November 2016

Micromatic To Leverage On Smart Machine Tools

RNI No. MAHENG.2015/64732

Vol.No.2 Issue No 6 November 2016 | US$ 20 `200

AUTOPARTS ASIA | November 2016

Gulf Oil

Passionately Creates

Enduring Quality Products

RNI No. MAHENG.2015/64732

Ravi Chawla

Ashok Leyland Hones Software Skills For Future Vehicles - Seshu Bhagavathula

Wabco Connects To Connectivity For Better Vehicle Safety, Efficiency - Jorge Solis

www.autopartsasia.in

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Vol No 2 | Issue No 6 | November 2016

ISSUE

IN THIS

12

44

Coll Joins Allison As Senior VP Global Marketing

Micromatic To Leverage On Smart Machine Tools For Global Growth

PEOPLE

30

COVER STORY

- Gulf Oil Passionately Creates Enduring Quality Products

FOCUS

6

IMPRESSIONS

7

EDITORIAL

8

TRAILBLAZING TRENDS

10

PEOPLE

14

CORPORATE

- Investing On Innovation

- Mommertz To Man MAN Trucks India - Valeo Appoints Schwyn As CTO In North America - Lorenzetti To Drive Apollo Tyres’ Global R&D - Saoud To Lead Bridgestone Americas TBR Business - Chowdhury Is New President of AIRIA - Coll Joins Allison As Senior VP Global Marketing - New Senior VPs To Steer Volvo Car Divisions - Spoelder To Lead Faurecia’s Future Mobility Plans - New CFO For Advance Auto Parts

- Fiem In Tech Link With Japanese Companies To Make Canister - RSB To Make New-gen Propeller Shafts In Sri City

18 INTERVIEW

- Ashok Leyland Hones Software Skills For Future Vehicles - Wabco Connects To Connectivity For Better Vehicle Safety, Efficiency

40 SPECIAL REPORT

- Delphi Gears Up To Make Vehicle Repair Cost-effective, Hi-tech

44 FOCUS 2 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

- Micromatic To Leverage On Smart Machine Tools For

Global Growth - TVS Tyres Revs Up Production Capacity

24

55 PREVIEW

INTERVIEW

- Automechanika Shanghai 2016 To Have Increased Line-up of Japanese Exhibitors

Wabco Connects To Connectivity For Better Vehicle Safety, Efficiency

FEATURES

54

EVENT

- International Buyers, Indian Cos Converge At ACMA iAutoConnect

58

GLEANINGS India - Jaguar Launches All-New F-Pace

- TVS Logistics To Expand With CDPQ Stake

59

GLEANINGS International

70

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

72

AUTO LAUGH

- Australian Aftermarket Association Launches Repairers Council - VanDyne And Allison To Co-Develop Vehicle Demonstrator - ContiTech Simulation Technology Helps Develop Light-weight Components - Nissan Acquires 34 Percent Stake In Mitsubishi Motors - Auto Group Drags Down Continental‘s 2016 Outlook - Mercedes-Benz To Build First Electric Car In Bremen Plant - Legal Cover Likely For Consumer Auto Service Choices In US - TE Connectivity Showcases Test, Measurement Sensor Technologies - Knorr-Bremse Presents Innovative Solutions For CV Service, Repair - Bosch Strengthens Presence In Mexico - IBM, GM introduce cognitive mobility platform OnStar Go - GENUI Acquires ZF Subsidiary Cherry - Thermo King Unveils Intelligent Solutions

56

ANALYSIS

- Rural Demand Revs Up Vehicle Sales In September

/AutoPartAsia Read AutoParts Asia Digital Edition on

/AutoParts_Asia

/AutoPartsAsia

- Driving Gender Equality

AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 3

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IMPRESSIONS

Delayed Edition Your October edition was received during the last week of the month. Usually it comes in the first or second week. For me it was a delayed despatch. Can we not get the issue in the first week itself?

K G Satheesh, Director, JVCKENWOOD Marketing India, New Delhi.

READERS’ LETTERS

Events Coverage I read the coverage on IAA 2016 and AM Frankfurt in the online edition as I am yet to get the print edition. It has not reached till October 29. Though launches and announcements made by smaller companies are not covered, the report did justice to the major ones.

Autonomous Driving I liked the question posed in the Editorial of the October edition regarding the need for autonomous vehicles, especially trucks, when unemployment is a raging issue in most of the developing countries. I fully agree with you. Proper training can make even a raw hand an expert driver, leave alone making an average driver an expert. Technologies should not cut employment options.

Ranjith Karkera, Indore.

Steve Stevenson, Troy, Michigan.

We Welcome Your Comments We will bring to you every month AutoParts Asia magazine with the latest news and trends in Indian, Asian and global automotive industry. We present them in the way we think is the best.

But you may think differently. Your different perspective may be a stepping stone to our ambitious target of achieving superior quality in content and style of presentation.

We want to make every edition better than the previous one. You can help us in this task by writing to us your evaluation, appreciation, comments, and suggestions. Kindly mention your full address and phone number.

Our e-mail address is: tm@abm.net.in You may visit www.autopartsasia.in for instant updates on the automotive industry developments.

6 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

T

he automotive world is focussing on connected mobility, irrespective of the timeframe for its roll-out. Together with ensuring safety of the vehicle, the user and other road users, two other key issues are to be addressed: Infrastructure and Cyber security. On infrastructure, the vehicle manufacturers do not have much control. It is for the developers to create it fit for connected mobility. The better the infrastructure, the more effective will be the communication that braces connected mobility.

Many barriers are linked to data and cyber security. Semi-conductors are undergoing rapid changes that lead to more processing capabilities. Since it is not cost effective to make conventional processors, the shift is to more advanced processors such as multi-core. As the options and features multiply, threats to cyber security also pop up.

The multiple features of the new-gen multi-core chips are sitting ducks for hackers.

Along with facing the increasing competition, meeting regulation and the consumer hankering, the OEMs and system suppliers have to take extra efforts to make connected mobility safer and more secure. In this endeavour they need robust support from the government, the policy makers, regulators, and consumers. Hence the need to share the responsibility to create a better and safer connected mobility eco system.

Testing of the connected mobility systems also have important roles to play. The testing industry is keeping pace with the changing needs of the automotive industry.

The recently-concluded Automotive Testing Expo North America 2016, in which AutoParts Asia participated, had many companies displaying test equipment to measure, test and validate the new and emerging connected mobility systems.

The cover story of this issue (Page-34) is on Gulf Oil. The company is developing new range of engine, gear and transmission oils with longer drain intervals to make servicing of vehicles, especially the commercial vehicles, more cohesive and cost-effective. You will also get to know the company’s contribution to BS VI, which India will comply with from 2020, leapfrogging from the current BS IV. We have also interviews with the Chief Technology Officer of Ashok Leyland and the Global President of Wabco, and other regular exclusive news and features.

Wish you happy reading.

Kurian Abraham Editor-in-Chief

EDITO R IAL

Share Responsibility

Editor-in-Chief: Kurian Abraham | Chief Executive Officer: John S Powath | Editor: Murrali Thalor | Associate Editor: KS Nayar Executive Editor: P Raghav Varma | Assistant Editors: Prof T N Kalamani, A Saj Mathews, P Venugopal | Correspondent: Sharad P Matade | Contributor: ShamPrasad

November 2016 | Vol. 2 | Issue No. 6

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US Correspondent: Dr Louis P Rumao, 621 Lockmoore Court, Rochester Hills, Michigan +1 48307-4229, Tel: +1 248 747 7201, Email: louis.rumao@ yahoo.com | China: Ella Liu (Liu Ting)/Terry Yin (Yin Tian), China United Rubber (Group) Corporation, Beijing, Tel +86-13911580967, +86-10-5377 9793, Fax: +86-10-5377 9608, E-mail:liut@chrubber.com, expo@chrubber.com | South America: Ms. Carina Bini Fernandes, Atman Filmes e Criacoes, SCLN 215, Bloco B, Sala 114, Asa Norte – Brasilia – DF, Brazil, CEP 70874–520, Tel: +55 61 3033 8007, +55 6181497800 (Brasil), +91 9895555281 (India), E mail: carina.bini@gmail.com European Representative: John Stone, 73 Chaney Road, Wivenhoe Essex, CO79RR, England. Sapphire Media, Tel: +44 (0) 1206 822320, Mob: + 44 7769 675232, Email: john.stone@sapphire-media.co.uk | Australia: Jacob Cherian, Ausker Pacific Pty. Ltd., Suite 1, 1401 Burke Road, East Kew Vic 3102, Melbourne Australia, Tel: +61 3 9859 8922, Email:ausker@auskergroup.com.au | Japan: Shinichi Kato, Shinichi Kato Office Co., Ltd., 11-7 Nihonbashikabutochou, Chuoku, Tokyo 103-0026, Japan. Tel: +81 3-5645-8670, Fax: +81 3-5645-8671, Email: shinichi.kato@rubberstation.com South East Asia: A. Divakaran A.D. Nair, 33, Jalan PJU 1A/43F, Ara Damansara, Petaling Jaya, 47301 Selangor, Malaysia. Tel: +60 3 78454608, Mobile: +60 12 3985357, Email: aaps_avico@yahoo.com | Thailand: Ms Somruetai Patana-anek (Mott), Managing Director, Busgum Co. Ltd., 1093/115, 21st Floor, Central City Tower, Bangna-Trad Road (K.M.3), Bangna, Bangkok 10260, Thailand, Tel: +66-2-3993946, 399-4374, 399-3896, Mob: +66-1-8429105, Email: mott@busgum.com | Sri Lanka: P P Perera, No.20, 4th Cross Lane, Borupana Road, Ratmalana, Sri Lanka. Tel: +94 11 4863529, Mob: +94 772 972571, Email: ppperera1946@gmail.com |Middle East: Dubai, UAE - Markose Chenthitta, Email: 101@ hotmail.com & Varghese Philip, Tel: +971 4 2276825, Mob: +971 50 7480984, Email: vp39386@gmail.com

AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 7

TRAILBLAZING TRENDS

Investing On Innovation

W

ith Zukunft Ventures GmbH, ZF is taking an unbeaten track for investment in technology. There is no fixed budget, no technological or geographical limitations. The new entity will look at companies worldwide, from Silicon Valley, to Asia and Europe. Flexible will be the approach to an identified investment proposal, with strong focus on the market demand. This will allow the technologies to have maximum impact on the market and ensure rapid innovation for both the partners.

This is a great opportunity, particularly for start-ups, to obtain additional investments. However, smaller, wellestablished companies can also benefit from a strong partner like ZF. ZF, in turn, will have greater access to sustainable technologies globally and be ahead of the competition.

Awards For Lightweighting Magna International was in the limelight for its innovative use of plastics for lightweighting that aids fuel efficiency. Magna received top honours from the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Central Europe at the Automotive Awards Ceremony held last month in Dusseldorf,

8 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

Germany, for the skid plate for a premium European automaker. The plate won Magna the Grand Award as the top part across all categories, in addition to being the first in the exteriors category.

Magna completed a near-sweep of the exteriors category with its active grille shutter, and Cadillac ATS-V and CTS-V carbon fibre hood winning the second and fourth positions, respectively. The Ford Mustang Shelby Cobra GT350 grille opening reinforcement was placed fourth in the powertrain category.

The skid plate, developed in conjunction with material supplier A Schulman, Inc., is an injection moulded, plastic part with a silver metallic look that also helps reduce vehicle weight. The active grille shutter is located on the outer, visible surface of the vehicle’s grille and has louvers that electronically open and close to deflect air, which reduces drag and lowers emissions.

The Cadillac ATS-V and CTS-V carbon fibre hood weighs roughly 27 percent less than an aluminium version and is the first of its kind in mass production. The Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 carbon fibre grille opening reinforcement weighs 24 percent less than traditional steel reinforcements and provides superior fit and performance.

Magna won also the SPE Detroit Chapter’s Innovation Award in the

By T Murrali exteriors category for its work on front and rear fascia for the 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The key to the win was the use of laser cutting and welding of the fascias instead of punch and ultrasonic welding, providing greater flexibility for lower-volume parts.

Mirroring Technology Most of the owners want their vehicle technology to interact with and ‘mirror’ their smartphone, and those wishes are now closer to reality, according to the JD Power 2016 Smartphone Automotive Mirroring (SAM) Report, released last month.

Smartphone mirroring technologies can greatly magnify these problems when poorly executed.

Owners have long expressed the desire for their in-vehicle technology to look and behave more like the intuitive, feature-rich smartphones they interact with daily. Technologies like Android Auto and Apple CarPlay allow owners to use the larger vehicle screen to take advantage of the more advanced, internet-connected smartphone functions. When smartphone mirroring technology doesn’t function the way owners expect it to, they are more likely to blame the automaker than their personal device. Since 2013, the two most prevalent problems reported are Bluetooth pairing/poor connectivity and problems understanding voice commands, outpacing other problems by a wide margin. In 2016, those two issues alone combined for an average for 14 problems per 100 vehicles (PP100).

See you next month with more Trailblazing Trends. . .

NB: Vehicle photo is representational.

PEOPLE

Lorenzetti To Drive Apollo Tyres’ Global R&D APA Bureau

A

pollo Tyres has appointed Daniele Lorenzetti as the company’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO). He will spearhead Apollo Tyres’ global initiatives towards research and development, for both passenger and commercial vehicle tyres. He will be assisted by the research, technology and design teams across geographies. The company has also inducted him in its Management Board.

Daniele’s last assignment was with Pirelli Tyres, where he spent close to 20 years in various capacities.

Chowdhury Is New President of AIRIA

Mommertz To Man MAN Trucks India APA Bureau

J

oerg Mommertz has joined MAN Trucks India as Chairman and Managing Director with effect from October 1, 2016. He has around 36 years of diversified management experience.

Mommertz began his career at MAN in 1991 as Service Manager and has held several management positions in Belgium, Scandinavia, Poland and Denmark. In his last assignment, he was Managing Director for MAN Trucks & Bus Russia.

Valeo Appoints Schwyn As CTO In North America APA Bureau

V

aleo has appointed James Schwyn as Chief Technical Officer (CTO), North America. The position of CTO, new in North America, is created to support and promote the company’s growth of innovation and engineering throughout the region.

Schwyn’s responsibilities will include strengthening the company’s interface with the high-level engineering leadership of customers in North America, including new emerging OEMs. He will also be responsible for identifying opportunities within new business models and target markets including mobility solutions, autonomous driving, connectivity and electrification.

Saoud To Lead Bridgestone Americas’ TBR Business APA Bureau

APA Bureau

amal K Chowdhury, Managing Director, Swastik Rubber Industries Pvt Ltd, Kolkata, is the new President of the All India Rubber Industries Association (AIRIA), the apex body for rubber industries in India.

The recent meeting of AIRIA also unanimously elected Vikram Makar, Joint Managing Director, Oriental Rubber Industries Ltd., Pune, as Senior Vice President and V T Chandrashekharan, Managing Director, Emrald Resilent Tyres Manufacturers Pvt Ltd., Chennai, as Vice President of the Assocaition for 2016-17.

ridgestone Americas, Inc. has announced that Joseph Saoud has joined the company as President, Truck and Bus Radial (TBR), Bridgestone Americas Tyre Operations (BATO).

Saoud will be responsible for leading the sales activities for the US and Canadian commercial truck and bus tyre business, which includes Bandag retreads. He will drive the business’ long-

K

10 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

B

term growth strategy and ensure continued value for customers, dealers and fleets.

Saoud brings more than 20 years of leadership experience. Most recently, he served as president, global construction, agriculture and military for Commercial Vehicle Group, Inc. (CVG), a global supplier of a full range of cab and other vehicle related products for the global commercial vehicle market.

Elofic Industries Not RD

PEOPLE

Coll Joins Allison As Senior VP Global Marketing APA Bureau

A

llison Transmission Holdings Inc has announced that John M Coll has joined the company as Senior Vice President of global marketing, sales and service from October 7, 2016. He has come to Allison with more than three decades of sales and marketing expertise, and significant executive and senior-level leadership experience at a number

of leading industrial and commercial vehicle companies.

“We are pleased to add a leader of John’s caliber to the Allison team and are confident that his significant global leadership experience in sales and marketing will help us drive growth and enhance customer relationships,” Chairman and CEO, Lawrence E. Dewey of Allison Transmission, said.

New Senior VPs To Steer Volvo Car Divisions APA Bureau

S

wedish carmaker Volvo has appointed Javier Varela as Senior Vice President for Manufacturing and Logistics, and Hanna Fager as Senior Vice President for Human Resources.

While the appointment of Varela will be effective from November 1, Fager took charge of her new role from

October 1, 2016.

Javier Varela started his professional career at PSA Peugeot Citroën in Vigo, Spain in 1990. He held various positions within Manufacturing until 2003, when he moved to the PSA Peugeot Citroën global headquarters in Paris to work as Industrial Strategy Coordinator, in charge of planning

Spoelder To Lead Faurecia’s Future Mobility Plans APA Bureau

F

aurecia has appointed Eelco Spoelder as Group Operations Executive Vice President and Member of the Executive Committee, effective from October 1, 2016. In this newly created role, Spoelder is in charge of supplier development, manufacturing and logistics, quality and HSE. He will also be responsible for Information Systems, the Group’s digital transformation and the introduction of new technologies.

Spoelder was previously 12 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

and development for PSA’s global manufacturing facilities. Hanna Fager started her long professional career at Volvo Cars in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2002. Before, getting elevated to her present position, she was working as HR Manager for Marketing, Sales and Service and Corporate Functions for Volvo Cars Group.

New CFO For Advance Auto Parts APA Bureau

Executive Vice President and Head of the Instrumentation and Driver HMI Business Unit at Continental, a role he has held since 2008. Prior to that, he was Vice President Infotainment Solutions and Radio Navigation divisions for Siemens North America, having previously been Vice President of Purchasing for the Siemens Interior and Infotainment Division.

Spoelder started his career in 1996 in Philips Car systems, which later became Mannesmann VDO Car Communication.

T

he Automotive aftermarket parts provider in North America, Advance Auto Parts, has appointed Thomas Okray as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective from October 31, 2016.

Okray will succeed Mike Norona, who will remain with the company in an advisory role to the year-end.

Okray, 53, brings more than 25 years of experience in finance, operations and supply chain to Advance Auto Parts. Most recently, Okray served as Vice President, Finance, Global Customer Fulfillment at Amazon, where he was the Finance Lead overseeing the optimisation of key elements of Amazon’s Global Fulfillment Network.

CORPORATE

Fiem In Tech Link With Japanese Companies To Make Canister APA Bureau

F

iem Industries Ltd, India’s leading two-wheeler lighting manufacturer, has signed a Technology License and Assistance Agreement (TAA) with the Japanese companies, Aisan Industry Co., Ltd., and Toyota Tsusho Corporation, for manufacturing ‘Canister’ to tap the growing opportunity from the upcoming new emission norms.

‘Canister’ is an emission control system product, which will have huge market in India due to implementation of stricter emission norms for twowheelers and three-wheelers, as it will become mandatory from April 1, 2017. Under the TAA, the ‘Canister’ will be manufactured by Fiem Industries with the technical support of Aisan Industry for two-wheelers and three-wheelers in the Indian market.

J K Jain, Chairman and Managing Director of Fiem Industries Ltd. said: “We see this as a big opportunity of diversification into new product line. Being a leading supplier of automotive lighting and rear view mirrors etc. to number of leading twowheelers OEMs, Fiem aims to supply the Canister to all its present OEM customers as well as the potential new customers.”

Aisan Group, established in 1938 in Japan is among the world leaders in its class of products like electronic fuel injection, emission control system, engine cooling system, intake and exhaust system, engine valves and LPG and CNG system products etc. Aisan Group has global presence through its subsidiaries and affiliates 14 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

and their major customers are Toyota, Hyundai, Renault Nissan, Yamaha, Suzuki and so on.

Toyota Tsusho Corporation is a group company of Toyota Group, having presence in diverse range of businesses around the world. Under the TAA, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, will provide support for procurement of materials and components etc. for manufacturing of the Canister.

Fiem Industries, with a history of more than 40 years, is a leading manufacturer of automotive lighting and signalling equipment, rear view mirrors, sheet metal and plastic moulded parts and supplies these products to a large number of OEMs. Fiem’s top two-wheeler customers are Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI), TVS Motors, Harley Davidson, Yamaha, Suzuki, Royal Enfield and so on.

The component maker has been looking at product diversification to hedge any adverse impact on the automotive industry. It has started production of LED lighting etc too.

The FY16 was good for its LED

segment. It supplied LED bulb and street lights worth around Rs 120 crore to Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL). The company is expanding its capacity at its Tapukara plant to manufacture world-class state-of-the art LED products.

Its automotive division has begun commercial production at its new manufacturing unit in Ahmedabad.

The facility has been set up to cater exclusively to Honda Motorcycles & Scooters with an investment of Rs 46 crore in the last financial year. More investment will be made this year. Apart from automotive components, Fiem’s other businesses include LED lighting for indoor and outdoor applications and Integrated Passenger Information System for Railways and Buses etc.

Fiem has nine state-of-the art manufacturing facilities across India and R&D / Design Centres in India, Japan and Italy. Company’s R&D Centre at Rai, Haryana, is approved

by DSIR, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, and the Photometry Laboratory is accredited by NABL.

CORPORATE

RSB To Make New-Gen Propeller Shafts In Sri City

By ShamPrasad

T

he Pune-based engineering firm, RSB Transmissions, which recently set up a manufacturing unit for propeller shafts in Sri City in Andhra Pradesh, plans to expand its presence in untapped markets for the product. “Our penetration is both in India and outside. We are working on untapped markets for our products such as propeller shafts,” S K Behera, Vice Chairman & MD, RSB Group, told AutoParts Asia.

The company has recently signed an agreement with the State Government and will be setting up a manufacturing facility to make the latest generation of propeller shaft with an investment of Rs 60 crore.

to its ongoing technology tie-up with Eugen Klein GmbH, the German manufacturer of transmission equipment, for the latest light-weight propeller shaft technology for heavy commercial vehicles.

The key feature of both these tie-ups is the development and manufacturing of lightweight propeller shafts which allow an efficient transfer of engine power to the axles. The combination of these features results in increased fuel efficiency, he said.

This plant will cater to its customers such as Isuzu Motors, Ashok Leyland, Daimler and others in South India and overseas. “This location shall also cater to our Construction Equipment manufacturing customers such as Kobalco and Caterpillar. We hope to start trial production in FY 2017-18,” he added.

Global Entity

The company has a technical tie-up with Jidosha Buhin Kogyo (JBK) Japan, to manufacture new generation propeller shafts for SCV/ SUV/LCV segments in the domestic and export markets. This is in addition

The Vision Statement of the Automotive Mission Plan 2026 states that Indian automotive industry will be among the top three in the world by 2026. This will unleash huge opportunities for the Indian

16 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

S K Behera

automotive companies to grow with the government lining up several incentive schemes for manufacturing facilities.

RSB Transmission is gearing up to take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead. “RSB has certain builtin and tangible core potentials. We have a philosophy of CARE

(Customers Are Really Everything).

Based on my over four decades in the industry, I am confident that RSB will be a globally-recognised and admired entity. The journey to that stage is very enriching and we are learning every moment as we progress towards that goal,” Behera said.

The company has aligned its business strategy to ‘Make-in-India and Made-in-India’ initiative with a focus on made for the world in India. “To carve a niche area in the auto component sector globally by increasing our manufacturing strength at the locations within India we aim to tap growth in Asia-Pacific,” he said.

Two Verticals RSB operates in two verticals, automotive and CMI (Construction, Mining and Infrastructure) equipment and aggregates. The company has 13 manufacturing facilities spread over seven locations in India and one each in the US, Mexico and Brazil.

Its Indian units are in Jamshedpur (Jharkhand), Pune (Maharashtra), Dharwad (Karnataka), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Pantnagar (Uttarakhand), Cuttack (Orissa) and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh).

Asia-Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing market in the next five years and the Indian auto component segment is already primed to leverage its strength to cater effectively to the Indian and international vehicle makers by qualifying on globally expected parameters.

According to Behera, “While being cost competitive is a key factor, the industry is also acknowledged on design and quality expectations.”

The Pune-based company is fully prepared to gain from this growth opportunity. It counts eminent OEMS such as Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Daimler, Mahindra, John Deere, Fiat, Eaton, Magna, GKN, Renault Nissan, Kamaz, Caterpillar, JCB, Kobelco, Komatsu and others as its clients.

Its product portfolio ranges from propeller shafts, axle beams, 5th wheel couplings, gears and gearbox in the automotive segment. For the construction equipment side of business it makes products such as track frames, main frames, arms and booms.

RSB has a fully-owned subsidiary, I-Design Engineering Solutions Ltd, which is mainly focused on lean designs, structural analysis, and new product developments among other initiatives. The centre is based in Pune with a large technical team and fully equipped in terms of facilities, equipment, test rigs and other supportive infrastructure.

However, due to the confidentiality clause with OEM customers the company did not share specific details

Environment And CSR Apart from the business goals, RSB aims to be achieving safe, efficient and environment-friendly capabilities

at affordable prices for the automotive industry.

The 2013 Deming Prize winner is globally certified for ISO 14001 for Environment Management System and OHSAS (Occupational Health & Safety). All its activities are environment-friendly with due care for safety and health.

Added to this is the in-built PDCA cycle of Deming Process with worldclass certified business excellence.

All together sums up to cutting edge yet cost- effective solution for the customers.

The focus on corporate social responsibility stems from the promoters core belief that true happiness comes when the good fortune is shared with those who are at a weaker position.

Much before CSR became a buzzword, the group had been aware of its social obligations and had been making provisions for a meaningful impact. Today CSR is an essential fabric of RSB’s business goal which often goes beyond the statutory regulations.

“RSB shall continue to pursue longterm business goals that are good and bring about positive impact on the society. And I am glad that this belief pervades RSB and our members are proactively alert to opportunities where a positive impact is possible,” Behera said.

AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 17

INTERVIEW

Ashok Leyland Hones

Software Skills For Future Vehicles

Dr Seshu Bhagavathula

Ashok Leyland designs its trucks to be adaptable to different markets. From a base version they are customised and fine tuned. It is also building up software competencies that will be applicable to the new and futuristic alternatives like hybrids and fully electric vehicles. “We are investing much money and resources to be and to remain a reliable player in the next 20 years in electric technologies,�

Dr Seshu Bhagavathula, Chief Technical Officer, Ashok Leyland, told T Murrali of AutoParts Asia, in an exclusive interview. The excerpts:18 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

Q: The commercial vehicle manufacturers have to innovate to be competitive and eco-friendly in the developed markets. They must also find ways to enter high-growth, low-cost markets by adjusting to their operating models and product concepts. How do you meet these diverse requirements as you plan to expand exports to different countries?

Bhagavathula: A truck in India costs 4.5 times less than the one we make in Europe, with almost the same features. The difference is in the manufacturing cost in terms of people, the quality of the material etc.

The direct labour cost in Europe is about 23 percent.

Here in India it is four to five percent. This is a major difference. The trucks in Europe are over-engineered.

Here trucks are frugal, coming in often for repair.

There, people talk of life cycle costs; here it is all about first time costs. The price sensitivity here is about how much I pay now rather than about the overall life cycle.

Therefore, modularisation is the answer. We are driving a programme to have two companies in one. R&D is the meeting point for both. The designing itself is with different philosophies to operate in different markets in different countries. We take a base version and

fine tune it as required. All our new products are made keeping this in mind. We have at least one variation for a particular market. We try to get the best of both worlds.

Q: A truck is made up of several modules. You buy aggregates and assemble them. As an integrator, where do you see options to enhance the cost of ownership for the end-user?

Bhagavathula: The philosophy in Ashok Leyland (AL) is overall reliability, that is optimisation between the limits. For example, the drivetrain has to be optimised with the engine as also in translating engine power with the drive line. This is where the OEMs play a role, in the interface between parts, testing the vehicle for a particular application in extreme conditions and the like. Our core competency is in meeting the overall vehicle specification based on the design intent and to get suppliers to deliver what we want. This is the process that we have to master. We call it GenMode-2. This is to make sure that the truck goes out with predictable failures; failures will be there but they should be predictable.

GenMode-2 is a typical AL process, evolved over the years, which can pick up every failure mode before the truck goes out into the market.

Q: Some suppliers come out with products that end up in 0.8 to one

percent fuel economy. What they say is that when the integrator aggregates everything, the energy saved by one company gets nullified by the other. What do you have to say on this as a vehicle manufacturer?

Bhagavathula: There are many philosophies here. Suppliers do quite a bit of warranty as well. OEMs are integrators which means I have to take care of hundreds of components.

Very often it is possible that one of them is lost, not all. But the overall equation or the energy link, which is the fuel efficiency, is never lost at the vehicle level. The common thread is that all the suppliers come together and ensure overall vehicle optimisation.

Q: With you in the driver’s seat what kind of technological changes can we expect at AL? Bhagavathula: Getting a truck into the market with BS-4 or BS-6 legislation standards will be different.

How do you differentiate while respecting the legislation? I will have to do the same thing with less. It has to help the customer in terms of reliability with less maintainability. We will have to look at frugal techniques and their effect on the life cycle; it has to be simpler. How can a BS-6 be a less serviced part though it has lots of electronics, controls and sensors? We do have frugal innovations coming

into these technologies to smoothen in-service conformity. BS-6 is all about life cycle conformity, so the tests have to be different.

Q: Does India have the capability to do these tests or will you have to develop the capability on your own?

Bhagavathula: Yes, completely. There is no other way. Europe has taken 10 years to advance from Euro-4 to Euro6 but we have done it in three years.

We are ready for it.

Q: One significant thing about the interface is that there is no end in sight of the differences in opinion over legislation, fuel consumption and greenhouse effect. Should it be calculated over the whole vehicle or only the engine? How do you work on this in AL? Bhagavathula: The engine itself does not help. If I give you a fantastic BS-or-Euro-6 engine with the rest of the truck not measuring up, it will not work as it is not optimised.

There are three modules working here – the truck, the engine and the after-treatment. The best engines cannot directly give you Euro-6; Euro-6 is only done after treatment.

Only companies that have complete control over the truck and engine are in an advantageous position; that’s where AL is. We are able to tune it much better.

Q: With all these constraints, where do you see green shoots? How do

AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 19

INTERVIEW new products evolve? What is the direction you see for AL to come out with new products?

Bhagavathula: AL always has the customer as its focus. If you look at our performance last year, we grew with new products and highlyimproved channel profitability. The number of customer channels we have built up in the last four years is dramatic. The growth of AL came from a few products combined with very efficient channels. Our focus was ‘aap ki jeeth, hamari jeeth.’ We are a B2B company as well as a B2B2C company. So you look typically at trucks with very less downtime and as much uptime as possible – that’s where you concentrate. You cannot completely eradicate failure modes because you do not have everything under control. So what you have to do is turn it around as fast as possible.

That is where R&D can help, from design to repair. We have to reduce mean time between repairs. The other one is reliability engineering - use reliability techniques in such a way as to boost your statistical confidence level - doing maintenance before any breakdown. That is what we spend a lot of time on.

Q: In passenger cars, new models are introduced based on customer aspiration levels. For trucks it is the cost of ownership. What is the driving force for you to bring out new generation models?

20 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

Bhagavathula: Bringing back the driver as the main focus. Drivers are the ones who go back to their owners and say they want to have the same truck again. There is no other way. The driver has to feel safe; his social image has to be improved as the driver’s profession is not well respected. That’s what we do. This will be the driving factor for our future products.

Q: Coming to aggregates like bell crank and slippery suspension which reduce about 100 kg of weight - is AL working on those things?

Bhagavathula: Yes, absolutely.

Q: When can we see it?

Bhagavathula: We make use of new R&D introductions or changes in our new products. You introduce not just one but do many things at one time. It is typically driven by market forces.

Q: Is it a conscious decision to introduce a product with many features at one go or is it a gradual progression to make people

get used to it? Like the slippery suspension that would enhance half-a-tonne to the payload.

Bhagavathula: Now we have Euro-4 and Euro-6. Two major technological changes are happening. You make use of them to introduce lots of things to optimise all the aggregates; you try and reduce the complexity. That is the GenMod-2 philosophy that helps you keep track of many things.

Q: Tell us about the technological innovations in overall vehicle design; what are the directions taken on the power and performance, fuel consumption and enhancing the uptime of vehicles with longer service intervals?

Bhagavathula: Whenever you get two plates together you will have new kinds of joining technologies coming in. Here, trucks rattle up at 5,000km, which means that performance goes down. New technologies will make the metal joints better which will result in improved performance; the driver’s comfort level goes up, with consequent increase in productivity.

You define the modules in such a way that you co-develop with your supplier.

Today, the truck is developed based on market requirements but in future you will keep developing modules with suppliers well before the market requirement comes in, so you will have enough time to introduce and industrialise it. This philosophy change would give you more quality over time. If I can make the supplier give me a better part, the life of my vehicle will go up. In future you are going to see more and more of preindustrialised modules that are

already tested for life cycles coming into trucks. We will use telematics in the future. Since you cannot reduce the failure modes all the time, you can prevent them by calling the owner for maintenance much before the failure happens. You will see more and more of innovation coming in this area, bringing in new technologies.

Q: What is the inspiration you get to design a good cab – the interior, exterior and other add-ons?

Bhagavathula: The Indian market still does not look at aesthetics much. It is more inclined to functionality. In Europe and US the truck has to be beautiful, it should be designed for minimum movement (35cm) of the driver. That is their design philosophy.

Here it is not yet, but will come in time. There has to be a distinct brand that you should be able to see and recognise standing in front of the truck. At the same time it should comply with all regulations and performance requirements.

Q: At present are you using anthropometric data for the cab in India? Over a period of time (five decades) the cab profile has changed a lot but will it make the modern driver comfortable?

Bhagavathula: Yes, it will. What we see in the factory now is that most of the concepts (line configuration &

balancing) have come from Europe and Japan. They have been adjusted to Indian conditions. There are no aesthetic products as the demand is low.

Q: Is it because of the lack of awareness among the drivers?

Bhagavathula: Yes, but drivers here are not an essential parameter of the whole truck. Goods are much more important here than the driver. So ‘driver’s ignorance is the OEM’s bliss’ but this is changing.

Q: Are you working on any technology that can reduce driver distraction or for sleep recognition and action?

assist system to give him a warning.

You will see improved technologies coming in and our fleet owners are already geared up to accept and use them. For example, we have the ABS now but soon there will also be an additional radar system that will take over control of the vehicle before the accident happens. Over time certain

Bhagavathula: Yes, you will see uptime increase and downtime decrease. It is all about avoiding an accident as drivers tend to become drowsy over long distances. So we have the driver AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 21

INTERVIEW

functions in the truck are going to be autonomous; a nine-gear truck will require automatic shifting - a human being (driver) will not be able to do it properly.

Q: Are all these done in-house or do you work with agencies?

Bhagavathula: As an OEM we are more of an integrator. We will never work with a supplier on control algorithms but will do so with our group companies. Of course, I can get the hardware from anyone but the software and algorithms that go in will be ours. Algorithms are basically the logic of when to use which function at what dosage. We are building up a lot of competencies on this at AL. You will also see this being applied to alternative vehicles like hybrids and fully electric vehicles. We are investing much money and resources on technologies for alternative drives.

To be, and remain, a big player in the next 20 years, we will have to become a reliable player in electric technologies as well.

Q: Coming to alternate materials, what are the challenges you see as the entire eco system has to change right from manufacturability, serviceability, etc?

Bhagavathula: This is where I see a big challenge. Information is coming in so fast that when you see an innovation in Europe you want to have it here but the eco system is not there to support it. So we want it but I can’t make it; this is the biggest challenge that all OEMs will have to face. I can make a truck completely free of everything but it will cost a 22 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

million dollars. Who will buy such a truck? So how do you make a truck like that for India - that is the conflict?

That’s where the challenge is. We formulate our strategies at AL keeping this in mind.

Q: Ashok Leyland Defence Systems (ALDS) has selected US-based Lockheed Martin’s High Mobility Vehicle or Common Vehicle Next Generation (CVNG) platform for defence applications. Do you see some learning that you can apply for trucks?

Bhagavathula: Yes, it is for the military, specifically meant for a particular application. That is why we now have a CTO for the company, to handle defence to truck to power solutions etc. To get into alternative drives, partnerships are the only answer; intelligently managing partnerships with our own control software on top of it. Energy conversion is minimised. Minimising cost will be the toughest challenge in India. Parallel and series hybrids with complete electric vehicles are the future; fuel cells will also be coming in. Our strategy will depend on market needs, which are difficult to predict.

Q: When it comes to passenger application (buses), India is way behind. Where do you see the opportunity?

Bhagavathula: Most of our government representatives go

abroad, see the beautiful buses there, and want them here. This is where the pull comes from. In the future all the ‘smart cities’ will be emissionless. So you will see hybridisation, full electrification coming in pockets, typically in city bus areas of 10-12km radius. That’s where infrastructure can be managed, and you will see pockets appearing in India, for which we will be ready.

Q: Do you also work on helping the manufacturing operations to optimise productivity?

Bhagavathula: Today, for example, there are 3,000 steps that happen in a factory. Can I do it in 2,000 by changing the design here? I would design for assembly by doing many things. One of them is to reduce assembly time by giving pre-assembled parts to make subassemblies. So I will have to change my structure of suppliers; or bifurcate from the main line, to make those sub-assemblies that consume more time, in batch mode. The philosophy here is to have the assembly in mind at the design stage itself.

Q: When you make these changes, will it also manage the fluctuations in consumption, considering the cyclical nature of the market?

Bhagavathula: Yes, it will. Cyclical nature basically means you have to have a buffer; there is no other way.

The buffer can be at the suppliers’ side or here, or a combination of both.

OEMs have four to five techniques at hand to manage this.

One is this, and the second is the increase in TAKT time; that is, your product design has to allow four types of TAKT times. Multiple TAKT times will be the order - that is the fundamental design principle for auditing.

INTERVIEW

Wabco Connects To Connectivity For Better Vehicle Safety, Efficiency

Jorge Solis

The leading global supplier of technologies that improve the safety and efficiency of commercial vehicles, Wabco Holdings Inc., has revved up its vision statement with the third dimension – Connectivity. This is to help enhance its industry-leading innovations to empower tomorrow’s commercial fleet, particularly through real time, on-vehicle and external data connectivity, resulting 24 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

in improved operating efficiency and better safety performance. Jorge Solis, President, Trucks, Bus & Car OEMs Division, Wabco, told T Murrali of AutoParts Asia, that the company will mobilise vehicle intelligence to improve commercial vehicle safety and efficiency through increased connectivity and integration of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Edited Excerpts:

Q: Wabco has been facing down trend in market share in Europe from 57 percent to 60 percent, and in South America from six per cent to three percent while going steady at 20 percent in Asia. In North America it has been upward to 16 percent from 11 percent. While Asia is stable, others are wobbling. What do you see are the reasons for this?

Solis: Everything is linked to the markets in the different regions. For example, Brazil has a political and economic crisis with the market going down which means that sales are down. But overall our performance has been fine, even in countries like Brazil. We have grown more in places where the market is growing and have decreased less where it has gone down. The US has given us high vehicle production last year which has decreased this year. However, our market penetration has increased.

Europe is a market where we continue to grow with new technologies (like ADAS) and regulations coming in; we are growing faster than the market.

In India, ABS regulations have started to take effect, which has helped us grow well. China is a market where we are continuously growing. There are some regulations now for light duty vehicles to have ABS and this has contributed to our growth.

Overall, we have out-performed our competitors, thanks to all the new products we have introduced into the market. The growth in the market for worldwide truck production has been zero to one percent; Wabco has grown beyond that.

Q: The share of business from trucks and buses has dropped to 57 percent from 62 percent; it had peaked in 2011-12. Trailers in the

aftermarket have grown by one percent. What according to you are the reasons for this?

Solis: It depends on each of the regions. Fleets are managed differently in each region and production responds to these changes, there is no general rule.

Q: You have a three pillars strategy, technology leadership, globalisation and excellence in execution, that you had laid down three years ago. Is there a change in that philosophy?

Solis: No, we maintain the same three pillars strategy.

Q: Most of the companies are working on the automated or autonomous vehicle. Though Wabco may not be directly involved in the autonomous concept, as you are confined to braking systems, safety and other things, do you feel that autonomous driving is warranted?

Solis: We are following the truck industry’s vision, which is autonomous driving. The industry is moving that way so we want to support that vision. That is why we have visualised building blocks towards automated driving; we have put in a lot of efforts towards mobilising vehicle intelligence to empower tomorrow’s fleet that will have autonomous driving. For this we are working much more on braking,

suspension controls, and lateral movements of the steering that we hope to streamline in the future.

Q: Every systems supplier, like Wabco, works to optimise emerging market resources. What are your initiatives on this aspect?

Solis: Of Wabco’s total population, the biggest in a country today is in India. We have been investing in India as we trust the country and see a lot of top engineering talents there.

We are empowered here and this has helped our design and concept of frugal engineering. We put much emphasis on ourselves to utilise our capabilities in India.

Q: Enhancing value for the customer in terms of optimising the cost of ownership, the operating economy -what are Wabco’s contributions, going forward?

Solis: We do much work on safety and efficiency. We have announced recently that we can provide 18 percent fuel efficiency using all our technologies and different products.

For OEMs and fleet owners there are cost savings by utilising our technologies; this is a very important feature in India too.

In the US we are introducing an air disc brake that is the lightest in the market with better payback of less than two years. The payback mindset is the same everywhere; all fleets look at introducing something that will enhance the payback for them.

Depending on the region and value of the truck the payback is generally one to three years.

Q: It is good to know that you can give up to 18 percent fuel efficiency.

But it has to work in tandem with the systems supplied by others.

While on one side companies like AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 25

INTERVIEW

Wabco give fuel efficiency, on the other side there is a drain. So how do you manage the situation?

Solis: I think we have to look at what we can offer not only on fuel efficiency but also on safety for both vehicles (carriers, trailers & trucks) and people.

This is where we can focus and together with OEMs demonstrate that there are other ways for payback, not only on fuel but also on accessories.

All our technologies are linked to this; for example, secure ways and systems to transport dangerous or fragile goods. We have to take a holistic view to cater to the specific needs of the fleet owners, give them the right product for the required necessity.

I think we are on the right track to give our customers the required efficiency and safety at all levels. We are improving and we are cooperating a lot with our customers; this is to ensure that they are taken care of well in terms of safety and efficiency, which otherwise they could never have thought of.

Q: Innovation is the key for suppliers. Are the OEMs really looking at innovative solutions from you to enhance the end customer’s 26 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

benefit or is there an interim focus on the regulatory compliance?

Solis: I believe that products coming into the market are tailored to the needs of society, not just based on regulatory issues. For example, recently we have announced a system called ‘OnCity’.

OnCity is a unique and convenient single-sensor solution. It is the commercial vehicle industry’s first collision avoidance system that uses LiDAR technology to help protect pedestrians and cyclists in the city.

Innovatively engineered for trucks, buses and tractor-trailers, this advanced driver assistance system also delivers the industry’s widest field-of-view – up to 180 degrees – using a single sensor for safety monitoring to help protect vulnerable road users located on the vehicle’s blindside.

OnCity detects and distinguishes moving and stationary objects. OnCity Urban Turning Assist visually and acoustically alerts the driver regarding a potential collision with unprotected road users both right before and during a turning manoeuvre.

It can autonomously apply the brake to prevent collisions should the

driver fail to take corrective action. It performs reliably with high precision during night, in blinding sunshine and even in low visibility conditions.

I cannot imagine that a driver or OEM or fleet operator or government will not be really happy to utilise it. It is not that it is imposed to do it.

You will, by society, see that it is the right thing to do. That is why our safety systems are acquired more and more by OEMs and fleet because they see a real need for it.

For example, in the US, there is no regulation for AEBS or lane departure warning; however, the penetration has been increasing year on year due to the compelling value proposition of the products.

Q: Is it the customer who gives you leads for developing such products?

Solis: We have a clear vision of where we want to go, a clear definition of what we want to do and a clear road map of what we want to achieve.

We are presenting a 360 degree view in our new vision system utilising different sensors. We plan to bring a new camera-based Vision System into CVs combined together with

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INTERVIEW

something called Road Experience Management. Every camera in a car or truck will collect whatever they see and transmit it to the cloud.

The first application for trucks will be maps; you will know instantly what is going on as information will be relayed from the cloud.

We also have electronically scanning radar that we are trying to bring to the market in India and other places in the world. It is the most powerful as of now – 77 gigahertz electronically scanning radar.

We use it in Europe today, connected to our brakes, to enable the AEBS. We can connect our camera and radar to make full braking on stationary objects. We call the system ‘OnGuardMAX.’ Q: When the electronic systems work in a vehicle, it sends around one gigabyte of data every minute.

With thousands of vehicles on road, what happens when these things choke as these gadgets deskill the driver?

Solis: There are certain steps that can be taken to guard against this. The industry will continue to move using the latest technologies within the framework of regulations to come.

For example, in our collision mitigation system, it is not the driver who is relying on the system but it is the system that is supporting the driver to perform much better which could help avoid an accident.

28 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

Q: How will the next five years be for Wabco? Any plan to expand your manufacturing footprint?

Solis: We have a new plant in Charleston, South Carolina, US where we are producing air disc brakes for the first time in the country. We plan to increase the adoption of these brakes in the US. There is another plant in Poland that started operations end of last year, which is growing. We have one in Mexico, a JV with Cummins, as also some remanufacturing operations there. We will continue investing in India with new products coming in for the different regions. The Indian government is going in for Euro-6 directly from Euro-4, which means we will make new products closer to the customers there, wherever possible.

Q: You have a JV in the US with Meritor. Would you expand that to other locations / markets?

Solis: Our JV in the US focuses on serving our customers in the region.

Q: Tell us about your cooperation with ZF? Solis: With ZF we have demonstrated on June 29 the Evasive Manoeuvre Assist (EMA) where we combine our braking, advanced emergency braking and stability controls with ZF’s steering for use in trucks.

This shows the industry that by combining our activities and systems we are able to bring about enhanced performance in vehicles. We have

now signed an MOU with a global Tier-1 automotive supplier in Asia for a JV on steering. We will announce additional details at an appropriate time.

Q: Do you see opportunities in some segments where you have not ventured so far but where you see potential for Wabco to get in?

Solis: We are always open to that type of analysis which we continue looking at what else can be connected to our systems that makes sense for our customers and our shareholders.

We explore every business opportunity that comes our way. We now have a complete ADAS system with cameras, LiDAR and radar that will help us move forward. We have products for not only braking but steering, suspension and powertrain; we will continue to explore business possibilities on these wherever possible. We also have a lot of products for electric vehicles and will continue our focus in that direction.

Q: Will the focus on electrical vehicles be on adapting the same or on developing bespoke and specialised applications for them?

Solis: We see lot of interest in electrical vehicles. Several products are already there in our portfolio but we analyse customer needs in detail to come up with the right products to help improve vehicle safety, efficiency and connectivity.

COVER STORY

Gulf Oil Passionately Creates Enduring Quality Products

With BS VI-ready products the company plans new unit near Chennai 30 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

Gulf Oil is part of the Hinduja Group, one of the largest and diversified groups in the world. It acquired Gulf Oil from Chevron in the late 1980s and owns worldwide rights of the brand, except in Portugal, Spain and the US. Adhering to its core values of Quality, Endurance and Passion, the company is working on multi-pronged solutions to cater to the diverse demands of automotive and industrial customers. It is also making rapid inroads into the emerging markets. Gulf Oil has been present in India since the 1920s and is one of the most popular lubricant brands in the country. The company has kept pace with the India growth story through advanced technologies, innovative service concepts and high quality products across segments.

By T Murrali

G

ulf Oil as a brand has always been and is at the forefront of technology and service. The company pays attention to its customers, seeking to provide them with a widening range of products and services. The vision of Gulf Oil is to be among the top two private sector lubricant manufacturers in India by 2020 with new products, diversification and wider network. Its mission is to service the customers through quality systems, safety, sustainability, and culture of excellence braced with total employee participation.

In India, Gulf Oil has its blending facility at Silvassa, in the Union Territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

Owing to the surge in demand for its products from the automotive and industrial sectors, the company is setting up a facility near Chennai with 50,000 kilo litre annual capacity.

It is expected to start production by October 2017.

Gulf Oil’s Global Technology Team has been spearheading the product development in close collaboration with various OEMs and technology providers. The company has products meeting all the latest specifications and has necessary approvals from various OEMs. Considering that the entire country is moving to BS IV

by April 2017, products required for such vehicles have been in the Indian market for over five years.

Core Values Underpinning all of its activities are Gulf’s three core values: Quality,

Endurance and Passion. Quality stands for the company’s customer service, reliability and technologically innovative products.

Endurance is intrinsically linked to the century-old legacy of the Gulf brand.

As one of the original ‘Seven Sisters’ oil brands, its visual identity (logo) is so strong that it has remained the same for the last 50 years. The brand’s successful journey for over 100 years itself exhibits its endurance value. This also transmits to its products and services, which are designed to perform consistently for longer than competition.

Extended drain interval products (such as Gulf Superfleet LE Dura Max) act as a tangible endurancefocused benefit that consumers receive from the Gulf products. Its participation in the Endurance motor racing over the course of more than half a century has consistently showcased the long-lasting ability of its products. It has built such a strong association that its light blue and orange livery is known as ‘Gulf Racing Colours.’

Passion is at the heart of the Gulf brand and makes it what it is today.

It is the differentiating factor for the brand and symbolizes the energy and vitality that the brand exudes.

“Gulf people are passionate; they are dedicated and driven with a determination to do what it takes to get the results,” Ravi Chawla, Managing Director of Gulf Oil Lubricants India, and Member, Global Executive Council, Gulf Oil AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 31

COVER STORY “We import up to 80 percent of the base oil we need. We have long-term strategic contract with leading global base oil manufacturers. The crude oil price fall in the international market benefits the base oil importing and lubricant manufacturing companies,” Chawla said.

Drain Intervals

Dr Y P Rao

International, told AutoParts Asia.Gulf Oil International has been marketing engine oils for the Euro VI emission engines in global markets since two years.

Gulf, with its global technology team headquartered in India, is among the first ready to offer appropriate lubricants to the Indian OEMs for the new engines being developed to meet the proposed BS VI (expected by 2020) emission standards and suitable for the local driving conditions.

The oil companies consuming captive base stock to make lubricants used to be better placed than other players like Gulf Oil, that depends on outsourced base oil. As there is more supply of base oil than demand, a company that does not have captive base oil is at an advantageous position now.

AdBlue Blender Testing

32 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

Technologically advanced lubricants substantially increase the drain interval. Gulf Oil has pioneered the concept of long-drain diesel engine oils for commercial vehicles in India since 2006. The new generation engines run at higher speed and carry more load, raising the engine temperature. This puts more stress on engine oil.

To withstand that, the lubricant technology needs constant upgradation. Oil drain intervals in India are reaching global levels reducing the use of lubricants.

However, the increasing numberof vehicles help sustain the demand.

The Chief Technology Officer of Gulf Oil International, Dr Y P Rao, said, “Europe is the lead player in enhancing drain intervals in both passenger and commercial vehicles.

The commercial vehicles have drain intervals between 100,000 and 150,000 km since they use semi-synthetic, and to some extent synthetic, engine oils. The drain intervals in the US market are about 50 percent of Europe. India is in between the US and Europe, with over 80,000 km, thanks to access to

Base oil storage tanks

improved quality mineral base oils and the latest additive technology.”

Lubricant is made by formulations comprising of base stocks (also called base oils) and performanceenhancing additives. The base stock for mineral oil has been classified as group 1, 2 and 3 with the latter being the most superior. Gulf Oil sources its base stock from renowned hydrocracked base oil suppliers. Made from group 3 base oils, the lubricants give performance equal to the synthetics, enabling Gulf Oil to serve the longer drain interval oils market. Today’s engines and the oil sumps are only half the size of what they were 20 years ago. Still they churn out 50 percent more power.

For better fuel economy the lubricants are made thinner or less viscous and more environment-friendly. The thinner oil may increase the engine wear and therefore, it is necessary to protect the powertrain. The average life of the commercial vehicle engines is 10 lakh km and the OEMs are pushing it to 15 lakh km.

Euro or BS VI According to Rao, lubricant route is the cheapest way to achieve fuel economy, though there is a limit to the extent it can be accomplished.

One to 1.5 percent of fuel economy can be achieved through lubricants with a fraction of the cost incurred for achieving it through engine hardware changes. This has motivated OEMs to derive the maximum benefit from lubricants. For the lubricant

Inductively Coupled Plasma – optical emission spectroscopy in Analytical Lab.

companies, the option is to make lubricant less viscous along with appropriate friction modifiers to achieve fuel economy while maintaining engine durability. The engine’s operating temperature is expected to increase by around 10 degrees Celsius while moving from BS IV to BS VI and it can vary from design to design. Hence the increased need to go for synthetics to withstand the severity resulting from the increase in operating temperature, Rao said. The key challenge is to maintain, if not increase, the existing drain intervals while mitigating these concerns.

India’s march to BS VI (Euro VI) “is no issue for us,” Rao said. Gulf Oil International had developed the lubricants required for Euro VI engines and obtained approvals from leading global Original Engine/ Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).

We have also gained valuable field experience in Europe with the next generation engine oils that are required for BS VI vehicles. “When it comes to India, we need only to apply the knowledge gained in the global markets and adapt it to domestic service conditions. This is the reason for us to think that we are in a unique position today in India. We have vast database on performance of various oil technologies in different makes and models of engines in local operating conditions.”

K Swaminathan, DGM, Technical Services, Gulf Oil Lubricants India Limited, said, “At any point of time there will be at least 15 different types of field trials happening on an all-India basis. In each type there will be several vehicles; therefore, on an average about 200 vehicles are on test and we run for over 10 lakh km

Global R&D lab

for each type of test. As on date we are validating our lubricants in more than 200 equipment across India which would cover a cumulative 17 million km of durability in challenging conditions. This to me is an expression of Gulf’s commitment to ‘Endurance,’ one of our core brand values. With vehicle and equipment designs becoming more complex, we see bespoke lubricants becoming a necessity to sustain durability of the equipment and maintaining our long drain prowess.”

The company is in an advanced stage of discussions with some key OEMs in India on the next generation engine oils. We are waiting for them to put the prototype engine on test bench and on test track for validation, he added.

The Euro VI compliance is achieved apparently by the after treatment of exhaust gas (such as SCR – Selective Catalytic Reduction and DPF – Diesel Particulate Filter). But Rao said, “Only the properly designed engine oils enable the implementation of these technologies. That is why the oils for Euro VI or BS VI are different from Euro IV or BS IV. They will have lower SAPS (Sulphated Ash, Phosphorous and Sulphur), among other critical constituents.”

Service Intervals The objective of the commercial vehicle OEMs is to make their vehicles visit service centres less frequently for regular maintenance or change of lubricants. In India, the average annual run of commercial vehicles is about 100,000 kms.

Therefore, the oil change is planned accordingly. To enable the OEMs’ objective, Gulf Oil has been working on extension of service intervals

of vehicles by extending the drain intervals of not only engine oil but also other fluids such as gear oil, axle oil and radiator coolant including regreasing intervals.

In the past, vehicles used to visit service centres at different intervals to change different fluids. To optimise the service intervals, the company has developed long drain gear oils (instead of changing every 40,000 to 50,000 km it is increased to 120,000 km) and axle oils (instead of changing every 40,000 to 50,000 km it is increased to 80,000 km). The idea is to have drain intervals of all lubricants in multiples of 40,000 km so as to match the vehicle service intervals.

This enhances uptime of the vehicles thereby reducing the total cost of ownership for the fleet operators.

When the emission regulations became stringent about a decade ago, the OEMs resorted to CNG engines, especially for buses in cities having the gas network. The vehicles powered by CNG engines operate at considerably higher temperature, to the extent of 40 to 50 deg Celsius than the diesel counterpart. This was a challenge for the formulators of CNG engine oil. They could not match the longer drain intervals prevalent in Europe given the smaller sump size of the Indian vehicles. While the diesel engines drain intervals were at 80,000 kms the CNG engine was around 10,000 kms. For the last two years Gulf Oil has been working on developing and evaluating new engine oil that will double the drain interval in the CNG engines. This oil will be introduced soon, Chawla said.

“Gulf has specific products for OEMs and co-branded oils for service requirements. We have multi-tier segment approach. In retail, there are AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 33

COVER STORY

INTERACTION Future-Ready Lubricants To Boost Growth And Meet OEM Requirements: Ravi Chawla

Ravi Chawla

Q: What has been your experience in catering to the increasing demand for advanced engine oils?

Chawla: The major drivers for advancement in engine oil specifications are emission legislations, fuel economy requirements and engine or equipment durability. Besides, global standards like API and ACEA keep upgrading engine oil specifications in

line with latest engine requirements of North America and Europe respectively. Many global OEMs especially in Europe set their own lubricant specifications or standards which are more stringent than the minimum standard set by ACEA and API. Q: Lubricants market is expected to reach USD166.59 billion by 2021, registering a CAGR of 2.4 percent between 2016 and 2021; how do you envisage the growth of Gulf Oil in this period?

Chawla: We are proud to be the fastest growing brand in terms of volume among the major players in India. Over the last eight years our growth has been 10 percent CAGR. Our strategy has always been to grow two to three times of the market growth rate and we have successfully done that for the last eight to nine years.

Q: Between mineral oil lubricants and synthetic variants, which one does give you volumes?

Chawla: As we move towards fuel economy requirements and BS VI

Raw material & traded goods warehouse

34 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

(Euro VI), the semi synthetic and synthetic type engine oils will play a crucial role in meeting those challenges. Right now, group 2 mineral base lubricants prevail in terms of volume in automotive and industrial segment.

In India, commercial vehicles are about five to six percent of total vehicle parc but contribute to 45-50 percent of total lube consumption.

When we look at the truck ownership pattern, which is largely individual ownership, the focus on Total Cost of Ownership is much less. This segment will continue to use mineralbased lubricants.

At present, Synthetic/ Semi-synthetic lubricant demand majorly comes from consumer lube segments (passenger cars and two- wheelers).

Lube requirement is driven by engine design requirements aimed at improving fuel economy and severity of operating conditions (especially for two-wheelers). Gulf Oil has an extensive range of lubricants which cater to mineral and synthetic lubricant requirement in automotive and industrial sectors. Our Global technology team is well geared up to meet the future market requirements, mineral or synthetic.

Q: Though regulations and increasing consumer awareness fuel growth of synthetic lubricants, the bio-based lubricants are expected to witness a high growth rate due to cost factor. How will this influence Gulf Oil? Chawla: Most of the synthetic lube requirements are from consumer segments. Regulations act as direct driving factors for bio-degradable lubricants globally and the same trend is expected to emerge in India in the near future.

The passenger car segment requires low viscosity and fuel-efficient grades which use synthetic or semisynthetic base stocks. Synthetics

will thus dominate in OE segment as consumers tend to service at OE service centres. The aftermarket is expected to offer cost-effective solutions to consumers moving away from OE service centres.

Two-wheeler OEMs recommendations make synthetics dominate in OE service centres. Because of the shorter warranty period, customers tend to shift to independent workshops or local mechanics rather than company workshop. This would make the mineral-based lubricants to dominate the aftermarket.

Q: Which segment of lubricants – transportation or industrial – will fuel growth for you in future and why?

Chawla: Gulf Oil’s growth will be driven by automotive sector as it has been our focus segment. However B2B is fast emerging for us and 80:20 growth contributions from automotive and industrial segment, respectively,

is expected. We expect our industrial business to continue its CAGR of 20 percent and passenger car motor oil to grow 15 percent.

Q: Asia-Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing market in the next five years. How prepared is Gulf Oil to leverage the growth?

Chawla: Among the global top 20 finished lubricant companies, Gulf Oil rose to the 14th spot in 2015 from 20 in 2011. Our 2020 vision is to be among the Top 10 lubricant companies in the world. Gulf Oil stands third in brand recall amongst the lubricant companies. We aim to reach the number two position in India by 2020 amongst the private sector lubricant companies.

We see our major growth in Asia Pacific coming from Philippines, Indonesia and China. Gulf Oil India will cater to other growth markets in Asia Pacific such as Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri-Lanka.

Q: What is the impact of the fall in crude oil prices?

Chawla: The drop in crude prices has impacted oil producing and exporting countries. The effect of this is the slow-down in the Middle East (oil rich countries) markets and to a certain extent impacted us in those markets.

Also in India, shift from subsidised to regulated regime in fuel sector has narrowed the gap between petrol and diesel prices to the extent of impacting diesel car sales.

Any negative impact on the transportation segment on account of moving from the subsidised fuel policy has been compensated by the drop in crude prices to an extent.

Improvement in road infrastructure and increased buying power is expected to boost vehicle demand in a broader sense and thereby positively impact lube consumption.

The recent data of higher diesel sales indicate the overall buoyancy in the transportation segment.

Lubricant filling lines AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 35

COVER STORY

Wet Lab

different brands for niche, mid-tier and mass markets. We brought the concept of co-branded lubricants in India. Co-branding derives the brand strengths of vehicle and oil marketer and deliver the consistent quality to the end consumer. As it is enhancing value to all stakeholders, we will continue to focus on this strategy.

Gulf Oil’s association with commercial vehicle OEMs is very long and well established. We have co-branded product with passenger vehicle OEMs, and have recently announced co-branded products with leading farm equipment manufacturers also.

In B2B segment, we have tie ups with off-highway equipment and other industrial OEMs offering co-branded products. As part of the diversification the company is planning to cater to batteries for two-wheelers,” he said.

Research And Development Gulf Oil has more than 20 people working on R&D in India. The group’s turnover is US$1250 million and about two percent of it is spent globally on its R&D activities on lubricants. The company works closely with strategic

AdBlue Blender

OEMs and technology providers.

There is demand from automotive customers for solid lubricants or for coatings. Coatings are employed by vehicle manufacturers to reduce friction and improve performance.

Solid lubricants and coatings find major use in bearings and surfaces in reciprocating motion where liquid lubricants prove inadequate.

The company is also looking at opportunities from the global markets.

With Gulf Oil supplying to quite a few multinational companies operating out of India, the company is being recognised for global supplies.

Gulf Oil has been supplying to Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, Volvo Penta, Ashok Leyland, Mahindra Group etc. in India. Being a global player, there are challenges to develop products for different markets where the demands and regulations are different, said Satyabrata Das, Vice President, OEM, Gulf Oil Lubricants India.

Asked his view on the measurement of greenhouse gases (GHG) and regulated emissions, though it is some years away for implementation of fuel economy norms (GHG emissions - CO2) for heavy duty commercial vehicles in India, Rao said, “The tail pipe exhaust emissions are measured in gm/kWh for heavy duty commercial vehicles and gm/km for passenger vehicles.”

Branding

Satyabrata Das

36 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

The passion of those who work for the ‘Gulf’ brand is impossible to describe. Its effects are contagious and foster a hunger for growth, and an uncompromising expectation for success.

From a marketing perspective that passion has allowed Gulf’s marketing teams to create a cohesive strategy to promote “our iconic brand through a range of prestigious partnerships which have been chosen not only to further enhance the visibility of the Gulf brand, but also reflect the core values of our business,” Vicki Kipling, Global Head, Branding and Marketing, Gulf Oil International, said.

“Probably the most high profile of these partnerships is our newly established global sponsorship of Manchester United. Our objective was to raise awareness of the Gulf brand outside of the traditional motorsport arena. With an estimated 3.5 billion fans worldwide, football was an obvious choice. Other exciting partnerships have been built on the Gulf brand’s rich heritage in motorsports, assuring its continuing presence in starting grids around the globe. These include the Milwaukee BMW World Superbike team, the Ian King, and the sponsorship of the Gulf

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COVER STORY market in the world, the difference is in the pace of implementation.

The developing markets might be five to ten years behind the matured markets. Though India is around 10 years behind at present compared to Europe, it will catch up with the global standards in four years as the country is targeting to reach Euro VI level by 2020.”

Somesh Sabhani

Racing team in the WEC. A high point of which was the team’s successful involvement in this year’s Le Mans 24 hour race, an event steeped in Gulf heritage. With the Gulf Racing Porsche’s ‘head turning’ stylish livery and winning a new generation of fans with its performance in the race, these partnerships and others, have allowed us to create the most exciting and ambitious marketing platform for the Gulf brand,” Kipling added.

Global Focus Gulf Oil looks at the global market in three regions – Europe, the emerging markets in Asia and Latin America.

Rao said that “improving air quality has been the uniform demand from almost all the markets and therefore reducing emissions becomes the prime agenda. Secondly, the growing concern on global warming leads to the requirement of enhancing the fuel economy. Thirdly, it is engine and equipment durability. Though these requirements hold good for any

Gulf Oil has been focusing on the fast growing emerging markets.

“We want to offer robust solutions for our customers. This has been our USP. Though OEMs remain the same, vehicles operating in emerging markets need robust engine oils given the relatively inferior fuel quality, severe operating conditions etc. We are concentrating on India, China, Indonesia, and the Middle East, while increasing our footprint in developed markets. Today we are working on integrated solutions with the appropriate combination of engine oil, axle oil and gear oil to achieve fuel economy while maintaining the equipment durability and service intervals,” Rao said. The company has developed and commercialised fill for life gear oil for particular equipment.

Hydraulic Oils Hydraulic oil is deployed in stationary (industrial units) as well as mobile applications (off-highway equipment).

Somesh Sabhani, Head, Industrial Sales, Gulf Oil Lubricants India, said, the key challenge in hydraulics, especially in mobile equipment, is temperature fluctuations since the equipment work in a wide band of ambient temperatures in a day.

Automa – high speed blowing machine to make containers

38 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

This influences viscosity eventually affecting the controls. In such applications, multi-grade hydraulic oils having very high viscosity index are preferred.

As hydraulic oils contain very low quantity of performance additives unlike engine oils, the quality of base stocks plays very important role.

While in engine oils the company moved from group 1 to severely hydro-cracked group 2 and 3 base stocks, for hydraulics it moved from group 1 to group 2 base oils in combination with the latest additive technology to enhance the thermooxidative stability and to improve the oil life.

AdBlue Till BS IV, the vehicle manufacturers could achieve emission regulations and reduce NOX through either EGR (Exhaust Gas Re-circulation) or SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction). EGR ends up in some fuel penalty mainly because of retardation of fuel injection timing. Though the vehicles based on SCR have higher initial cost to the extent of around Rs 75,000 to Rs 100,000, they are more fuel efficient.

As the entire country is moving to BS IV by April 2017, most of the OEMs are believed to be getting ready to offer both EGR and SCR options.

SCR needs urea in the form of AdBlue (brand name of VDA). Up to BS V can be achieved only by EGR & SCR. BS VI needs the combination of EGR, SCR and DPF (Diesel Particulate Filters).

AdBlue is a solution with 32.5 percent of automotive grade urea in specific quality water conforming to the stipulated specification. AdBlue is consumed at the rate of three to five percent of the fuel quantity. Therefore, one fill of AdBlue in a separate tank of 40 litre capacity is sufficient for one fill of fuel tank, which is usually about 800 litres. Since five years, Gulf Oil has been having tie-up with a renowned European AdBlue supplier to market it in India. With volumes picking up, the company set up a blending unit at its plant in Silvassa. Now Gulf Oil supplies it to major OEMs such as Ashok Leyland, Daimler and Volvo in India. Though replenishments of AdBlue is taken care of by some of the OEMs, Gulf Oil is also retailing through its network.

SPECIAL REPORT

Delphi Gears Up To Make Vehicle

Repair Cost-effective, Hi-tech For more than a century, Delphi has been providing automotive technologies that help vehicles all over the world run better, longer and more efficiently. The company’s expertise as an OE supplier is reflected in the quality of its aftermarket parts, its service and diesel repair network and its training and after-sales support. At the recently- concluded Automechanika Frankfurt, Delphi demonstrated how its aftermarket portfolio provides technicians with repair and service parts to cover all eventualities from braking, steering, engine management, fuel injection to diagnostics and diesel testing.

Hartridge’s Master range of test equipment

By T Murrali

V

ehicle owners demand improved fuel economy and longer service intervals, as emission standards become tighter. The diesel fuel injectors need to become increasingly sophisticated. The high standards and close manufacturing tolerances required to do this can make reliable replacement parts more expensive as a vehicle gets older, and costlier than its value. Delphi has three offerings for the vehicle owners to rectify the worn out fuel injectors: New replacement, remanufactured, or authorised-repaired.

When an injector needs replacement, the decision on the product to be selected and the money to be spent will depend on the age and value of the vehicle.

Delphi produces new and remanufactured injectors to OE specifications and standards. The repair option is available from its authorised repair network. The company has launched a range of remanufactured injectors in select European countries.

By offering a range of choices to the technician, the company believes that it can help owners of old vehicles avoid unauthorised repairs that can harm the durability, emissions, performance and economy of the vehicle.

At Automechanika Delphi presented its new 48-volt, mild hybrid technology taking advantage of electrification to lower emissions and increase fuel economy by up to 15 percent in direct injection engines.

With the upcoming regulatory

40 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

The range includes 46 Car and LCV common rail injectors, which cover several popular car, bus and truck applications. OE test procedures are carried out and original parts are used. The reuse of the core injector and implementation of advanced manufacturing processes help reduce costs by providing good-quality products at an affordable price, the company sources said.

Mild Hybrid

targets in Europe in 2021, a 48-volt, mild hybrid system bridges the gap between conventionally powered vehicles and pure hybrids or electric vehicles. By 2025, it is predicted one out of every 10 cars sold globally would be a 48-volt, mild hybrid.

By capturing energy, that would otherwise be wasted, and returning it to the powertrain, the system allows other vehicle systems (such as air conditioning) to be powered more efficiently and with greater control than engine-driven systems. The prototype uses an electrically-driven turbocharger, enabled by the 48-volt system, to provide near-instant boost when needed. It also allows engine downsizing by providing immediate torque for pull-away while the turbocharger is spinning up to speed.

Fleet Service Delphi has developed a comprehensive solution to help fleet workshops ensure optimum fuel efficiency and cost effective service and maintenance throughout a

vehicle’s operational life. The solution package includes new DS-HD software, a choice of three injector options, and an LCV common rail tester. DS Heavy Duty software is an efficient diagnostics tool that includes the latest main dealer functionalities, such as Intelligent System Identification (ISI), Intelligent System Scan (ISS) and Intelligent Systems Updates (ISU). Settings of parameters, configurations, adjustments and calibrations for swift and precise diagnostics are available for over 57,000 system applications across 47 truck, bus, light commercial vehicle and trailer manufacturers.

Diagnostic Systems The company has showcased its growing range of diagnostic tools, including for the first time, the HD3000. Designed to simplify the diagnosis of faults with current and future-generation diesel and gasoline high pressure fuel systems, HD3000 will allow technicians to diagnose any modern fuel injection system (including Common Rail, GDi, EUI and EUP), on a vehicle with a single, affordable tool. A suitable complement to Delphi’s range of dedicated test benches, HD3000 is easy to use and affordable, making it ideal for garages wanting to grow their engine repair business. Sources

said that the unit will be available to order in 2017.

“This tool will allow diagnosis of high pressure fuel system faults across every vehicle category, from petrol light duty to diesel heavy duty, opening new repair opportunities for garages and inhouse workshops,” Chad Smith, Vice President, Delphi Product & Service Solutions EMEA, said. The company has also previewed its DS-FLASH Pass-Thru diagnostics tool, which provides independent garages with access to vehicle manufacturers own web- based technical data, service schedule information and digital service records. It comes complete with a J2534 vehicle communication interface, cables, battery support unit and Delphi’s 12-month support package.

Yet another tool on display was DS450, which offers garages OE-level diagnostics for key electronic systems such as petrol and diesel engine management, ABS, supplementary restraint systems, gearbox, climate control and traction control.

test equipment designed specifically for the independent diesel workshop sector of the diesel fuel system repair market. The company demonstrated its two new prototype ‘desktop’ injector test solutions, the Sabre CRi Master and Toledo HEUi Master.

Hartridge

Simon Quantrell, Managing Director, Hartridge said, “The new machines in the Master range are currently undergoing field trials in the workshop environment in order to gauge customer reactions before the designs are completed.

Diesel fuel injection test equipment manufacturer, Hartridge is currently developing a new ‘Master’ range of

Feedback from the show will also be critical to developing the best solution possible.”

Evaluating Products Life Cycle Help Define Aftermarket Needs, Didier Beauge, VP, Products & Enigineering, Delphi Products and Services Solutions Q: Are there megatrends specific to the aftermarket?

Beauge: Definitely, as part of Delphi and connected to the OE division we are very well aware of the megatrends in the automotive industry and from there we find our potential market opportunity for the aftermarket side of business.

Q: Do you adopt a specific approach for the aftermarket, since the products supplied to OEMs, when it comes to replacement in the aftermarket, might need

Didier Beauge AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 41

SPECIAL REPORT

some compatibility?

Beauge: We are looking at the products being launched and evaluating its life cycle so that we can position it effectively both in the OE and aftermarket sides. We review the launch made by the OE division, evaluate the product and define the needs of the aftermarket for it.

Q: The life cycle of the product per se is coming down over a period of time; about couple of decades ago the life cycle was five to six years, now it has come down to three years or even less; and it differs from market to market. So how do you really plan to have optimised inventory?

Beauge: That’s the inherent difficulty. We have to understand the reliability of the OE product being launched and then propose a solution whether to go in for a new, reman or repair part; we are looking at the life cycle of the product itself.

I don’t mean we do this for every product but this is our general approach.

Q: Vehicles are now being produced with different material composition. How does this affect your aftermarket?

Beauge: We are trying to get connected through our OE division to what the market is doing, so that we can adapt and define our solution for the aftermarket.

Sometimes we propose a new part; we also go outside of just 42 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

producing a new part by looking at a generic design and solution like the manufacturer.

Q: Falling fuel prices spurred the vehicle sales in some of the global markets.

How is this planning out for Delphi?

Beauge: This certainly increases the demand for parts in the aftermarket and gives us an opportunity there.

Q: There are performance-oriented products that are not essential for the vehicle but have demand in the aftermarket. Do you have such items in the products portfolio?

Beauge: No, we don’t have things like that - an injector for the OE is the same for the aftermarket; it is not there in our product offerings as of now. What we do is meet the OE’s demand on the life cycle as we don’t want to degrade the fuel efficiency. Many years ago the Delphi aftermarket had huge numbers of part numbers and product families. Some time ago we decided it doesn’t make sense to have such a big catalogue of parts so we refocused those product families to where Delphi has a strong advantage and leading position in the market.

Q: So how many product families do you have in that range?

Beauge: We have four: The Sensors & Induction coils, Engine & Diesel pipe lines, Steering & Suspension, and Braking. We supply all these to the aftermarket network. In addition we have Hartridge, which supplies test

equipment to aftermarket network.

Q: What kind of feedback does the aftermarket give to Dephi’s OE product development team?

Beauge: We are getting engaged in the development process of new products based on feedback and we work with the OE development team to define the product for the aftermarket also. We take into consideration the aftermarket needs in the OE product development process. For instance, while developing the new 48-volt mildhybrid technology, Delphi engineers have considered how to improve every aspect of this innovative system, including opportunities for serviceability during maintenance and repair. One of the reasons for specifying 48 volts is to protect technicians who may accidentally touch live components. Working below this safety threshold means that the system can be less complex (costly and heavy) than a high-voltage system, ensuring garage technicians will require less specialist training and can work on the system with standard tools.

Q: How different is product development and engineering for the aftermarket when compared with that for the OEs? Beauge: The overall process is the same, based on requirement and delivery goals, for both OE and the aftermarket. Our aftermarket products can compete and stand with those used by the OEs.

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Micromatic To Leverage Smart Machine Tools For Global Growth Micromatic Machine Tools (MMT), the customer face of the leading machine tool manufacturing company, Ace Micromatic Group, is focusing on the new breed of smart machines that will help its customers enhance overall productivity and quality. T K Ramesh, CEO, Micromatic Machine Tools Pvt Ltd, told T Murrali of AutoParts Asia that the group company, Ace Micromatic Manufacturing Intelligence Technologies (AMIT), formerly known as Pioneer CT, has developed a new add-on hardware that helps users monitor Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE) of the machine, the cycle level energy profiles, and energy consumption. Edited excerpts:-

44 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

T K Ramesh

Q: How has been the last year for you?

Ramesh: Last year, 2015-16, ended fairly well for us. The first quarter of 2016-17 has taken off in a better way than the first quarter of last year and surpassed the performance of 2011-12, the best year so far for us. By quantity the increase was 22 percent and by value 18 percent. We are looking at a CAGR of at least 20 percent till 2020. From an investment perspective our new plant of ACE Designers is coming up at Dabaspet, near Bengaluru. The first phase of construction is over. The foundry is up and running since January this year. We have started using castings produced in our own plant for the first time. (Earlier they were outsourced).

We are also supplying castings to others.

Q: What qualitative changes has this brought to you in rework and other areas?

Ramesh: Earlier we were buying castings from 17-18 different sources, depending on the requirment. Now

we get them from eight to 10 external sources, and the balance internally.

We would like to make some of the high-end models but manufacturing a casting in-house is costlier, however, the quality will be better. This is a completely automated foundry and from a control perspective we have made significant improvements.

Q: What is the installed capacity of the foundry?

Ramesh: Our total installed capacity is 10,000 tonnes. Right now we are at 40-42 percent and would like to specialise in bigger castings of one tonne and above. The applications would be in space, power etc. With good machining facility combined with quality castings we believe our percentage of exports and value addition would go up considerably.

Q: Will the castings business give a new stream of revenue and enhance your export profile?

Ramesh: Absolutely. Added to this is the ability to get into higher levels of machine tool building. This is the strategy we are trying to follow.

Q: How many plants do you have in total?

Ramesh: With this in place, ACE Designers alone has four plants. As a group we have 17 manufacturing plants, 13 in Bangalore, two at Dabaspet and two in Ghaziabad.

We are the only machine tool group to have continuously reinvested in the last 20 years and YOY our capacity has gone up. Right now we have an annual capacity of 5,000 machine units – grinding, turning and machining. By 2020 we are very confident of achieving around 8,000 units. From a space perspective we may have to add some balancing equipment, some more people, and testing and measuring machines but our manufacturing footprint per se is fine.

Q: What about your Chinese operations?

Ramesh: It has stabilised very well. We have over 700 machines there. Our manufacturing plant in China is almost coming to capacity, operational profits are coming in.

Q: What is your next step in China?

Ramesh: All these days we were operating with one office; we have just started a second one in Tianjin.

By the end of next month we will also have a southern presence in Guangzhou. Here in India, Micromatic sells to customers and our principals make the machine whereas in China Micromatic goes through a distributor network to the end-customer. So there is another channel partner who comes in between.

Q: Is it a strategic decision to go on those lines?

Ramesh: That is the convention in the Chinese market. In China, the US and Europe machine tool sales are always through a channel partner. We have chosen to be a back-end supporter to the front-end dealer-distributor.

Q: After China are you planning elsewhere?

Ramesh: We have started an office in Europe at Prfonten near Munich in Germany. It is predominantly a service office. We are in the process of upgrading that to a marketing office

also. We are looking at getting closer to Stuttgart or Frankfurt because the market is fully there.

Q: Have you supplied your machines to overseas auto OEMs? Ramesh: Not to automobile OEMs but to the Tier-1 and Tier-2 companies. We are not in the kind of equipment that OEMs want.

Q: How many Tier-1s have you supplied to outside India, except China?

Ramesh: Outside India we have supplied to Bosch, Continental, Dana, etc - all are our customers. Globally we would have supplied, somewhere or the other, to 65 percent of the global Tier-1 companies.

Q: In India you have more than 200 customers with about 25 machines, and 25 customers with more than 200 machines. So altogether how many customers do you have in India?

Ramesh: Our customer base in India should be around 7,500 to 8,000 with 32,000installed machines. About 85 AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 45

FOCUS

percent of them were added over the last 12-15 years though the group was founded in 1979. From 1982 we forayed into manufacturing and in 1986 our first CNC machine rolled out.

Q: Where do you see opportunities to push yourself further?

Ramesh: The next growth has to come from new geographical markets. Today, as a group, close to 11 percent of our turnover is from exports. But if you look at Indian machine tools from a global perspective, they are not even one percent of the total global market.

Our domestic market share is inching towards the 40 percent mark. The world market for basic two-axis CNC lathes and standard three-axis machining centres is close to 25,00030,000 machines, discounting China.

India doesn’t even make one percent of this, here people make whatever is in their comfort zone. Countries like Korea, Taiwan and Japan make machines primarily for the world market. Their domestic consumption is just eight to 10 percent.

Q: Which are the markets you would be looking at?

Ramesh: We are already operational in Europe and are trying to strengthen parts of Germany, France, Turkey and 46 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

Eastern bloc like Poland and Hungary.

In SE Asia, China is the primary focus and we have a fairly decent operation in Russia. The new frontiers would be Brazil and Mexico for large volumes but logistics is a problem considering the distance. We want to go deep rather than wide, across the world, to strengthen our position. While we are fairly confident of getting investments, the process and internationalisation, of not just the products but the whole business, will take at least five to eight years.

Q: What is the status of the TPM track- enabled ‘smart machines’?

Ramesh: We are calling them ‘SmartConnect’ i.e. connected machines.

They can be connected to the network cloud. This year we have launched our ‘Elite’ range, we have enabled it as a standard feature in all our machines where the basic level of connectivity is already built into the machines. The system requires enabled smart people – it is more difficult to make smart people than smart equipment. Today, anybody can go to the machine and with a simple tab or computer he can see what the machine has done today – whether it is parts, how long it has run, the productive and non-productive time, alarms that have come and changes

that have been made. If they do it on a daily basis, they can then go to the next level of the network.

Q: The level of innovation?

Ramesh: From the innovation side we are trying to look at the next level of machines like cost effective turn mill centres - to optimise the functions, make it easy to use, and commercially viable with a low ROI. About 65 percent of our customer base is in the SME segment. We have been successful over the last 15 years as we have produced cost-effective machines. We are also looking at some innovative machines for the high-end export market, power transmission and aerospace.

Q: What about the disruptive technology such as additive manufacturing?

Ramesh: We are looking at 3-D printing or additive manufacturing from the R&D perspective. We may buy a few machines ourselves to understand their working. No concrete plans have emerged from our end but we are experimenting. to take it forward. Since we choose to be a large volume player, we are trying to look at how we can help in cost reduction by getting into some backend integration. We are evaluating this considering hi-tech inputs.

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FOCUS

TVS Tyres Revs Up Production Capacity T

By Sharad Matade

VS Srichakra, which manufactures and markets its products under the ‘TVS Tyres’ and ‘EUROGRIP’ brands, is expanding the two-wheeler tyre production capacity. It is gearing up for the impending tough competition in the market by strengthening R & D efforts, enhancing value engineering, involving customers from the design stage and strictly adhering to quality, safety and environmental regulations prevalent in domestic and various export markets.

Recently the international and national giants, such as Bridgestone India, Apollo Tyres, JK Tyre and BKT, have launched their two-wheeler tyres. The traditional two-wheeler tyre market players in the country, MRF, CEAT and TVS Srichakra, will have to face

tough competition from the new entrants that have strong financial backing, global experience and vast distribution network.

The Chennai-headquartered TVS Srichakra, to be market-ready, is scaling up monthly production to 2.5 million from its plants in Madurai and Pant Nagar (Uttaranchal). “This year we increased our monthly production of tyres from 2.3 million to 2.4 million units investing Rs 160 crore. It will be increased to 2.5 million units in three to four months,” P Vijayaraghavan, Director, TVS Srichakra, told AutoParts Asia’s correspondent during a visit to the Madurai plant.

TVS Tyres supplies to leading OEM brands like Bajaj Auto, Hero Moto Corp, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, Suzuki Motorcycles India, TVS Motors, and Yamaha Motor. About 55 per cent of the total production goes to the replacement market. The company, which started around three decades ago with production of scooter and moped tyres, is now exporting twowheeler tyres to African and South East Asian countries. “We will now focus more to enhance our export volumes”, Vijayaraghavan said.

The company has started production of two-wheeler radial tyres with the launch of Protorq. Their sales are yet to pick up volume.

It is expected that the increasing demand for premium bikes will trigger the market for them.

“Five years ago, when radialisation started for passenger car tyres, no

48 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

one thought it will catch up so fast in the county. Now, there is almost 100 percent radialisation in the car tyre segment. The same is to be repeated for two-wheeler radials also”, he said.

About 88 per cent of the company’s revenue is from two-and-three wheeler tyre sales. The rest comes from fork, construction, multipurpose and farm tyres, which are sold under TVS Eurogrip in 90 countries. “OTR business has been a value addition and we will keep adding range in that segment,” Vijayaraghavan said. TVS Tyres does not have any plan to enter other segments such as passenger car and commercial vehicle tyres.

Brand-Building, R & D TVS Tyres has made a thorough brand makeover. It has changed its logo and produced TV serials with well-known actors targeting the young tyre purchasers. It has been associated with sporting events like Indian Premier League, Hockey India League and Cricket All Stars Series.

“In recent times, we have been able to increase brand awareness, specially through sports,” Vijayaraghavan said.

The company’s R&D department is actively involved in the current market dynamics. It is developing new materials, compound, process, technology, and vendorimprovement projects. TVS Tyres does not have any joint venture for tyre manufacturing. However, the company has Japanese consultants for design and compounding.

European consultants are also hired for compounding, processing and machinery improvements. It also interacts with specialised institutes such as IITs for tyre analysis. The company’s new product development is based on the demand from OEMs, retail customers and on the need of future- centric products. Along with these, market trends, regulations

and the availability of raw materials also play important role in new tyre development.

behaviour of tyres, are concurred activities by the company’s R& D and material development teams.

TVS Tyres relies on the latest Auto CAD for design, CAM for tool design and the EDM machine for in-house mould making. The Finite element analysis (FEA), helps the company to visualise the characteristics and find reasons for possible product failures under various conditions and to cut down the lead time. Customers are involved from the initial stage of the product development. The 3D designed tyres are shown to OEMs and retailers for feedback.

Changes in materials, compounds and products are bringing changes in processes and technologies too. The shift from bias tyres to radial tyres is a complete different process and that needs different technologies.

Eco-friendly Changes Material and compound development at TVS Tyres is driven by the growing thrust on green regulations. As regulations for eco-friendly products are getting stricter, the selection of raw materials is becoming complicated. Aromatic oils used to make tyres are being eliminated.

Carbon black is being replaced by silica, mainly in commercial tyres. Developments of material and compound, which decide the

As tyres are changing, the selection of vendors is done through R&D and material departments as the sales process involves tremendous amount of testing to meet the requirements of the customers and markets.

At TVS Tyres, improvement in engineering is related to value engineering, and based on customers’ request. The company also conducts its own value engineering continuously to enhance quality, reduce price and avoid rejections.

Homologation is also another crucial part of R&D activities as now every product has to be matched up with the required demand. TVS Tyres meets also the regulations of the

markets where the company’s OE customers sell their bikes.

Production And Testing At the production stage many processes happen simultaneously.

Once the compounds are made they are sent to the tyre building unit where they go through the extruder machine that shapes the tyre tread.

At the same time, body ply sheet, which is basically layers of rubber and reinforce fabric in between, is cut into required shape and length.

At the first tyre building machine, on the drum, tread and ply are wrapped and the beads are placed and the assembly turn up over the beads.

At this stage, the assembled tyre is known as green tyre. In the curing press machine, pressure is applied at a certain degree of heat on the green tyre in a mould to give it its final shape.

At the final stage of production, vents, made at the curing stage, are removed, trueness and balance tests are done, and the tyre is ready.

Though, the company uses the FEAs to anticipate the performance, it also heavily relies on indoor and outdoor testing.

For the indoor testing, TVS Tyres perform endurance, high-speed test and plunger test. Indoor testing is done on the high-speed testing machine which can go up to 350 km an hour, though so far, the speed test is done till 280 km per hour. For outdoor testing, TVS Tyres has its own testing track in Madurai and also uses Wabco’s track in Chennai with the experts from Japan and Europe.

However, product improvement is an ongoing process. Once a tyre is out in the market, the company closely follows its performance and keeps addressing on-road problems, if any.

AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 49

INSIGHTS

US Issues New Guidelines For Self-driving Cars American regulators are requiring automakers to meet a set of 15 guidelines before they can place self-driving cars on public roads, as the nation goes from horseless carriage to driverless cars. What started a few years ago with Google, has exploded into a race to develop self-driving vehicles, also called Highly Automated Vehicles (HAV’s) and autonomous vehicles.

By Louis Rumao

A

utomated vehicle technology and competition are growing very fast. Everyone believes that HAVs will reduce accidents. There were more than 35,000 fatal vehicle accidents in the US in 2015. It is estimated that 94 percent of the fatalities are caused by human error, such as distracted driving. The public is demanding that the technology behind self-driving cars should be safe to be used in everyday traffic. There is a patchwork of local policies among various states.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, seven states have laws allowing only testing of HAV’s. California, Florida and Nevada

50 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

allow operation of these vehicles beyond testing.

With the public increasingly asking who’s making sure that the technology behind self-driving cars is safe to be used in everyday traffic, the US government has issued new guidelines telling automakers, suppliers and technology firms what’s expected of them as they develop and deploy automated vehicle technologies. The question of safety and self-driving cars became a hot topic recently, following the fatal crash in Florida where the driver of a Tesla Model S in autopilot mode slammed into a tractor trailer while driving on a rural highway.

Automated Vehicle Policy In advance of the Federal Government’s official announcement, President Barack Obama wrote in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to pitch the regulatory measures. “Americans deserve to know they’ll be safe today even as we develop and deploy the technologies of tomorrow,” he said. “Regulation can go too far.

Government sometimes gets it wrong when it comes to rapidly changing technologies. That’s why this new policy is flexible and designed to evolve with new advances”.

The new automated vehicle policy comes as a slew of self-driving test vehicles are logging millions of miles

on public roads around the country.

In California, at least 15 different companies have received permits to test autonomous-drive vehicles on public roads.

“We think this is a really critical step towards imposing and working towards the level of safety needed in this arena. I’m excited about the safety potential of autonomous vehicles and what this technology holds as its promise,” Anthony Foxx, the US Secretary of Transportation, said.

When a human being is operating a conventional vehicle the traditional laws, that are currently applied, will still apply involving licensing of drivers, registering vehicles and regulating liability and insurance aspects. “We’re saying that when the software is operating a vehicle, that is an area that we intend to regulate, Secretary Foxx said on a call with reporters in which he outlined the regulations.

The federal guidelines — known as the Vehicle Performance Guidance for Automated Vehicles — come as individual states attempt to amend regulations to allow automakers and technology companies such as Google Inc. to test and ultimately operate autonomous vehicles without drivers.

The federal guidelines are meant to outline best practices for the safe design, development and testing of automated vehicles prior to commercial sale or operation on public roads. They lay out a 15-point safety assessment for manufacturers developing and deploying automated vehicle technologies that range from data recording and sharing of information, to vehicle cyber security protocols. “We have to have a level of confidence that those issues, each one of the 15, have been independently reviewed, evaluated and confirmed. That’s what we’re after. It’s really creating a more open-ended type of approach than we typically would see”, Foxx said.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) is also trying to be more developerfriendly: The rule-making agency has agreed to expedite responses to requests for exemptions from existing standards to accommodate

designs for autonomous vehicles to six months. Historically, those responses could take years. The agency also said it would expedite to 60 days requests for interpretation of existing regulations and statutes as they apply to autonomous vehicles.

The guidelines will go into effect immediately and are designed to help manufacturers better understand the level of safety and performance semi- and fullyautonomous vehicles will need to achieve. So far it has been unclear what standards HAV’s should meet.

That has led to the criticism that the technology is moving faster than the regulators.

Four Key Parts The Federal Automated Vehicle Policy sets out a proactive approach to providing safety assurance and facilitating innovation through four key parts.

•

•

The Vehicle Performance Guidance for Automated Vehicles sets clear expectations for manufacturers, developers and other organisations, and includes a 15-point ‘Safety Assessment’ for the safe design, development, testing and deployment of automated vehicles.

Model State Policy, which presents a clear distinction between federal and state responsibilities for regulation of highly automated vehicles, and suggests recommended policy areas for states to consider, with a goal of generating a consistent national framework for the testing and deployment of highly automated vehicles.

•

NHTSA’s Current Regulatory Tools, which can be used to ensure the safe development of new technologies, such as interpreting current rules to allow for greater flexibility in design, and providing limited exemptions to allow for testing of non-traditional vehicle designs in a more timely fashion.

•

Modern Regulatory Tools, which identify new regulatory tools and statutory authorities that policymakers may consider in

the future to aid the safe and efficient deployment of new lifesaving technologies.

The guidelines will be updated annually, if needed, by Department of Transportation (DOT) and NHTSA, based on public comment, industry feedback and real-world experiences.

Right Action: OEMs Automakers particularly have pushed for NHTSA to release standards that states could follow for the testing and implementation of self-driving vehicles — and avoid a patchwork of state laws regulating the rapidly changing technology of the HAV revolution.

Ford Motor Co., which plans its first self-driving public implementation in 2021, said the guidance “will help establish the basis for a national framework that enables the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles. Strides in this technology have the potential to improve safety on our roads and reduce congestion in urban areas,” the company said. “We also look forward to collaborating with states on areas that complement this national framework.”

General Motors Co. said it supported “the efforts to speed deployment of autonomous vehicles as a technology that has the potential to improve dramatically safety on our roads and highways and expand mobility options.”

Toyota issued a statement saying the company is pleased that NHTSA is addressing the “emerging patchwork of state laws.”

“Automakers will review this guidance carefully to provide our comments to the agency,” Gloria Berquist, vice president of communications and public affairs for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, an association of 12 OEMs, said in a written statement.

“Guidance is the right action to take, since the technology is developing quickly and collaboration between automakers and NHTSA is critical to avoid policies that become outdated and inadvertently limit progress in reducing the number of crashes and saving lives. A policy that evolves is smart, given the pace of technology.”

AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 51

EVENT

Asian Retread Conference Discusses Ways To Counter Cheap Tyre Imports

By Sharad Matade

W

ith over 250 delegates from 16 countries and around 25 paper presentations, covering current trends to new advancements along with growing presence of cheap imports from China threatening the retreading industry, the first edition of Asian Retread Conference (ARC) 2016 was held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on October 4 and 5, 2016.

ARC 2016, a joint initiative by Asian Business Media (ABM), the publisher of Tyre Asia and organiser of the Asian Tyres and Rubber Conference, and the Malaysia-based Epic Fresh, provided a unique platform to the tyre industry’s niche but vital segment, retreading, to share not only knowledge and enhance network, but also to discuss on how to cope up with the growing threat of cheap imports of Chinese tyres.

In his welcome speech, Edoardo Salaorni, Commercial Director, Marangoni Meccanica, said “ 52 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

Retreading of tyres does not simply mean of making a used tyre new for further use, but also protecting environment.”

Globally 12,347,629 tonnes of natural rubber was consumed in 2015. Of this, 75 percent was used by the tyre industry. However, in Malaysia, the consumption of natural rubber is not proportionate to the demand of new and retreaded tyres. Datuk Dr Mohd Akbar bin Md Said, Director General, Malaysian Rubber Board, (MRB) in the presidential and inaugural speech, said that “there are 26,301,952 vehicles in Malaysia , out of which 1.39 million are heavy commercial vehicles and they need 5.58 million tyre units. So potentially we should be able to use 94000 tonne of natural rubber. However, what we have today is not encouraging. The consumption of natural rubber in 2015 stood at 13000 tonnes.”

Lim Sum Teck, Vice President of Malaysian Rubber Products

Manufacturers’ Association, read out the keynote address of Dato’ Dr. Ong Eng Long, who said, “In a long time, we (Malaysia) are having a conference devoted to a single rubber product, which will give a platform to learn about new developments and share knowledge of the retread industry.” However, the retreading business in Malaysia is facing the same challenge of growing imports of cheap Chinese tyres as the retreaders in the rest of the world are facing, H.M. Chin of Tyre Retreading Manufacturers’ Association of Malaysia, said.

In Malaysia, the number of retreading tyres dropped 47 percent from 2.47 million units in 2012 to 1.45 million in 2016, owing to cheap Chinese new tyres, which surged almost 285 percent in the last 4 years. “They will continue to exert downward pricing pressure for retreads. However, retreads cost has been escalating mainly due to labour cost , six percent GST implementation and increasing

capital cost and depreciation of ringgit,” Chin said.

In the US, the number of retreaders have come down from 12,000 to around 700, out of which 680 are commercial truck retreading plants, in 2015, mainly due to no retreading in passenger car tyres and consolidation in retreading industry in the country. However, the volume of retreading remained unchanged in the last 50 years.

In the US truck tyre replacement market, the market size of retreaded tyres, is more or less same as new tyres. However, though prices of new truck tyres have been sliding, prices of retreaded truck tyres have been stable thanks to the growing import of lower-priced truck tyres from China, David Stevens, Managing Director, Tyre Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB), said.

However, Stevens said globally there are 30 million trucks which lead to a demand for 200 million tyres in replacement market, out of which 70 million can be retreaded tyres. “However, there are threats to the retread industry. Low-cost, low quality tyres competing with retreaded tyres, focus on up-front pricing by operators or fleets instead of cost per km or total cost of ownership, misinformed

regulatory environment, continued misconception issues about safety and quality.”

According to Rajiv Budhraja, Director General of India’s Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA), absence of a representative body or industry association, non availability of data, no representation in Government, large number of unorganized sector players (conventional retreading) and small number of organized sector units (pre-cured) are issues that harm the Indian retread industry.

Defining the role of compounder, fleet, retreader and dealer in the industry, Tai Qisheng, Deputy CEO, Executive Director, GIIB Group, said,” Monetary advantage is very clear if it can be achieved at the consumer-end, it is also achievable at all levels of the supply chain.”

Sudarsan Varadaraj, Managing Director at Elgi Rubber Company Limited, told the participants how to reduce cost in retread plants and about the various aspects like key cost elements, ways to improve shop efficiencies and the need for focusing on cost rather than price. “About the challenges of budget tyres, David Wilson, Publisher, Retreading Business, said, “Sell Chinese tyres only if

they are part of a structured and comprehensive marketing strategy, not as a defensive reaction to price conditions in the market place”.

Specialty natural rubbers are unique tyre rubbers for environment-friendly tyres with good wet grip and low rolling-resistance for lower GHG emissions, Dr Zairossani Mohd Nor of MRB, said. A retreader should position himself in the driving seat of the relationship with the fleet and users, Chris Bloor, Executive Director, International Sales & Marketing, Commercial Tyres at Giti Tyre, said.

Bainite Machines, TRM Tyre Retreading, CIMA IMPIANTI, SRI, Marangoni Retreading Division, and VMI detailed about the products offered by the companies.

Industry organisations like GIIB, Marangoni, TRIB, Eversafe Rubber, Eastern Treads MRPMA and MRB showcased their products and services in the Mini Expo that ran concurrently with the event.

The next ARC will be held on October 2 and 3, 2018, at the same Sime Darby Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur, John Powath, the CEO of ABM, said. Dato’ Mohamed Ishak bin Abdul Hamid proposed a vote of thanks.

AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 53

EVENT

International Buyers, Indian Cos Converge At ACMA iAutoConnect

Delegates inaugurating the ACMA iAutoConnect 2016 - International Reverse Buyers-Sellers Meet

ACMA iAutoConnect 2016 Exhibition

By ShamPrasad

T

he International Reverse Buyers-Sellers Meet (iAutoConnect 2016) organised by the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA), the apex body representing the Indian automotive component manufacturers, in Gurgaon, near New Delhi, attracted 145 international auto component aftermarket distributors from over 45 countries.

The exhibits by about 180 Indian manufacturers gave the international delegates from countries like Iran, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), CIS, ASEAN, West Asia, Japan, and North America, an insight into rapidly growing Indian capabilities. ACMA organised this first-ever event with the support of the Union Ministry of Commerce mainly to enhance component exports globally and to encourage the small manufacturers to interact with multiple buyers from different parts of the world.

“The expo really helped the Tier-II and Tier-III manufacturers to interact directly with international customers,” Rattan Kapur, President, ACMA, said.

The venue was designed in a unique way to bring the manufacturers to one place without any discrimination.

54 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

The participants’ focus was on the aftermarket products. “It was a very nice and compact venue. We had only customers and the right people. If we look at the RoI on the participation, it has been very good.

We were most of the time busy interacting with customers,” one of the exhibitors said.

Global Automotive Hub Over the years India has evolved as a global hub for vehicle and auto component manufacturing.

The event brought international delegations and Indian component manufacturers under one roof putting the spotlight on innovative products and technologies to build strong trade relationships between the auto component industry of India and overseas markets. Last year the Indian auto component industry exported $10.8 billion worth of components, a third of its production, to over 165 countries.

Pravin Agrawal, Director, Department of Heavy Industry, the Union Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, said, “the Government has identified auto-components as a key thrust area for exports. We have been supporting the industry in its export efforts. We are willing to partner with it in creating a

credible image for the components manufacturing sector. Our ministry has therefore supported ACMA in its study of the global aftermarket and we are pleased that iAutoConnect is a follow-up of the study.”

“ACMA has recently conducted a detailed analysis of 20 countries spanning Africa, Latin America and the CIS region, for aftermarket across the segments of passenger cars, commercial vehicles, two-wheelers, three-wheelers and tractors. The estimated aftermarket opportunity in these identified countries is around $41.6 billion. It is against this backdrop that ACMA organised the iAutoConnect 2016 to present to the Indian companies buyers from the identified aftermarkets,” Kapur said.

According to Vinnie Mehta, Director General, ACMA, “We at ACMA strongly believe that this global platform of iAutoConnect is a great opportunity for participants to showcase their strengths and capabilities. The tremendous response from international buyers to this event is a proof of growing credibility of the India manufactured auto components. We intend to make this event an annual feature to help promote exports of aftermarket products from India.”

PREVIEW

Automechanika Shanghai 2016 To Have Increased Line-up of Japanese Exhibitors APA Bureau

A

utomechanika is returning to the National Exhibition and Convention Centre, Puxi, Shanghai, from November 30 to December 3, 2016.

This 12th edition of Automechanika Shanghai has developed into an important one-stop platform for information exchange, marketing, trading and education. The fair is expected to welcome 5,700 exhibitors and 120,000 visitors. It is organised

by Messe Frankfurt (Shanghai) Co Ltd and the China National Automotive Industry International Corporation (CNAICO).

Automechanika Shanghai 2016 is expected to continue its success and hit another milestone due to the Chinese market’s continued growth.

Prestigious Japanese companies have confirmed their participation at the fair this year. They have doubled their exhibiting space compared to the last edition. Many prominent Japanese companies have already confirmed their attendance. Brands include the Top 100 global OEM parts suppliers or ones that are famous for exquisite quality, including AISIN, DENSO, Hitachi, J-WORKS, NGK, Olympus, Panasonic, etc.

Among the distinguished Japanese exhibitors, Aisin Seiki Co. Ltd will be sharing the latest in their aftermarket and automotive parts for a multitude of major OEMs while at Automechanika Shanghai.

DENSO, which is a leading supplier of advanced automotive technology, systems and components for major automakers, has a favourable reputation among automotive companies and has been a key OEM supplier at Automechanika Shanghai since last year.

Hitachi will also introduce aftermarket products such as engine oil, brake blocks, etc to the show this year.

NGK is a leading company in the global spark plug market and its NTK oxygen sensor is making its debut in the aftermarket at Automechanika Shanghai 2016. The new product will be announced to the world through the show’s marketing channels.

Joining the show for the first time includes shock absorber brands KYB and Excel-G, the vehicle engine manufacturer. NIDEC, the renowned supplier of control valve bodies, solenoid valves and more, as well as ADVICS-brand brake pads, are among those who have already secured their booths.

Japanese exhibitors display a wide range of their products within the sectors of Parts and Components, Electronics and Systems, Repair and Maintenance, and Accessories and Customising.

Strong support not only comes from exhibitors, but also from Japan’s industrial organisations. Besides the current supporter Japan Auto

Parts Industries Association (JAPIA), Nippon Auto Parts Aftermarket Committee (NAPAC), which is focused on the accessories and customising sector, has confirmed participation as a new fair supporter this year. In addition to many of the top companies in the Japanese automotive market, several leading global brands will be exhibiting their latest products at Automechanika Shanghai this year.

Notable names that will also be exhibiting at the show include AC Delco, BASF, Bilstein, Bosch, Brembo, Continental, Dayco, DuPont, Elring, Federal Mogul, Hella, Hengst, Launch, Liqui Moly, Magneti Marelli, Mahle, NTN, RAV, Ravaglioli, SAIC, SATA, Schaeffler, SK Networks, Sonax, UFI, Valvoline and ZF. In 2015, Japan was the largest importer of passenger cars into China.

According to research by Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), more Japanese car manufacturers are planning to increase their production quantity there.

As reported by Chinese publications Global Auto Sources Gasgoo and Auto Sohu, the sales volume of Japanese cars reached 1.7 million in China between January and June this year. This represents a year-on-year growth of 12.7 percent and ranks second to the sales of Chinese-brand vehicles.

AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 55

ANALYSIS

Rural Demand Jacks Up Vehicle Sales In September APA Bureau

I

mproved rural demand after a good monsoon in the agricultureled Indian economy has driven the robust growth in automotive sales in the country in the first half (H1) of fiscal 2016-17.

According to the monthly data released by the Society of India Automobiles Manufacturers (SIAM), the domestic auto sales grew 16.33 percent during April-September 2016 to 1,16,52,160 units compared to the same period a year ago.

Two-wheelers were the growth driver followed by passenger vehicle segment, which grew by 17.47 percent and 12.34 percent, respectively, in H1 of FY17. In the first half of the 2016-17 fiscal, 14,94,039 units of passenger vehicles were sold compared to 13,29,874 units in the

56 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

same period a year ago, with highest growth of 40.24 percent coming from utility vehicles.

While overall commercial vehicle segment has shown a minor growth of 5.9 percent, the medium and heavy commercial vehicle (M&HCV) segment, which largely depends on national economic growth, has reported a decline of 1.19 percent in the first half of the current financial year to 1,37,664 units, compared to 1,39,325 units sold in the same period a year ago.

Domestic Sales The domestic sales of automobiles grew 20.16 percent to 2,260,992 units in September compared to 1,881,643 units of automobiles sold in the same month last year. However, exports

declined 8.39 percent, SIAM said in the monthly report.

Domestic sale of passenger vehicles grew 19.92 percent in September to 278,428 units as against 232,170 units in the same month last year.

This is the 15th consecutive month of domestic sale growth of passenger vehicles. Utility vehicle sales improved 37.93 percent. Passenger cars grew 15.14 percent followed by vans at 15.62 percent.

Two-wheelers Two-wheeler sales moved up 21.59 percent in September this year to 1,868,993 units compared to 1,537,104 units sold in the same month a year ago, mainly owing to a better than normal monsoons and the substantial pay hike for the Central

government employees. Strong demand for scooters and mopeds continued to pull the market at a percentage growth of 30.60 percent and 43.71 percent, respectively.

Motorcycles grew 16.33 percent.

Commercial Vehicles In September this year, commercial vehicle sales declined 1.95 percent to 61,621 units compared to 62,845 units sold in the same month a year ago. Medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) sales declined 20.61 percent in September 2016 to 24,748 units compared to 31,174 units in last September.

Light commercial vehicle sales grew 16.43 percent in the same month mainly driven by increase in demand for goods carriers. A total of 36,873 units were sold in September 2016 as compared to 31,671 in September 2015.

Three-wheelers Sales of three-wheelers recorded a growth of 4.90 percent in September to 51,950 units compared to 49,524 units sold in the same month a year ago. Like LCV, the growth in threewheeler segment has also been mainly driven by goods carriers, which recorded a 23.57 percent hike in sales in September this year compared to same month last year.

The passenger carrier segment

witnessed a muted growth of 1.45 percent in the same period.

Overall Sales In H1 Sale of Passenger Vehicles grew 12.34 percent in April-September 2016 over the same period last year. Within the passenger vehicles, passenger cars, utility vehicles and vans grew 5.11 percent, 40.24 percent and 8.12 percent, respectively, during April-September 2016 over the same period last year.

The overall commercial vehicles segment registered a growth of 7.97 percent in April-September 2016 as compared to the same period last year. Medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCVs) registered a sales fall of 1.19 percent, but light commercial vehicle sales grew 11.69 percent during the period under analysis.

Three-wheeler sales grew 13.39 percent in April- September 2016 over the same period last year. Passenger and goods carrier sales grew 12.40 percent and 18.15 percent, respectively, in April-September 2016 over April-September 2015.

Two-wheeler sales registered a growth at 17.47 percent during April-September 2016 over April– September 2015. Within the twowheelers segment, scooters, motorcycles and mopeds grew 26.94 percent, 12.65 percent and 26.32 percent, respectively in AprilSeptember 2016 over April-September 2015.

three-wheelers, two-wheelers and quadricycles in April-September 2016 as against 11,992,184 in AprilSeptember 2015, registering a growth of 11.92 percent.

Exports In April-September 2016, overall automotive exports declined 10.68 percent. While passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles exports registered a growth of 15.38 percent and 10.24 percent, respectively, exports of three-wheelers and twowheelers declined 39.32 percent and 12.45 percent, respectively in same period.

In September alone the overall exports witnessed a decline of 8.39 percent, with the Indian automotive industry exporting just 313,996 units of vehicles as compared to 342,770 units in the corresponding month in the previous year.

The export of passenger vehicle from India, witnessed robust growth of 24.06 percent. A total of 70,962 units of passenger vehicle were exported in September 2016 compared to 57,202 units in 2015. Exports of commercial vehicles stood at 9,414 in August this year as against 7,876 last year.

Two- wheelers and three-wheelers witnessed a decline of 11.40 percent and 39.35 percent, respectively.

Production The automotive industry produced 13,421,500 vehicles including passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 57

GLEANINGS - India

Jaguar Launches All-New F-Pace APA Bureau

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aguar has launched in Mumbai its first-ever performance SUV, the All-New F-PACE. To mark the launch, an 18 meter tall ‘Beacon,’ designed specially by

Arzan Khambatta, dramatically lit up in a never- seen before launch sequence that included Narain Karthikeyan and powerful renditions

by Shankar Mahadevan. The grand event was held at the iconic Marine Drive in the heart of Mumbai and was attended by several VIP guests.

Rohit Suri, President, Jaguar Land Rover India Ltd. (JLRIL), said, “With dynamic design language and practicality

at its core, the All-New Jaguar F-PACE is already setting benchmarks globally. We have received an overwhelming response for the car worldwide and we expect the same in India as well. It is indeed one of the most awaited products in the Indian market. The launch of F-PACE has ushered Jaguar into the SUV market; a smooth ride that will mark the dawn of a new era for Jaguar in India.”

Visually inspired by F-TYPE, the allnew Jaguar F-PACE is a performance SUV that has the DNA of a sports car.

Its powerful and agile look makes it utterly distinctive and gives it a head-turning road presence. From the bonnet bulge to the pronounced rear haunches, the all-new F-PACE reinvents the energy, strength and purity of form of F-TYPE.

TVS Logistics To Expand With CDPQ Stake APA Bureau

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VS Logistics Services Ltd (TVS LSL), the India-based multinational third-party logistics service provider, has reached an agreement with Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), one of North America’s largest pension fund managers.

Under this agreement, CDPQ will invest over Rs1,000 crore (US$155 million) to acquire a sizeable minority stake in TVS LSL, a privately held subsidiary of the TVS Group.

Following this transaction, the existing investors Goldman Sachs and KKR will fully exit their investments in TVS LSL. CDPQ will purchase most of their joint stake, while TVS family members and management will acquire the remaining stake. Beyond this equity investment, CDPQ is ready to commit significant additional capital to finance transformative acquisitions and support the expansion of TVS LSL in India and globally.

R Dinesh, Managing Director, TVS Logistics Services Ltd., said, “We are 58 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

happy to have CDPQ, a leading global a fruitful partnership with CDPQ.” institutional asset manager, on board.

Michael Sabia, President and Chief Over the years, we have benefitted Executive Officer, CDPQ, said, from a meaningful partnership with “Efficiency in delivering goods to global investors like Goldman Sachs customers is a key driver of business and KKR. We believe CDPQ is the performance. TVS Logistics is perfect long-term partner for our next well positioned to seize growth phase of growth as we look to expand opportunities resulting from recent tax the scale of our business. TVS reforms in India and global demand Logistics, over the years, has grown for state-of-the-art logistics services.” at a CAGR of more than 30 percent and has a strong global track record of growth.

We look forward to continuing this evolution and building on our successes S Ravichandran, Executive Director, TVS Logistics Services, R Dinesh, Managing Director, TVS Logistics Services, Anita M George, Managing Director, South Asia, CDPQ and Dave through Brochet, Managing Director, Singapore, CDPQ

GLEANINGS - International

Australian Aftermarket Association Launches Repairers Council APA Bureau

T

he Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA) has launched the Automotive Repairers Council of Australia (ARCA) in response to the demand from the independent automotive repair and service sector in the country.

AAAA Executive Director Stuart Charity said the independent automotive repair and service sector is under significant threat.

“The challenges facing this small business sector arise from the rapid pace of technological change, skills and training gaps, and the anticompetitive behaviour of the car companies,” he said.

sector has a unified national voice to influence key stakeholders and ensure that Government recognition and support for these businesses is proportionate to their important contribution to the Australian community and the economy,” Charity said.

A National Voice The experience of independent automotive service and repair businesses over many years has been that most government decision-makers do not recognise the value that they contribute to the Australian economy and to the safety and reliability of the vehicles that the lifestyle of the people demands.

“Independent service and repair businesses are the workshops of choice for more than seven million Australian car owners – more than half the vehicles on the road. These businesses represent what every politician desires – small family-owned operations, serving suburban, regional and remote rural areas,” Charity said.

Stuart Charity

“The time is right for the formation of a truly national service and repair representative group. The AAAA has responded by facilitating the ARCA initiative. This new council will operate across state borders to provide a structure and the muchneeded formal links to the rest of the automotive parts and accessories supply chain.

“Independent repairers have realised that it is critical that this

These workshop owners are well trained professionals with long traditions of backing their own technical abilities and entrepreneurship. They work hard to launch and grow small businesses that play a vital role in every Australian community.

Now these businesses face significant challenges arising primarily from causes outside the control of individual workshops. To manage the challenges and realise the opportunities for future survival and growth, businesses in this

sector have recognised the need for greater cohesion and collaboration.

ARCA Objectives As with all AAAA Councils, the ARCA will leverage the input of a committee of industry leaders to research, plan and deliver relevant activities and services. It will provide a forum for cooperation and collaboration among independent service and repair businesses to facilitate the exchange of ideas and knowledge, and facilitate strategic input and market intelligence into the Choice of Repairer advocacy campaign.

ARCA will generate input into community education campaigns on consumer issues, like servicing of vehicles under warranty; protect consumer choice and competition in the vehicle repair and service market for all Australian car owners; create and deliver technical and product training and networking opportunities, and promote initiatives to address skills and training gaps in the sector. It will also provide research to identify and formulate new initiatives to improve profitability and grow the industry and enhance the profile and standing of the sector.

As a specialist Council of the AAAA, ARCA will be under the governance of the membership elected AAAA National Council.

ARCA will be managed by a 13member committee with 12 people elected for two year terms from its membership and one appointed from the AAAA National Council.

AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 59

GLEANINGS - International

VanDyne And Allison To Co-Develop Vehicle Demonstrator APA Bureau

V

anDyne SuperTurbo Inc. and Allison Transmission Inc. are collaborating to co-develop a vehicle demonstrator. The companies plan to leverage the unique performance benefits of VanDyne’s mechanicallydriven turbocharger in combination with Allison’s TC10 transmission in a Class 8 tractor.

Through the deployment of advanced control techniques, the two technologies will maximize the benefits of engine downspeeding, efficient supercharging and turbo compounding. The primary objective of the collaboration is to demonstrate how these two products, when paired with an intelligently-controlled vehicle, can reduce carbon dioxide emissions

and improve fuel efficiency without sacrificing performance.

With an innovative design, the fully automatic TC10 combines Allison’s torque converter with a unique twin countershaft gear scheme. This combination provides both full power shifts and cruising fuel economy for greater productivity and efficiency. The transmission is

ideal for tractor applications and is extremely well-suited for distribution applications where the tractor-trailer splits its work cycle between city and highway conditions.

ContiTech Simulation Technology Helps Develop Light-weight Components APA Bureau

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ontiTech, as a development partner to the automotive industry, constantly works on new solutions to make components in passenger cars and commercial vehicles even lighter.

The greatest challenge here is to meet the customers’ requirements for the application in question while also complying with the mechanical requirements for stiffness, strength, service life, and vibration behaviour.

“Simulation technology has become indispensable in satisfying our customers’ requirements and meeting our own quality standards,” Dieter Kardas from Pre-development at ContiTech Vibration Control, said Since 2006, ContiTech has used 60 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

fibreglass-reinforced polyamide as a light-weight alternative to steel and aluminium for components in passenger cars. The weight-reduced components achieve weight savings of up to 50 percent. ContiTech is working on innovations and develops new light-weight components using the weight-reduced materials.

A challenge in making calculations for injection-moulded parts comes in the form of the anisotropic material properties that arise due to the fibreglass-reinforced polyamide.

The direction of the glass fibres has a decisive influence on local mechanical component properties.

Simulation processes are used to make visible the effects of

microscopically small glass fibres on the mechanical properties of the assembly. The direction of the glass fibres depends on the production process, among other things. For this reason, the mould filling process must first of all be calculated. One result of this calculation is the orientation of the glass fibres. This information is then used to calculate the anisotropic material properties that are unevenly distributed in the component.

“Our goal is to support and improve the product development of lightweight components by using the opportunities offered by simulation methods which can help predict the mechanical component performance at a very early stage,” Kardas said.

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GLEANINGS - International

Nissan Acquires 34 Percent Stake In Mitsubishi Motors APA Bureau

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issan Motor Co., Ltd., has completed its acquisition of 34 percent equity stake in Mitsubishi Motors (MMC) and became its largest shareholder. MMC will also become part of the global Alliance with Nissan and Renault. With the addition of MMC, the Alliance will be in the world’s top three automotive groups by global volumes, with sales of 10 million units in fiscal year 2016.

“The combination of Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors and Renault will create a new force in global car-making. It will be one of the

world’s three largest automotive groups, with the economies of scale, breakthrough technologies and manufacturing capabilities to produce vehicles to serve customer demand in every market segment and in every geographic market around the world,” Nissan Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn said. “ Ghosn predicted that through its partnership with MMC, Nissan would target synergy benefits worth 24 billion yen in fiscal year 2017, rising to 60 billion yen in fiscal year 2018 and beyond. The gains will contribute

to increased earnings per share worth an estimated 4 yen per share in fiscal year 2017 and 10 yen per share in fiscal year 2018 – on top of any earnings accretion linked to Nissan’s overall shareholding in Mitsubishi Motors.

Nissan offered its assistance at the request of Osamu Masuko, president and chief executive officer of MMC, following the company’s fuel economy crisis. The two companies have cooperated on kei-cars (a Japanese category of small vehicles) for the Japanese market over the past five years.

Auto Group Drags Down Continental’s 2016 Outlook APA Bureau

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ontinental has reduced its outlook for fiscal 2016.

The main reason for this is the recent combined occurrences of isolated unrelated events in the technology company’s three automotive divisions (Automotive Group).

of Japan in August 2016, after the two in April, worsened the situation at the micro control units located there. The Interior division therefore anticipates sales losses of about €100 million. After the first of these natural disasters, the anticipated sales losses were €50 million.

These primarily include warranty cases for products supplied by the Chassis and Safety and Interior Divisions between 2004 and 2010, and possible expenses for pending antitrust proceedings. The total negative effect is expected to be about €390 million. A third earthquake in the Kumamoto region

Together with other expenses, the Interior division’s EBIT is expected to be €50 million lower. Added to this is the short-term increase in research and development expenses of €60 million in the Interior and powertrain divisions. These isolated cases have resulted in a negative effect on the reported and adjusted EBIT of the

62 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

three automotive divisions for the current year to around €480 million.

The outlook for the corporation, which was last amended on August 3, 2016, has been revised.

The adjusted EBIT margin of the Automotive Group has been lowered to 6.5 percent (previously 8.5 percent), dragging the corporation’s adjusted EBIT margin to 10.5 percent this year from the previous 11 percent.

Despite the negative effects, Continental anticipates an adjusted EBIT margin of over nine percent for the fourth quarter of 2016 in the Automotive Group.

GLEANINGS - International

Mercedes-Benz To Make First Electric Car In Bremen Plant APA Bureau

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lobal production network of Mercedes-Benz Cars is preparing for electromobility. Passenger cars ‘Made in Bremen‘ will cover the entire range of intelligent drive technologies.

The Bremen plant delivers a maximum of flexibility and high speed as well as Mercedes quality from the beginning, also for our electric models,” Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler AG and Head of MercedesBenz Cars, said.

The production model will be based on the EQ (Electric Intelligence) show car, an electric vehicle in the look of a sporty SUV Coupé, that was presented at the `Mondial de l’Automobile 2016’ in Paris in September. With a range of up to 500 km and the typical Mercedes strengths such as safety, comfort, functionality and connectivity, the show car is the forerunner of a new era.

Brand EQ The product brand EQ is an elementary part of the corporate strategy for future mobility bundled under the four-pronged strategy called CASE, which stand for Connected, Autonomous, Shared & Services and Electric Drive. They are connected intelligently. MercedesBenz Cars aims to have over 10 all-electric vehicles in its portfolio by 2025.

“The new electric vehicles can be built within the existing global production network with sites on four continents.

In our production, we work intensely on the execution of our electric offensive. In this context, we assess the potential production of electric vehicles at all sites of MercedesBenz Cars. We have already started intensive preparations in Bremen,” Markus Schäfer, Member of the Divisional Board of Mercedes-Benz

Dr. Dieter Zetsche (CEO of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes Benz Cars, 2nd from right), Markus Schäfer (Member of the Divisional Board of Mercedes-Benz Cars, Production and Supply Chain Management, right), Peter Theurer (Site Manager of the Mercedes-Benz Bremen plant, 2nd from left) and Michael Peters (Chairman of the works council Mercedes-Benz Bremen plant, left ) with the EQ-show car, which was presented at „Mondial de l’Automobile 2016“ in Paris.

Cars, Production and Supply Chain Management, said.

Plant Ramp-up “It is an enormous sign of trust and a genuine reward for our site that the first EQ vehicle will be built in Bremen.

As the lead plant for the C-Class and the GLC, we have repeatedly proved our ramp-up competence, our flexibility and our technical know-how.

Now, we take a further crucial step towards future mobility and expand our variety also when it comes to drive technologies,” Peter Theurer, Site Manager of the Mercedes-Benz Bremen plant, said.

The product portfolio of the Bremen plant currently consists of 10 different models. Next to vehicles with conventional combustion engines, plug-in hybrids of the C-Class and the GLC are also rolling off the production line. In addition, the GLC F-CELL – the worldwide first fuel-cell vehicle with plug-in technology – will be produced in Bremen. With the confirmation for the new Electro-SUV of the EQ brand, cars `made in Bremen’ will cover the entire range of intelligent drive technologies in the future. “Our team is proud and happy about the

decision to produce the first EQ vehicle in Bremen. The greatest future prospects in the industry currently lie in electro-mobility and it is our ultimate goal that the Bremen site participates in this,” Michael Peters, Chairman of the Works Council Mercedes-Benz Bremen plant, said.

The battery for the new electric vehicle will be developed by the Daimler subsidiary ACCUMOTIVE and produced in Kamenz (Saxony).

The production is currently being expanded in the context of the corporate strategy CASE with an investment of euro 500 million. With this, one of the largest and most modern battery factories in Europe will be built. In future, ACCUMOTIVE will produce lithium-ion batteries for all electrified vehicles of MercedesBenz and smart – including plugin hybrids as well as fully electric vehicles.

On top of that, the site will produce batteries for stationary MercedesBenz energy storage units as well as 48-volt-systems. Daimler plans an overall investment of more than one billion euros in a global battery production compound.

AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 63

GLEANINGS - International

Legal Cover Likely For Consumer Auto Service Choices In US APA Bureau

I

n a victory for automotive aftermarket suppliers and remanufacturers, spearheaded by the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA), the US Copyright Office is continuing its examination of the Digital Millennial Copyright Act (DCMA) and protection of consumer choice in both automotive replacement components and service, and to allow for a level playing field for all service industry participants.

In its most recent comments to the US Copyright Office, MEMA noted, “Consumers have come to rely on the independent aftermarket to provide both quality repair parts and related services. A consumer who has lawful

access to copyrighted works, such as a car owner who owns or has a valid license to the computer software in his or her vehicle, has a right to inspect or service those works – or enlist a third party to do so on his or her behalf – even if doing so would require circumvention of certain technological protection measures.”

“US copyright laws currently grant exemptions for vehicle owners who do their own repairs and service with regard to sensors or micro-computers with alleged TPMs protection,” Steve Handschuh, MEMA President and Chief Executive Officer, said.

“However, other provisions limit the option of consumers to have their vehicles serviced and repaired with

the software-enabled component of their choice – whether new, aftermarket or remanufactured – in the independent aftermarket.”

“This is an important success for MEMA, the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA) and the Motor & Equipment Remanufacturers Association (MERA), MEMA’s divisions representing the light vehicle aftermarket and remanufacturing,” Bill Long, AASA president and COO, said.

“Suppliers addressed this issue with their elected officials during the 2016 Legislative Summit, and their efforts have resulted in the U.S. Copyright Office’s continued study of the issue.”

TE Connectivity Showcases Test, Measurement Sensor Technologies APA Bureau

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E Connectivity Ltd., a world leader in connectivity and sensors, showcased a number of sensing technologies for vehicle design and testing at the recently concluded Automotive Testing Expo North America. TE’s Test and Measurement sensors are deployed in a variety of safety and test applications requiring reliable, high speed data that is critical for passenger safety and automotive performance.

“We’re excited to have the opportunity to demonstrate the breadth and depth of our Test & Measurement sensor technologies at the Automotive Testing Expo.

Our sensors are designed 64 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

and manufactured to exacting specifications, often on a custom basis with the ability to withstand harsh environments. Results are tested and certified to survive standards set by stringent industry protocols and global regulatory compliance,” Miso Mihajlovski, Industrial Market Manager, Sensor Solutions, TE Connectivity, said.

The Test and Measurement sensors include a broad range of pressure transducers, accelerometers, LVDT/RVDTs, inclinometers, potentiometers, load cells, torque sensors and a full range of interface electronics. The featured technologies showcased

by TE included the AC and DC

accelerometers, miniature pressure transducers, string and linear potentiometers and load cells and torque sensors.

TE began its sensor journey in the automotive industry, and has since expanded across several industries, from industrial and commercial transportation, aerospace and defence to industrial solutions and consumer applications.

Building on its longstanding experience, it offers solutions for a wide range of sensor technologies enabling measurement capabilities such as pressure, position, temperature, speed, vibration, force/ torque, humidity and fluid property.

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GLEANINGS - International

Knorr-Bremse Presents Innovative Solutions For CV Service, Repair APA Bureau

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norr-Bremse, the leading manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles, presented a portfolio of innovative products and services for distributors, workshops, and fleet operators at the recently concluded Automechanika Frankfurt.

Under the newly-launched TruckServices brand, the company is assembling an attractive aftermarket package of products and services to help keep commercial vehicles of all types and ages operating reliably and economically throughout their entire working life.

TruckServices Portfolios Just before the show, Knorr-Bremse launched some of the important elements of its TruckServices portfolios like EconX, Compressor Kits, Clutch Servo Longlife, Compressed Air, and Special Tools for servicing and repairing commercial vehicles.

EconX, the brand name for KnorrBremse remanufactured products, is a cost-effective, environment-friendly option for repairing older vehicles.

To mark the brand’s introduction in Frankfurt, Knorr-Bremse showcased EconX versions of the SN7 disc brake and the electronic clutch actuator.

The new service kits for compressors contain all the elements needed to carry out repairs and maximize efficiency for distributors and workshops. Knorr-Bremse has concentrated only on those versions required for the independent aftermarket, thereby simplifying and speeding up ordering and inventory processes. The new Clutch Servo Longlife sets new standards of efficiency, functionality, and performance. With its robust design 66 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

and improved seals, the servo is capable of up to four million cycles instead of the two million achieved by comparable products.

Knorr-Bremse has led the field in air drying and filtering for more than 20 years. Building on its experience in this field and its expertise in air treatment and powertrain systems, the company is now expanding its filter portfolio to cover a full range of products. From 2017 onwards, the company will be able to supply air, oil, fuel and interior filters for virtually all truck and bus applications. The existing portfolio is also being significantly expanded through a distribution partnership with Technomatik in the field of compressed air cylinders.

Returning complex products to their original state through maintenance repair or replacement, calls for special tools. At Automechanika, TruckServices presented a new range of tools developed in partnership with tool specialist GEDORE Automotive for the compressor with clutch and trailer EBS.

TruckServices Expert Knorr-Bremse TruckServices has also introduced the new TruckServices

Expert Network partnership programme, which puts distribution and workshop partners under the same roof. Members of the programme benefit from the expertise and network provided by one of the leading companies in the truck supply sector.

In the future, individual trucks will increasingly be part of an overarching logistics system. Connectivity at multiple levels can lead to a marked improvement in the efficiency of individual vehicles.

TruckServices ProFleet Connect offers more than just a link between the vehicle and the fleet management system: It delivers smart services that use the data collected to generate added value for fleet operators and drivers alike.

This telematics solution for trucks, buses, and trailer applications is modular and compatible with any make of vehicle. Together with its partner Microlise, TruckServices is launching its attractive range of transport management products and services, ProFleet Connect, in 2017 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, prior to rolling them out across Europe in subsequent years.

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GLEANINGS - International

Bosch Strengthens Presence In Mexico APA Bureau

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he Bosch Group is expanding in San Luis Potosí, its location in Mexico, investing euro72 million to establish a new powertrain engineering centre and to expand the local automotive technology manufacturing capacity . The global supplier of technology and services, has also expanded the plant in San Martín Obispo at a cost of nearly 9 million euros to build extra space for the production of hydraulic systems.

With these recent investments, Bosch is reacting to increased local demand and preparing for further growth in the region.

“We expect all our business sectors to continue to develop positively in the current year. To be prepared adequately, we are planning to invest more than euro 90 million this year,” René Schlegel, President of Bosch Mexico, said. Moreover, the company aims to hire more than 3,000 new associates locally, most of them in San Luis Potosí and San Martín Obispo. Today Bosch employs over 13,000 associates in Mexico, one-third more than in 2012.

Bosch has expanded four of its locations in Mexico this year. In Aguascalientes, the company started production of vehicle safety systems

such as ABS (Anti-Lock Braking System) and ESP (Electronic Stability Products) for the local market in mid-June. In Querétaro in the central Mexican region of Bajio, a new plant for automotive steering systems is to be built by 2019. It will cover an area of 15,000 square meters and be the 11th Bosch location in the country (total investment: euro 70 million).

“Our investment in the new location underlines our confidence in the continued growth of the Mexican market and demonstrates our longterm commitment to the country,” Schlegel said.

IBM, GM introduce cognitive mobility platform OnStar Go APA Bureau

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eneral Motors and IBM have announced a partnership to bring the power of OnStar and IBM Watson together to create OnStar Go, the automotive industry’s first cognitive mobility platform. Starting in early 2017, OnStar is expected to give millions of GM drivers the ability to connect and interact with their favourite brands. The platform will deliver personalized content through the dashboard and other digital channels supported by the OnStar Go ecosystem to make the most of the time spent in the car.

Combining OnStar’s industryleading vehicle connectivity and 68 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

data capabilities with IBM Watson, APIs will create experiences that allow drivers and passengers to achieve greater levels of efficiency and safety. These experiences could include avoiding traffic when you’re low on fuel, then activating a fuel pump and paying from the dash; ordering a cup of coffee on the go; or getting news and invehicle entertainment tailored to your personality and location in real time.

“On average, people in the US spend more than 46 minutes a day in their car and are looking for ways to optimize their time. By leveraging OnStar’s connectivity and combining it with the power of Watson, we’re

looking to provide safer, simpler and better solutions to make our customers’ mobility experience more valuable and productive,” Phil Abram, Executive Director, GM Connected Products and Strategy, said.

The GM/IBM partnership will expand the existing OnStar AtYourService offers and deals platform by launching new capabilities supported by OnStar Go with IBM Watson. These capabilities will be available in more than two million 4G LTE connected vehicles and millions of GM vehicle brand app-enabled mobile devices in the US by the end of 2017.

GLEANINGS - International

GENUI Acquires ZF Friedrichshafen Subsidiary Cherry Group APA Bureau

G

erman private investment company GENUI and the Cherry management has announced the acquisition of the international Cherry Group from ZF Friedrichshafen AG. Excellent growth prospects for the computer input device manufacturer and its employees will result from the investment.

“It was very important for us to find a new owner for Cherry that would offer the company and its employees a solid future with good prospects,” Michael Hankel, ZF member of the Board of Management responsible for Cherry, said. “GENUI offers precisely such a future and is therefore an outstanding partner for Cherry.”

ZF will sell its 100-percent share in the subsidiary as it concentrates investment in its core business.

The Cherry Group posted sales of roughly €80 million in 2015. It has 380 employees worldwide, 280 of whom work at the company’s headquarters in Auerbach, situated between Nuremberg and Bayreuth.

Hartmut Jenner and Joachim Coers are experienced entrepreneurs who will advise Cherry’s management on a consultancy basis. Thanks to this commitment, outstanding developmental opportunities exist for the company and its workforce, creating excellent growth prospects for Cherry.

“Input device manufacturer, Cherry, is among the world’s leading mechanical keyboard

switch producers and is perfectly positioned within the growing PC gaming market”, Sumeet Gulati, partner of GENUI, said.

Sonja Hahn, chairwoman of the ZF and Cherry works council at the Auerbach location, was very positive about the new owner: “GENUI presented itself to the works council as a reliable and long-term partner.

We placed particular value on the commitment to current collective agreements, co-determination and to the Auerbach location.”

Cherry Managing Director Manfred Schöttner said, “Cherry’s management and workforce are convinced that the Cherry Group is facing excellent development opportunities within the new ownership structure.”

Thermo King Unveils Intelligent Refrigeration Solutions APA Bureau

T

hermo King, a manufacturer of transport temperature control solutions for a variety of mobile applications and a brand of Ingersoll Rand, showcased the future of transport refrigeration with new innovations at this year’s IAA Commercial Vehicles Show in Hannover, Germany.

“Innovation goes beyond simply creating new products,” Karin De Bondt, Vice President and General Manager for Truck, Trailer and Bus at Thermo King in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), said. “It is about addressing unique customer needs through connectivity, datadriven intelligence, real-user insights, and the ability to merge new and emerging technologies later based

upon customer needs.” Thermo King introduced a series of truck and trailer solutions including the new SLXi single- and multi-temperature trailer refrigeration platform designed to meet the demands for fuel efficiency, intelligence, connectivity and sustainability.”

The SLXi platform of single- and multitemperature trailer refrigeration units were developed with an expanded focus on the unit’s intelligence, communication capabilities, fuel consumption and temperature management.

“We collaborated with hundreds of customers and dealers to understand the actual ambient conditions, temperatures and operating models

for different types of cargo in daily use,” David O’Gorman, product manager at Thermo King, said.

The SXLi range includes tailorable operational parameters to meet customer needs, application and ambient conditions. The customised profile conditions create optimised performance and fuel savings of 10 to 20 percent, compared with its predecessor.

Leveraging the October 2015 acquisition of Celtrak, the SLXi is the industry’s first fully telematics-enabled refrigerated trailer unit, delivering full visibility of the unit and load condition with Thermo King’s new TK BlueBox communication device and Bluetooth as standard.

AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016 | 69

CALENDAR Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo - AAPEX Show, USA 1-3 Nov 2016 Sands Expo, Las Vegas Tel: +1 708 226 1300 Jim.winslow@aapexshow.com www.apexshow.com Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association -SEMA Show, USA 1 – 4 Nov 2016 Las Vegas Convention Centre +1 224 563 3154 aapexsema@compusystems.com www.semashow.com Bus & Truck 2016 3-5 Nov 2016 Bangkok International Trade And Exhibition Centre, Bangkok, Thailand TTF International Co Ltd http://www.ttfintl.com/exposition.php Automechanika Buenos Aires 9 – 12 Nov 2016 La Rural Trade Centre, Buenos Aires, Argentina Indexport Messe Frankfurt SA Tel: +54 11 4514 1400 E-mail: automechanika@argentina. messefrankfurt.com, www.automechanika.com.ar Bus World, Bangalore, India 10-12 Nov 2016 Busworld International Inter Ads Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd. T +91 (0) 124 4524214 sales.busworldindia@interads.in www.india.busworld.org Commercial Vehicle Forum 2016, 24 Nov 2016 Hotel Hilton, Chennai.

Threefold Business Solutions Pvt Ltd, New Delhi http://cvforum.in/ Los Angeles Auto Show 2016, USA, 14 - 27 Nov 2016 Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 South Figueroa Street, LOS ANGELES, CA 90015 Tel: +1 310 4441850 www.laautoshow.com Auto Serve 2016, Chennai, India 18 – 20 Nov 2016 Chenai Trade Centre, Chennai.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Tel: +91-44-42444555; www.cii.in The Automobile Show 02-04 December 2016 Milan Mela Ground, Kolkatta Confederation of Indian Industry www.cii.in

70 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

18th Oman Motor Show 7 - 10 Dec 2016 Oman International Exhibition Center, Muscat, Oman Comnet Exhibitions Pvt LTd Tel: +91 11 4279 5000 E-mail:amanpreets@eigroup.in www.comnetexhibtions.com BAUMA Conexpo 2016 12-15 Dec 2016 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi bC Expo India Pvt. Ltd http://www.bcindia.com/ International Commercial Vehicle Fair 11-13 January 2017 Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai Nexinno Trade Fairs Pvt Ltd http://www.nexinno.in/ 95th European Motor Show, Brussels 14-22 Jan 2017 Rue de la Science, 1020 Brussels, Belgium Brussel Expo Group http://autosalon.be/fr SIAT - Symposium on International Automotive Technology 18-21 January 2017 Pune SAE International http://www.saeindia.org/content/siat2017-call-papers India Rubber Expo 2017 19-21 Jan 2017 Chennai Trade Centre, Chennai AIRIA http://www.indiarubberexpo.in/ IMTEX 2017 & Tooltech 2017 26 Jan - 01 Feb 2017 Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) Indian Machine Tool Manufacturer’s Association(IMTMA) E-mail: mtx@mtx.co.in www.mtx.co.in International Green Mobility Expo 02-04 Feb 2017 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) http://www.ietfindia.in/ GreenMobilityXpo2017 COMVECS - Commercial Vehicle Show 01 - 03 March 2017 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi SIAM http://www.siamindia.

com/event-overview. aspx?mpgid=30&pgidtrail=30&eid=173 ACMA Automechanika-India 21-24 March 2017 PragatiMaidan, New Delhi Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India Pvt Ltd http://acma-automechanika-newdelhi. in.messefrankfurt.com/newdelhi/en/ exhibitors/welcome.html Dhaka Auto Parts Show 2017 23 –25 March 2017 International Convention City Bashundhara, Kuril, Dhaka.

Conference & Exhibition Management Services Ltd. Tel : +880-2-55040848 ~ 65 cems@cemsbangladesh.com www.cems-autopartsshow.com Automechanika Dubai 2017 7 – 9 May 2017 Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Center Messe Frankfurt Middle East GmbH Tel: +971 4 389 45 00 E-Mail: au­tomechanika@uae.messe­ frank­furt.com www.automechanikadubai.com Rapid.Tech International Trade Fair and Conference for Additive Manufacturing 20 - 22 June 2017

Exhibition Centre Erfurt, Germany Organizer: Messe Erfurt GmbH www.rapidtech.de Tyre Expo India 2017 11-13 July 2017

Chennai Trade Centre, Chennai Singex Exhibitions Pvt Ltd tyrexpo@singex.com www.tyrexposeries.com/india ATRC 2017 Asian Tyre & Rubber Conference 16 – 17 July 2017

Hyatt Regency, Chennai Asian Business Media Contact: Antony S Powath, VP Marketing +91 9833 901 586 asp@abm.net.in www.atrc.in NACV -North American Commercial Vehicle Show 25-29, Sep 2017

Atlanta, Georgia USA North American Commercial Vehicle Partnership Tel. +49 511 89-34222 Email fabian.perschke@messe.de http://nacvshow.com/

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AUTO LAUGH

Driving Gender Equality

A

John S Powath He lives out of a suitcase. He keeps pace with the growing global footprint of Asian Business Media publications. John has a sense of humour whether engaging in business in Kuala Lumpur or Shanghai, Panama City or Akron. His anecdotal comments keep readers and executives in good humour

mid the rising protests against growing gender discrimination, the traffic department has introduced a programme to sensitise its officials in dealing with women seeking driving licence. Unlike a decade ago, a large number of working women with aspirations to own vehicles are queuing up for driving tests. To cater to the demands of women licence seekers, these inspectors are instructed to treat all aspirants with utmost respect, particularly in the light of women’s psychological and behavioural dispositions.

and soon pressure groups of men also demanded similar initiatives for self-improvement.

The municipal authorities came up with evening classes for men.

It announced: `ALL ARE WELCOME! OPEN TO MEN ONLY’. Note: “Due to the complexity and level of difficulty of their contents, each course will accept a maximum of eight participants each.”

Topic 1: ‘How to fill ice-cube trays: Step by step with slide presentation’. Topic 2: ‘Toilet paper rolls: Do they grow on the holders?

Roundtable discussion’. Topic

Following the success of this awareness programme on gender sensitisation, many institutions, from banking to communication, are taking a relook at feminine requirements.

Structured training courses are now being made under various topics. Topic 1: ‘Silence, the Final Frontier: Where No Woman Has Gone Before.’ Topic 2: ‘The Undiscovered Side of Banking: Making Deposits.’ Topic 3: ‘Parties: Going Without New Outfits.’ Topic 4: ‘Bathroom Etiquette: Men Need Space in the Bathroom Cabinet Too.’ Topic 5: ‘Communication Skills: Tears - The Last Resort, not the First.’ Topic 6: ‘Communication Skills: Getting What you Want Without Nagging.’ Topic 7: ‘Driving a Car Safely: A Skill You Can Acquire.’ Topic 8: ‘Telephone Skills: How to Hang Up.’ Topic 9: ‘Classic Footwear: Wearing Shoes You Already Have.’

Topic 10: ‘Oil and Petrol: Your Car Needs Both.’

Gender Awareness These topics have caught up with the imagination of women, 72 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2016

3: ‘Differences between the laundry basket and the floor: Pictures and explanatory graphics’. Topic 4: ‘Learning how to find things, starting with looking in the right place instead of turning the house upside down while screaming: Open forum’. Topic 5: ‘Health watch: Bringing her flowers is not harmful to your health: Graphics and audio tape’.

Topic 6:’Real men ask for directions when lost: Real-life testimonials’. Topic 7: ‘Is it genetically impossible to sit quietly as she parallel parks?

Driving simulation’. Topic 8: ‘Learning to live: Basic differences between mother and wife: Online class and role playing’. Topic 9: ‘How to be

the ideal shopping companion: Relaxation exercises, meditation and breathing techniques’. Topic 10: ‘How to fight cerebral atrophy: Remembering birthdays, anniversaries, other important dates and calling when you’re going to be late: Cerebral shock therapy sessions’.

Although both these sociallyinspiring initiatives have won kudos, what is still to be solved is the gender issue with regard to the issuance of driving licences. Woman groups say that there is still a bias towards men. However, the traffic department testifies that there is no discrimination

against women and argue that psychologists have endorsed their views on the behaviours of men and women drivers.

Traffic officials vow that driving licences are handed out with the greatest degree of gender equality. However, social stereotyping of women as having poor driving skills is widespread. Men, who generally have higher levels of testosterone than women have been correlated with risk-taking, sensation seeking as well as aggression and conflict. Hence, men often become aggressive drivers.

It is all in the hormones.

Don’t blame the traffic cop for stopping you for overspeeding.

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