elhi a lot, and has performed widely in Delhi nd with the Danceworx Academy, and m around USA with Stanford’s Hindi Film ht Dance team. Rohan has been brought hi up in New Delhi, and studied at Delhi as Public School Vasant Kunj where he was the Head Boy. He is recently married to ayhis lovely wife, Namrata, and loves playing with his golden retriever, Oscar.

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