Autoparts Asia June 2016

RNI No. MAHENG 2015/64732

Shriram Pistons Expanding Exports To New Markets

Vol.No.2 Issue No.1 June 2016 | US$ 20 `200

Fuel Efficiency...

Emission Control...

AUTOPARTS ASIA | June 2016

Safety...

Cost Of Ownership... e-Mobility...

Automation...

RNI No. MAHENG 2015/64732

OEM Strategies Stifle Australian Automotive Aftermarket Growth

ACDelco To Capitalise On Global Aftermarket Growth

AUTOPARTS ASIA | June 2016

RNI No. MAHENG 2015/64732

Vol No 2 | Issue No 1 | June 2016

ISSUE

IN THIS

16

10

Shriram Pistons Expanding Exports To New Markets

Jurecki Appointed CEO Of FordDirect

CORPORATE

PEOPLE

6

IMPRESSIONS

7

EDITORIAL

8

TRAILBLAZING TRENDS

10

PEOPLE

16

CORPORATE

20

INTERVIEW

- Innovation’s German Tag

- Jurecki Appointed CEO OfFordDirect - New Corporate Officers For Cooper-Standard - Ashby Joins As GM Of Safe-Guard Canada - MittraTo Chair Scania India Boards - FCA Announces Leadership Changes - Mankodi Appointed MD OfKloecknerDesma

- Shriram Pistons Expanding Exports To New Markets - Jamna Auto Diversifies, Expands Exports To De-Risk Business

- OEM Strategies Stifle Australian Automotive Aftermarket Growth

2 | AutoPartsAsia | June JUNE 2016

20

INTERVIEW

- OEM Strategies Stifle Australian Automotive Aftermarket Growth

160

BRAND TRENDS

- MALCORP - The Global Source For Rubber Automotive, Industrial Parts

38 COVER STORY COMPONENTS -

eHorizon For Better Traffic Flow - Helmut Matschi of Continental AG Visteon Rides OnSmartCore – Sachin Lawande of Visteon ZF Futuristic All The Way - Suresh KV of ZF India India The Next Frontier Of Growth - Rudi Von Meister of ZF Asia Pacific Cooper Standard Goes Beyond Products - Song Min Lee of Cooper Standard, Asia Pacific Model Change Feeds Customer Needs - Tarang Jain of Varroc Cost Sensitive Innovations By WABCO India - P Kaniappan of WABCO India Need For Manufacturing-Driven Growth -Nirmal K Minda of UNO Minda NRB To Look At Emerging Segments - H S Zaveri of NRB Bearings Powering Automobiles – the Lucas-TVS Way - Arvind Balaji of Lucas-TVS Tenneco Tailors Products To Suit Emission Norms - SagarHemade of Tenneco India Skill Development - Can India Garner Demographic Dividend - Nishant Arya of JBM India Needs Clean Air - Claude d’Gama Rose of Continental Automotive India Eaton Is Focused On Innovation - V Balasubramanian of Eaton India NEI Moves To Global Arena - RohitSaboo of NEI IAC For Sustainable Products - Gajanan Gandhe of IAC India Meritor CVS Enters New Verticals - Thimmaiah N P of Meritor India Rane Makes New Products With Latest Technologies - L Ganesh of Rane Diversification, Future-Readiness Help FIEM - S Narayanan of FIEM

76

COMMERCIAL VEHICLES

96

PASSENGER VEHICLES

110

AFTERMARKET

- Bharat Benz On Sustainable Growth Track - Erich Nesselhauf of DICV - Tata Motors Travels In New Terrain - Eicher Makes Futuristic Trucks -P Ravishankar of Eicher - Ashok Leyland Rides On Innovation -Vinod Dasari of Ashok Leyland - Volvo Brings To India New Paradigms For Trucks, Buses, Construction Equipment – Kamal Bali of Volvo India

126

ALLIED INDUSTRIES

146

INSIGHTS

150

EVENT

160

BRAND TRENDS

- Technology Prowess To Propel German Machine Tools Industry - Klaus-Peter Kuhnmunch of VDW - ATS Initiates Lab-To-Road Test Facility – S Ramanathan of ATS - JCB To Tap Growth Opportunities In India - Schwing Stetter Is Always Innovative -Anand Sundaresan of Schwing Stetter India - The Reality Of Automotive Safety Recalls - German Automotive Industry Success Is Role Model For Emerging Markets - S Raj of Indo German Chamber Of Commerce - Increased International Participation At Automechanika Dubai 2016 - CAPAS 2016 Catalyses Sourcing Opportunities

- MALCORP - The Global Source For Rubber Automotive, Industrial Parts

162 GLEANINGS INDIA 168 GLEANINGS INTERNATIONAL 94 CALENDAR OF EVENTS 196 AUTO LAUGH - Hurried World

- Continuous Improvement Is Toyota’s Quality Mantra - Mercedes-Benz: Pioneering Technology - Roland Folger of Mercedes Benz India - Hyundai India Builds Brand With Quality, Innovation - Young Key Koo of Hyundai Motor India - Maruti Suzuki R&D Centre To Do Product Testing, Validation – CV Raman of Maruti Suzuki - Bosch Automotive Aftermarket Offers Safe, Affordable Solutions - Uwe Thomas of Bosch Automotive Aftermarket - ACDelco To Capitalise On Global Aftermarket Growth - Tim Turvey of ACDelco - Global Technology, Local Support - Ravi BM of Madhus Garage

AutoPartsAsia | June JUNE 2016 | 3

ICAT Site- 2 - Plot No. 1, Sector M- 11, HSIIDC, IMT Manesar, Gurgaon 122050 (Haryana)

READERS’ LETTERS

IMPRESSIONs

New Experience, Different Perspective

Photo Quality

Excellent, informative, crisp, smart, and indepth content, interviews and photographs.

Your `Event’ reports give a realistic experience of visiting a global expo. I read a lot of auto trade magazines. But AutoParts Asia gives a new experience and different perspective to a professional like me. Best wishes for your team and I expect more coverage of global expositions..

I have been observing that the images that you carry are not reproduced as they used to be during the first six to eight editions of AutoParts Asia. Though the layout continues to be good, the photos have been losing their sheen.

Jeevan, Chennai, India.

Andy Richards, Mt Clements, 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 | June 2016

Q

uality, productivity and innovation are the focus areas that drive the world automotive industry today. In the face of intense competition, both the OE and auto parts manufacturers are innovating to bring down cost and to upgrade quality, safety and comfort. An obsessive focus on the needs and comforts of our customers is what makes our products indispensable part of their lives.

What Henry Ford, the man who revolutionised auto industry and made automobiles affordable to common man, did years ago is very relevant today. His obsession with reducing costs and improving productivity was well known. He is reported to have offered $25000 to anyone who would show him how to save a single nut and bolt on each automobile he made. It was his innovations and mass production that finally led to the construction of a vast network of highways and roads that resulted in the birth of a mobile society.

Embrace excellence – That’s the message we want to convey to all on the occasion of the First Anniversary of AutoParts Asia.

During the last twelve months the automotive industry has undergone unprecedented changes. The change has been the most manifest in passenger car. Car is going beyond its role of a tool for mobility. It is becoming a flexible instrument with connectivity, electrification, and autonomous driving.

Among the consumers the concept of sharing mobility has been picking up making captains of some of the vehicle manufacturing companies concerned about possible sales drop. This apprehension is unwarranted. The positive macroeconomic development coupled with the rise in growing middleclass population, especially in the emerging markets, will fuel new vehicle demand.

The issue that you hold is the First Anniversary Special Edition throwing light on the present and future of the automotive industry. Captains of the five principal segments of industry – component makers, commercial vehicle manufacturers, passenger vehicle makers, aftermarket and allied industries – are opening their minds through the special columns on the new developments and trends in the industry.

We have also in-depth reports from several markets from Australia, China to Americas, making this edition a collectors’ special. You can also find pictorial coverage on two major international automotive events held in May – Automechanika Dubai, and CAPAS, Chengdu, China. I am sure you will enjoy reading this special issue. Please do send us your feedback.

E D I T OR I AL

Embrace Excellence

Kurian Abraham Editor-in-Chief 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: Sham Prasad

June 2016 | Vol. 2 | Issue No. 1

Subscription rates 12 issues: Rs. 2,100/24 issues: Rs. 4,000/Single copy: Rs. 200/US$20 Overseas: 12 issues: US$200 24 issues: US$400

Printed, Published and Owned

by Antony Scaria Powath, and Printed at Five Star Offset Printers, Building No 1/151, A B & C, Nettoor, Maradu Muncipality, Ernakulam District, Kerala State & Published from: 20th Vaikunth Apartment, Mount Mary Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai 400 050.

Editor: Murrali Thalor

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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 | June 2016 | 7

Trailblazing Trends

By T Murrali

Innovation’s German Tag

E

very time I pen this column I decide not to include inventions from Germany. I always fail as Germans are the key drivers of innovation in the automotive world. They account for one third of the spending on research and development and generate about 75 percent of the value addition in automotives. No wonder the German suppliers’ turnover rose to Euro75.8 billion in 2015.

One of the latest innovations from Germany is the gesturebased control on the steering wheel developed by Continental AG. Derived from the world of entertainment, it increases safety while driving by helping the driver to have a firm grip on the steering wheel and better concentration on the road.

The system focuses the detection zone of gestures on the steering wheel. This is possible due to a time-of-flight sensor integrated into the instrument cluster. Using this approach, the solution minimises driver distraction and facilitates a holistic humanmachine interface. It can detect four different gestures: Setting the navigation, browsing through apps and starting music, answering calls, and controlling the on-board computer.

Another German company ZF has recently honoured 10 outstanding inventions by employees spanning a wide range of products, processes and mobility sectors with its internal ‘Graf-von-

8 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

Soden Invention Award’. In total, 1,036 new patents were registered last year, 14 percent more than in the previous year. The Grafvon-Soden Invention Award has become an established benchmark for innovation. It is presented annually and was named after Alfred Graf von Soden-Fraunhofen (1875 – 1944), co-founder, first managing director and later member of the Board of Management of ZF. In 2016, the year which marks the fourth anniversary of the award, the focus was on ten new outstanding inventions by ZF employees.

One of the leading automotive component manufacturer in the world, Bosch from Germany, is developing cross-domain solutions for connecting mobility with energy and building technology over the Internet of Things (IoT). By bringing together development activities for a number of different areas at a single location, the company hopes to facilitate mutual inspiration.

connected solutions. This new venture, its first engineering location in Scandinavia, has 50 experts on board working on new software and hardware for vehicle connectivity, automotive security systems, and motorised twowheelers.

In India the German construction equipment company, Schwing Stetter, has developed a mobile batching plant that can be shifted to any place in a short time. It is said to be a boon to the roadbuilders as the transportation of concrete is always a challenge.

The batching plants can also be hooked to the customers’ dedicated network and optimise productivity.

However, these technologies, coupled with IoT, may lead to risks associated with traditional software and IT environments.

In the assembly lines they make the machines ‘smarter’ like a row of computers and servers.

Therefore, cyber security is very crucial.

There has been continuous development in vehicle connectivity and autonomy. The duo is more useful for commercial vehicles than personal transport vehicles to contain emissions, improve traffic flow and ensure better safety.

From the zenith of trail blazing trends and limitless innovations, will the automotive industry go back to a level of plain vanilla vehicles, without any IoT, connectivity, autonomy etc., and become expensive like the handcrafted cars? Well, indications point to its proximate possibility!

Germans Elsewhere

Innovations will continue . . .

Bosch has opened an incubation centre in Sweden for developing

See you next month with more Trailblazing Trends

PEOPLE

Jurecki Appointed CEO Of FordDirect APA Bureau

Mike Jurecki

F

ordDirect Chairman of the Board, and dealer principal of Steamboat Motors Bill Keith has announced the appointment of Mike Jurecki of RouteOne as Chief Executive Officer, effective from June 6, 2016. FordDirect is a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and its franchised dealers to create a

comprehensive web presence for dealers and provide digital marketing and advertising services that help dealers sell more cars and trucks.

“We’re excited to welcome Mike to FordDirect,” Keith said. “The board is confident his expertise and strategic vision will help FordDirect continue to innovate, grow and meet our goal of helping Ford and Lincoln dealers sell and service more cars and trucks.”

Jurecki has a strong background in working with both dealers and OEMs in the automotive and digital space.

He has served as RouteOne’s CEO since March 2002. Prior to joining RouteOne, Jurecki spent more than

20 years with Ford Credit where he served as the director of operations for Ford Credit’s Capital Efficiency unit, worked for Ford Credit in the UK as the general manager of its Customer Service Centre and as the manager of World Wide Trade Financing. He also spent many years in a number of field positions across the country, ranging from assistant customer service representative to branch manager of Ford Credit’s largest US branch operation.

Valerie Fuller, Chief Operating Officer and interim CEO will continue in her role until June 6, at which time she will remain as COO.

New Corporate Officers For Cooper-Standard APA Bureau

C

ooper-Standard Holdings Inc. has announced the appointment of Susan Kampe, Chief Information Officer (CIO), and Christine Krathwohl, Vice President Global Supply Chain, as corporate officers.

Both the women are based at the Company’s world headquarters in Novi, Mich.

“Cooper-Standard is proud to have Sue and Christine, two talented senior leaders in the automotive supply base, as corporate officers,” Jeffrey S. Edwards, Chairman and CEO, said. As CIO, Kampe is responsible for leading the 10 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

transformation of the company’s information technology (IT) function consistent with Cooper- Standard’s Profitable Growth Strategy. Most recently, Kampe served as managing partner and founder of Zang Consulting LLC, a national business technology consulting and IT services company.

A recognized leader in the IT field, she is the recipient of numerous industry honours and acknowledgements, including being named to the Automotive News 100 Leading Women in the North American Automotive Industry list

in 2005. As a seasoned supply chain professional, Krathwohl leads the company-wide strategy for purchasing, procurement, logistics, vendor management and supplier quality. Krathwohl is using her more than 20 years of experience in logistics, supply chain and purchasing to evolve the company’s global supply chain to further align with the company’s growth strategy goals.

Before joining Cooper Standard, she held several progressively responsible logistics roles at General Motors Co. in Germany and the US.

PEOPLE

Ashby Joins As GM Of Safe-Guard Canada APA Bureau

S

afe-Guard Products International has announced that Scott Ashby has joined the company as General Manager of Safe-Guard Canada Ltd. SafeGuard Products International LLC is the leading provider of finance and insurance products in the automotive aftermarket industry as well as the marine and motorcycle/powersports segments.

“I am pleased to welcome Scott to the Safe-Guard team as General Manager of Canada,” David Pryor, CMO of Safe-Guard, said. “His role will be vital to servicing our Canadian clients and their dealers as well supporting the next stages of growth within our company.”

With over 15 years of experience in finance and insurance, automotive product development, operations management, and automotive retail, Ashby’s experience and knowledge will serve the growing Canadian finance and insurance market well.

Most recently Ashby was Aftersales Programme and Operations Manager for Nissan Motor Corporation and National Manager of Nissan Canada Extended Services, Inc. which offers financial and insurance products to Nissan and Infiniti dealers across Canada.

Safe-Guard Canada has been serving Canadian customers since 2001 and operates a state-of-the-art facility in Mississauga for their call centre and

operations management and sales training. Safe-Guard Canada supports clients such as Harley-Davidson Financial Services, Honda Financial Services, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, Nissan Canada Extended Services, Inc., Porsche Financial Services, and North American Automotive Group as well as their dealers across Canada.

With continued growth in the Canadian automotive industry, and increased focus from auto dealers on Finance & Insurance (F&I) products, Safe-Guard Canada saw contract volume grow over 70 percent in 2015 and is poised to support clients with another successful year in 2016.

Mittra To Chair Scania India Boards APA Bureau Industrial and Commercial operations.

Mittra has been a member of the Scania India Board. During this time, he has been closely associated with the build -up of Scania India’s Industrial and sales teams and manufacturing infrastructure. Now, in his new role as Chairman of the Boards he will support the Industrial and Commercial teams with strategic advice to take the business to the next level of growth and ensure that India becomes a pillar of Scania’s global industrial system and a leader in sustainable transport solutions for the Indian market.

S

cania Commercial Vehicles India Pvt Ltd, a leading premium commercial vehicles and engines manufacturer, has appointed Sunil Kumar Mittra as the Chairman of both the Boards for 12 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

“We are pleased to have Mittra, an industry veteran, on-board. We are confident that Scania India will benefit from his leadership and rich experience of the Indian business environment. India continues to be a high growth market for Scania and

Mittra’s appointment as Chairman of the Board will help us better understand Indian conditions”, Stefan Palskog, President, Scania India, said. “ In order to address the dual challenges of mobility and pollution, Scania is already leading the industry by piloting a bio fuel based-project to showcase the benefits of converting ‘Local waste to local fuel for local transport’ in India,” he said.

Mittra has held senior positions in the construction and mining equipment industry for more than 30 years and has held several executive positions in Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Scania’s partner in India since 2007. He had served as the Chairman of the Construction Equipment Industry Association (ICEMA). Mittra holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.

PEOPLE

FCA Announces Leadership Changes APA Bureau

F

iat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has appointed Reid Bigland as the Chief Executive of the Alfa Romeo and Maserati brands. Reid has held several sales and brand leadership positions within FCA, and is currently the Head of the US Sales and the Chief Executive of FCA Canada, positions that he will continue to hold. Harald Wester, who has led the Alfa Romeo and Maserati brands so far, will now devote his full attention to the role

of Chief Technology Officer of FCA. “I am thankful for the work Harald has carried out in the last few years, establishing a sound technical framework for our two premium brands and which has culminated in the recent launch of the Maserati Levante and the Alfa Romeo Giulia. It is time now for our efforts to be directed towards the global commercial expansion of these two brands, and I can think of no one better than Reid to fulfil that mission. Reid has an extraordinary

record of growing sales and market share in the US and Canada over the last seven years at FCA, Sergio Marchionne, Chief Executive Officer of FCA, said.

Reid Bigland and Harald Wester will continue to serve on the Group Executive Council (GEC). The Group Executive Council is the highest management body in FCA, and is chaired by the Chief Executive and consists of the senior functional and operating heads of the global organization.

Mankodi Appointed MD Of Kloeckner Desma APA Bureau

K

loeckner Desma Machinery Pvt. Ltd., has appointed Arun Mankodi as its Managing Director. He was the Joint Managing Director of the company. A graduate in Mechanical

Engineering, Mankodi has been with DESMA since 1995.

Starting his career with Hindustan Brown Boveri (now ABB) as a Trainee Engineer, Mankodi has worked with Stovec Industries Limited (JV of Stork Netherlands) for four years in a hi-tech production shop floor.

Later he was with Kloeckner Windsor India Limited for eight years where he rose to be the Senior Executive responsible for development of projects. His introduction to DESMA was at Windsor.

Arun Mankodi

14 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

A firm believer of highest quality standards of manufacturing and service support, Mankodi played a key role in building DESMA as a world leader.

Since its inception, DESMA India has developed costeffective solutions for the Indian market and has become a market leader. Ahmedabadbased Kloeckner Desma is the

supplier, manufacturer and exporter of rubber injection moulding machine, injection moulding machinery, vertical machines, horizontal machines, C-frame machines, clamping units, and system solutions for the production of rubber and silicone moulded parts.

A recipient of export excellence awards over eight years from EEPC and AIRIA, Kloeckner Desma has developed in-house manufacturing capabilities for moulds and cold runner blocks for wastage saving.

This has been widely acclaimed by processors. Under Mankodi’s resourceful and dynamic leadership DESMA is certain to scale new heights.

Desma India has become the market leader in India and has so far installed over 1,000 machines domestically and 200 machines in 20 other countries through exports. Now Desma has over 70 percent repeat orders year on year.

Not all truck tyres are created equal.

CORPORATE

Shriram Pistons Expanding Exports To New Markets APA Bureau

T

he Delhi-based Shriram Pistons and Rings (SPR) has the lineage of the Shriram Group, one of India’s oldest industrial houses. SPR is recognized by almost all OEMs in India and several OEMs in Europe and Asia, as a dependable partner for the supply of pistons, pins, piston rings and engine valves. As export is at the core of SPR’s business strategy, the company is exploring opportunities in new markets in Africa and Latin America.

Shriram Pistons has substantial presence in big consumption countries like Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt. Now it is focussing on making its footprint in other countries like Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya in a big way.

“These markets will grow rapidly in the next 10-15 years. So our target is to make a strong brand presence in these countries in the next five years,” Rajinder Kakroo, General Manager, Exports, Shriram Pistons and Rings, told AutoParts Asia from the company’s booth at the recently-concluded Automechanika Dubai 2016. In order to achieve this, the company initiated its branding programmes at Automechanika 2016 in Dubai where the African automotive companies were present in large numbers.

Automechanika Dubai was mainly meant for the rapidly growing African and the Middle Eastern markets.

There the automotive industry is witnessing accelerated growth as a

result of increasing domestic and regional demand for vehicles, related goods and services.

Latin America is another important market which Shriram Pistons is eyeing. The company that provides complete solutions from concept to the end of the project, including design, validation, testing, simulation and prototyping, had a significant presence in countries like Argentina before the economic slowdown. “Latin America had two cycles in terms of economic downturn and one upswing. In Rajinder Kakroo the next three to four years we are expecting that things will settle down for the next 10 years or so. We want to have a strong brand presence there when things become good,” he added.

Shriram Pistons manufactures pistons, piston rings and engine valves at its two plants, one each in

Pathredi (Alwar), and Ghaziabad (UP).

It is the largest exporter of pistons and rings from India to customers such as Ford, Honda, Kia, Renault and WABCO. It also has a strong presence in the aftermarket, both domestic and international.

OEMs And Aftermarket Shriram Pistons, which has several OEM clients, has big presence in aftermarket also. While 70 percent of its business is driven by domestic and international OEMs, the rest is contributed equally by domestic and international aftermarkets.

In India the company has Ford, Honda, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti

16 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

Suzuki, Nissan, Suzuki Powertrain and Tata Motors as its clients in passenger vehicle segment. In the commercial vehicle category its customers are Ashok Leyland, Daimler India, Mahindra & Mahindra, SML Isuzu, Tata Motors, Tata Cummins and VE Commercial Vehicles. Shriram supplies also to Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Honda Motors & Scooters, Suzuki Motorcycle, TVS Motors and Yamaha in the two-wheeler category. Tractor companies such as HMT, Mahindra & Mahindra, Mahindra Swaraj, New Holland, Sonalika International and TAFE also source components from Shriram Pistons and Rings. Among its international clients are companies like JLR Ford, Honda USA, Renault in France, Romania and Ford Germany. Exports for OEMs and aftermarket together contribute 20 percent to the company’s turnover. The US is the biggest market contributing 10-12 percent to its business.

Shriram Pistons has strong brand presence in Europe and Middle Eastern markets also. Iran is the biggest market in the Middle East where the brand recall of the company is very high. It is the same with Egypt. Strong relationship with OEMs such as Ashok Leyland, Mercedes, Tata Cummins among others, gives the company an added advantage in the export market, especially Middle East, as these OEMs are well known there.

“Being associated with the OEMs is getting us dividends. We are selling at a premium over the Chinese and Turkish which surround the middle-eastern markets on eastern and western sides, respectively,” he said.

Innovation Innovation, Kakroo said, is mostly done in terms of developing new technology.

“Our advantage is that we supply to OEMs and have to give them new technology. Our strategy is that we do not keep our new technology only to OEMs but distribute it to the aftermarket also,” he said.

The company has a strategy of addressing pain points of each export market individually rather than having the same branding exercise for all. For example, in Iran, where there are big trucks in use, Shriram Pistons sends the latest technology to the aftermarket and the pain areas are removed.

Performance and better technology have helped the company to carve

out a niche for them in Iran and other markets. “Those markets, that did not recognise us early as they presumed that quality from a company from India would be poor, have now accepted that our products are better than even German goods. We have been getting appreciation for quality in many markets. We plan our strategy countryspecific,” he said.

In the US, a market which has all the latest technology, the company has built its base upon a strong logistics network. It follows the just-in-time model for the customers who want their requirement fulfilled within 24 hours.

Pricing also plays a major factor in the market.

In the Middle East, just-in-time concept is not stressed much. They may have inventory for six to seven months. In Brazilian market, pricing is crucial and there is no big concern about the inventory. Competition, Kakroo said, “is a good thing as it keeps you on your toes. We all know what happened to Nokia and Blackberry. It can happen in the automotive industry too. So we love competition. We are competitive.”

The company has capabilities to design, develop, validate and manufacture products for OEMs in India at its Tech Centre. It has more than 50 design and engineering professionals trained by its technology partners in concept design, simulation and rig testing, prototype development, engine testing and analysis.

Crude Price Fall Aftermarket, across continents, has been affected because of the fall in crude oil prices. While some countries have benefitted from this, some others have felt a jolt. “While the buyers (of gas/petrol) have been benefitted, the seller, mostly Middle East, is facing a recession like situation,” Kakroo said.

The phenomenon has reduced the money circulating in the economy. The government spending has gone down.

In future this may affect the automotive industry, if the gas prices continue to be low for another year.

Even the governments of countries like India which have gained from the lower crude price have not reduced the petroleum product prices and passed on the benefit to the consumers. There has been no net gain or loss because of this, he signed off.

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 17

SPECIAL REPORT

Jamna Auto Diversifies, Expands Exports To De-Risk Business

Sunil Laroiya

diversified into new products like lift-axle and air suspension for commercial vehicles. All these are expected to help it protect itself from the possible slowdown in the OE business.

APA Bureau

J

amna Auto Industries Ltd., one of the largest manufacturers of tapered leaf springs and parabolic springs for automotive industry, has shifted its strategy to de-risk business by diversifying into new products to lower dependence on a single business segment and by expanding the export markets.

The company was the first to manufacture parabolic springs for OEMs in India. Now it has steered its focus to aftermarket and exports while maintaining the OE business. It has also

18 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

Began as a small-scale industrial unit to make tapered leaf springs in 1954, the company has consistently been developing new products and expanding its products portfolio and clientele. “We started diversifying into aftermarket in India and export in the OE space as well as exports aftermarket. We have also set a target that no single business segment should contribute over 30 percent of the revenue,�

Sunil Laroiya, Vice President, R&D, Jamna Auto Industries, said.

Exports The component maker is exporting to Bangladesh, the US and European countries, and is looking at the Middle East market. “Earlier, as the Indian market was growing we had capacity constraints so we could not focus on these markets.

But when suddenly the Indian market crashed, we did not have any market to sell. Now we are prepared for any such eventualities in future,” he said.

The company has also enhanced focus on aftermarket and dedicated one of its plants entirely for aftermarket business segment to cater to both domestic as well as exports markets. “If the OE requirement goes up, we will open a new facility,”Laroiya said.

“We expect to increase our market in the US and Europe,” he said. The US market is mainly for pick-up trucks and General Motors and Ford are the main customers.

Jamna Auto has also started exporting in the aftermarket space in South Africa and Russia. In Europe it will mainly service the heavy trucks market. It will also to cater to Middle East market in the heavy commercial vehicle space.

New Products Jamna Auto expects the OE market to grow about 18 percent this year and it is putting up its seventh plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. It is expected to be operational early next month. This plant will be taking care of OE business, mainly for exports to support manufacturers including Daimler and Volvo. The company is in talks with Fuso trucks in Japan and also UD trucks, the whollyowned subsidiary of Volvo in Japan.

The supply for UD trucks has started while for Fuso, the prototype has been approved. “We expect to start commercial production in August,” Laroiya said.

Jamna Auto is also diversifying into new products like lift-axle and air suspension for buses. It is primarily to get deeper into the domestic market. “We have a very small market in air suspension. We would have supplied may be 30 to 40 units a month; but we think all the buses will change to air suspension from the traditional leaf springs in the immediate future. We want to be ready for this market. Now about 40,000 buses are made in the country in the segment and this translates into about 3,000 to 4,000 air-suspension units a month, which is a huge volume. For this year our focus will be to develop suspensions systems required for the near future. This will enable us to be ready with the product

whenever the market is ready,” he said.

For air suspension and lift-axle Jamna Auto has signed a technical alliance with the US-based Ridewel Suspension. Based in Springfield, Ridewell manufactures suspensions for trucks, trailers, buses, and RV industries for the customers in North America and other countries.

Jamna Auto has an in-house R&D team in Pune that is working on several new products including air-suspension. “For the lift axle the technology transfer had already taken place and our team is ready to develop our own products,” he said.

On the uniqueness of airsuspension developed by Jamna Auto, he said the key attribute is the technology as it is from the world- renowned suspension manufacturer Ridewell. Secondly, the company has adopted testing in real conditions for all its products.

“We first go to aftermarket and fit our products into the vehicle and test them for a few lakh kms before going to OEMs. Some of the vehicles that are fitted with our suspension systems have already crossed more than four lakh kms and we have not seen any failure in the products,” he said.

in the vehicle while air suspension is a complicated system and three different parts are being fitted in the vehicle. Therefore, it is necessary to take care of each and every part and their coordinates in the vehicle.

“It is not only the suspension as a whole that we test; instead we test each and every part including air-bellows, torsional bars and shock absorbers, in the system, before it goes to the vehicle. We are importing some of the aggregates of air-suspension system including air-bellows. We may start sourcing it locally soon. We are also looking at increasing our local sourcing overall,” Laroiya said.

Jamna Auto is emerging strong in lift-axles as the company has been producing close to 2,000 units a month. It has started supplying liftaxles in the Indian market. In terms of core product, going customerwise it has about 75 percent market share while volume-wise the market share goes to about 55 percent. Jamna Auto claims to be the sole supplier for Ashok Leyland, Mahindra & Mahindra and Volvo Eicher.

Leaf spring in itself is one part as a whole fitted AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 19

Interview

OEM Strategies Stifle Australian Automotive Aftermarket Growth

Stuart Charity

20 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

With a population of 24 million, the Australian automotive market in global terms is small. In 2015 it had only 18 million registered vehicles. For the OEMs importing the vehicles, rather than local manufacturing, is more viable and many of them have been closing down production sites. With an average age of 10 years, the aftermarket has been playing a pivotal role in maintaining the vehicles in good condition. The OEMs have started foraying into this market through performance enhancement products, extended warranties, capped price and free servicing programmes.

The Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association has been working hard to survive against such odds, the Association Executive Director, Stuart Charity, in an exclusive interview told T Murrali of AutoParts Asia.

Australia is also a very competitive market with aftermarket suppliers enjoying strong brand recognition and customer loyalty, he said. The excerpts:-

Q: How the aftermarket in Australia has been evolving?

Charity: The Australian automotive manufacturing industry is undergoing a structural adjustment as the remaining three local passenger vehicle manufactures have announced plans to close down their Australian manufacturing operations over the next two years. Ford will stop production in October 2016 while General Motors (Holden) and Toyota will cease by October 2017.

In order to sustain a viable business model, the Australiabased automotive component producers must move to the aftermarket segment, both domestic and international.

They should also diversify into other sectors such as heavy vehicle, defence, rail, mining, marine, aerospace and recreational vehicles.

Q: Are the performance enhancement products in the aftermarket driving OEMs in resorting to newer technologies – case in point is high performance filters, tyres, seats and infotainment systems?

Charity: With an annual sales of over one million cars, about 90% of these vehicles are

imported, Australia is a small market for new cars in global terms. Therefore the aftermarket performance enhancement products do drive OEM innovation. This is evident in the way vehicles are equipped for the Australian market as well as the accessories that are offered post-sale.

Some examples include the decision by Ford and General Motors in Australia to release variants of their Falcon and Commodore models with performance enhancements including body kits, alloy wheels, sports suspension and braking packages as an OEM specification to counter the trend to enhance the performance and look of the vehicle in the aftermarket.

Another example is in 4WD and SUVs where the aftermarket industry has created a huge off-road parts and accessories market in Australia and the OEMs have been forced to respond by providing a range of OEM branded 4WD parts and accessories and to provide frontal protection and other accessories as standard fitment on their vehicles.

Q: What are the key drivers for aftermarket in Australia?

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 21

Interview

Charity: The key drivers of the overall growth of the aftermarket industry in Australia include the number of registered vehicles, the average age of the fleet, overall economic growth /consumer sentiment, growth in export markets, supply chain and logistics and the activities of the car companies.

In Australia we currently have 18 million registered vehicles under different categories (Table-1). The registered vehicle car parc is growing at 2.4 percent a year and the average age of vehicles is around 10 years.

Traditionally the newer in-warranty vehicles are serviced at the OEM authorised dealerships while the majority of vehicles over three years are serviced in the aftermarket, with the relative market share of the aftermarket increasing in line with the age of the vehicle. This has resulted in steady growth in the overall aftermarket industry in recent years of around three percent per annum with some segments such as the 4WD and off-road sector increasing at an even greater rate.

Financial Crisis relatively well due to our diversified economy, strong growth in migration, the strong demand for resources and our geographic proximity to key Asian growth markets. As a result, overall economic growth has remained stable at around two to three percent with relatively high levels of employment and strong growth in household income. However, this is now changing with the resources boom now over and the Australian economy likely to face increased turbulence over the next few years.

From a manufacturing perspective approximately 260 Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA) member companies manufacture product locally with around 65 percent of these companies (170) actively exporting.

Automotive aftermarket manufacturing represents around AUD $5.2 billion a year, employs 21,000 people directly and exports $800 million per year of locally manufactured products.

Not only is the aftermarket manufacturing segment significant To date the Australian economy in terms of its size, but it has has been able to withstand much of totally different drivers from the OE the economic fallout of the Global segment. While some aftermarket manufacturers also supply Number of Registered Vehicles in OE components for Australia – December 2015 fitment to Australia-made or imported vehicles, Passenger vehicles 13 549 449 the majority of product (85 percent) is sold to Campervans 58 288 customers external to the Light commercial vehicles 2 907 006 car companies and their Light rigid trucks 140 625 authorised dealer networks.

Customers include Heavy rigid trucks 331699 wholesalers, retailers, Articulated trucks 94 975 resellers and end-users.

Non-freight carrying vehicles 23 361 Aftermarket products include replacement Buses 95 149 parts, accessories, vehicle 22 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

modification and performance enhancement products and workshop tools and equipment.

Many aftermarket manufacturers are expanding through high technology innovation with exports to Asia, Europe, Middle East and the US. Q: What do you think are the impediments for the growth in the aftermarket?

Charity: The two major impediments to future growth of the aftermarket in Australia are the activities of the car companies and the activities of Government which are both being driven in part by the rapid advances in vehicle technology.

Currently there is no guarantee that the tens of thousands of independent mechanics in the automotive repair and servicing industry in Australia, not aligned to dealerships, can access all the technical and diagnostic information from car manufacturers they require to service modern vehicles. If not addressed by the Government, this will ultimately remove the fundamental freedom of choice of the Australian car owners to decide on who they want to service their car.

This issue is the subject of an advocacy campaign called ‘Choice of Repairer’ that our Association launched in 2009 and is based on the successful ‘Right to Repair’ campaigns in the US and Europe. An attempt by the Australian Government to set up a voluntary ‘Industry Code’ for the sharing of vehicle repair information in 2014 has resulted in only nine out of 68 car brands supplying the Australian market making any information available via an electronic portal as required under this agreement.

Interview

In addition, much of the data provided by those nine car companies falls well short of the terms of the agreement with only one car brand fully meeting the requirements of the Code. As a result our Association is now advocating for a mandatory industry Code of Practice for vehicle data sharing based on the operative provisions of the US Right to Repair agreement.

The car industry are also engaging in a range of tactics in an attempt to tie customers into their dealership networks for up to six years including the use of extended warranties, capped price and free servicing programmes. Our Association is working closely with the Australian Corporate Regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, to ensure that these activities comply with the relevant Australian Consumer Laws.

The second impediment to growth relates to changes to vehicle modification regulations by the Government. The increasing complexity of vehicles has resulted in some Australian vehicle regulators trying to place restrictions on the rules around modifying vehicles without a full understanding of the technologies involved and the implications of their actions.

A recent example was an attempt by the Government to outlaw minor changes (50mm) to a vehicle’s suspension height if it is fitted with Electronic Stability Control (ESC) as original equipment. This proposed change had no engineering basis and would have impacted many thousands of vehicles that are sold in Australia that have their suspension upgraded to increase off road performance, load carrying and towing capacity. To counter this AAAA and our members funded a testing project in the US where we put six modified vehicles through the US FMV 126 test and compared the results to the base OEM vehicle.

In all cases the modification had no detrimental impact on the operation of the ESC and as a result the regulators reversed their decision.

While positive road safety outcomes must be paramount in everything the aftermarket sector does, we will continue to advocate strongly on 24 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

behalf of our industry to respond to misinformed Government decisions that have the ability to have a detrimental impact on the aftermarket industry.

Q: What about counterfeit? Is it a menace in Australia? What are the initiatives taken by AAAA in countering that?

Charity: Counterfeit product is an issue that affects the global automotive industry and Australia is not immune. Having said that, majority of automotive parts and accessories are sold in Australia through the established distribution channels of Australia-based importers, resellers and retailers who have rigorous quality control processes in place. Therefore the incidence of counterfeit product being sold through these channels is very little.

The majority of the counterfeit product that is sold in Australia is through the online channels. The increase in online retailing in our sector has resulted in a range of new entrants selling into our market and unfortunately many of them never join industry associations such as ours and they often sell product across a range of different sectors which makes it difficult to reach these particular businesses. We continue

to work with the relevant authorities to identify and stamp out counterfeit product being sold into Australia.

Q: Between OEM-authorised service outlets and private service centres - which of the two is growing in popularity, and why?

Charity: In an average three-month period, 43 percent of Australian motorists take their main vehicle to a professional for some kind of service or repairs. When it comes to routine services, according to the Roy Morgan Research 2015, consumers choose traditional automotive garage/ workshops (42 percent) and the dealer where the motorist bought their vehicle in the first place (29 percent).

In recent years the OEM authorised service outlets have been gaining market share on the independent outlets. We believe this is predominately as a result of the activities of the car industry as has been mentioned earlier, and also because of the widespread confusion in Australia surrounding warranties.

Most Australians believe that you are required to take your car to the dealership and use only ‘genuine parts’ to preserve the warranty on that vehicle. This is not the case with our consumer protection agency stating that the vehicle needs to be serviced in accordance with the manufacturer’s

Interview to local OE component producers, is generating opportunities for the development of accessories and modification products, first developed for local use and then exported.

specifications, using qualified staff and appropriate quality parts to preserve the warranty.

As an industry we need to work harder to get this message out as we are of the view that if the Australian car owners believe that they have a true choice of repairer, the majority will choose the non-dealer option due to it being more convenient, better service levels and lower price.

Q: Is the aftermarket different in Australia from other world markets?

If so how?

Charity: The closest international market to Australia from a dynamics perspective would be the US market.

Australians like to customise and individualise their vehicles and given a level playing field the majority would choose an independent repairer over a dealer.

The unique aspects of our market are the diversity of our car parc and the size and geography of our country.

There are over 68 car brands selling into Australia in a market of 1.1 million vehicles a year, making it one of the most diverse car parcs in the world.

Australia is also a large continent with a population of only 24 million with most people living in the major capital cities. Much of inland Australia is arid and we have vast areas of land that are considered regional and outback.

The Australian climate supports an outdoor lifestyle so camping, boating and touring are very popular which drives strong demand for 4WD and SUV vehicles (25 percent of sales) as well as 4WD parts and accessories. In the face of strong import penetration, 26 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

our industry’s response has been to move up the value chain - from service parts to high-value specialty products with a technological advantage such as 4WD, high performance and motorsport components. These products are purchased on innovation, performance and features rather than on price. These businesses have been successful because they have made significant investments in R&D and capital equipment and have a strong export focus.

The Australian and global demand for specialty components is growing in line with higher SUV sales and the ageing of the population is supporting demand for specialised vehicle retrofit components. The rise of global platforms, while representing a threat

Q: What are the challenges your member companies face in marketing products in aftermarket?

Charity: The major challenges in marketing products in the aftermarket in Australia are the diversity in the car parc and supply chain and distribution issues. The diversity of vehicles results in a requirement to develop and stock a large range of different part numbers often in low volumes and you need to have the logistics and supply chain to get these parts to the customer quickly.

Australia has over 20,000 mechanical workshops in urban, rural and regional areas and most of them do not stock any replacement parts.

Instead they expect to be able to order the parts they need and have them delivered in time to have them fitted to the customers car and the job completed in the same day.

That creates enormous logistical challenges for our aftermarket parts retailers and resellers and their suppliers and is driving strong consolidation in the industry as companies strive to get greater economies of scale through increased market share. Australia is also a very competitive market with aftermarket suppliers enjoying strong brand recognition and customer loyalty.

COVER STORY – Components

Innovation Is Key

T

he global automotive components industry has been having mixed response from the OEMs across the globe, depending on the market dynamics of each region. While most of the companies strive to make the mobility of tomorrow more safe, comfortable and efficient, they have to face many challenges ranging from site selection, raw material sourcing, production to despatch-

ing to the OEMs. Another problem is the changing regulations and the related technologies that fuel faster obsolescence. The suppliers are pulled in different directions by high-technology, low volumes and cost competitiveness. The only viable and sustainable solution is innovation. Innovation is the key to stay afloat.

One particular aspect of the strategy of many suppliers is the focus on Asia Pacific, since it has been the fastest growing region for them. However, for the Indian companies mind-set has been the major impediment in going global. With an innovative approach the Indian companies also can compete globally.

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 29

COVER STORY – Components

eHorizon For Better Traffic Flow

By Helmut Matschi

E

xperience shows that a decision can generally only be as good as the information on which it is based. When driving, missing or out-of-date information can lead to unpleasant surprises, such as blocked highway intersections, traffic jams, accidents, extreme weather conditions, major events, and so on. At the root of the problem is data that does not adequately reflect current traffic conditions.

Intelligent solutions that facilitate more comfortable, fuel-optimized traffic flow are desirable for drivers and for the economy as a whole. The electronic horizon (eHorizon) under permanent development at Continental is just such a solution, offering a proactive, efficient, and comfortable information base for improved traffic flow.

There are three stages of development of the eHorizon, of which the static eHorizon has been in use since 2012. Thanks to static eHorizon, commercial vehicles can save more than 1500 litres of truck diesel a year on average. The eHorizon uses map data to give vehicle electronics a glimpse into the future. This allows the vehicle to adjust to the upcoming route early on.

But there is more to come.

Commercial applications are being prepared for the second development stage – the connected eHorizon, and the most far-reaching development stage – the dynamic eHorizon - was just recently demonstrated on the roads of Las Vegas during the 2016 CES. Using live, online information from traffic lights the eHorizon further enhances the vehicle’s fuel economy.

All three development stages of the eHorizon are based on the same underlying principle: The extended electronic horizon processes additional route information in the vehicle that enables early, situationoptimized decision-making by the 30 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

driver and intelligent driving strategies for on-board systems. The broader range of “vision” of the eHorizon enables proactive rather than purely reactive modes of behavior.

Dynamic eHorizon The dynamic eHorizon takes into account dynamic events such as traffic lights, weather, accidents, or traffic jams. To allow for real-time updates, the dynamic eHorizon uses the data provided by sensors on other vehicles and the infrastructure (Vehicle-to-X, V2X) and additional sources using the Internet.

The eHorizon map data is kept available in a location cloud, which analyzes real time data from sensors and other dynamic events and systematically transmits the information to the vehicle so it can adjust its route. Thanks to the cloud, the dynamic eHorizon turns the digital map into a high-precision and constantly up-to-date information carrier that can be used for so much

more than just navigation. Driver assistance systems or actuator behavior such as braking and steering can be prepared for upcoming traffic situations, long before the vehicle sensors detect the situation. The dynamic eHorizon can alert the driver to the tail of a traffic jam after a bend, or an automated vehicle could gently reduce its speed, rather than initiating full braking once the sensors have detected the obstacle.

It is the dynamic eHorizon that makes highly automated driving really comfortable, as the eHorizon complements the vehicle sensors as an additional source of information.

The eHorizon technology supports the roadmap to fully automated driving, which will reduce the number of accidents, increase traffic efficiency and bring the driver a totally new level of comfort while driving.

Helmut Matschi is Member of the Continental Executive Board and Head of the Interior Division.

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COVER STORY – Components

Visteon Rides On SmartCore I

By Sachin Lawande

n the global automotive industry the next 10 years is going to have more change than the last 50 years. If you look at the last century the industry has essentially not changed much, technology has evolved very slowly. If you analyse introduction of a new technology over the last 50 years you will find that a new technology takes about 15 years to be introduced until it hits about 90 percent of the new vehicles produced. It takes another 15 years for it to be present in 90 percent of the field vehicles; so 30 years before a technology is universally used.

Today, the pace of innovation is speeding up tremendously.

Where it used to be 15 years, it is now five to six years (two cycles). The pace of adoption in the field is also speeding up because of multiple pressures. The pressures come from three areas: The competitive side as the market is nearing the saturation point; the second is the consumer pull, the consumer knows what to expect in a technology-oriented experience; and the third is the regulatory pressure, the heightened awareness of environment, safety etc. These three pressures are completely changing the industry.

Focus On Electronics Visteon has switched its focus, from being a multi-business Tier1 supplier, on to six product lines – instrument clusters, central information display, infotainment, audio, telematics and the head-up display. These product lines cover virtually everything that the modern cars need in the cockpit.

The cost of electronics in building a car is getting to a point where the OEMs are not able to pass the cost on to the consumers. Today, on an average, 30 percent of the total cost of making a car goes into electronics. It is expected that in the next five to ten years this will cross 50 percent. We are experiencing an average sales price increase in five out of the six products.

Normally, in electronics, the selling price goes down but we are facing an increase because there is more content going in, richer displays, more software, more capabilities, more memory etc. This is a cost to the OEM as they are not able to pass it on to the consumer. To tackle this there is a technology; underlying silicon capabilities have grown to a point where we can actually integrate some of these six products and reduce the cost. This is SmartCore and we are leaders in this space for now. I am certain of more competition coming in.

Multi-Core Era This is more a semi-conductor revolution because semiconductors have gone towards the multi-core approach. So the industry has stopped giving us higher clock rates. But in return we got more cores i.e. more CPUs on a single chip –hence the 32 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

Sachin Lawande

multi-core era. It is no longer cost effective to make a single core processor.

None of the six products on their own need a 3GHz processor of 4cores which is what we get from the industry today. Three years from now we will get 8 cores, then 16 cores and so on. We were the first to recognise it, jumped on the bandwagon and called our solution for it the SmartCore.

With a German OEM we will launch the first integrated cluster in infotainment. This has really caught the imagination of Indian OEMs. We want to be known as the number one technology leader in the cockpit electronics area globally.

Sachin Lawande is the President and CEO of Visteon

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COVER STORY – Components

ZF Futuristic All The Way

By Suresh K V

Z

F plays leading role in making the dynamics of tomorrow more safe, comfortable and efficient. ZF takes on responsibility and develops in partnership with automakers complete driveline solutions, which will be perfectly adapted to existing systems.

Designing dynamics of tomorrow means designing the future.Therefore requirements for automotive suppliers are growing consistently.

Consumption, emission, weight and installation space should be reduced, whilst safety and driving dynamics should be increased. To achieve these high aims, innovative problem solving and a dependable business partner is required. Here, ZF takes on responsibility and develops in partnership with automakers complete driveline solutions, which will be perfectly adapted to existing systems. ZF claims a leading role when it comes to making the dynamics of tomorrow more safe, comfortable and efficient.

Advanced Urban Vehicle In India and countries across the world, we have been constantly striving to conduct vigorous research and development to keep up with the growing demand for updated quality products.

The latest technological innovation is the Advanced Urban vehicle. This vehicle is a cloud connected, selfdriving passenger car. This concept car incorporates the futuristic technologies that ZF TRW has to offer through the use of an electric rear-axle drive, the eTB (electric Twist Beam), a front axle with a turning angle of up to 75 degrees, as well as two driver assistance functions.

To manufacture products that are in sync with the market demand, ZF makes use of innovative technologies.

The products manufactured by ZF 34 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

are carefully designed and developed as per our customer’s requirement and keeping high quality standards in mind. The products are manufactured with utmost care for cleanliness, smooth function in operation, easily accessible fitment and long life cycle.

ZF has a zero defect (with Pokayoke Suresh K V concept) assembly line for assembly of steering systems for HCV, LCV, MUV/SUV, passenger cars, tractors etc.

Focus On R&D There are challenges in developing new products when obsolescence is increasingly becoming very high. The way the auto industry has shaped up today, it is an extremely exciting phase that we are in, although the demands on the business have been greater than ever before. Customer expectations on various aspects such as quality, reliability, safety, utility, etc are at an unprecedented high. So many products are being launched but they are lost in time due to newer technologies being introduced at regular intervals.

However, ZF has had a rock solid focus on Research & Development (R&D). ZF annually invests approximately five percent of its sales in R&D (€1.4 billion in 2015) ensuring

continued success through the design and engineering of innovative technologies. We are constantly on the move- from electric cars to next-gen hybrid vehicles. ZF has been ahead of its time with future technology and has successfully encompassed various aspects of manufacturing right from R&D to innovation to sustainability. Over the years, we have been successful in localizing high technology products in India with futuristic manufacturing technology so as to meet the highest quality standards while justifying the expenses.

Future Ready ZF is well prepared for the future mega trends that we have been observing: from increasing fuel efficiency and reduction of CO2 emission, lightweight designs, electrification and networking to autonomous driving. Many of these megatrends are already being served

by ZF with its production ready technology and for other ZF’s R&D teams from across the globe has provided with concepts and studies which will be tried and tested as we continue to evolve.

trajectory in the country. Built on a plot size of 85,000 square meters (21 acres), the new plant has additional capacity that will enable the further expansion of ZF’s business in India.

The new state-of-the-art plant in the Chakan industrial park in Pune with an investment of nearly €20 million (Rs. 150 crore) underscores the company’s commitment to the Indian market and showcases its growth

The multi-divisional plant also hints towards our plan of localizing our products which is in accordance with our local-for-local concept. We will continue to expand with systematic growth to service the needs of the automotive industry.

Our short term strategy is in line with the new government’s vision to promote green mobility solutions in India. ZF plans to push and promote range of global range of products such as our hybrid transmissions, electric axles and fuel-efficient EcoLife automatic transmissions for buses.

Suresh KV is the Head of ZF Business in India

India The Next Frontier Of Growth

By Rudi Von Meister

D

uring my first trip to India in 1991, I spent three weeks visiting major auto component players. At the time, the industry catered only to the domestic market needs but now it has become a major focal point for many of the global auto makers to build their facilities.

The Indian manufacturing industry has accomplished this sea-change thanks to the opening up of the economy and implementation of pro-growth economic reforms. This extraordinary transformation of the industrial landscape that the country is undergoing coupled with necessary focus on infrastructure development encouraged global players to look at the market favorably. ZF recognises the tremedous potential this market has to offer and is gradually growing its footprint in the country.

ZF considered India an import base for sourcing quality products. It has been sourcing products from India for the global product portfolio for some time now.

Today, the auto component manufacturers not only have a global exposure but their ever increasing competency and capability has fortified our resolve to triple the sourcing of components from this market.

Apart from the sourcing project, global automotive industry experts consider India to be the next frontier of growth in Asia. Keeping our sight on this forecast, we have a vision to grow along with the market and are ensuring that with each step we move towards strengthening our presence in this region.

Rudi Von Meister is the President of Asia Pacific ZF

Rudi Von Meister

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 35

COVER STORY – Components

Cooper Standard Goes Beyond Products C

By Song Min Lee

ooper Standard, to meet our customers’ growing needs, has accelerated its growth and development in the Asia Pacific region. In 2015, Asia Pacific was the fastest growing segment of Cooper Standard.

This is a result of the long-term commitment we made to our customers in this region, and our recent key growth initiatives.

We currently have 23 manufacturing facilities in the Asia Pacific region, including eight in India: Bawal, Chennai, Ghaziabad, Manesar, Mumbai, Sanand and two in Pune (one of which is our Indian headquarters).

In addition to our strong presence in India, just this year we celebrated the opening of two new facilities in China – in Chongqing and Huai’an. Our Chongqing facility is approximately 18,000-squaremeters and employees 200 people.

This facility manufactures fluid transfer systems, fuel and brake delivery systems, and sealing systems for customers such as Ford Motor Co., Mercedes-Benz and Volvo Car Group. Our second recently opened facility is a joint venture between Cooper Standard and Japan INOAC Corporation in Huai’an, Jiangsu. Our Huai’an facility is dedicated to the manufacture and development of fluid transfer products.

Since 2012, we have doubled our commitment to the region and its auto customers. The important Asia Pacific region now accounts for 13 percent of our total revenue, which is a 75 percent increase from the same period last year.

Testing Resources

Song Min Lee

36 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

Cooper Standard not only offers a strong Asian manufacturing footprint, but is also increasing our

engineering and testing resources to better support our customers’ needs no matter what region they operate.

Specifically in Asia, we have two technical centers in China, as well as engineering centers in India, Korea and Japan.

We also have full sealing validation test labs in Qinpu, China and a fuel and brake delivery test lab at our Kunshan II, China plant. In addition, we have anti-vibration test capabilities through our joint venture in Mumbai and a fluid transfer test lab under development at our Huai’an location. Using these resources, our employees in Asia can support the entire product life cycle including design, test, validation and final production. And there’s more to come.

Strong Indian Partner According to the Society of Indian Automotive Manufacturers, the current Indian automotive sector is a $74 billion industry. By 2026, the industry is expected to achieve a turnover of $300 billion … and Cooper Standard is dedicated to being a strong local partner to our customers in the region.

Over the next four years, by focusing on our customers’ needs and making investments in facilities, Cooper Standard expects to more than double the size of our business in the Asia Pacific region to approximately $1 billion in sales, including strong growth in India.

Cooper Standard has been very purposeful in aligning its Indian footprint with our core automaker customers. We currently supply all four of our core product groups – sealing; fuel and brake delivery; fuel transfer; and anti-vibration systems – to the region. We’re continually working to develop the products and technologies that solve Indian automakers’ biggest challenges, be it fuel economy, emissions regulations, light weighting or other customerspecific issues.

Part of that dedication includes investing in breakthrough technology by aligning our two greatest assets: our employees and culture of innovation. To harness and capitalize

on the creative energy of these two vital capabilities, we developed our i3 Innovation Process. This initiative works to further drive a culture of innovation by gathering ideas from anyone within the company or our partners. Since its inception, participation in the program has exceeded our expectations.

Innovation The process, which includes three basic steps – Imagine, Initiate and Innovate – works to identify the most radical or game-changing ideas to be presented to the company’s Global Technology Council, which consists of Cooper Standard’s top R&D executives. Projects presented to the Global Technology Council are then evaluated for potential production.

The i3 Process encourages and accepts all ideas. If they do not fall into the innovation or product development categories, the ideas are transferred to the correct department of expertise for consideration as a project. Since its inception, the Global Technology Council has reviewed hundreds of ideas from regions across the globe representing sealing, fuel and brake delivery, fluid transfer, antivibration systems, lean, purchasing and more. All of these products and technologies will help our Indian customers apply new innovations to help address current and future autospecific challenges.

Product Range Our i3 Process is allowing Cooper Standard to innovate where our customers least expect it, a new mantra for our innovation efforts, and has generated a number of gamechanging ideas. They include:Our ArmorHose family is transforming the future of hose technology and abrasion resistance by eliminating the need for abrasion sleeves.

ArmorHose™ offers 100 percent abrasion coverage and eliminates all associated engineering change costs without compromising packaging space or assembly operations.

ArmorHose is a cost effective, integrated hose construction solution that incorporates an abrasion resistant outer layer, eliminating

the need for secondary protective sleeves.

ArmorHose II is the next generation of the ArmorHose™ family that integrates a lightweight material to reduce mass and weight. Our ArmorHose products meet and exceed the performance of existing hoses. Both of these technologies have already received excellent customer response.

The Fortrex family of materials is changing the automotive industry’s expectations of weatherseal system performance and aesthetics.

This revolutionary material offers something new in a space that hasn’t seen change in many decades.

Our Fortrex material combines the best attributes of EPDM and TPE materials while mitigating their short comings. Fortrex™ is an elastomer that offers market-leading weight reduction and delivers superior sealing, weatherability, NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) reduction and gloss performance.

GEN III Quick Connects offer a new and innovative product design that focuses on enhanced capabilities involving performance in use, ease of assembly and improved serviceability.

We believe this product is the most robust, reliable connector design currently available.

Magalloy will transform the future of automotive tubing by enabling longevity for automotive tubing constructions. This process offers an improved intermediate and sacrificial layer within the overall tube construction to better protect the base tube from corrosion. Magalloy™ provides four times the performance versus existing technologies used in tubing applications when the external layer of the construction is compromised.

By combining our two greatest assets – our employees and culture of innovation – with our relentless focus on the customer, we’re confident we’ll be able to continue providing our customers throughout Asia Pacific with the products and services that meet their evolving needs.

Song Min Lee is Senior Vice President and President, Asia Pacific, Cooper Standard AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 37

COVER STORY – Components

Model Change Feeds Customer Needs

By Tarang Jain

A

s the business world seeks more avenues for growth and drives more consumerism, manufacturers will be continuously under pressure to launch new models and differentiate in the market.

Frequent model change feeds customer needs (vanity) and product developers’ ambitions and hence gives rise to obsolescence, which if planned well, can be good business.

In the automotive industry, planned obsolescence has been a known business strategy since almost a century. From lean manufacturing point of view, it is sheer waste. Mature markets, especially in North America, used this to great benefits till the 1970s. In fact it is well documented that GM pipped Ford in the early part of the 20thcentury in market shares utilising planned obsolescence.

This was the practice of changing vehicle styling every year as opposed to giving huge rebates to lure car buyers.

However, the decade of the 70s and 80s saw the rise of the Japanese stealing share with product differentiation (fuel efficiency) as a business strategy, thanks to the frugality driven by the oil market crash.

Planned Obsolescence Planned obsolescence can be good for everybody if the entire supply chain that is engaged in product development is part of the planning.

Since only styling parts are changed frequently, the solution was to shorten the development times for these parts (and re-using the performance and safety critical parts). The large volumes per part number afforded by the North American market could support this strategy which explains its success for over half a century.

The Japanese have used this strategy to leapfrog the competition in all 38 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

markets. Their contribution was the re-invention of the manufacturing system to align to this strategy (the cell manufacturing replacing the traditional line manufacturing for components).

Planned obsolescence can be counterproductive in a fragmented market or when the vehicle maker’s planning is not transparent to the supply chain.

Examples of both can be seen in the Indian market.

Indian Market In the Indian Tarang Jain passenger car segment there aren’t any platforms that have annual volumes of over 300,000, (a threshold number I use for justifying new developments) apart from some exceptions such as Alto, Swift, i10, Bolero etc. These platforms make successful use of planned obsolescence to extend sales over many years. It is no wonder that these platforms have sustained their success in the market while the vast majority of the others have been struggling, despite trying model changes every year.

The other example is that of the two wheeler market. Despite, their large volumes, planned obsolescence by most vehicle makers has led to higher costs in the highly fragmented supply chain. More transparency and discipline in supply chain planning can reduce waste and affordable

development times. Japanese OEMs are an exception with the early involvement of their suppliers in development and the high level of discipline.

In the Indian market, for suppliers of styling parts these challenges (low volumes in passenger car segments, poor supply chain planning practices) will continue till the market players mature. Having the vehicle makers bear the higher development cost is a short-term solution for the supplier as the former is not able to reap the benefit due to higher vehicle costs resulting in poor sales or lower margins. Vehicle makers have to be selective and transparent with the supply chain on planned obsolescence, as is the case in mature automotive markets.

Tarang Jain is the Managing Director of Varroc

COVER STORY – Components

Cost Sensitive Innovations

By WABCO India

innovation where we leverage our people’s capabilities.

Each employee has to give his best, both physically and mentally. This has helped us to constantly challenge the status quo and move towards ‘better value at lower cost.’

Technology Focus

P Kaniappan

By P Kaniappan

W

ABCO India, a subsidiary of WABCO Holdings Inc., a global technology leader and tier-one supplier to the commercial vehicle industry, designs, manufactures and markets conventional braking products, advanced braking systems, and other related air- assisted products and systems. We have grown significantly in the Indian commercial vehicle market.

WABCO India serves its aftermarket customers through a wide national distribution network. With five worldclass manufacturing facilities, software design centre and a test track in India, WABCO India excels in engineering and manufacturing.

The key challenge in India is to offer these technology products at an 40 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

affordable price because customers do not want imported parts. So we are focusing not only on the technology front but also on the manufacturing of systems. Right from the TVS days we have been pursuing a journey of excellence, driven largely by TQM. On the TQM framework we have built TPM as a method or an approach to promote the concept of increased production at reduced cost of manufacturing.

We have also been working over the last 20 years on a lean framework.

We now have a TQM, TPM and lean manufacturing system in which we continuously reduce cost through the involvement of people and the culture of continuous improvement.

This culture is also used to promote

From a manufacturing engineering point of view, another important initiative or strength we have built over time is the emphasis on technology focus and engineering capability.

Today we have more than 40 engineers with a capability to design systems ourselves. We do not have to buy technology from outside. We design our own assembly lines, test rigs and the entire manufacturing system, which, in turn, drives innovation. This has led WABCO India contributing to our headquarters. We are developing systems and new assembly lines in India for other WABCO plants worldwide, over the last one year. It is reverse innovation; our engineers can meet global manufacturing standards and offer cost effective solutions.

The global acceptance is both for technology and cost. We cannot export by merely giving a cheaper product. First and foremost we have to meet the global standards set by WABCO worldwide. At the same time the product must be cost competitive if you want to export. When we became part of Wabco we always had the cost advantage but what we had to learn was to upgrade our standards to match global needs. We have done this effectively over the last three years. Matching to global standards does not always mean increase in cost.

Innovation And Products There has been a lot of innovation after ABS was launched in India.

Earlier, it was just importing conventional models to supply. If you want to penetrate the market and maintain leadership, the only method is to find an innovative way to supply the same product with the same standards and quality at a much lower cost. We have localised everything including ECU and have tried to bring down wastage in the system. However, we have been very investment-light.

India, both in product design and investment.

At the same time we are localising and using the lean supply chain we have established here. I believe we have offered very innovative solutions to customers when ABS first came to India.

We are also trying to transform ourselves from a company

is very good, as we have more than a year’s experience in it, with more than 1,400 vehicles in the field now. It was actually launched in the city bus programme, first by Ashok Leyland for their JanBus. The initial focus was to introduce it to the government bus fleet as part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). This is now moving

We follow a three step approach – first is eliminate waste in the system, the second is to debottleneck machines in the assembly lines by leveraging the engineering team’s capabilities (we have our own model to reduce cycle times and increase capacity without additional investment) and third is to look at investment options - which is the leanest available? We have adopted this approach in the ABS itself when it was launched in supplying only mechanical systems or products to one that offers solutions.

We have recently launched a digital product in the aftermarket called Vehicle Tracking System (VTS). Digitisation is another area where we are trying to innovate. Most of the fleet owners consider our VTS one of the best automobile products available in the market today. This is targeted to the aftermarket while ABS is fully towards the OEMs. AMT – automated manual transmission itself is a highly innovative product. Acceptance

into Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

We are waiting to see how it evolves. The product is extremely successful and we are expanding it into new portfolios of trucks and the LCV segment. We have very positive feedback from the fleet in terms of fuel saving (three percent to eight percent) and comfort level. The payback is in a few months on the investment they make.

We are working with more OEMs now but one of the problems we AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 41

COVER STORY – Components

face is that there are not many electronic engines in India as yet. AMT will work only with electronic engines as the systems have to talk to each other. By April 2017 when Euro-4 will apply nationwide, it will be the first inflexion point for AMT. By that time at least two other OEMs will launch this product, with more applications. With this product you can make money and still provide comfort and safety. Productivity will be more and driving less stressed. Today more fleets want to provide comfort to the driver. AMT will raise the profile of the drivers.

The third product we are working with OEMs is the air disc brake. This will be required in autonomous driving where the system should communicate electronically. AMT is a very cost effective solution that supports that initiative, which will need the disc brake technology. Currently, trucks have drum brakes that work through air actuation. Disc brake also has air actuation but is much more effective in terms of braking.

In India for the JNNURM bus programme, disc brake is used in the front axles. In Delhi more than 2,000 buses use them. It is so effective in braking that you need a way to dissipate the heat very quickly. The advantage with our system is that technologically it is a single piston design where the number of components is less, which makes it lightweight. When you convert from drum to 42 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

disc, about 30-50kg of weight per wheel will reduce. So the weight reduction will automatically help you to carry more load and increase fuel economy. We are trying to localise to see how we can reduce the delta cost.

More Innovations The next innovation will come in the collision mitigation system, for which you need a braking system that works autonomously. In the Auto Expo we had displayed a vehicle fitted with this system. We have two systems brought to India – the lane departure warning system that alerts the driver when he changes lanes, and the ‘on guard active’ which is a collision mitigation system that alerts the driver and applies a partial brake, and then takes over full braking control.

Initially it was felt that this was not required in India but now many want to have it. E-commerce now drives fleet.

Vehicles have to run for 24 hours. What was earlier taking seven days to reach a place is now done in half the time. So they are looking for solutions that will reduce the potential for accidents. This will be applied here by WABCO India.

Globally, we are also trying to reduce the cost. We will see more opportunities if volumes come in India and we have got the approval from the government for 77 GHz. In certain markets like the Middle East it has become

COVER STORY – Components

mandatory so customers are looking for solutions from us. We are working with them closely.

Another area we are trying to innovate is in ABS, on how to reduce cost for customers. One system we are trying to introduce is electronically controlled air processing. Normally, in an air system, power from the engine is taken and the air compressor runs irrespective of whether the air is needed or not.

Now it is based on demand. We have an ECU with a wheel speed sensor that constantly monitors the speed to take the required demand from the compressor. The system has become more and more intelligent.

ABS itself is a base technology on which you can mount many systems. For example, hill-assist in a car to prevent roll-back on inclines. ESP (Electronic Stability Control) is a feature and part of ABS. Customers have invested in ABS and we are trying to leverage it into more functions at minimum cost.

We have demonstrated a fuel saving of 1.8 percent from the air compressor system. The non-tangible benefit is increased life of the compressor and reduced maintenance. So you can get innumerable functions once you make the system intelligent.

For example, if you put in air suspension in buses, it is a cost. But if you put in an electronic control (ECAS –Electronic control air suspension) you can make it intelligent. With this the vehicle can sense the road and distribute the load.

You can raise or lower the whole system to give reduced drag and roll-over protection. You can programme the system to ignore small humps on the road. Air depletion will take place only if it is a big one. This way you reduce air consumption which, in turn, helps you save fuel.

Like this, opportunities are plenty.

How to improve efficiency is one of the key value propositions we give to the customer, apart from safety. So I see more and more opportunities coming up. The first breakthrough is that ABS has come; the second one will be the electronic engine through Euro-4. This will help you programme the system in whichever way you want. There are a lot many things you can do.

P Kaniappan is the Managing Director of WABCO India

44 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

COVER STORY – Components

Need For ManufacturingDriven Growth

By Nirmal K Minda

T

he Indian Automotive industry accounts for 7.1 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and is one of the largest markets in the world despite having a skewed penetration. It is further poised to grow at a fast pace on the backdrop of the Indian government’s favourable policies. We believe that the new initiatives of the Union Government are in the right direction for the Indian Automotive Industry.

Over the last decade countries in our neighbourhood, China and other East Asian nations, developed exportled economic models to develop their automotive industry and pave the way for their rapid economic growth. Our government’s latest initiatives also aim to follow a similar path and we believe they will give a considerable boost to the automotive sector.

The Automotive Mission Plan (AMP) 2016 - 26 envisions the industry to grow four times by 2026 with approximately 10 percent CAGR for vehicle sales. Its push to manufacturing, through the ‘Make in India’ initiative, has garnered considerable attention from the industry and brought the spotlight back on the manufacturing sector. In order to create jobs for the nearly 10 million workforce that enters the market every year, the country needs to move away from services-driven model to a labour intensive manufacturing-driven growth.

Make In India The Government of India aims to make automobile manufacturing the main driver of ‘Make in India’ initiative, as it expects passenger vehicles market to triple to 9.4 million units by 2026. Plans are under way to promote eco-friendly CNG- based, hybrid and electric vehicles. It has also made five per cent ethanol blending in petrol mandatory.

The government has formulated a scheme for faster adoption and manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicles, under the National Electric Mobility Mission 2020 to encourage the progressive induction of reliable, affordable and efficient electric and hybrid vehicles in the country.

AMP 2016–2026 is aimed at accelerating and sustaining growth in this sector. The well-established regulatory framework under the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, also plays a part in providing a boost to this sector.

The Make in India initiative has showcased India as a potential manufacturing hub in the eyes of the whole world. According to India Brand Equity Foundation, India’s manufacturing sector could touch $1 trillion by 2025. The sector has the potential to contribute 25-30 46 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

Nirmal K Minda

percent of the country’s GDP and create up to 90 million domestic jobs in the next 10 years.

Secondly, since the launch of this Make in India initiative, the Foreign Direct investment (FDI) into the automobile industry has seen about 164 percent growth.

Skill Development As the country looks to establish its credentials as a manufacturing destination, there are some gaps that we need to address. These include an enabling regulatory environment, developing the requisite talent and skills, fast-tracking of infrastructure development, incubating R& D and innovation culture, and enhancing supply chain competiveness.

Skill development of the large talent pool is seen as the most critical lever in delivering manufacturing excellence. We feel the Government’s skill development initiatives will create an enabling ecosystem.

The Indian automotive industry is likely to witness an increased demand for skilled labour, as the economic environment improves and investments are made as part of the `Make in India’ initiative. With reduction in product life cycles and the evolution of automotive technology, we expect an increase in product development, manufacturing and supply chain complexity for both the OEMs and suppliers.

The industry, is therefore, faced with certain key considerations for skill development.

Nirmal K Minda is the Chairman & Managing Director of UNO MINDA Group

COVER STORY – Components

NRB To Look At Emerging Segments

By H S Zaveri

F

ounded in 1965, NRB Bearings Ltd (NRB) was the first company to manufacture needle roller bearings in India.

For 50 years NRB has pioneered leading edge bearing technology.

Today over 90 percent of vehicles on Indian roads run with NRB-provided friction solutions. NRB has always believed in and worked towards ‘inclusive growth’ - improving the quality of life of the people we touch and in the communities where we operate.

Since inception, NRB has grown to offer a wide range of high-precision friction solutions for all mobility applications. The company is the domestic market leader in needle

roller bearings and cylindrical roller bearings and the first choice for special ball bearings, tapered bearings and combination bearing solutions. With six manufacturing plants in India and one in Thailand, NRB has a diversified and de-risked operational model.

NRB is a trailblazer in innovative design with comprehensive engineering capabilities. In 2000 NRB established an Engineering & Design centre in Thane, recognised by the Department of Science and Technology as a world class R & D facility. In 2014, a Centre for Competency was established in Waluj, Aurangabad, with a dedicated design team to focus on lightweighting, quality improvements and lean manufacturing.

This R&D centre is recognised by the Department of Industrial and Scientific Research – Government of India.

NRB is a recipient of the Forbes - Asia’s Best 200 companies under a Billion USD in 2007. Export constitutes a fourth of NRB’s revenues and provides geographical diversification of markets. NRB’s EBITDA and market capitalization growth has made it an industry benchmark.

Innovative Products

H S Zaveri

48 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

This year, we expanded our range and engineered cost-effective,

light weight friction solutions for a host of applications that resulted in increased fuel efficiency, noise reduction for engines and transmissions, and enhanced life.

We employ the frugal innovation approach wherein we devise smart solutions using sustainable design that preserves resources.

Our largest volume and range of bearings are deep drawn or formed type bearings that are lighter than conventional (solid race) bearings and are often specifically designed for the application. Traditionally such bearings go primarily into powertrain, steering systems and auto electrical applications.

We constantly invest in state-of-the art equipment from across the globe to achieve high precision standards that comply with the highest quality and environmental certification levels.

Many of the products we manufacture are within a one-micron tolerance.

Size matters less to us than the impact and quality of the solutions we provide.

Challenges Usage of technology and sustainable design, combined with distribution logistics to cater to fluctuating customer demand lies at the core of all NRB’s activities. The focus of our product and technology development has been the adoption of a disruptive approach which optimises material input and performance. Our true value lies not just in reducing the cost of an existing process but in creating new and innovative bearing solutions to add value to our customers which include ZF, Bosch, Getrag, Volvo, Meritor, Daimler and Audi apart from the Indian auto majors.

NRB’s Research & Development

centres focus on cutting edge product and process technologies. Our emphasis is to be pioneers not just in existing bearings but to create friction solutions using diverse materials, technologies and manufacturing processes.

Uniqueness Our approach is simplifying our strategy and attracting young men and women who enjoy engaging with the customers and are passionate about our products.

Our differentiator is the ability to create value through innovative design, leveraging technology to optimise cost and performance.

The result is improvements in fuel efficiency, noise reduction for engines and transmissions, and enhanced life, which are the backbone of NRB’s mission. We are among the first few bearing companies in India to have developed in-house R & D capabilities, combining disruptive technologies with the stringent quality requirements of the world’s highest quality customers.

NRB’s culture revolves around this ability to collaborate with the world’s most respected mobility companies and respond with products that improve the performance and carbon footprint of their future generation of vehicles. Believing that product and process innovation is the key to future automotive performance, we added a second Research Centre at Waluj, last year. The facility has been recognised as a Centre of Competency for Innovative Research and Development and has at its core

the development of light weighting technologies, geared towards customised product solutions that drive fuel efficiency.

Creative disruption combined with some of the best software development in the field, drives our research and product development.

Our approach enables us to get nominations, pass tests and secure orders for some of the most prestigious and innovative vehicles in the world. We have expanded our friction solutions and added new high precision product lines, including the supply of balancer shafts.

Customer satisfaction lies at the core of all NRB’s activities. To cater to the requirements of the European market we have set up an office in Stuttgart.

As a further testament to our global operations we manufacture bearings for Mazda BT and also supply to Japan, China and Mexico.

Our focus will be on developing scalable standard operating processes, ensuring at the same time, that we don’t lose our speed and innovation-driven ethos.

We are very upbeat about the upcoming year as we will reap the benefit of all the operational improvements implemented throughout the year as growth numbers soar. NRB is looking to penetrate more deeply into emerging segments such as defence, aerospace, marine, construction and off-highway. Geographically, apart from the Eurozone, where we have significant penetration, we are now targeting new growth at Japanese, Russian and Korean customers.

H S Zaveri is the Vice Chairman & Managing Director of NRB Bearings

We are one of the three largest suppliers in the world of customised bearings and crank pins to the two and three wheeler industry. For cars and SUVs, we are a significant emerging player in transmission bearings for high-end luxury cars and the small car market, globally; our newest products have found a space in the world’s most highly engineered dual clutch, automated manual and variable speed transmissions.

Future Plans Our strategy is to ensure that our progress does not stem purely from market growth; we develop new products for the future generation of mobile vehicles across applications.

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 49

COVER STORY – Components

Powering Automobiles – The Lucas-TVS Way Therefore, it was only natural for LucasTVS to foray into developing products like High Efficiency Alternators, Gear Reduction Starters with low Kw to weight ratios, Start-Stop Systems, Integrated Starter Generators, Emission Control products like Urea Pumps and Brushless Motor Technologies. LucasTVS also identified a growing need in the consumer industry that had synergies with the products and capabilities that we had developed over the years in the automotive field.

Today Lucas-TVS is actively working with some of the leading consumer product companies in India to provide energysaving solutions using Brushless Motors and Integrated Controls to help these companies meet the strict Energy Star Requirements. After introducing products for refrigerators we are launching similar systems for air-conditioners and air handling and high-efficiency home fans. We are also developing pumping solutions. We have been selected by the Government of India to partner with the Indian Institute of Science in the next generation rural electrification pilot projects that will benefit millions of people.

Arvind Balaji

By Arvind Balaji

L

ucas-TVS, established in 1961 as a joint venture between Lucas UK and T V Sundram Iyengar & Sons (TVS), India, is the Leader in the design and manufacturing of automotive electricals in India. Four out of five vehicles rolled out daily in India are fitted with Lucas-TVS products. Its products are exported to Europe and North America.

Lucas-TVS has gone beyond the automotive industry and is supplying energy saving solutions to the consumer goods industry also.

Looking into the future Lucas-TVS sees itself as a company that will 50 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

be deeply involved in the field of auto electricals and mechatronics.

We will be a significant player in consumer goods recognised for our quality, technology and energy savings in everything we do worldwide.

Lucas-TVS has always stayed ahead of the competition by envisioning the future of technology and the changing needs of our customers. We have realised that the future will be controlled by technology and products that can reduce carbon emissions, increase fuel efficiency, save energy and comply with green technology norms.

Legacy Of Make In India Lucas Plc of the UK was in operation in India from 1930 as Lucas Indian Service, providing warranty and after-sales service to many of the imported vehicles which had Lucas parts. Its transition to LucasTVS in 1961 marked for us the beginning of the real make in India. Starting with small starters, dynamos and distributor products, Lucas-TVS has progressed

exploited and today 75 percent of our revenues are from products engineered and developed locally by Lucas-TVS. Our products find applications in two and three-wheelers, passenger cars, commercial vehicles and tractors. Through our export partners our products are integrated into some of the top global brands like Audi, Daimler, Rolls Royce and Freightliner.

Market Winning Products over the years to manufacturing in India complete system solutions in auto electricals involving starters, alternators, wiping systems, lighting, window and seat motors, air compressor ride comfort systems, vacuum pumps, start-stop systems, engine cooling modules, blowers, plug top ignition coils, engine and body controllers, fuel pumps, injectors, common rail diesel systems and a host of related automotive high technology products.

Being a pioneer in the Indian automotive landscape, Lucas-TVS developed and integrated all aspects of these products, starting with the designs, application engineering, development manufacturing and service. Since high quality high efficiency manufacturing did not exist during the early days, Lucas-TVS went on to integrate backward various processes not limited to sheet metal components, machining, heat treatment and plating.

The backward integration enabled Lucas-TVS to focus on manufacturing systems and processes and placed it among the companies in the world to be awarded the Demming Application Prize and the Demming Grand Prize and to this day Lucas-TVS remains as one of the very few companies having the capabilities to engineer completely and develop solutions for customers. We have in-house

prototype manufacturing, tooling as well as special purpose machines and assembly lines required to produce them at ppm levels that have set benchmarks in the industry.

In order to support its make in India drive decades ago, LucasTVS invested in both people and infrastructure and over the years it has some of the best talents in the Indian automotive Industry. It has also established Government of India certified R&D and Proving Labs.

Our labs have been sought after by OEMs to augment their own product development.

In 2001 Lucas-TVS began to be wholly- owned by TVS Group as Lucas the parent company ceased to exist worldwide. While this may have created a technological challenge to many companies, for Lucas-TVS it was an opportunity that the company

Starters and alternators are the backbone of the product offerings of Lucas-TVS and we have established new benchmarks for these otherwise traditional auto electrical products. The new family of gear reduction starter motors offers the customers higher efficiency at lower weight and costs. The new SGM25 is a gold standard being the most compact and lightweight product in its category. This along with a host of other GRS range of starters will redefine starter motors in India.

Alternators also play a key role in the high tech automobiles of today.

Lucas-TVS has launched a new range of segmented conductor high efficiency alternators, a first for any company in India, at costs that make it affordable to OEMs to provide state of the art technology to Indian consumers. These alternators have again raised the standards with 78 percent efficiency even at lower rpms.

The 150A bus alternator was required for the new luxury lines of busses that demanded more power to run the air conditioners, entertainment and electronics. But the engineering teams at Lucas-TVS raised the bar yet again to provide the OEMs with import substitution through the introduction of the 180A bus alternator and provided a battery-less option to reduce cost, weight and maintenance of the system as a whole.

Arvind Balaji is the Joint Managing Director of Lucas-TVS

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 51

COVER STORY – Components

Tenneco Tailors Products To Suit Emission Norms

By Sagar Hemade to rapidly respond to accelerated implementation of emissions legislation.

Sagar Hemade

T

he new regulations by the governments across the globe to curb air pollution are creating a complex maze of new problems for vehicle manufacturers. In India, with air pollution becoming a major health hazard in heavily congested urban areas, the government has decided to leap frog from BS IV to BS VI emission norms across the country by April 1, 2020.

The decision, backed by the Supreme Court, is driving car manufacturers and component companies to scale up and innovate to keep pace with the new regulations. Tenneco, one of the world’s leading designers, manufacturers and distributors of clean air products and systems for the global automotive, commercial truck and off-highway markets and the aftermarket, is well positioned 52 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

With a long-standing experience in emissions control and a network of integrated R&D centres around the world, including India, Tenneco can deploy and leverage advanced technology and capabilities to help our customers in India meet BS VI regulations. The technology that Tenneco offers in exhaust after treatment systems can contribute to making Indian cities and rural areas cleaner and healthier as legislation ushers in tighter controls on vehicle emissions.

In fact, across the world, our company works closely with government regulators and our customers to create solutions for achieving improved fuel economy and comprehensive emission reductions.

Tenneco’s highly engineered emissions systems support gasoline, gasoline direct injection, flex-fuel and diesel applications.

Our engineering staff are expert in integrating emissions components and supplying customers with full exhaust systems. Our specialised global and Indian teams work tirelessly to deploy highly advanced and lightweight technologies to help meet increasingly stringent emissions and noise regulations and enhance fuel efficiency.

As demand for diesel and alternative fuel and hybrid vehicles increases,

we continually develop emission control systems adapted to these new powertrains, as well as design and engineer lightweight components.

Our emission control devices and after-treatment systems for passenger cars and commercial vehicles filter out and reduce particles which harm the environment and represent a potential danger for human health.

Clean Air Solutions At Tenneco, innovation has always been the hallmark of everything we do – whether it relates to our advanced clean air technologies and solutions, our unique, total-system integration expertise or our approach and commitment to partnership and collaboration. We are always looking beyond the technology horizon to develop the next generation of clean air solutions that can help accelerate our customers’ success and keep them moving toward the future.

We at Tenneco India are committed to partnering with our customers to provide the best and most innovative emission control systems for passenger cars and light and commercial vehicles. Tenneco India has two Business Units - Clean Air (CA) and Ride Performance (RP).

It has manufacturing units inBawal, Chakan, Chennai, Hosur and Pondicherry, which take care of our Clean Air and Ride Performance Businesses.

To keep up with the stringent quality checks and parameters that are a prerequisite for any competitive manufacturing company, we work in accordance with strict quality policy and guidelines across manufacturing processes and systems. From ISO Certifications to Quality Audits, Tenneco India operates totally in line with these rigorous measures.

Sagar Hemade is Managing Director, Tenneco India

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COVER STORY- Components

Skill Development - Can India Reap Demographic Dividend

By Nishant Arya

A

s the country transforms into a diversified and internationallycompetitive economy, skill development is going to be very important for India’s future economic growth. In the next 10 years, the shortage of skilled man force, which is a problem today as well, promises to swell into an incapacitating factor for the Indian industry. If the current scenario continues, by 2022, the automobile and automotive component makers will face a shortage of 35 million trained people. The shortage will be 1.4 million for the construction sector and 4.6 million for gem and jewelry.

Currently, the supply of skilled manpower in India is approximately 3.4 million. And according to the International Labour Organisation, there will be a demand for 500 million skilled workers in India by 2022. Hence, there is going to be a huge gap of skilled manpower that needs to be fulfilled urgently. A wide gap of 496.6 million skilled workers has to be filled in eight years.

Nishant Arya

54 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

The sorry state of availability of skilled manpower can be largely attributed to the Indian education system, which does not focus on training students in employable skills that can provide them with employment opportunities.

Indian education system’s focus has been more on theory and less on practical training that helps in developing employable ‘skills.’ Equally important is the upgradation of skills. Today, a large section of India’s labour

force carries out tasks with outdated skills. Unless the workforce upgrades its skill sets continuously, it is at risk of getting rendered irrelevant in the new-age economy.

Demographic Dividend With one of the youngest populations in the world and a large pool of young Englishspeaking people, population demographics favour India.

By 2022, average Indian’s age would be 29, compared to 37 for China & United States and 45 for the Western Europe.

Therefore, India has potential not only to meet its own manpower needs, but it can also cater to the manpower demand of other nations.

Despite a vast majority of population in the productive age group, India has not been able to realise its demographic dividend since a good amount of working population are not employable and most industries in India are currently struggling with scarcity of skilled workforce.

Countries with high skill capital tend to be prosperous from the perspectives of both GDP and per capita income.

Higher national prosperity also manifests in better quality of life for citizens. As Indian economy evolves from being commoditycentric to knowledge-centric, growth becomes increasingly dependent on availability of skills. However, skills have to be marketable and relevant resulting in economic value, otherwise there may be abundance of skilled people with sub-optimal employment resulting in the ‘skilled unemployed’ conundrum.

For India to graduate from being a low-income country to a middle-income country, it is imperative that the country grows at the consistent rate of eight to nine percent a year in the next decade. If this is achieved, then India’s per-capita Gross Domestic Product will grow from the

current level of around $1,800 to $8,000-10,000 by 2025.

With this desired economic growth, the challenge for skill development (imparting as well as upgrading) is going to only increase further, since more than 75 percent of new job opportunities in the new economy are going to be ‘skillbased.’

Skill Development It was in this backdrop that the Government of India has been emphasizing on upgrading people’s skills by providing vocational education and training to them. It has formulated the National Policy on Skill Development and set a target for providing skills to 500 million people by 2022.

For India, skill development is absolutely necessary for economic growth as well as social development. Providing a mechanism to acquire skills, empowering the disadvantaged sections of the society with skilling opportunities and creating a skill growth program for continuous improvement is the surest way of achieving inclusive and sustainable growth.

Maintaining the growth trajectory and competiveness of various sectors of the economy necessitates a skilled workforce aligned to industry requirement. In recognition of this need, the Government has professed skill development as a national priority over the next 10 years. The 11th Five-Year Plan had a detailed road-map for skill development in India, and favored the formation of Skill Development Missions, both at the State and the National levels.

In addition, as part of its National Skill Development Mission, the Government has established the National Skill Development Corporation in the Public Private Partnership mode to facilitate setting up of large, high quality, non-profit

vocational institutions. It also aims to set up 1,500 new ITIs and 5,000 skill development centers across the country as well a National Vocational Qualification Framework (NVQF) for affiliations and accreditation in vocational, educational and training systems.

JBM Initiative Understanding its responsibility towards the society, the JBM Group, one of India’s leading auto ancillary groups, has decided provide skill development training to the less educated youth. This is in line with the core philosophy of the group: TIP (Technology, Innovation and People).

With the recently-announced Skilling India Mission, the ongoing project of JBM Group has aligned itself to the government’s initiatives.

The Group has incubated a unique Dual Training ‘Earn while Learn’ programme at the JBM Skill Development Centre that started in April 2013 in Faridabad, near New Delhi.

The centre trains young people ranging from the high school dropouts to ITI and Diploma Engineering candidates to produce skilled operators and technicians. The deserving candidates are retained in their plants that are located across the country.

The company has laid special focus on pan-India skill development. Acknowledging the lack of opportunities for the youth in North-East, the company has trained so far 250 youth from the region and has employed them at its factories in Chennai, Kosi and Ballabhgarh.

JBM Group has embarked on the next phase to train 10,000 youth in the next five years, with a special focus on youth from the North-East.

Nishant Arya is the Executive Director of JBM Group AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 55

COVER STORY – Components

India Needs Clean Air

By Claude d’Gama Rose on the road through real drive cycle emission tests. Having long been exporters of vehicles to countries where Euro 6 standards are enforced by law, many automotive manufacturers in India are already well prepared to meet the more stringent emission standards.

A

closer look at India’s bustling megacities reveals a grim picture.

Unsurprisingly, 13 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are in India. A World Health Organization study of 1,600 cities released in May 2014 found that Delhi has the world’s dirtiest air. While short range remedies like car-free zones or the odd-even rule can limit emissions in the immediate future, the continually rising demand for individual mobility across socio economic strata must propel the automotive industry to produce cleaner, fuel efficient vehicles in the long-term.

On February 19, 2016 the Government proposed and released a draft notification that India leapfrog directly to BS VI norms from 2020 in a landmark decision and introduced stricter OBD limits. The Government is keen to monitor actual emissions

56 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

The new standards require that after-treatment systems be enhanced by adding DPF (diesel particulate filter), SCR (selective Claude d’Gama Rose catalytic reduction), LNT (lean NOx trap) for diesel and TWC (efficient three way catalyst) and if required GPF (gasoline particulate filter) for gasoline. To ensure a smooth migration and avoid multiple development loops and calibration, a platform approach (Continental’s Euro 6 compliant diesel systems, SCR systems, and gasoline systems) can offer a suitable alternative for vehicle manufacturers.

As CO2 norms continue to get tighter, hybrid and electric vehicles will demonstrate significant environmental advantages over conventional gasoline or dieselpowered ones. Incentive schemes like FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles), a part of the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan, will drive the uptake of 48 Volt mild

hybrid systems, full and plugin hybrids as well as full electric vehicles. Increasing environmental awareness amongst end consumers will result in 48 Volt systems emerging as a viable alternative in the near term, offering excellent total cost of ownership.

As rapidly industrializing nations like India, China and Vietnam increase their energy intensity, economic growth will bring them in conflict with environmental issues, in particular climate change. India’s Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) program commits to control emissions by implementing stricter emission limits as well as increasing taxes and penalties for non-compliance. It targets a 33 percent-35 percent reduction in carbon density by 2030.

For these goals to be met, and for India to honour its Paris pledge to cut emissions, a two-percent annual reduction in carbon intensity is necessary. While the Government has taken cognizance of energy and climate change related concerns and has implemented definite steps to reduce India’s carbon footprint, the continuing challenge will be to minimize impact to the country’s economic growth.

Nevertheless, the shift is inevitable and regulators will play a crucial role to accelerate the process.

China, France, Japan and Israel are just a few of the countries where the auto industry, backed by the Government, is already committing to clean power. The Indian automotive industry must do its part in making sustainable, clean transportation commercially viable and step up with innovative solutions to shape a greener future for mobility.

Claude d’Gama Rose is the Managing Director of Continental Automotive India

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COVER STORY – Components

Eaton Is Focused On Innovation

By V Balasubramanian

E

aton, with its wide range of vehicle technologies and solutions, is well positioned in India to provide safe, sustainable, efficient and reliable solutions to its customers. These include a range of industry-leading products and technology offerings to the commercial vehicle, off-highway and passenger car markets.

We are customer-centric and we drive innovation to deliver value to the customer. Be it our highly efficient and reliable six and ninespeed transmissions suitable for the demanding Indian operating conditions or our diverse portfolio of engine valves and valve actuation products for passenger cars, commercial vehicles, off highway equipment and railways, customer is key to our growth strategy.

For instance, Eaton’s innovative and reliable torque control products such as M-Locker utilises a self-

energising clutch system and gets activated in low traction situations when a wheel speed difference is detected. Automatic locking takes place within a fraction of a second, providing the driver with increased safety and confidence when travelling on wet, slippery or muddy roads. In addition, Eaton’s patented differential for off-highway commercial vehicles - NoSpin that maximises traction by delivering 100 percent of the torque and power to both drive wheels.

Another innovative solution which will be introduced for the Indian market is Procision, Eaton’s new line of medium-duty dual clutch transmissions that delivers eight to ten percent better fuel economy than a similarly equipped vehicle with an automatic torque converter. With the fuel efficiency and low maintenance costs, Procision transmissions promise to deliver the lowest total cost of ownership for any mediumduty transmission in the commercial vehicle market today. It is a world-class transmission that helps deliver safe, confident and easy operation for any driver by delivering optimal performance in many driving environments and I am confident that it will deliver great value to our customers and end-users in India as well.

V Balasubramanian

Sustainable Products Obsolescence becomes a risk when innovation is myopic and motivated by immediate market gains. At Eaton, we have a focused approach to innovation and product development and an indispensable element of this is to ensure that our products and technologies are sustainable. Sustainability is in our DNA, not only in the way we operate and innovate but also how we impact the industry, community and environment.

Eaton’s leadership in this highly competitive market scenario is attributed to its capability in understanding customer needs and offering localised and customized solutions. At Eaton, our focus continues to help customers with the latest vehicle technologies that increase fuel economy as well as improve a vehicle’s overall efficiency, performance and control in a sustainable manner. Our team of dedicated engineers is focused on building leadership and technical capabilities to develop solutions ‘In the Region, For the Region’ through innovation and technology development.

Eaton’s Vehicle business in India continues to focus on addressing the end- market needs and providing tailor-made solutions for the demanding Indian applications.

Truck products in focus include manual transmissions, AMT and clutches. The plan is to have deeper market penetration by portfolio expansion, targeting additional applications and OEMs. Eaton also continues to expand its automotive offerings like hollow and solid engine valves, valve actuations, cylinder deactivation and variable valve lift products, engine brakes, fuel emission solutions, torque controls and superchargers for various applications for the Indian automotive industry.

V Balasubramanian is the Managing Director of India, Vehicle Group, Eaton

COVER STORY – Components

NEI Moves To

Global Arena

Rohit Saboo

By Rohit Saboo

F

rom Deming Award to Deming Grand Prize, we saw the journey a very fruitful one. When we got the Deming Award we were elated for sure. And after a month I observed that the level of excitement has gone down. The processes, of course, were followed strictly but the vigour was missing. We integrated the 60 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

requirements of Deming, VDA and TS 16949 and developed ‘NEI way of working’ so that whoever comes for audit, it wasn’t necessary for us to prepare separately.

With the requirements of the customer becoming more and more stringent, it is necessary to maintain quality. In the year 2000 about 500 ppm was allowed and five years

later it came down to 250. It became 100 ppm a few years ago and now it is zero ppm. Maintaining quality is neither technical nor production, it is peoples’ mind set.

This biggest element that changed between Deming and Grand Deming was training. We offered 2.5 to three man-days of training per person per year earlier and we increased

to 10. While the technical training remained the same, we introduced behavioural and attitudinal exercises.

Driving Force We now challenge ourselves with new targets and improvements. For example, on the productivity side, the Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE) was 72 percent about three years ago. Currently we are at 79 and our target is to increase it to 85 percent. Our warranty rejections were 10 to 12 ppm three years ago, which is less than one ppm now.

We deploy these concepts across all the plants.

Taking a leaf out of what Jack Welch said, there is always juice in the lemon how much ever it has been squeezed. We are using this methodology.

Assessing People As we realise that training is key, we will continue to increase the number of hours; for next year our target is 11 man-days.

Secondly, for the performance management system we have a methodology in place where the rating is dependent on the performance of the company and the individual. The entire system is automated that by April 30, and all the KRAs are assessed with 30 percentage points pertaining to behavioural attitude. To incentivise we have introduce performance bonus. We were earlier soft on people and now we have become bit hard on performance.

The pressure from OEMs to cut cost is ever increasing. Therefore, the only option for us is to look at productivity improvement besides, cutting cost on all possible avenues. When everyone was asking for cost reduction, I reviewed the cost structure for a particular variety of bearing. To your surprise, the price of the bearing has not changed since 1991, despite inflation and the increase in cost of raw materials and production.

New Businesses If we are approaching customers with the Grand Deming Prize there definitely is a positivity. In India everyone knows us but none in many overseas markets. However, through Deming we are being known. People who were not even willing to talk to us five years ago are approaching us now. The doors are opening for us and I can see this in the last six months. Currently we get 22 percent of the revenue from exports and this will be increasing. Our target is to grow

exports not at the cost of our domestic market. For example we started with Daimler in India and now we are exporting to several of their plants.

In the automotive industry we are present in all the segments except for a few like off-roads. We are now talking to some companies in this segment. We are nowhere in the world automotive market and so we are working on to increase our presence.

Very interestingly, we recently received RFQs from a few companies in China; the country was touted to be a cost competitive and the bearing industry is about ten times the size of the India market, which is about Rs 8,500 crore. We are also getting RFQs from the US for future programmes as global automotive companies take two to five years to develop a new product. These calls for lot of investments in R&D and testing and we are willing to do it.

Currently we have three overseas agents’ offices – in Osaka, Stuttgart and Detroit. We are approaching the customers through these offices. South America as a whole is promising but currency devaluation and duty structure in Brazil will affect the business. We are looking at a different model there. We may set up a base in different country in the same continent and supply to the promising markets. We have not yet thought of Africa for setting up a warehouse, though we supply in the region. However, the numbers are very low.

Manufacturing We are setting up 17 lines in the first phase of our greenfield facility coming up in Savli in Gujarat. Of this 15 are already there and the rest will come up in a couple of months. This plant will help us increase from the current 100 million bearing to 116 million units. In the second phase, we will reach up to 140 million units. The construction of the second phase has already commenced and will be ready in about 18 months.

The new plant will have more automation than in our existing plants. Besides, it will have more checks such as the postprocess gauges to ensure consistent quality.

Eventually the production per person will be much higher than our existing plants, as we will deploy less number of workforce. The quality process at NEI has been evolving for ages and as the best practises will be deployed in Savli, it will be much more prolific.

Rohit Saboo is the President & CEO of National Engineering Industries AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 61

IAC For Sustainable Products

By Gajanan Gandhe

A

®

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igus® (India) Pvt. Ltd. 36/1, Sy. No. 17/3 Euro School Road Dodda Nekkundi Industrial Area - 2nd Stage Mahadevapura, Bangalore -560048, Karnataka, India

Gajanan Gandhe

Indian automotive market has witnessed a turnaround in the last year showing signs of a positive growth continuing for the next 3-5 years. This is also driven by the large-scale investments made by the Government of India in the infrastructure sector and reduction of interest rates while controlling inflation. info@igus.in Phone +91-80-39 12 78-00 Fax +91-80-39 12 78-02 www.igus.in

A case in point is the decision by the Government of India to pull ahead the implementation of BS VI compliance for all passenger vehicles by 2020. Such decisions affect the entire planning and development of new vehicles making a lot of products and technologies obsolete while shifting the focus to new technologies that are compliant with these standards. At the same time, car makers and suppliers have to continue producing spare parts for the vehicles that are already on the road which requires a significant amount of planning, storage and inventory management leading to an increase in the cost of these spares.

The terms "igus, iglidur, plastics for longer life, drylin" are legally protected trademarks in the Federal Republic of Germany and in case also in foreign countries.

significant increase in the variety of models and brands available today from the global car makers is truly a bonanza for the end customers as it offers them a wide variety of vehicles to choose from that is well suited to their needs for the next few years.

However, it is a huge challenge for the car makers to upgrade continuously their product offerings or develop entirely new products.

This is further complicated by technologies and regulations that quickly make existing products either obsolete or unattractive. This is specifically driven by safety and emissions technologies that are constantly evolving and requiring the carmakers to pump significant amounts of funding in development of new vehicles based on these changes.

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International Automotive Components (IAC), India hopes to ride this growth wave and continue to bring significant value to its customers through its indigenous design and development capabilities, high technology products and processes, world-class manufacturing and very high customer focus. With over 160 years of automotive interiors technology expertise, IAC is a leading global supplier of automotive components and systems, including interior and exterior trim. IAC continues to have its leadership in developing new technology to help its customers meet their goals of lightweighting and sustainability.

IAC embraces and deploys continuous improvement philosophies and shares best practices globally. Fuelled with a passion to deliver exciting solutions, IAC has recently developed new products that are innovative, lighter and environmental friendly interior solutions. Sustainability is paramount in all that we do.

62 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

drylin ® SLW-2080

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COVER STORY – Components

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COVER STORY – Components

IAC’s processes and products help reduce environmental impact with recyclable materials, supporting efficient manufacturing.

Sun and panoramic roofs are increasingly popular across all vehicle sizes and segments.This market trend inspired IAC to develop stiff and lightweight concepts, which help realize different fixation concepts on the car body, the sun roof or the panoramic roof module.

FiberFrame, an environmentallysustainable, lightweight and natural fiber sun roof frame was produced in November 2015 at IAC’s Center of Excellence for overhead products in the Czech Republic.

The product is first made for the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class to be launched in 2017. IAC’s FiberFrame replaces the sun roof’s metal reinforcement frame with a lighter frame employing strong, natural fibers using a new raw material comprised of 70 percent renewable content.

This unique lightweight solution is reinforced using IAC’s EcoMat natural fibre-based semi-finished material, which was especially developed for this application. The fibre mat is moulded with a thermoset binder and is manufactured in-house by IAC in a hot molding process.

In the specification of the IAC EcoMat fibre mat, as well as in terms of tooling technology and production process of this innovation, we were able to take advantage of more than 20 years of experience working with

IAC FiberFrame

natural-fiber-reinforced materials in automotive interiors.

By manufacturing this product inhouse in our headliner plant, we follow our strategy and expansion of vertical integration of our interior systems. Thanks to our global manufacturing footprint and standardised processes, we are now able to adapt IAC FiberFrame to customer needs and supply it around the world.

The new product has high stiffness for improved structural rigidity and enables up to 50 percent in weight saving compared with conventional steel frames. Compared to conventional thermoplastic frames, FiberFrame also prevents warpage after climate testing. In addition, molding tooling concepts for IAC’s FiberFrame have much shorter lead times than conventional steel molding tools.

Viable Innovation

IAC-Hybrid Fleece Molding Concept Door

64 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

Within its strategy of viable innovation, IAC leveraged its integrated material and process knowhow to provide our OEM customers with significant weight reduction, a lower carbon footprint for their vehicles and a more efficient production process.

The other innovative product IAC has recently developed is the HybridFleece Moulding that allows

for significant weight savings in the vehicle interiors. This proprietory advanced technology has scored impressively against conventional processes in the environmental balance from the Institute for Biopolymers and Biocomposites (IfBB) from the University for Applied Sciences of Hannover, Germany.

IAC HybridFleece Moulding is a unique process for combining the pressing of a thermoplastic mixed fiber fleece from a natural fiber, glass or recycled carbon fiber with the molding of stiffening ribs and clips into a one step process in the same molding tool with no need for additional welding or gluing. The technology can be used to produce a variety of lightweight structural and visible (A-surface) interior components and is designed to reduce process complexity.In order to compare IAC HybridFleece Moulding with conventional processes, IAC produced a door carrier concept and tested it against the serial SUV product it delivers to an OEM customer. In the present case, the concept door carrier delivers a mass reduction of 35 percent and – with regard to its greenhouse potential – 40 percent less emissions over the course of its lifetime.

IAC HybridFleece Moulding and our own EcoMat formulations and production exemplify IAC’s viable innovation and vertical integration strategies to provide unique solutions that can be implemented quickly and efficiently within existing processes.

Gajanan Gandhe is Executive Director India and VP South Asia/ Africa, IAC

COVER STORY – Components

Meritor CVS Enters New Verticals T

By Thimmaiah N P

he year that went by was good for Meritor Commercial Vehicle Systems (CVS). During the last fiscal (October-September), in the segment we are operating in, 7.5 tonne and above, we grew 42 percent while the industry grew about 33 percent. This year the industry growth will be moderated with only five to six percent growth while we will grow 12 to 13 percent. If the industry grows 10 to12 percent then we will grow around 20 to 22 percent.

Earlier we had a product gap in Intermediate Commercial Vehicle (ICV) segment and we have plugged it by introducing new products. We have done lots of work in last two-three years to come up with new products like hub reduction in heavy segment to bridge that gap. Now we have a complete range of products in the axle side.

In brakes also we were not very strong in ICV segment 310 and 360 diameters. We have introduced products in this segment too and now we are growing. These are products initiatives in the existing portfolio.

Thimmaiah N P

66 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

MT 846

We are also expanding penetration with the customers. Ashok Leyland is strong for us. Though Tata Motors is not very strong for us in terms of axles, we are increasing our share with several customers including Mahindra, Daimler and other new entrants.

New Verticals We are entering lots of new verticals. In the off-high way segment our contribution was very minimal but now we are talking about developing a new specific product for off- highway requirements. Now it is one of our focus areas.

Through contract manufacturing, we have built 100-tonne truck axle for Hitachi India. The design is not ours but other aspects like sourcing, manufacturing and testing were done by us. Hitachi India will export the vehicles. This initiative will help us get into other off highways segments.

In China, Meritor is very strong in off-highway vehicles and cater to loaders, motor graders and cranes etc. In India we have just begun to concentrate on this segment targeting

tippers used mainly for mining and other works.

We are getting in a big way to military vehicles. We are very actively pursuing with the OEMs involved in this segment for all kinds of axles, front steering wheel ride and independent suspension. There is already independent suspension in our global portfolio. Now we are talking to OEMs and the Government.

We need to localise according to the requirement here.

We are bringing another new product, the medium range hub-reduction axles. Now we have only the single reduction followed by heavy hubreduction axles. The new product might cannibalise our existing axles to some extent but it gives a very high value to the customers. In some cases, it might replace tandem axle with solo hub-reduction axle. We will be launching it in the coming months and it is going to be a game changer for us.

We may develop air suspension in the next phase. Now our focus is to bring the slipper type suspension. We are working with some of our customers.

This type of suspension helps the

Drum Brake

also working on ‘what else’ kind of strategy – to assess the avenues of opportunities for us. We will continue to focus on new areas though not out of our core under chassis items; but we are thinking about how to grow the business further. Meritor has a joint venture with Randon group in Brazil and we are looking at options to bring in some of the products made by them.

LCV-11X

million a year. Our target is to take it at least $400 million to$500 million.

There is tough competition among all regions. So we are just working on what makes sense for us.

We are doing well in the aftermarket business of our own traditional products. We are launching transmission components, clutch components and brake components.

For this we will be buying from our own sources that have been specifically developed over a period of time.

Globally it is almost $1 billion business.

LCV-13X

customer to have ‘lift’ option. In bell crank there are 20 lube points while the slipper type suspension has only two points. Besides, it is 100 kg lighter for the same tonnage of applications. Therefore, the payload of the vehicle can be relatively increased. Besides, the centre of gravity (CG) can be lowered, enabling the truck to be stable. We are bringing it from our other locations. We are already working with a few OEMs and will be supplying the prototypes in the coming months.

Even during downturn we were busy in developing products. All the new products have been developed during the last three to four years. We are

India is leap-froging to Bharat Stage (BS) VI from BS IV. We really don’t know how the market will be three years down the line. But we are working on to support the OEMs on their BS VI venture. For example, we are working on improving axle efficiency that will probably lead to fuel efficiency. Also we are working to reduce the size and minimise friction to increase efficiency. In addition we are working on new materials.

Exports, Aftermarket Export is also our focus area.

Currently about 15 percent of the revenue comes from exports. Global sourcing is a separate unit and we are doing around $200 million to $250

In India, we started some five years ago and have been growing 30-40 percent year on year. We are also expanding our R&D capabilities in our Mysore Tech Centre. Now there is a team of 200 engineers and we will add 10-15 percent more in the next two years.

We have not utilised our installed manufacturing capacity fully. Without adding machinery, we enhanced productivity with automation and some layout changes and lots of process improvements. I don’t see any significant increase in capex in the near future.

Thimmaiah N P is the Managing Director and CEO of Meritor CVS India AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 67

COVER STORY – Components

Rane Makes New Products With Latest Technologies

By L Ganesh

I

ndian auto parts manufacturers are going global. The earlier model of waiting for vehicle companies to come to India and then localising and making a product for the Indian market is changing. This change is mainly owing to two important reasons.

One is that the number of global car companies coming to India and the models they introduce are phenomenal.

So our customers are thinking increasingly about global products.

Even a product developed in India is not only for India. Some products may be developed in Thailand. They could include the Indian needs also. Nobody is going to give an opportunity just to develop a product for the Indian market alone.

The second point is that scale has become very important. If we have to become more innovative, we must be able to invest in R&D. It is not possible to follow the Indian growth path alone and achieve a scale where we can invest and innovate. I feel the Indian auto parts companies also have to go more global.

Obviously, many of us have to take small steps in the beginning. That is the way we have to go forward in the globalisation process. We cannot afford to wait for things to happen; we have to act on our own. Similarly the models developed elsewhere in the world are not going to work here.

There they encourage and protect their local industries, and then build a scale.

In India in 1991, we opened up the economy to the whole world without any consideration for local the industry.

Major Impediments

L Ganesh

68 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

Today, I would say, the major impediment for globalisation is our mind-set. We have to change the mind-set and start looking

for global opportunities rather than saying we are Indian players with some exports. I think, we should start saying that, “we will grow our business by taking advantage of the global opportunities.”

We must also learn the cross-culture kind of management. We cannot manage a company overseas fully from India. Understanding the local culture there and then getting integrated into the local environment is very important. That cultural-fit is something we have to learn as we go forward.

Capital for the Indian components companies with no big scale can be a challenge. I think one has to take that call. Capital is available in the market for a company which has a good track record and a good business plan. Capital is looking at markets like India as growth in other markets has matured. Lot of capital is ready for Indian investment. By understanding the process one can raise capital without much difficulty.

Global Market I think, understanding of the global market place is very important for our globalisation efforts. The US is completely open as it has a cosmopolitan environment. There is no issue of the origin of the product.

They are clearly looking for only performance at the end of the day.

If quality products are delivered at the right cost and the customers satisfied, then I think it does not matter who owns the company.

They look at a company’s capacity to grow and capability to invest to support them continuously. Origin is not an issue for them.

Although we do not have much experience in Europe so far, I think, the European market also is pretty much similar. China and Japan

could be different. Honestly, I don’t know whether they are equally open to the foreign ownership. There could be some issues.

Mexico is close to NAFTA and it is an attractive destination for many companies supplying to the US and Canada. Some parts of Mexico, they say, are very good and some parts are not so conducive for us to manage. Many auto parts companies are setting up shop in certain parts of Mexico. From the market access point of view, it has got certain advantages; especially when the customers are in the US. Mexico also is growing very fast and over a period it may catch up with developed markets in terms of wages and salaries. It may not be very attractive going forward.

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 69

COVER STORY – Components

And there are lots of advantages that the US is offering today, especially in some of the southern states. Power and other facilities are available at reasonable costs.

Only salaries and wages are much higher there. But if you get your productivity levels then this issue can be managed.

Though Mexico is an attractive place, some companies have started looking at the US as an alternative site. For a US company Mexico could be very attractive but for an Indian company, one has to look at both, compare and decide on the most suitable location.

New Products In terms of new products, advanced electric power steering with brushless motor is something that is catching up.

This is what Rane NSK is well equipped to supply and that application is in high demand for passenger cars. We are developing Rane NSK as a centre for commercial vehicle columns. With the support of NSK, we have created engineering competence, testing and validation facility at our Chennai plant. We can start developing commercial vehicle columns from India and this is a good development. We are progressing well and we will be exporting this year to Isuzu Thailand.

For some products our engineers are working in Japan in line with Isuzu.

They have trained nearly 12 engineers in Rane NSK and many of the future

70 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

developments will be here. In terms of new products, air bag is our latest product that we have added and it is growing quite rapidly.

This is because our customers are adding airbags for meeting safety regulations, for competitive positioning and for exports models.

Airbag is the product that will grow rapidly in the coming years.

We have the latest and up-to-date compact technologies from TRW for seat belts and that is giving us some advantages. We have stared exporting to South America, Brazil and Columbia. In seat belts also we have compact designs and the market for them is going to expand.

For other products, light-weighting seems to be a major trend here for enhancing fuel efficiency.

We are also working on all our product lines to reduce weight. For example, for the hydraulic power steering we have been able to develop aluminium pumps and we are working with our customers.

From our conventional cast iron pump we have developed compact aluminium pump. It reduces weight by 30-40 percent for commercial vehicles. We are currently testing this product in new commercial vehicles. We have also reduced the weight of gears. Some models that are going to be launched this year will have these gears. That gave us the concept that “if you start from the drawing board it is possible to achieve results.�

With emission standards moving from BS IV to BS VI, we have to

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COVER STORY – Components

develop suitable engine valves. So we have started working on new materials for some export customers like BMW. Innovative construction is required to reduce the weight of the valves. Though they are very light products, there is opportunity to make them lighter. This is important as the multi-valve engines with very high RPM and better fuel efficiency, need valves with a unique construction. We are investing in R&D in that area. We are developing some prototypes of very light valves with some fancy alloys.

The heat transfer from head to the stem through the cylinder head is very important. When RPM goes up from the conventional levels, temperature will raise, especially in the exhaust valves. It will be crucial for trucks having longer duty cycles. As the engines today are not opened at all, the reliability of the parts becomes very crucial. It looks very deceptively simple. But when you use millions of pieces, reliability becomes very important.

We are working on some materials, constructs and prototypes.

Electronics Use of electronic is very common and is increasing. The power steering and airbags have sensors. Our first step in Rane is to assimilate and invest in some electronic capabilities to understand the use of electronic products and how it can be integrated with mechanical parts. Right now we do not plan to get into electronics as there are enough specialists. Our focus is on to understand how to procure, handle and how to integrate the 72 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

electronic-mechanical parts. Electric Vehicles (EVs) are becoming a reality now. Electronic giants like Apple, and big car companies are getting into it. It is said that some of the biggest technology centres of Ford or Toyota are in San Francisco and not in Detroit. EVs will grow much faster than we think. One has to wait and see.

However, there are several issues including infrastructure, battery prices, oil prices, range and others.

The one product that is a threat to us is engine valves. The engine valve is an issue which we will have to think about in future. Most of our other products will continue to be used. We are also trying to understand what will happen to our products such as brakes and steering systems etc, when electric vehicles come. We are trying to understand the implications and what we need to do. That is the knowledge we are trying to assimilate.

Additive manufacturing is extremely useful in prototyping and development work for validation and simulation testing of various parts.

It is the best and quickest way to do it. It seems very good for high precision small batch production like aerospace. I am not sure if it is equally valid when we produce millions of parts for automotives.

Future Plans This year (2016-17) will be reasonably good as commercial vehicles and passenger cars are doing well. There is some movement in infrastructure like road building, power etc. We see some encouraging activities. The

uncertain areas are tractors and entry- level motorcycles. But in the recent months, there is a pick-up in these motorcycles. But for tractors, it seems, we have to wait and watch the monsoon. Today it is very subdued; if the monsoon is good and if the focus of the budget is on rural economy, it also might pick up.

The overall attitude of the automotive industry is very positive. We are going ahead with our plans. The performance will be good in the next two- to- three years. If the economy continues to grow and this government that has already started showing some results in the areas like power, infrastructure and road building, continues to progress, we think the next two three years will be good for India.

Because of our extreme focus, we have made good breakthrough in exports. Our order position for the next three-four years is quite good. In terms of capital, we are very closely watching the market and if the business is good, we will continue to invest. Overall I am quite positive for the next three to four years.

Setting up a greenfield facility is not on cards now. However, there will be expansion of capacities. We will be expanding our steering system plant, Rane NSK in Bawal, as there are some new programmes, and the Rane NSK plant in Uttarakhand, since it is a very small plant. We are looking at options to shift some of our northern customers from Chennai to Uttarakhand. We may add some lines at our engine valves plant also.

L Ganesh is the Chairman of Rane Group

COVER STORY – Components

Diversification, FutureReadiness Help FIEM

By S Narayanan

F

IEM Industries Limited has grown continuously to be a global supplier. Overfour decades of experience and expertise, supported by farsighted vision, innovation and dynamism, have made us a leader in our field.

FIEM’s versatility is reflected in its capability for developing automotive lamps, rear view mirrors, and plastic and sheet metal parts for twowheelers and four- wheelers.

We are catering to many OEMs in India and abroad. We are always prepared to adopt and meet all present and any future regulatory requirements.For this FIEM is constantly upgrading its R&D and testing facility. Looking at the changing landscape, recently we have signed a MoU with Asian Industry Co., Ltd., Japan,to manufacture Canister for two-wheeler Industry. It is an emission control system product and has great market

potential in India due to implementation of stricter emission norms for two-wheelers.

New Segments After strengthening our position in the automotive component segment we have moved further to new products and new technology. FIEM has taken up two new segments under its diversification programme.

The first segment is for manufacturing LED lights for indoor and outdoor applications and the second is for integrated passenger information system with LED panel and software for Railways, buses, taxies and metro.

In the long- term FIEM has plans to enhance its product range with many more new products with the new venture. This will help it make full utilisation of the existing capacities, infrastructure and manpower. It will also contribute to the next phase of growth for the company through a rapid expansion programme.

FIEM’s world-class R&D and testing facility give it an edge over others and keep it updated on the global level in terms of new technology, design, infrastructure etc. FIEM is able to offer its

S Narayanan

customers cost- effective solutions, best quality products, and shortest development time and to achieve total customer satisfaction. The company has established a name among customers with its adherence to TQM, through stringent quality control system, shortest development time, and very effective value engineering.

FIEM has nine manufacturing facilities in India of which four are located in the South, four in the North and one in the West. Our R&D Centre is recognised by the Ministry of Science and Technology (DSIR), Government of India. FIEM has NABL- Accredited Lab for General Lighting Testing.

It has design and R&D Centres in Japan and Italy. The designers and engineers from the R&D Centres are constantly working to give innovative products for the customers. They also do futuristic research on new technologies.

FIEM has also enhanced its diversification in automotive space and signed memorandums of understanding with two Japanese companies’ viz., Honda Lock Mfg. Co. Ltd., and Toyota Tsusho Corporation, for joint venture proposal to manufacture key sets, door mirrors and outside handles etc. These Japanese Companies are Group Companies of Japanese conglomerates Honda and Toyota, respectively.

S Narayanan is the Head of International Operations at FIEM

COVER STORY – Commercial Vehicles

Ownership Cost Is

Pivotal

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he global road transportation industry has been witnessing increased profitability due to drop in fuel prices.

Besides, the technological developments in the consumables like lubricants and long-life aggregates have been helping the industry to enhance the uptime of the vehicles and become more competitive.

For buses, technology has been gradually shifting to hybrids with a few markets witnessing the new breed of vehicles. In some cases the ultra-capacitors replace batteries with several benefits including increased life.

In India the commercial vehicle segment, especially the medium and heavy vehicles, has seen considerable growth for the last 18 months, though it is yet to touch the pre-slowdown levels of 2011. The commercial vehicle manufacturers have been struggling to offer the customers the lowest possible cost of ownership as it is the key determinant of their sustainable and profitable operation. This segment will witness rapid changes in the coming years.

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 77

COVER STORY – Commercial Vehicles

BharatBenz On Sustainable Growth Track

By Erich Nesselhauf

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haratBenz stands for world-class products and world-class service.

The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for our customers is at the core of everything we do at BharatBenz. We are convinced that you will not find any better products on the market with regard to TCO than ours.

Erich Nesselhauf To start with, we offer our heavy-duty trucks. We continue our customers the products with to raise the bar. And the fact that the best reliability, and more uptime we renew our portfolio three years means more business. Some of our after the initial launch shows our customers have clocked up more commitment to offer our customers than 500,000 km in just over three the best products for their money. years with minimal maintenance cost.

I expect these new vehicles to give us So we are very confident about our additional momentum in the year. We quality. It allows us to offer increased had a good start with our strongest service intervals, making for lower maintenance cost, and a best-in-class first quarter on record, actually the warranty of up to five years. ninth quarter of consecutive sales growth. Besides that, you can expect With regard to technologies, we pull from us at this year’s IAA commercial all levers to get there, and there is vehicle trade fair in Germany some obviously a particularly strong focus interesting product presentations, and on the powertrain. Backed by worldideas on connectivity. class customer services at reasonable prices, we put TCO at the centre of Preparations for BS 6 the BharatBenz brand’s hallmark Daimler India Commercial Vehicles value proposition.

(DICV), as a part of Daimler AG, has access to full technological firepower In 2015 we launched our construction of its parent. That includes proven and mining trucks and our buses. global technologies up to Euro 6. So This year the focus is on major whatever target the government will renewals of our truck product eventually set for the introduction of portfolio. In February we launched BS 6, we will be there. Right now, we the new generation of our mediumoffer BS 6 throughout the BharatBenz duty vehicles, and later this year we portfolio, and we are ready to offer BS will present the new generation of

78 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

5 when there is sufficient demand in the market. We have been exporting Euro 5 vehicles under the FUSO brand to selected markets for some time now. Going forward, we remain committed to our original vision to transform the Indian CV industry.

The outlook for the Indian market is very promising, all experts agree on its huge potential. So we are very optimistic, and we have all needed capacities at hand with our plant at Oragadam/Tamil Nadu which is designed for a capacity of up to 72,000 units.

Beyond the growth of our domestic sales under the BharatBenz brand, we will also continue to increase exports.

Under the umbrella of Daimler Trucks Asia, we produce FUSO-branded vehicles for exports to important growth markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. So altogether, it is a clear growth path for DICV along which we are sustainably developing our business.

Erich Nesselhauf is the Managing Direct & CEO of Daimler India Commercial Vehicles

COVER STORY – Commercial Vehicles

Tata Motors Travels In New Terrain APA Bureau

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he commercial vehicle major Tata Motors is on a roll. The company has been introducing products and concept consistently matching the growing demand of the national market. The company’s recent joint collaborations to manufacture strategically important new products are testimony to its prowess in the segment and capability to cater to the changing dynamics of the market.

Furthering the initiatives for an enhanced customer purchase experience of its Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles (MHCV) range, Tata Motors showcased 35 different products – from haulage to construction related key technologies and services – at the Advanced Trucking Expo, ‘Truck World,’ in Jaipur. The new Signa range of MHCVs were also launched. The event offered Tata Motors and its partners, communicative and promotional opportunities for these products and solutions, ‘all under one roof.’ The Signa range of MHCVs, showcased at Auto Expo 2016, was presented in various configurations including a newly- designed and configured cabin, with an in-built telematics system and proven Tata Motors aggregates, for a world-class trucking experience.

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Ace Mega Tata Motors along with its authorised distributor Sipradi Trading launched the all-new pick-up, The Tata Ace Mega, in Nepal. Boasting superior performance of a pick-up, with a rated payload of one tonne, the vehicle is powered by the newgeneration DiCOR diesel engine, offering improved fuel efficiency and the lowest total cost of ownership of a small commercial vehicle. An innovative cargo transport solution, the vehicle has a stylish, strong and comfortable cabin.

Developed to maximise revenues for the last mile transport operators, the Tata Ace Mega ensures more trips and more load carrying capability, with a low turnaround time, meeting requirements of both, intra-city and intercity transportation. Powerful enough to be driven on any terrain, the vehicle performs tasks of a small pick-up, hence is an allrounder in this segment, helping operators elevate their business.

Strategic Tie-up Tata Motors has signed a strategic agreement with Bharat Forge Limited and General

Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) of the US, for the Future Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) programme of the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Tata Motors will lead the consortium, with Bharat Forge as a partner, while General Dynamics Land Systems will bring in its proven expertise in combat vehicle platforms.

Under this arrangement, Tata Motors will play on its strengths related to design, development and integration of mobility platforms, while Bharat Forge will bring on board its competence with fighting platforms and manufacturing strengths. General Dynamics, as SOSI (a system of systems integrator) in various programmes, will bring in the required competency enabling Tata Motors, the lead integrator, to offer a truly indigenous solution for this ‘Make in

India’ programme. To be developed under the ‘Make Category,’ FICV is a high mobility armoured battle vehicle, for the infantry to keep pace with new advancements in weaponry system.

FICV needs to be compact, tracked and amphibious, no heavier than 18-20 tonnes, so that it can be airportable and transportable by other means, onto combat zones. The FICV will replace the Indian Army’s fleet of 2610 Russian-designed BMP (Sarath BMP-II) series armed vehicles, that are in operation since 1980.

In yet another development, Tata Motors signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra Ex-Servicemen Corporation Ltd (MESCO), to create employment opportunities for exservice men of the Indian Army, in response to Tata Motors solution for the MoD’s $10 billion combat vehicle programme.

Also the company has signed a follow-on contract for the supply of

an additional 619 units, of its highmobility (HMV) 6X6 multi-axle truck, for the Indian Army. Being built with a material handling crane, the Tata 6X6 HMV is meant for the loadingunloading and transportation of ammunition pallets, spares and other operational equipment.

floor configuration, with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) – the single largest order awarded for Hybrid Electric vehicle technology.

Developed indigenously, the Tata Starbus Full Low Floor Diesel Series Hybrid Electric Bus is economically viable, safe and environmentally friendly.

Series Hybrid technology offers lowest cost of ownership, with improved fuel savings of the order of 25-30 percent, reduction in emissions in comparison to conventional buses and runs on pure electric mode, for around 30-35 percent of the total travel distance.

The bus also incorporates ITS (Intelligence Transport Systems) for public information, through GPS via electronic destination display boards, indicating expected time of arrival at bus stops and route announcements within the bus etc.

Further, bucket type seats, softer suspension, tubeless tyres and lower NVH (Noise, Vibration & Harshness) ensure that passengers are comfortable.

Global Delivery Centre Tata Motors has opened the new facility of its Global Delivery Centre

(GDC) in Pune at the ICC Devi Gaurav Technology Park at the hands of Guenter Butschek, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, in the presence of senior management from Tata Motors, JLR and other Tata Motors Group companies.

GDC has been set up to streamline business processes and achieve cost optimisation goals through conceptualisation and deployment of shared services strategies for Tata Motors Group. This state-of the art facility has been built to scale up its operations across multiple locations and time zones in 12-15 months.

GDC has footprints also in locations including Mumbai, Jamshedpur, Lucknow, Dharwad, Pantnagar and Sanand, supporting 12 Tata Motors Group companies including JLR, Tata Marcopolo, TAL, Tata Technologies, TML Drivelines and Tata Motors Finance.

Tata Motors launched Shared Services in 2003 with Finance Function and expanded to GDC in 2013 with a team of 120. Today, the team has grown to a strong pool of close to 600 professionals, delivering to over 160 business processes. It has also filed two IPRs for unique process innovations within this short period.

Developed indigenously, the Tata 6X6 high mobility all-terrain all-wheel drive vehicle, has demonstrated maximum performance in the most demanding conditions and is built on a capable platform for diverse tasks, utilising the state-of-the-art systems and aggregates of Tata Motors.

Passenger Vehicles In the passenger vehicle side Tata Motors has signed a contract to supply 25 Tata Starbus Diesel Series Hybrid Electric Bus with Full Low AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 81

COVER STORY – Commercial Vehicles

Eicher Makes Futuristic Trucks

By P Ravishankar

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echnology will play an important role in driving the future of Indian trucking. The technological innovations will be in vehicle design, power and performance, and fuel consumption giving more lifetime profitability for the customer. We, at Eicher, are at the cusp of this huge transformation the commercial vehicle industry is undergoing.

The infrastructure and mining segments account for around 40 percent of the heavy duty (HD) trucks market in India. HD has seen a growth trend in demand since a few years. One of the key growth factors has been the improvement in road infrastructure. With rapid fleet replacement by fleet owners, HD segment has picked up and shown growth ahead of other segments.

High diesel price has impacted fleet owner profitability, leading to demand for more fuel efficient vehicles. There is also demand for vehicles with comfortable and safe cabins so that drivers can drive longer distance daily, leading to better productivity. All these will enable increased prosperity for all stakeholders: owners, operators and drivers.

Through our products, Pro 8031XM and Pro 6025T, we are able to address two critical segments, mining and construction, with earth moving equipment and concrete equipment, respectively. The Eicher Pro Series tippers have been designed and 82 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

Ravishankar

developed in modern and hightech manufacturing facilities of Pithampur and Hoskote. These next generation tippers provide an unparalleled business advantage by maximising product performance right through the life-cycle of the vehicle, minimising the cost of operations and improving the levels of productivity.

Volvo Links The new Pro 8031XM is designed and developed in coordination with Volvo Group and is powered by the stateof-the-art VEDX8 engine which is built on Volvo Group’s global platform. Pro 8031XM comes with several classleading features like Fuel coaching, Eicher Live Telematics, best-in-class cabin and superior performance in terms of productivity and fuel efficiency. One of the innovations in this range is the engine technology from VE Commercial Vehicles - the VEDX5 and VEDX8 engines. The former is a four-cylinder engine designed to deliver the best-in-class fuel efficiency suitable for on road applications while the latter is a six-cylinder engine designed for the different requirements of applications in construction and mining.

Eicher Live Eicher Live, an advanced Telematics solution for the commercial vehicle industry, is a new technology that is being installed in commercial vehicle fleet. It is the trucking intelligence that drives profitable fleet management,

by monitoring their movement, fuel consumption and maintenance needs.

Eicher Live is available as a companyinstalled system in the Eicher Pro Series range of trucks and buses: Eicher Pro 8000 and Eicher Pro 6000.

This provides real time dashboard data analytics of the fleet, tracking the most important factors including fuel management and fault identification thus allowing customers to plan maintenance.

Eicher Live’s dynamic intelligence helps maximise productivity and profitability.

Eicher Live has features like Advance Breakdown Assistance, Dynamic Service Reminders and Pro-active Service. The major components of the telematics system are a hardware unit (Telematics Gateway), intelligent vehicle electronic module and a mobile sim card that connects to the Eicher Live hub.

With the government pushing the mandate of smart cities, smart transportation will be an integral part of the driving ecosystem. Services like Eicher Live, and technologically advanced Pro Series, will help the heavy commercial vehicle segment keep pace with the government agenda.

P Ravishankar is EVP – Sales, Marketing & Aftermarket, Eicher Motors

COVER STORY – Commercial Vehicles

Ashok Leyland Rides On Innovation

By Vinod Dasari

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he Indian automotive industry has adopted safety and emission norms and policies very fast. Now it has to adopt Euro 6 or BS 6 norms by 2020 and for that the industry needs help from the government, the regulators and other stakeholders. As for Ashok Leyland each of our vehicles has been designed with precision and attention, and represents the best of our technological expertise and sophisticated R&D capabilities for innovation.

Our products have always been recognised for their reliability, innovation, and market-readiness.

Everyone says the auto industry is not ready for the changing emission norms but we have been ready with BS 4 since 2010, for which the fuel availability nationwide will be from 2017 onwards.

Technologies of Euro 6 are quite different from those of the previous emission standards. Ashok Leyland is known for innovation.

In fact we leverage Indian innovation. We are the only company in the world meeting BS3 norms using mechanical fuel pump.

However, the Euro 6 truck that we developed has contemporary technology modified in India and made in India. This is 84 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

completely different from what it is available now.

The engine controls the particulate matter very well. We work with Albonair, our company in Germany and an expert in SCR, to develop catalytic reduction system for the new engine. We will commercialise the vehicle whenever the fuel is available.

In the case of buses, when we launched the 12-tonne vehicle it became the product in the premium ICV – intermediate commercial vehicle segment. Now we wanted to launch something in the value segment also, without compromising on the quality, performance, comfort and safety. We re-engineered the whole vehicle and close to 60 part numbers have been changed and tested.

We leveraged what we learned from Boss and Dost and therefore, Guru evolved as a contender in the ICV market.

New Opportunities Going forward we will be looking at opportunities to introduce new solutions to the mobility industry.

We will not just launch a product for the sake of it. We will work with our customers and identity the segments and provide solutions. We are working with them to see either we can introduce a variant or new segments that

Vinod Dasari

we should come up with. Aapke jeet, Hamarae Jeet (Your life is our life) is our tagline and we really mean it. Commercial vehicles are not like other segment of vehicles. It is a business enabler for the customers.

Hence we continuously look at ways to innovate and how to improve performance of our vehicles for the customers to enhance to operating economy. We look at every aspect of vehicle – tyres, wheels, weight reduction, gearbox, axles, cab etc. For instance Guru has a cab that has the lowest coefficient of drag resulting in improved fuel economy.

The traffic conditions in India is different, especially for city buses, as the braking occurrences are significantly high. So we developed the HyBus that uses the braking energy to charge an ultra-capacitor, which has a life of more than 10 years and it is a lot safer than batteries.

Vinod Dasari is the Managing Director of Ashok Leyland

COVER STORY – Commercial Vehicles

Volvo Brings To India New Paradigms For Trucks, Buses, Construction Equipment Volvo India is a 4,000-people strong organisation. Besides manufacturing trucks, buses and construction equipment (CE) for India as well as for exports, the company does R&D and other business process work for the global operations of AB Volvo, Sweden. In an exclusive interview to T Murrali of AutoParts Asia, Kamal Bali, Managing Director, Volvo India (P) Limited, shares insights on several topics, including the various roles the company plays for India and for the world, and the Volvo way of creating market for its products. The edited excerpts:Q: Can you give a brief update on Volvo Group in India, its goals and plans.

Bali: Volvo India is a conglomerate, an integrated company, fully owned by AB Volvo Group of Sweden. Today, Volvo India enshrines the operations of all its four major businesses, namely – Trucks, Construction Equipment (CE), Buses and Penta engines. The Indian entity also encompasses the very important Group Technology function (called GTT), IT services and the global accounting services’ organisation. We have three manufacturing facilities in Bangalore.

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Kamal Bali

Located in Bangalore, GTT is the design and engineering arm of the group’s truck business. It also does some synergistic work for our Penta and Buses’ business. This is an important part of Volvo India, serving Group’s interests globally.

The Group has two other legal entities in India – Volvo Financial Services (an NBFC to support retail finance of Volvo and Eicher trucks & buses, Volvo and SDLG Construction Equipment), and a very successful joint venture with Eicher Group, namely VE Commercial Vehicles, with manufacturing facilities in Pithampur near Indore, where we manufacture EICHER range of trucks, buses and engines. We have also created a new facility in VECV where some of Volvo’s state-of-the-art engines are made.

Q: Can you share more details about Volvo Truck’s business in India?

Bali: Volvo Trucks is serving almost exclusively the mining segment in India. With a running population of over 6,000 units and a market share of over 60 percent, we are truly contributing to powering India.

Indeed, more than 50 percent of overburden in Indian coal mines is removed with Volvo Trucks.

We are today delivering the most modern application with “I Shift” which contributes to higher efficiency and significant reduction in fuel consumption. We are proud to be offering to the market the largest dump trucks, exclusively developed for India, the 10x4 tag which was introduced in EXCON in 2015.

Since the last one year, the HCV industry is growing at a handsome 25 percent plus rate, on the back of growth in mining, infrastructure and replacement of ageing fleets. This is expected to continue because of government’s focus on infrastructure and growing economic activity.

applications. The engine programme comprises diesel and gasoline engines with power outputs between 100 and 900 HP, and are known for their quality, reliability, lower fuel consumption and higher powerto-weight ratio. The Volvo Penta products are used in a various applications serving demanding customers in many different industries.

In the marine segment, we power various types of workboats and surveillance crafts for both the private sector, and government including the Indian Navy. For transport vessels, on inland waterways, we provide both propulsion and auxiliary power, to customers such Sesa Goa and Jindal, transporting coal on the Ganges.

Q: Can you explain more about Volvo Penta. What are the new developments at Penta?

Bali: Volvo Penta’s role is to design, manufacture, market and service engines, drivelines and related systems for marine and industrial

In the industrial segment, we power generating sets used in many industries and heavy-duty equipment for raw material extraction, material handling, construction, and agriculture. We have just released plans to have our five and eight-litre

With the likely roll-out of GST, new infrastructure of roads and highways and dedicated freight corridors, coupled with the growth in manufacturing sector due to the “Make in India” mission, we expect the logistics industry in India to go through a transformation, which will help us extend our expertise and pioneering position to the other segments of the transport industry in the next few years.

Through our very successful and vibrant partnership with our JV company (VECV), we are serving valued customers like BGR, Ambey Mining, Sadbhav, to name a few, in States like Maharashtra, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh.

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industrial off-road engines produced at our JV’s manufacturing plant (VEPT) near Indore. A new line will be added at that plant exclusively for the Volvo Penta engines. Introducing this production line in India will be the foundation on which to build for the future.

Q: What about Volvo Buses?

Bali: Volvo Buses is our third largest business; but more importantly, it is the visible face of the Volvo Group in India, because we have pioneered new paradigms and transformed public transportation in India since 2001. We have sold over 6,000 buses in India. Today, about 4,000 Volvo intercity coaches operate on key routes connecting over 80 destinations across the country.

In city transport we have a unique position as over 1,500 of our buses are operating in 34 cities. We are the only company to provide city buses as per the Urban Bus Specifications scheme to all these cities. Volvo Buses has significantly contributed to sustainable mobility by encouraging people to leave their personal vehicles and adopt public transport.

As you are aware, safety is one of the core values at Volvo, and we have always kept this at the centre of what we do and when it comes to our products. We were the first bus manufacturer to the implement the Bus Body Code in April 2015. We have been offering ABS as a standard feature since 2005, a decade before the mandate came into effect.

Our Bus business is also future-ready with our preparedness to meet the impending Euro 4 emission norms.

We have introduced the first hybrid bus in India, and this is the first step in our vision and focus towards electro-

mobility. And perhaps another big milestone, which we will soon reach, is the exports of Buses “made in Bangalore” to Europe.

Q: Would the exports of buses cover the entire Europe, since each country in EU has its own regulations?

Bali: We will start with baby steps with one or two destinations in Europe. Yes, the specifications for buses are stringent and diverse from one country to another, especially in the number of seating, the applications, configuration etc.

Q: You have very lean manufacturing operations here, with only a few stations. When you have limited options do you think it is possible to make many variants and still make profit?

Bali: Yes, absolutely. That is the advantage we have in India, the ability to manage this large variety.

Being able to export to Europe is an acknowledgement of our quality, the fact that people want to buy Volvo buses made in India. It is a matter of pride for our team, for the standards we have set out in India.

Exports will evolve over a period of time, as I said, it will be a step-by-

step evolution. And, for us the export business is generally more profitable.

Q: How does the construction equipment business fare in India?

Bali: In my view, Construction Equipment (CE) business is the one area where we will see sustained double digit growth in India, at least over the next couple of decades, on the back of huge demand from infrastructure sectors of roads, highways, railways, ports, waterways, dedicated freight corridors, renewable power, housing, et al.

The current penetration level of CE in India is very low, which is a huge opportunity for the sector.

Volvo Construction Equipment (VCE), which has the distinction of being one of the largest CE players in the world, is a pioneer with presence in mining and infrastructure sectors in India. It has strong position in hydraulic excavators, articulated haulers, compaction equipment, wheeled loaders and paving equipment.

We are providing solutions in the areas of road construction, heavy infrastructure such as dams, ports, canals, coal mining and loading, quarries, material handling,

COVER STORY – Commercial Vehicles

demolition, tunnelling and a host of other applications.

We are building some of the worldclass products in our facility in Bangalore and most of our offerings are unmatched for their fuel economy, reliability, safety and total cost of ownership. Volvo CE products have contributed immensely to the development of infrastructure.

With our dedicated pan India distribution network, that stays close

to our customers and, coupled with demand growth, we are very bullish about the future of our CE business in India. We also export some of our produce from Bangalore.

Q: Is it because of the government’s focus on infrastructure?

Bali: Yes, you are right. Mining infrastructure, development of roads and highways has seen an unprecedented focus and activity level in the last 12 to 15 months. This indeed shall be one of the biggest 90 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

drivers for the sector for the next five to seven years. Infrastructure will grow in a very big way. It is also due to a huge pent-up demand as the previous period of 2011 to 2014 saw a slow-down in the industry. Likewise, the heavy commercial vehicles (HCV) have grown 30 percent plus in the first quarter of this year.

Q: Do you have plans to export in this segment? How about the local content?

Bali: Yes, nearly 20 to 25 percent of our production of construction equipment is exported. We are going to localise more in India which will also make us more cost efficient.

Currently, we export to South Africa and to some of the Asian countries.

This year we expect to hit record numbers in our volume growth. In addition to the product range being produced in Bangalore, we import some excavators and pavers from our other plants like Changwan in Korea, to offer a complete portfolio to our customers.

Q: Your comments on the development of the CV industry and your position?

Bali: As I mentioned, the industry which went through a major downturn from 2011 to 2014, started to pick up towards the end of 2014. In fact, 2015 was a good year for trucks (the industry did 23 to 24 percent more than in the previous year) and, this year the industry continues to grow at a stupendous pace, and we are

growing faster than the industry. For trucks, we have two distinct strong brands in India. For the segment above five tonne, we have the Eicher range with over 15 percent share of the market. In the months and years ahead, we have a great possibility of significantly improving the share of this brand in the HCV segment with our new offerings, the Pro-Series.

In the premium segment, which is currently very small, we continue to dominate with the Volvo brand, maintaining 65 percent share. This premium segment is the one with a tough duty cycle, basically for coal overburden removal and haulage, and that’s where Volvo is an unmatched winner in performance, efficiency and reliability.

Q: Can you share your strategy to enhance your market share in HCV segment and how do you propose to go about it?

Bali: Clearly, going forward, we have a winner with us in Pro-8000. Let me give you some background on the

info@veloxtyres.com

COVER STORY – Commercial Vehicles

segment.

Q: These numbers from the Pro-Series will be accounted to your joint venture VECV, or Volvo India?

Pro-Series. It is a new value platform offering from the Volvo group, which is called Quester in SE Asia and in China and Pro-8000 in India. It is more or less on the same platform but adaptations were made for the Indian market.

Eicher has a good presence, reach and credibility in the market place and, in fact, it is the best performing company in India in the sector.

However, we are fortunate that we still have a great untapped potential for growth in the HCV segment where our share is around 5 percent. Therefore, to grow in the HCV segment, our strategy is clearly to move several notches up in technology, features and benefits, at an affordable price point, thereby creating unmatched value for the customer.

We are clear that Volvo’s PRO-8000 platform is the answer to this value proposition. In power rating, look and feel, performance, fuel efficiency - on every factor - it is couple of notches above other competing trucks. Eicher is gradually integrating this into its portfolio to give a superior range in terms of pricing, capacity, and value delivery. I expect this value offering to become bigger and bigger in the years ahead and we will ride this growth.

Q: That means you are waiting for the market to evolve until you are ready with the product?

Bali: We also want to contribute to the 92 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

overall evolution of the market as we have done in all other segments. We have created a new paradigm – some of these markets had never existed before Volvo arrived in India. This whole value segment has multiple sub-segments within, like long haulage, over dimensional cargo, coal transfer etc. What we are doing is to go application by application because it is a market we need to create in the Volvo way.

Q: Recently you rolled out the 10,000th truck. Is this number in tune with your schedule or plan?

Bali: For continuous improvement and growth, I believe our aspirations should generally be higher than our actual achievements. We are glad to have hit this number successfully, this is no mean achievement. We would have, no doubt, wished that this market (coal overburden mining & ODC haulage) had grown bigger than it is today. But, this is a niche segment that we have created and it is served by the high performing Volvo brand of trucks.

Though we would have been delighted to have a bigger cake, we are grateful to our customers for making Volvo clearly the preferred choice when it comes to high performing applications. It’s a very demanding application where customers are highly discerning.

Going forward, the platform of Pro-8000 would be the answer to our appetite for larger volumes, by expanding our offerings into the value

Bali: VECV is our JV that markets, sells, services, and provides aftermarket support to all trucks of our group in India.

The manufacturing facilities for trucks in India are under two legal entities, namely Volvo India and VECV. Q: You talked about the aftermarket as a key focus area for the JV. Will this make this particular division move closer to Volvo India to have a better focus?

Bali: VECV, being our JV, does have a philosophy similar to Volvo Group.

This joint venture is an integral and important part of the larger Volvo Group organisation. Going forward, the head of our “JV’s and Value Trucks” globally would be an experienced and senior person in the organisation, just like the global head of Volvo Trucks, Mack Trucks or Renault Trucks. It would be totally

integrated with the Volvo Group organisation, though empowered at the respective local levels to take speedy decisions. As per our new strategic direction, services and aftermarket business will receive special impetus and top-level focus.

This is also in line with our philosophy of becoming an active enabler in our customer’s success.

Our ways of working or the legal organisation may be a joint venture to enter a large market like India or China but they will follow similar philosophy. We have to understand the customers’ business better to develop strong and enduring relationships.

Q: What benefits do AB Volvo and its customers in India have by making all the businesses under one umbrella organisation?

Bali: This indeed is a win-win both for the Group and our customers.

Actually, this was a natural evolution and progression for a large MNC like the Volvo Group. I say this because all our businesses are driven and aligned with our common aspirations of ‘customer success’, an ‘employer of choice’ and ‘profitable growth’. And, it is the same set of organisation values such as passion, trust and change that inspires each one of us to walk that extra mile.

So, this gave us an opportunity to have a common, synergistic backend and an enabling organisation that supports all the businesses with the same spirit and better scale and efficiency, whilst businesses continue to pursue their specific customer facing agenda like before.

It is also much better for us from the point of view of statutory and legal compliances. For the customer and the other stakeholders too, it is a more favourable situation as they now interact with one, stronger Volvo organisation. It is actually finding a lot of resonance and tremendous synergy amongst various businesses.

Q: From the Group point of view it is more efficient but what about from that of the end-customer?

Bali: As I said earlier, it is an equally favourable situation for the customers and most other stakeholders. For the end-customer, in particular, it is even better because he gets the best of both worlds. Today, when a customer is dealing with the Volvo group in India, it means he is backed by an organisation that is three to five times the size of just a Bus or a CE organisation. At the same time, the functional business organisation now has more time and is better equipped to focus on the core issues of understanding customer’s business needs, product & service

needs, productivity and uptime. So, the customer is, in fact, the real beneficiary and that is one of the key intents behind the decision.

Q: How will all these pan out going forward?

Bali: In the last 18 years that we have been around in India, we have covered a lot of ground, brought

in new paradigms in the market place (especially in the mining and public transport segments), set up a great platform and are now ready for the big take-off. In all the major national highways, one out of three construction equipment used are Volvo. As you can see, we are positioned in the right segments of the growing Indian economy. We AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 93

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understand our customer needs like never before.

We are on the cusp of a major acceleration. The digital technology is going to re-shape the future of trucking industry and we are pioneers in the area of connected vehicles with over half a million connected trucks already in the market place.

Electro-mobility is the solution we see in public transport. We are already building Euro-6 compliant engines in India (for exports). We want to remain ahead of the technology and sustainability curve. All in all, you will see a much more aggressive Volvo Group in India in the days ahead.

Q: What the bus has created for Volvo has not been done by trucks?

Bali: Both operate in completely different segments of industry and, therefore, cannot be compared.

However, we are proud and

grateful that they both have created indelible imprints, one on public transportation and the other on coal mining application. While Volvo trucks have redefined and created a new paradigm in the mining sector (coal overburden), the buses encouraged people to take to public transportation. In both cases, we have created long lasting impact.

Q: How do you plan to optimise all the manufacturing capacities that you have created in India?

Bali: In a way, in terms of our manufacturing capacity, we were ahead of the market development.

With the current and forecasted future market volume growth that we are witnessing, we believe we have created the appropriate infrastructure and the 5P’s of right ‘products, plants, people, processes and perceptions’ to make use of the emerging opportunities, by singularly focusing on our customer success.

Q: You have plans to localise across the board; how will you do it?

Bali: Yes, this is the right timing to align with the Make in India mission of the Union government.

We have already started the process of localising several parts and aggregates in most of our business areas. There is a technology centre

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in each business area that makes a clear analysis of what needs to be bought from overseas (imported) and what can be done in India. Our HQ is supporting us in a big way in this journey.

Q: What are your initiatives on global sourcing?

Bali: Global sourcing is already happening. We have created a new organisation called Group Truck Purchasing (GTP) about two months ago. This will focus only on purchasing. It is a big opportunity globally for the Volvo group.

Q: Will the GTP focus more on sourcing components for Volvo globally?

Bali: It will look at purchasing as an independent function and as a centre of excellence, in a completely focussed way, working closely with technology and manufacturing. India will be a major beneficiary of this as a lot of global automotive sourcing out of India will be possible.

Q: How much has been exported from the components side?

Bali: I do not have a number to share, but I can confirm that we already have a fairly large global sourcing organisation created in India and a number of suppliers have already been developed. Going forward, with a renewed focus on purchasing excellence, volumes out of India have the potential to grow multi-fold.

Our suppliers will see the value of integrating the whole system.

COVER STORY – Passenger Vehicles

Conveniently And

Comfortably Safe

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P

assenger vehicles are witnessing a lot of changes off late.

The cumulative developments in the passenger vehicles are much faster than what these vehicles had witnessed in the whole of last century.

And all these developments are in offering more safety features for the end users in addition to offering comfort and convenince. While the increasing number of models offer a wide variety of choices for the end customers, it becomes a huge challenge for the vehicle manufacturers

to continuously upgrade their product offerings or develop entirely new products. Besides, cars have become the be all and end all of an individual as it helps him to connect to other vehicles and to the world for pursuing his work and get entertained. The uniqueness of passenger vehicles is that the expectations in terms of features are from across the globe and not confined to any particular region.

The challenge remains in offering maximum features at competitive cost.

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Continuous Improvement Is Toyota’s Quality Mantra these activities to ensure that the products or services offered fulfills the quality standards of the company, thus meet the expectations of the customers.

To sustain quality standards, the Quality Assurance Division at TKM conducts the Corporate Quality Month (CQM) every year in February to revisit the past quality issues. The theme for this year was ‘Customer First Quality Must for Everlasting Trust.’

The theme involved three main activities: Remind Activity, Reflect Activity, and Reform Activity.

T

oyota world over upholds the philosophy of continuous improvement, believing that there is always scope for that, under the terminology ‘Kaizen.’ The tradition at Toyota has always been to provide premium quality cars backed with reliable services to the customers. With the Kaizen culture, the company strives to ensure this premium quality of international standards while taking into consideration the local sensitivities.

The assurance of quality at Toyota starts from the company’s design stage following to production unit - where each team member is responsible for passing along a perfect part or assembly to the next.

Every team member has the authority and the responsibility to stop the line, if a component or assembly doesn’t meet our quality standards. Here at Toyota, quality is perceived as a culture from the early stages of the design process up until the cars roll off the assembly line.

The roots of Toyota’s quality assurance system can be traced back to when Sakichi Toyoda was still building and improving 98 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

experimental loom models in 1905.

Toyoda, father of the Japanese industrial revolution and founder of Toyota Industries once said: “A product should never be sold unless it has been carefully manufactured and has tested thoroughly and satisfactorily.”

His approach to quality assurance was reiterated when Toyota Motor Corporation Ltd (TMC) decided in the early 1960’s to implement Total Quality Assurance activities to solve quality issues early and prevent any reoccurrences. One such activity developed was the ‘Toyota Customer Follow-up System,’ which recorded customers’ addresses, names, car histories, vehicle problems, and repair locations onto cards. Due to the implementation of Total Quality Assurance activities, the quality of Toyota’s products improved.

Quality At TKM Quality standards at Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) are constantly supervised by the Quality Assurance Division (QAD) which comprises of administrative and procedural activities. The QAD unit carries out

The ‘Remind’ activity was to engage the stakeholders in reminding themselves of previous quality issues and customer grievances. The ‘Reflect’ activity ensured participation of all divisions adhering to the theme. Lastly the ‘Reform’ activity established companywide Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for all operations and provided training to relevant stakeholders.

The reputation of Quality Durability and Reliability (QDR) has further led Toyota’s steady growth in the Indian automotive market. All Toyota products are built on this foundation of QDR which has now reflected to over 1 million Indians who have joined the ever-growing Toyota family.

Unquestionably, the denotation of Quality at Toyota is closely associated with heritage of ‘Toyota way’. Maintaining quality throughout the production process has further helped Toyota build its reputation for quality. With this legacy and its impeccable eye for uncompromised quality, Toyota continues and will continue to remain synonymous with quality. For generations Toyota will be offering the best class drive with guaranteed comfort to the customers through all its products and services.

FRANCHISEE OPPORTUNITY We are looking for aspiring entrepreneurs to join the MyTVS family as franchisees.

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We currently operate 85 Franchisees Pan-India.

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www.mytvs.in

COVER STORY – Passenger Vehicles

Mercedes-Benz: Pioneering Technology

By Roland Folger

Roland Folger

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one are the days when a car is considered only as a means of transport.

In the modern era, it is all about being connected 24X7.

It is rather fascinating to witness how communication, engagement and technological advances are necessities in the contemporary automobile industry. Be it talking on the phone via a Bluetooth- connected device or using an integrated map in a car’s interactive screen, consumers are always looking for ways that will keep them connected and make their driving experience a tad more convenient and pleasurable. Everyday customer requirements are also becoming increasingly differentiated and more individualised.

Being the inventors of the first automobile about 130 years ago, we at Mercedes-Benz have been privileged to see, develop and learn various technologies that have emerged over the years. One of our most renowned inventions dates back to August 1978, when we presented the second-generation anti-lock braking system (ABS), developed together with Bosch.

This unique technology enabled a driver to retain steering control even during emergency braking.

Technology and cars are almost

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synonymous with the changing trends in society. What we consider a need today was considered a luxury earlier.

Technology In Cars Technology in cars can be broadly divided into three key segments: Engine/drivability; safety features; and convenience/connectivity devices.

Environmental sensitivity is a key influencer that has an impact on purchase decision of cars and also on the society’s brand perception of the automobile manufacturer. Thus, we at Mercedes-Benz develop fuel-efficient and environmentally-sustainable premium automobiles without compromising on the characteristic brand features – safety, comfort and refined driving pleasure.

Optimisation of vehicles with the very latest combustion engines – such as downsizing, gasoline direct injection, turbocharging and BlueTEC – as well as specific vehicles optimisation initiatives in areas such as aerodynamics, lightweight design and energy management (BlueEFFICIENCY) are some of the key technological advances from an engine output perspective. It includes optimisation of weight, aerodynamics, rolling resistance, energy management and powertrain.

One of our latest developments is an innovative gearbox 9G-TRONIC, nine-

speed automatic transmission with DIRECT SELECT lever, is the world’s first 9-speed automatic transmission in the luxury segment. It ensures a sportier and more dynamic driving thanks to more closely spaced gears that help in multiple downshifts and reduction in fuel consumption. Further efficiency improvements through individually tailored hybridisation in a number of stages – from the start/stop function through to the Two-Mode hybrid with full electric drive capability are inventions to reckon with.

Simple things like turning the car off and on in traffic signals used to consume more fuel and cause more pollution. Today we have relevant solutions. In a densely populated country like India, this particular feature works wonders and is available in most of our cars.

Safe Driving In parallel to hybrid concepts, Mercedes-Benz has been working intensively on solutions for purely electric driving using fuel cells and batteries since 1991.In India currently plug-in hybrids and electric cars are available from certain brands.

Infrastructural challenges in terms of availability of multiple charging stations and steep pricing of these car variants seem to be a challenge for consumers to convert from a

gasoline-powered engine to a hybrid or fully electric vehicles.

When it comes to safety, technology plays a pivotal role in determining its capabilities in adverse/unforeseen circumstances. We at Mercedes-Benz believe that safety comprises the safety of the passengers in the car, of others outside and of the environment at large.

We offer the best safety features like ESP, with Curve Dynamic Assist, Crosswind Assist, Brake Assistance System, Attention Assist, Airbags, Active Parking Assist, and PRE-SAFE, a groundbreaking system that can help prepare the occupants for an accident before it happens. PRESAFE can detect that certain types of collision might be imminent. In the precious moments before impact, it can snug the front seat belts and adjust the front head restraints to help optimise the effectiveness of the restraint systems in most of our cars across the world.

Today in India, we offer most of these world-class safety features. Owning to certain regulations, safety features like the DISTRONIC PLUS with Steering Assist and the Stop & Go Pilot: that allows the car to automatically keep up with the vehicle in front in tailbacks

as well as assist with steering cannot be offered in the country. Essentially, these features work on a radar system for which the government needs to delicense certain radar frequencies.

Best Features Convenience, comfort and engagement play a vital role especially in the purchase decision of passenger cars for the evolving and tech-savvy consumers across the world. We at Mercedes-Benz thrive at offering the best-in-class features to fulfill the contemporary needs of the modern consumers.

Features like Navigation, telephone, audio, video, internet, Wi-Fi hotspot, COMAND Online controller with New Generation Telematics, Touchpad, Parking Package with 360°Camera, Keyless GO Start/Stop, Dynamic Select (a special feature in certain cars where the driver gets to choose from five different modes to suit pertinent driving terrains) are offered to customers worldwide. We are glad that all the aforementioned features are available in India today.

Auto majors across the world are working on developing the next big thing in the automobile industry, ‘autonomous driving’. Progressing from the self-propelled (automotive)

to the self-reliant (autonomous) vehicle, Mercedes-Benz, as a pioneer, goes far beyond the purely technical realisation of automated driving.

In August 2013, Mercedes-Benz S 500 INTELLIGENT DRIVE completed approximately a 100-kilometre journey from Mannheim to Pforzheim fully autonomously, following the route Bertha Benz took in 1888 on the first ever long-distance drive by car. Recently at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor show, we displayed the IAA (Intelligent Aerodynamic Automobile) that is capable of driving on its own and performing various functions like parking on its own, stopping automatically at a pedestrian crossing by automatically detecting human presence and so forth.

We invented the car and now, we are on the verge of introducing the self-driving car. It is an example of our commitment to creating the most intelligently connected vehicles on the road. With this self-driving luxury saloon Mercedes-Benz illustrates how the car is growing beyond its role as a means of transport to a private retreating space.

Roland Folger is Managing Director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India

COVER STORY – Passenger Vehicles

Hyundai India Builds Brand With Quality, Innovation

By Young Key Koo

H

yundai Motor India (HMI), the third important arm of Hyundai Motor Corporation globally, celebrated its 20th Foundation Day on May 6, 2016. The past two decades were notable for HMI as it has grown to a position to contribute nearly 13 percent to Hyundai’s global volumes. HMI is next to the US and China.

We have pledged to attain market leadership, make Hyundai the most loved and trusted brand, transform it to become the modern premium brand and to position HMI as a great place to work. These are the four pillars that the company will build on in the future.

In order to achieve these objectives, we plan to reach out to more customers by launching at least two new products every year and expanding our footprint across the country.

Hyundai is known for value for money and high technology. Out of the four pillars, the most important one for us is attaining market leadership. It is not only based on volume but quality, customer satisfaction and innovative products. It may be easier to generate volumes.

We want Hyundai to become the modern premium brand. Therefore, we want to upgrade our brand image and brand power.

India is a very important market for Hyundai and so we have plans to make it a modern and premium brand. We will be launching Tuscan, one notch above, for the customers of Creta. We plan to bring vehicles with hybrid engines and a few models with automated manual transmissions in the coming years. In 2019 we plan to bring sub-four meter SUV. Safety And Comfort We do not compromise on safety and we will meet the requirements of the market we are operating in. In many cases we do not wait for the regulations; instead we go one step ahead and offer technologies that can enhance safety of our customers. However,

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Young Key Koo

if we add more safety features then it will escalate cost. Therefore, we are working prudently to introduce safety features that are quintessential for the customers in the present scenario.

India is very strong in information technology.

Leveraging this capability we would like to develop more features in infotaintment. Hyundai Motor Corporation has recently established a partnership with Cisco, the IT and networking equipment company, to help develop the next generation of Internet-connected car services, which relies on lots of data shared at high speeds.

The partnership will focus on a network that will speed up and improve the transfer of large amounts of data within the vehicle. We will pursue our initiatives in infotaintment systems and connectivity also – initially between car to mobile followed by car to car and finally car to infrastructure.

Building Brand These initiatives will help us achieve our objective of transforming Hyundai to be a modern, premium brand in India. Hyundai is a mass brand now, and as we are transforming it into a modern premium brand, we need to upgrade our brand image through dealer network and upgrade our products themselves.

For us every model is important – right from Eon to the Elantra and more. Now our average price tag is Rs 7 lakh, which was about Rs 4 lakh. The brand image has already jumped 60 percent.

In the next five years this average price tag will increase substantially, and by 2020 we will be able to launch Genesis in the Indian market. Genesis is a premium brand from Hyundai. HMI, our vendors, and our dealers will work together to carry out this goal.

We are launching Grand i10 and Xcent as special editions with upgraded features to mark the 20th Foundation Day celebrations.

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The then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi along with the Union Minister for Commerce and Trade, Murosoli Maran and the Managing Director of HMIL, Y K Kim at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Hyundai Motor India – The Ascent From May 6, 1996, Hyundai Motor India was on the ascent. It crossed important milestones every year during the last 20 years and has become an important name in the Indian automotive landscape. The following is a quick recap of those milestones.

1996 May 6: Hyundai Motor India Ltd. incorporated.

December 10: Ground-breaking ceremony at Irrungattukottai, near Chennai.

1998 May 27: Pilot production of Santro begins.

September 23: Hyundai Santro (Atos Prime) makes its world debut in India.

1999 March 31: Hyundai Motor India Ltd. emerges as the second largest auto-manufacturer in the country.

October 14: Hyundai Accent launched.

2000 April 27: 100,000th car rolls out from the Chennai plant.

June 12: Hyundai Santro crosses 100,000 sales mark.

July 21: First major export-shipment of 760 Accent and Santro.

November 29: Roll-out of the 1,50,000th car from the Chennai Plant.

2001 June 12: Rolls out 200,000th car in 32 months.

July 18: Luxury sedan Sonata launched.

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2002 June 26: Rolls out 3,00,000th car.

December: Rolls out 350,000th car within 50 months of operation.

2003 March 13: Commences exports to Latin America.

May 8: Rolls out 400,000th car.

August 4: Launches premium SUV, Terracan.

August 12: Export shipment of 1,500 Santro Xing cars leaves for Europe; HMI becomes small cars export hub for HMC. December 11: Rolls out 500,000th vehicle.

2004 March: Santro crossed 1,00,000 sales in a year.

April 15: Launches Elantra.

September 10: Launches Getz.

October 31: Exports cross 1,00,000; becomes the largest car exporter in India.

2005 April 6: Launches SUV – Tucson.

October 18: Car exports touch 200,000.

2006 March 13: Rolls out the fastest 10,00,000th car.

October 31: Rolls out the fastest 300,000th export car.

November: Santro crosses the million mark.

2007 August 6: Export

of 400,000th car.

September: Rolls out the fastest 1,500,000th car.

October: Launches i10.

2008 February 2: Inauguration of the second plant in Chennai.

March 27: Export of 500,000th car.

November 13: Manufacturing of the fastest two million cars in India.

December 29: Launches premium hatch back i20.

2009 February 9: Launches the new Verna; introduces the first Diesel Automatic in the segment.

2010 January 6: Unveils the i10 electric at the 10th Autoexpo.

February 22: Touches the milestone of 10 lakh car exports.

August 4: Reaches milestone of 30 Lakh cars production and sales.

September 23: Launches Next Gen i10.

2011 October 13: Launches EON. May 11: Launches new Fluidic Verna.

2012 January 5: Launches the All New Sonata.

March 28: Launches i-Gen i20.

2013 September 03: Launches Grand i10.

October 17: Rolls out the five millionth car.

2014 February 5: Launches Santa Fe Launch March 14: Launches Xcent.

August 11: Launches Elite i20.

2015 March 17: Launches i20 Active July 21: Launches the Global SUV CRETA November 26: Achieves four million domestic sales.

2016 May 6: Celebrates 20th Foundation Day.

COVER STORY – Passenger Vehicles

Maruti Suzuki R&D Centre To Do Product Testing, Validation Maruti Suzuki’s R&D Centre has come a long way from localisation work to design and development of products. The next step for the company is to create the capability to test and validate the products developed in India, in an exclusive interview, CV Raman, Executive Director (Engg), Maruti Suzuki India, the man behind Brezza, the latest product from Maruti Suzuki’s R&D stable, told ShamPrasad of AutoParts Asia. The excerpts:-.

Q: When did the first local development commenced at Maruti Suzuki R & D Centre?

Raman: In the beginning the Maruti Suzuki R&D Centre did only localisation, quality and productivity improvement. In the late 1990s the company decided to augment our R&D capability. As a first step in this direction, the centre began to do minor changes in one of the existing products of the company. For developing talents for this we started sending our engineers to Suzuki for two years training each, instead of for two or three months earlier. The objective was to learn the entire process of product development.

Q: Which were the first products developed in India?

Raman: The core team of 30 to 40 engineers that went to Suzuki during 1995-2000, came back to India and took up the task of product development.

Swift was the first global design and development which we started working on. It was for the first time in Maruti Suzuki that design and development were being done simultaneously. Until then, we were getting the drawings from Japan and we were doing the localisation.

In 2005 Swift was launched and then our people worked on subsequent models like Wagon R, which was a star in Japan. Based on that capability, we were 106 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

C V Raman

given responsibility to work for the full model change of Alto which was launched in 2000. On the given platform and engine we were told to change the entire body, interior and everything. In four years, in 2012, we launched Alto 800 and then Alto K10. For this local work Suzuki gave a lot of support for testing and validation.

Q: How was the development of Brezza?

Raman: In 2012 we started working on Brezza and it was launched in 2016. We had to develop the entire vehicle on a given platform and engine. We had to choose the platform from what was available in Suzuki and then had to do everything. We could use the validation facility of Maruti and Suzuki and they offered whatever support we wanted. Apart from that we were completely on our own.

Q: What are the design and development capabilities garnered by Maruti Suzuki so far? What is its contribution to Suzuki globally?

Raman: Our objective is to reach the level of Suzuki R&D capability. We have to achieve this as quickly as possible and we should be able to support Suzuki in doing global

product development. With every model and product development our capability increased. With Alto 800 it reached a certain level, with Brezza it increased to another level. Our intention is to support Suzuki. We have 14 to15 brands in India to be taken care of.

Our focus is to support product development of Suzuki as it has only limited capacity. We want to augment that capacity and help in making models not just for India but for the entire world.

Even now our R&D centre helps in global initiatives and do global product development. On many projects we work with Suzuki and the share of our support will vary from project to project - for some it could be 20 percent, for some others it could be 40 percent. But when a product is to be made for India we do a lot of localisation and product development in India.

Q: What are the challenges in developing vendors for a new model?

Raman: When design and development are done in parallel and the drawing is being developed, we work with the vendors even before it is validated. So the vendors also will be fully equipped to do design changes and to check and ensure quality when the design is validated. Thus the

vendors are also part of our ecosystem of doing product development. A lamp maker is involved from the stage the clay model or sketch is being made. In certain cases the vendors may come in later. But they all have to work concurrently with the OEM and match the pace of development.

It is the responsibility of the chief engineer to maintain the schedule of each project. If there is any delay or problem somewhere he has to find ways to counter that and carry the project forward according to the original plan. Therefore project management is very important and challenging.

Capability of the OEM is very important.

In our case Suzuki has a lot of capability and Maruti Suzuki is developing similar capability. Vendors also need to have the capability to check and ensure quality.

Most of the suppliers are dependent on their collaborators or the parent company.

But the local parts suppliers also need to develop their own capability. All these are AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 107

COvER STORY – Passenger vehicles

important and challenging as the deadlines for the projects are very strict.

Global quality levels have to be met. Otherwise the customer may not accept the product.

Q: What are the initiatives that you have taken and will be taking to enhance safety, comfort and convenience of the Maruti Suzuki vehicles? How do you differentiate yourself from competition?

Raman: I will give a little background of the technologies that were launched in the last two years.

One was the Auto Gear Shift (AGS) technology. Today the customers have changed. They are looking at the kind of design and technology the OEM is offering in the vehicle, the kind of connectivity or infotainment system it has, and the vehicle’s level of comfort and convenience. They want all these as a package. Our effort has been to bring all of them through various products. So you see the exterior and interior designs of our products - Baleno, Brezza and the S Cross - are different from what Maruti Suzuki has been doing traditionally.

108 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

They are wellaccepted designs and people like them.

The second is infotainment. We have smart, linked audio systems, which are Apple car play-complaint, have hands-free, Bluetooth, voice command and will be Android autocompatible in future. All of these are very important for the customer today.

The third is the two pedal technology which we have introduced in Celerio.

This is a convenient and affordable feature with better fuel and emission control efficiencies.

As per FAME India scheme we have SHVS technology which launched the SHVH is a smart hybrid; we have brought mild hybrids through Ciaz and Ertiga.

We are bringing better fuel efficiency, emission control efficiencies to these vehicles. Our penetration in terms of Ciaz and Ertiga has improved quite a lot in the market. And I think all these help us build an image of a company in terms of design and technology and product offerings. We are trying to build our brand through these initiatives and going forward we will be doing more because the customer will be changing and will be demanding more and more.

Q: What are the new capabilities coming up at the centre?

Raman: We have done design and development and also engineering, but not validation of the product.

For Alto though we did the full model change, we could not do validation, we were dependent on Suzuki. In 2014-15 we started the R&D centre in Rohtak. We have made test track and crash facility. Other facilities will be made in the next two years.

Then we will be able to do validation also and meet fully the local requirements for Indian customers. The total investment on that is about Rs 2,000 crore.

We are gradually improving our ability to test and validate the products which we design and develop. This will also shorten the time of development. We have been sending all vehicles to Suzuki for testing. We want to be able to do that here.

COVER STORY – Aftermarket

Quality Is

Supreme

A

ftermarket is the most sought-after segment by any business organisation as it is largely insulated from any slowdown.

In the automotive industry, new vehicle sales can be good or bad but sales in the aftermarket will always be better, even when the economy is in the grip of a recession.

However, the challenge is to maintain inventory by replenishing the stocks and to combat counterfeit. In maintaining the inventory the challenge is to hold the fast moving goods while keeping lean on the slow moving parts.

The threat for a growing brand is the emergence of counterfeit products. Though consumer awareness is increasing on the consequences of using such parts, the counterfeiters have been improving their skills to make look-alikes and fool the consumers. Managing counterfeits has been a continuous task for the OEMs. The global automotive aftermarket is expected to grow three to five percent in the next five years, primarily driven by the US and China. Effective supply chain, quality parts and availability will determine the growth in the aftermarket.

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 111

COVER STORY – Aftermarket

Bosch Automotive Aftermarket Offers Safe, Affordable Solutions The Automotive Aftermarket division of Robert Bosch Gmbh provides the aftermarket and services worldwide with complete range of diagnostic and repair shop equipment and wide range of spare parts – from new and remanufactured parts to repair solutions – for passenger cars and commercial vehicles. Its product portfolio includes parts made as Bosch original equipment, as well as aftermarket products and services developed and manufactured in-house. In an exclusive interview to T Murrali of Autoparts Asia, Uwe Thomas, President, Automotive Aftermarket, Robert Bosch Gmbh, describes the complexity of the aftermarket needs and solutions globally. The excerpts:112 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

Q: How important is ‘connectivity’ to the aftermarket; the amount of data that comes in is huge. What are the challenges in managing this huge data?

Thomas: When we talk about connected and automatic driving there are 3 layers. First of all we need things we can connect to – the car, ECU, household appliance – whatever it is.

In the second layer we need to have the applied form and IT structure where all this data can be organised and administered. The next level is data security and priority; security of data used by the customer is the highest priority.

Q: A debate is going on whether the data is owned by the user or is the property of vehicle manufacturer. For example, Bosch has given the sensors that take all the data. Someone has applied a system using Bosch sensors. So

who owns it and has the right to use it?

Thomas: From a legal point it is very difficult. We have a very strong Bosch Codex when it comes to data ownership, it is our Bible. We are of the opinion that the data belongs to the consumer because his vehicle creates the data determined by his driving behaviour. We give the consumer the right to give us the data accordingly. For example, he can tell us to give the data to insurance companies A and B but not to C. Once we have the data according to the customer’s wishes we can then create new benefits out of it like data mining etc. This is one benefit for the aftermarket because we can offer fleet owners benefits on the total cost of ownership and real-time optimisation of the fleet. The Indian market is dynamic and developing fast, picking up new ideas quickly. That is why we are here from 1922.

Q: How was the aftermarket for Bosch globally in 2015?

Thomas: 2015 was a good year. We introduced new products to enter into new areas like connectivity driving, augmented reality and new technologies. The interesting thing was that developments in different parts of the world were quite different.

Europe and India have been two strong drivers last year, China slowed down slightly, North America was normal with South America quite good in the aftermarket. In 2016 we expect good improvement globally; some countries like India will reach a higher dynamic.

Q: What are the driving forces for growth in 2016? Will the momentum continue in Europe and India?

Thomas: In India I think the economic conditions will stabilise. The cost of finance must come down to the level where people can spend it. The workshops and distributors should AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 113

COVER STORY – Aftermarket

be able to get credit from the banks.

However, there are huge challenges ahead. The government should facilitate investment.

Some development and progress is seen. That is why we believe that 2016 will see growth picking up in India. Europe is on a good footing with a huge car population. Other parts of the world, including China, 114 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

are picking up a little. It is a good perspective for 2016.

is something which helps us in the aftermarket.

Q: How about the Americas?

Q: The miles-driven grew by 10-11 percent last year. People started replenishing their old cars and have tried to maintain their existing cars.

This has triggered sales in OE and the aftermarket. Do you see that trend continuing in some markets?

Thomas: South America is difficult.

Contrary to the general development in Latin America the aftermarket is very satisfying, and promising.

North America is stable. Definitely the car parc is getting older and this

COVER STORY – Aftermarket Thomas: There is no reason to believe this will change dramatically.

Fuel prices are still on the way down and income develops accordingly in a positive manner. Mobility is still an issue so the miles-driven is not likely to change, it will go up rather than down.

Q: The contrary can happen, especially in the MENA region as their economy depends on oil, which is getting affected. Some change could happen there. Will it help the aftermarket?

Thomas: It can happen but it will level out on a global level. The aftermarket may grow in some areas; there will be differences with regard to HCVs, LCVs and 2-wheelers. Different buying patterns and behaviour will drive micro-logistics.

Q: In some markets, especially in Spain and Latin America, there is a surge in the use of one-trip components. This is creating a churn in some markets. Is it a positive sign and will Bosch have an opportunity to change that trend?

Thomas: What counts at the end of the day is whether we can offer the end-consumer affordable solutions and offerings for his mobility needs.

Being a very innovative company registering 18 patents every day throughout the year, we have developed certain specifications over the years for mid-price positioned products. This is needed because we want affordable solutions. If we go further down there are limits because we do not go into offerings where we cannot guarantee safety. By affordable solutions I mean if a car will run only for another 20,000kms why offer a part which will go on for two lakh kms.

Q: In the matured markets people attach more value to performance, safety and environment. At the lower end of the market they want value for just one trip. You have two extremes. Any opportunity here?

Thomas: The rules are given by the customers. The name of the game is customer- orientation. If we compare buying behaviour across different domains we should get affordable, convenient and safe solutions available in real-time on the spot at attractive prices. Either we accept these kinds of challenges in our

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industry or believe the industry would stay as it was 20 years ago. We are not allowed to compromise when it comes to safety. Environmental protection is another issue and we have to bring all these things together.

So we have to position our brand and offerings in a way that brings product credibility to the customer.

Q: Bosch also has some performance-oriented products specifically for the aftermarket.

Some innovative technologies go only to the aftermarket, not to the OE segment. Why so?

Thomas: This is the customer’s decision. We drive innovation in the OE segment as well as the aftermarket where the development cycles are shorter. If we have an idea and come to the conclusion that it makes sense for the customer economically, we introduce it and then the OEM comes to us.

Sometimes they accept it, sometimes they stick to their own specifications.

Sometimes we have a niche market where a special segment of customers want it. Coming from the customers, we need to address every segment of the market.

Q: How do you leverage social media for the aftermarket?

Thomas: Whether it is Facebook or Twitter, we have a corporate policy with locally adapted approaches; it is up to the regions to implement it.

Q: Is this helping you address counterfeits, since you are moving closer to the end-user?

Thomas: It helps a lot in terms of co-ordinated, well-structured flow of information because we can inform, show pictures, and what is more important, help people connect with one another not only to identify counterfeits but also give each other advice when it comes to a repair problem.

Quiet often mechanics will have some problem. We run ‘experts’ communities’ who can find solutions with our support. This interconnection is very important in the social media arena.

Q: The aftermarket is the one that supports when the OE sales are down. However, in some markets, including India, the aftermarket also witnessed a dip in sales. What,

COVER STORY – Aftermarket

according to you are the factors that influence the market?

Thomas: It is always a question why the OE market is down. General market weakness has an impact on all sectors including transportation.

The main driver of the aftermarket is still the miles driven. In India a strong part of the automotive aftermarket is still coming from HCV and Off-Highway. If we do not have production, transportation is coming down and with this no repair will take place. Compensation coming from increasing share of passenger cars. It is also due to strong impact coming from liquidity situation.

Q: What are the challenges in marketing a product in the aftermarket?

Thomas: The important challenges are the increasing complexity of products and programmes and 118 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

changing needs of the customers, need for information (product, system, catalogue – paper/ electronic), training, test equipment, tained technicians and availability (increasing speed), and delivery cycles. In addition, ‘service network’ is also one of the success factors.

If you want to sell a product in the aftermarket you need a sufficient coverage with workshops as an important customer touch point.

Bosch Automotive Aftermarket is continuously working on extending the service (workshop) network and have in total 36,700 workshops globally.

Q: What are the short-term and long-term plans of Bosch Aftermarket?

Thomas: ‘Digitisation’ is changing the market. Our response: Simple and convenient mobility solutions that are accessible at any time. But we will not

just focus on new mobility solutions meeting the customer requirements of the future, we will at the same time focus on strengthening our core business of selling Parts and Bytes.

We offer the complete range with “Parts, Bytes & Services”: Technical Parts, Fast Moving Trade Goods specific to the aftermarket, Workshop Equipment, as well as Workshop and Mobility Services.

It will mainly be about being as close to the mobility users as possible, speaking their language and creating important contact points to suit our customers. The “push” nature market is turning into a “pull” nature market. Our customers’ requirements are always the main focus and the starting point for developing new customised mobility solutions. We will work on establishing ourselves in the growing markets of India, China, Africa and Asia Pacific.

COVER STORY- Aftermarket

ACDelco To Capitalise On Global Aftermarket Growth Since its birth in Flint, Michigan, in1916, ACDelco, the true General Motors Original Equipment aftermarket parts brand, has evolved into a global force in the automotive aftermarket. It also offers aftermarket parts for non-GM vehicles. In this centenary year, Tim Turvey, Vice President, GM Global Customer Care and Aftersales, told T Murrali of AutoParts Asia, about the company’s customer relations, the steps against counterfeits, and the centenary celebration programmes. The excerpts: Tim Turvey

Q: Congratulations on ACDelco celebrating its centenary. How does ACDelco manage to supply globally while remaining as a brand identified with one customer?

Turvey: ACDelco is part of General Motors. This relationship goes back 100 years and helps all our teams design GM OE parts that better meet the needs of our customers throughout the GM vehicle lifecycle.

It is a strong brand, rooted in technology and innovation, has great distribution partners and offers a product portfolio of more than 90,000 parts across 37 product lines.

As the true General Motors Original Equipment parts brand, ACDelco leverages the economies of scale, global infrastructure and resources offered by one of the world’s leading automakers to offer products for most vehicles on the road today.

120 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

We are uniquely positioned to offer a level of quality for GM vehicles no competitor can replicate. We stay close to our customers so we understand the changing dynamics of how they buy parts. In the lifecycle of aftermarket trends, eCommerce and digital platforms will be key to continued growth in the aftermarket, and we have invested in these areas.

Q: What is your relationship with General Motors now that you handle aftermarket parts for many makes and models other than GM? Turvey: Our ‘all-makes and models’ strategy is about offering GM dealers, independent aftermarket shops and the do-it-yourselfer quality parts to meet almost any need.

Only a few brands can provide both the scale and expertise of a true OE while also providing an ‘all-makes

and models’ alternative. GM’s global leadership team understands that this aligns with our mission to earn customers for life, and they are very supportive.

Q: The automotive aftermarket is estimated to be worth about $150 billion annually; what kind of growth do you expect in the coming years?

Turvey: We agree with published reports that indicate over the next 10 years, the aftermarket is expected to grow three percent in the US, 15 percent in China and six percent in Brazil.

Q: Will that same growth potential be true for ACDelco?

Turvey: Based on the strength of our brand and our global footprint, we fully expect ACDelco is positioned to take full advantage of projected industry growth.

Q: What are your important markets and how have they been performing over the last five years?

Turvey: ACDelco has a strong presence in many key markets including the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China, India and the Middle East. While we do not disclose individual business unit performance, we have enjoyed strong results growing our independent aftermarket business. The aging vehicle population in North America is a tremendous business opportunity, as these vehicles require maintenance and repair.

In the developing markets with rapidly increasing car parcs, we are well positioned to have a strong presence.

As vehicles in our global markets get older, the demand for parts and service will grow, too. Of course, we are always seeking additional global growth opportunities, and we believe we are well-positioned to capitalise on them.

Q: Which markets are the most promising for you?

Turvey: We see the greatest opportunities in China, Brazil, Russia and India.

Q: Counterfeit auto parts have been a growing problem in many markets; how is ACDelco dealing with this issue?

Turvey: GM takes the manufacturing and distribution of counterfeit parts very seriously and takes many steps to combat such activities.

GM will continue to be vigilant by implementing multiple security strategies to protect our brands and our customers.

Some of the key strategies to combat this are consistent packaging, labeling, marking and enforcement of regulations.

Counterfeiting affects many industries around the globe. To address it, everyone – including distributors, supply chain, governments, business partners and customers –

needs to work together toward a solution.

Q: What steps have you taken to ensure your Professional Service Centre programme shops use genuine ACDelco parts?

Turvey: Now numbering over 5,000, ACDelco Professional Service Centre (PSC) programme participants joined, primarily, because they are sold on the value proposition that is ACDelco. It’s the quality of our products and the certainty that comes from using them that drives their purchase decisions. They know ACDelco quality and for them nothing less will do.

Additionally, we rely on our distribution partners – who provide our parts to the PSC shops – to purchase genuine parts from us.

This helps ensure shops receive and install genuine parts because inferior, ‘counterfeit’ or knock-off parts hurt their reputation, too.

Q: Do you see a general understanding by the end-customer of the potential risks to safety and reliability in using counterfeit parts?

Turvey: I believe there continues to be opportunities to improve consumers’ awareness of the quality and brand of parts used in the repair of their vehicle. Whether they rely on installers or do the work themselves, we always encourage consumers to purchase ACDelco parts only from authorised sources to ensure they get genuine products.

Only by using genuine parts can customers be assured the parts will work properly and safely in their vehicles. On the ACDelco website, we offer consumers reasons why they should use ACDelco parts and tips on how to spot potentially fake parts.

Q: How does ACDelco educate distributors and

independent shops of the dangers of counterfeit parts?

Turvey: Our distributors and independent shops are well aware of the dangers of counterfeit parts and understand that inferior, fake parts hurt their business, our business, and can potentially impact customers’ safety. That is why we take aggressive measures to combat this issue.

Q: How do you plan to celebrate the centenary, what are the major programmes?

Turvey: On May 11, from GM headquarters in Detroit, throughout North America, all the way to Shanghai, including points in between, GM employees and ACDelco customers came together to celebrate the legacy started 100 years ago by GM Founder William Durant.

In the US we had announced a programme to honour top independent shops in our Professional Service Centre programme; 100 college scholarships for technicians in training; and in 17 markets, free vehicle repairs to those in need in partnership with PSC shops.

Throughout the year, we will continue to celebrate ACDelco’s past, present and future at major industry events such as Automechanika and AAPEX. This milestone is proving to be a real rallying point for ACDelco and its customers. Through this experience, we have grown in our appreciation of our heritage, but really see this as the launch point for continued growth in the future.

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 121

COVER STORY – Aftermarket

Global Technology, Local Support

By Ravi BM

M

adhus Garage Equipment Ltd brings to India international quality garage equipment with assured technical and service support. Our Mission is to bridgethe technological gap between the advanced countries and India. Madhus provides customers with the world’s best equipment in wheel aligners, wheel balancers, car lifts, welding equipment, collision repair systems, A/C maintenance equipment, smoke meters and gas analysers and others from the world’s leading brands like Hunter, Ravaglioli, 122 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

Texa, Telwin, Rotary, Hanmescon, Caro-liner and many more.

That is not all. Madhus provide quality after-sales service by employing well-trained and knowledgeable technicians. We also provide training to technicians who use their equipment, at our state-of-the-art training centres in Delhi NCR and Bengaluru.

Madhushas been exposed to the international markets by visiting various Auto shows like Automechanika in Germany, Autopromotech in Italy or the SEMA show in the US. We have always

made it a point to spend a lot of time on product innovations on display and put in a lot of efforts to have them introduced in India.

Our association with international leaders like Hunter, Ravaglioli, and others, the pioneers in the garage equipment industry, has given us the edge. We have invested on new products and taken bold steps to educate the Indian market. Visiting all OEMs and convincing them to try out new, technologically advanced products have not been easy.

Showcasing the same in Indian auto shows like the Auto Expo or Auto

Serve has cost us a lot. However, it has been worth all the effort and cost.

earned their lifetime cost and made profit for the investor.

When we introduced in India Truck Aligners, no one was even aware of their existence or their requirement.

But the introduction of radial tyres in the Indian market gave us the right launch pad and we were successful in introducing it. We built the first Truck Alignment Centre at our Training Centre in 2006. That was the turning point. We have to make a practical demo to the Indian customers to convince them to make an investment.

India being a few years behind the automotive giants of Europe, Japan and the US, the life of new products has been long. Add to this the resale value of the imported equipment, which has spare part and service support. The equipment after earning a lot of money to its owners will fetch a handsome amount when sold as pre-owned.

When the first 3D alignment was introduced, cost was so high that it looked as if it was prohibitive for anyone to invest. But we found the right partner in Kerala, ‘New BharathTyres’ which was ready to invest. Once it was installed there and people saw the advantages of no electronics, no calibrations and no cables - the dreaming started in 2004. Today many tyre shop owners tell us, “I cannot buy today because I do not have that much money to invest on a Hunter product. But my dream is to have a Hunter equipment one day to service my customers.”

Building dreams is one of the ways to introduce new products.

Innovation Challenges The first challenge in introducing new products is the availability of spares, and once you break this jinx you have succeeded in your challenge. Second is the re-sale value.

We always import the latest products developed by our principals who are pioneers and leaders in the industry.

This has made Madhus the leader in the Indian market. All look at Madhus when they want something new.

Long-Term Plans We, like many Indian companies, would like to switch from importing products to manufacturing them in India. But the quantity that is consumed in India has not been encouraging to make a big investment on the infrastructure.

Developing the electronics and manufacturing a small quantity is not cost effective.

Secondly, the way the new developments are happening, the old technology gets outdated very fast. To manufacture any product in India, it should have a cycle of at least seven

years. In the present scenario this is too long and we find investment for manufacturing in India is not feasible.

We are able to retain the cutting edge when we are importing and servicing the same in a professional way.

We plan to keep this going till the scenario changes.

In the long term we want to be known as a company that will supply the latest and the best products in the industry. We are focused on the mission and we will continue this.

In the short term, our goal is to strengthen the weak links in the chain of distribution and servicing all over the country. If one year the link is weak in Uttar Pradesh, the next year it will be in West Bengal.

To have trained manpower for sales and service across the country is a very big challenge and we are almost there. With two state-of-the art training centers in Delhi and Bengaluru, we are well on our way to have a good and reliable network across India.

We want to instill in all garage owners dreams of owning the best equipment in the world. We want to ensure that our workshops in India are at par with anyone in the world. We assure the best service and the latest equipment in the International markets with local support.

If a product cannot be serviced and spares are not available no one wants to invest in new technology or products. Madhus has invested on spares from day one and this has been the foundation of our success.

Even after 28 years in this industry we are able service some of the machines sold as early as the 1990s.

This is how we give confidence to people to invest in new products or technology.

If we are able to import the latest technologyor products they will not become obsolete very fast. Others have to find ways of manufacturing the same by bypassing the patents and the cost of buying patents make it difficult for new entrants. But as time goes by they also will enter. But by that time our products would have AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 123

COVER STORY – Allied Industries

Operating Cost

Decides Survival

T

he allied industries consist of the manufacturers of machine tools, testing, garage equipment, robotics, IT and software. They play a vital role in the entire ecosystem of the automotive industry, one of the largest customers for almost all segments in the allied industries.

However, these segments have their own challenges as the automotive industry has been continuously moving, in areas of technology, safety and environment, to new frontiers. Owing to stringent environmental norms

and compulsions from government regulators, the automotive industry is becoming lighter and greener than in the past.

The allied industries have to design, develop and produce matching products, systems and services for the automotive industry and support them to achieve their scheduled mandatory objectives in time and at lowest cost. The common thread across segments is lowering operating cost, as this is necessary both for themselves and the automotive industry to stay competitive.

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COVER STORY – Allied Industries

Technology Prowess To Propel German Machine Tools Industry The German machine tool industry is a big player in markets across the world.

Socio-economic and political problems hinder their global business along with the competition from the Japanese companies.

However, the German machine tool companies hope to excel, especially in the Asian markets, with their superior technologies, Klaus-Peter Kuhnmunch, Manager, General Affairs, VDW,German Machine Tool Builders’ Association, told T Murrali of AutoParts Asia in an exclusive interview. The excerpts:Klaus-Peter Kuhnmunch

Q: The machine tool industry is the first to get affected in a slowdown or recession and the last one to recover. How does this particular phenomenon affect this industry?

Kuhnmunch: The German Machine tool Industry also goes up and down as most of its customers are from the automotive sector (about 50 percent of production). Of a turnover of Euro15.5 billion in 2015 (with a growth rate of four percent), half went to the automotive industry. If the auto and supply industries do not invest, we will be affected badly.

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The machine tool manufacturers go where the automotive industry is strong, the domestic market or markets in America, Italy and Mexico.

We are going to Mexico with other manufacturers from Europe, Japan, South Korea, etc because of the competitive cost. We are following the worldwide trend. We had the highest volume in 2015. For this year we expect one percent increase.

Q: What was the reason for this significant growth?

Kuhnmunch: Mainly owing to investments in the automotive sector

in the US and Mexico, and a high level of investment in China despite some problems.

We have also gone into other sectors like energy and aerospace. Presently Russia is a difficult market for us.

Two years ago it was the third most important market but the currency went down and sanctions from the EU against the country compounded the problem. We hope it will come up again by late next year because Russia needs machine tools to carry out its modernisation programme.

Our companies are active there,

participating in exhibitions, seminars, etc.

In terms of new markets our hope is Iran. Twenty years ago it was a very important market for German machine tools but political sanctions came in the way. We will be having an exhibition in Tehran to highlight VDW’s services.

Q: How is Iran going to give you growth in future? How do you see that evolving?

Kuhnmunch: It will be an evolving process as the solutions are now falling into place. We have many customers in Iran especially from the automotive industry. A number of European auto companies have good business in the country. Our

customers there also are from the energy and oil and gas sectors.

Machine tool products are dual use products which mean they are suitable for both civil and military applications. There are sanctions. In Iran it is the nuclear problem while in China it’s human rights. In Russia it is military problem and in India it’s the Indo-Pak issue over Kashmir. So it will take time for the business to evolve.

Q: Which are the other promising markets?

Kuhnmunch: Definitelythe Asian countries, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. These are markets that are developing very fast with VDW having a lot of activity there.

Of course we have strong competition from the Japanese (very strong in

Thailand and Indonesia), Korean and Taiwanese companies. We would like to increase our market share as there is good potential for growth. There is potential in these markets.

Q: How it would be possible to increase share in markets dominated by Japan? What is your plan?

Kuhnmunch: Our advantage is technology. Though there is major competition from Japan and some from South Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan who build good, standard machines, in Special Purpose Machines (SPM) German companies are doing much better. The Japanese companies do not have the latest SPM technology so we have a good chance to get business from Japan.

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 127

COVER STORY – Allied Industries

Exports to Japan are small but it is all specialised technologies that the Japanese do not have. This is the same in other Asian countries – we offer technologies that the Japanese do not have.

Q: In the specialised machine business, it is less volume and more value. For standard machines, it is the other way. Are you competing in terms of value or volume?

128 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

Kuhnmunch: The Japanese products are not cheap, they have their price. Taiwanese and South Korean machines are cheaper but not as good as the Japanese ones.

Earlier, it was a question of price but today it is technology that matters.

German machine tool manufacturers do not win over competition by price but by technology.

Q: The pattern of demand for machine tools are changing from standard to SPM and now to a combination of both as people are looking for tools that can make a family of products. Is the business depending on SPMs sustainable?

How do you see the future prospects?

Kuhnmunch: Yes, it could be; and it depends on the market. We will

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COVER STORY – Allied Industries

approach each market differently. For example, to sell in Italy we must have more technical solutions.

Q: In Asia, China is your largest market with India being the third.

What are the prospects you see in India? You indicated that you had seen some activity in India from 2014, so what kind of growth do you see coming from India?

Kuhnmunch: The exports from Germany to India were 41 percent in 2015. We think the environment in India is better now than what it was two years ago; maybe it’s due to the political change here. We think Prime Minister Modi has some new plans.

We see business in some industries going up where we would like to participate.

In major cities we would like to get in touch with potential customers. The German Machine Tool industry is very confident that India is coming up. This is evident in the level of participation of German companies in Indian exhibitions like IMTEX etc. Of course there is competition from Japan.

In 2014 Indian machine tool imports from Japan was 28 percent; Germany came second with China at 13 percent; Italy was nine percent. This shows the potential for high quality 130 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

machines in India. Japan and Germany are high tech while China is merely volumes – Taiwanese quality is better than China machine tools and there are some exemptions always.

Q: Do you see any impediment to the growth of the German machine tool industry in India?

Kuhnmunch: Price could be one factor. Indian customers have to see the life cycle of the machine and strike a balance between price and quality. There is no point in buying a Taiwanese machine just on price; cost of ownership and the life cycle must be considered.

Q: For the automotives product life cycle is diminishing. The OEMs and parts suppliers have to change designs frequently to suit the changes in technologies. There are also regulatory changes as India’s jump to Euro-6 from Euro-4. Are these impediments or impetus for you?

Kuhnmunch: All these changes are important and do affect growth.

New technologies like additive manufacturing are also coming in.

Q: Machine tool manufacturers think of the long life, while the users look at the immediate cost of the manufactured part. In this scenario

how do the German machine tool manufacturers manage in such competitive markets?

Kuhnmunch: We do sell cheaper machines too but if you want to go in for an expensive one you have to see the likely life cycles. We offer a wide range of machines for specialised use that may not be price competitive but the user will have to see the advantages that accrue to him. We also make tailor-made machines for customers like the Ecoline that are not only cheaper but also have high quality. We try to offer solutions to customers.

Q: Automotive industry has begun embracing alternate materials like composites, plastics, carbon fibre, etc., to enhance fuel efficiency.

All these are moving away from traditional machine tools to new types of machines. How do you see this evolution?

Kuhnmunch: A number of companies are now offering new machines made from alternate materials. It is a positive trend because technology points in one direction and the machine tool industry must follow that.

Companies will have to do this especially those that cater to the automotive and aerospace industries.

Q: Additive manufacturing or 3-D printing technology is coming up with a new set of ideas where you need not have a full-fledged machine; you can opt for a smaller one as volumes are not an issue. So here the cost per piece will be less irrespective of the volume. What is your view?

Kuhnmunch: Additive manufacturing is a very important topic for the machine tool industry and currently in Germany we have a lot of conferences, meetings and R&D projects on this topic. Some of our companies are involved in additive manufacturing; we see it as a chance to move on. VDW has a committee for additive manufacturing where all interested companies are members who exchange ideas and come up with good R&D projects. We see this as a big chance for us in additive manufacturing.

Q: Don’t you see this as a threat for the conventional machine tool manufacturers?

Kuhnmunch: Maybe, but some companies are working very aggressively on this. They use 3-D printing to get the work piece as the output. It is definitely a chance for us; we cannot ignore it as change is the only constant. That is our strength – offering a wide range of technologies.

That is why our machine tool companies invest heavily on R&D, six to seven percent of the turnover. We

also work together with universities and academia. Sometimes we get funding from the ministry for special projects.

Q: What are the latest research topics?

Kuhnmunch: Additive manufacturing and medical engineering are very important customer groups for us.

Q: Is the recently concluded VDW Symposium in India the fourth edition?

Kuhnmunch: Yes it is the fourth edition. We conducted these symposiums in 2005, 2007, 2010 and now. Three times we were in Pune and Chennai and once in Pune and Bangalore. Most of the automotive customers are in Pune and Chennai as these are the auto clusters.

Q: What differences did you find from the first to the fourth edition?

Kuhnmunch: We had been bringing 17 to 20 companies to India. The business has grown in India from 2005 as industry and infrastructure here have grown over the last 10 years.

Q: VDW is going to celebrate the 125th anniversary this year; what are the plans for this significant milestone?

Kuhnmunch: First of all we are going to have a big event in Frankfurt on June 16, 2016 where all our partners and companies would be present. Frankfurt has been chosen

as it is near to Stuttgart, Dusseldorf and Bavaria that have most of the automotive companies. We have over 300 members; the average German company has around 250 employees with only a few like DMG Mori Seiki having over a thousand.

Q: Any particular observation that you want to make for the benefit of Indian machine tool consumers?

Kuhnmunch: German machine tool companies would like to establish more contacts with the Indian customers and they can discuss intensively on possible projects. They should take into account the quality and life cycle of the machines, not just the purchase price. It is better to consider the long-term benefits.

Q: Do you see German machine tool companies setting up plants in India? How many are there already?

Kuhnmunch: The German machine tool industry is a small to medium size industry, so only very few companies are able to have manufacturing in foreign countries. All the big companies have representative offices here and some have manufacturing and assembling facilities in India.

Q: Does VDW see opportunities for sourcing from India like child parts or components to make machines?

Do you see that potential here?

Kuhnmunch: In principle, yes, but it’s not happening on a big scale. The possibilities are there – it depends on the customer and the project.

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 131

COVER STORY – Allied Industries

ATS Initiates Lab-To-Road Test Facility As an automotive test systems company, Automotive Test Systems (ATS) has taken very constructive industry-academia partnership by collaborating with Amrita University for developing its Research and Development (R & D) and Technical Centre. This ‘lab-toroad’ programme helps us build more systems and the customers minimise the testing time. They want us to build more systems and we are on the fast track to get them done, in an exclusive interview, S Ramanathan, Managing Director, ATS, told T Murrali of AutoParts Asia.

The Excerpts:Q: Can you tell us about your main business areas?

Ramanathan: Basically we have four areas of business.

The first one is sales and service of test instrumentation where we have collaboration with many companies from Europe and the US. We sell the state-of-the-art technology used by several companies including Mercedes, BMW, Ford and GM, across the world.

The second business area is ‘End of Line Testing’, where we provide test systems to the OEMs and some component suppliers, who mainly test systems at the end of the assembly line.

This is applicable for any car or truck. This system helps components suppliers test primarily the transmissions.

The third one is our Technical Centre where we offer 132 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

technical services. Earlier foreign companies like AVL, FEV, Ricardo and Myra were offering testing services to Indian companies. These foreign companies have laboratories in other places where they do testing for their customers. We thought there was a space here where we could offer testing from an Indian Technical Centre.

We collaborated with the Amrita Engineering Centre of the Amrita University (the first of its kind in India), in Coimbatore, where students and faculty take part in these projects. It is a win-win situation for us. The tie-up has been in place for about three years now. We are regularly upgrading our R & D centre based on customer feedback.

The fourth one is to manufacture test systems using our knowledge in

Q: How long have you been in this business?

Q: But do you have constraints?

Ramanathan: Yes, there are certain constraints in our R & D programme.

The important one is about the market requirements, that are huge and diverse, and how to choose the key issue for our specific focus. However, we have identified two to three areas, to start with, like materials and friction studies. A few leading Japanese and European OEMs are keen to know about new materials. Since the investment on the project is very high, running to crores and our resources are limited, we will probably take it step by step and gradually augment our capabilities. At present we are quite busy as many companies have shown interest in working with us. We have delivered more than 70 projects in the last one year, with about 90 percent to the OEMs, and the quality of work has been well appreciated.

Q: What is the most sold category of product?

Ramanathan: In the last one year, vehicle performance tests, durability tests on road, power train followed by tests for noise & vibration were among the most sold category of products. We have just established big facilities in these areas; these will pick up and overtake vehicle dynamics in the coming years.

Powertrain testing requires huge facilities and demands higher investments. Besides, the manpower requirements are also very high and these things take time to establish.

Now our lab has been validated by many companies in India so we expect to get good business from the industry in the coming years.

The Indian industry has been consistently growing and the OEMs are launching many models. They have so many models and variants to be launched in India and their vehicles have to be validated here locally. They would need large test facilities here. They cannot send components or vehicles abroad all the time for testing at their own facilities.

Ramanathan: We have been in this business for about 12 years but the manufacturing activities have started recently, about a year ago, in Chennai, India. At the moment our focus is on gearbox test rigs, clutch test rigs, synchro cone test rigs and durability test rigs for powertrain components. This is a core business,

Q: How do serve your customers, who had been getting services from overseas companies?

Ramanathan: We have professionals from the industry itself who had worked with Daimler, Renault-Nissan, Mahindra, JK Tyres, Horiba and AVL for 10 to 15 years. We have recruited them to be part of the technical

designing test equipment. We consider this as part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative. We design and develop test systems in Chennai where we develop software (for homologation of vehicles), test systems including brake test, acceleration test, fuel consumption test, gearbox testing, calibration of odometer, and speed governor certification. We provide the sensors and data loggers for all this.

Q: Are you doing this alone or you seek technological support from your partners?

Ramanathan : We develop and manufacture systems on our own and we export our software to different countries like China and Iran.

We have full-fledged teams - R&D in Coimbatore at the university with about 25 engineers including PhD students, and system development in Chennai. The products that we manufacture include roller dynamometers for chassis and gearbox test rigs.

and vehicle dynamics is the other one. We develop software and also provide hardware to do handling and performance trials on road.

Q: Are there other Indian companies making these products?

Ramanathan: There are other companies that manufacture test rigs in India, we are not the pioneers.

Our focus is to enable Indian manufacturers to do up to a certain level while other manufacturers outside India like those in Germany and Japan are doing at a very high level where costs are also very high.

Here the cost is low. For example, a high-end gearbox test rig from Germany might cost Rs seven to eight crore while in India it would be around Rs two crore. We are trying to bring this technology to customers at a reasonable price; that is our aim.

Q: What is the road map for the future?

Ramanathan: In terms of research it is only adding more resources to our portfolio.

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 133

COVER STORY – Allied Industries

centre. They ensure that a very high standard of quality is maintained which increases customer confidence in us. The best companies in Europe and Japan test with us. So far we haven’t had any negative feedback.

They are coming back to us for work which means we are doing a good job; we have created that trust. Our goal is not about maximising profit in this centre.

In many forums I have witnessed deliberations on the industryacademia partnership. I think we have taken the initiative on these lines.

Q: What are the other key drivers in India for you to make new products?

Ramanathan: We are very small, when compared to the other big centres. When we look at the many imported products that we sell through our other divisions of business, we obviously think of making at least some of them here and selling globally.

Q: When you make a product manufactured by your global associates, won’t there be a clash of interests?

Ramanathan: Yes, there will be but so far we have managed it quite well. We 134 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

are transparent and we tell them what we are doing and we keep it open.

We have the same team for sales, as we have not grown that much as yet to have a dedicate team for selling. Of course, the research has a separate team where only knowledgeable people can go and talk to customers, have technical discussions with them.

Q: One issue that everyone talks about on-road vehicle development is that design from concept to part takes a lot of time and it is difficult to manage testing. Do you have a solution for this?

Ramanathan: Yes, it is basically about simulation. When a vehicle is being designed, when it is just a concept, if you get to know how it will perform when it is actually produced you can save time. It needs a lot of correlation between the Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) and other factors. When I design a product and test each of the components to finally assemble the vehicle which is tested in the lab and

goes out for actual road test, there has to be correlation between each of the stages, the entire V-cycle up to safety including driver assisted systems. This is the solution we offer right now, end-to-end.

From IPG, a German company, we offer a tool called Car Maker, or Truck Maker,depending on the type of vehicle to be tested. The system helps to perform different tests at the model or software level, softwarein-the-loop or model-in-the-loop simulation, as if you are doing it in an actual car or truck on the road.

This means you have a virtual car on a virtual road but procedures are the same; the test catalogue has to be the same across categories.

This involves components also, which

are the major part. The idea is to provide information exchange among companies. We have encrypted the data so that we can freely exchange models among Tier-1 and Tire -2 and the OEMs without actually divulging details. They can just take the vehicle model and put in the details of their component before carrying out tests.

do testing for each of those variants; if you don’t find out problems beforehand you will have to go back to the CAE and the entire process has to be repeated.

The model development would then take a much longer time. The idea behind simulation is to bring the

These tests can also be based on customer requirements using simulation at different levels. Costs are minimal as you just require a PC to do the tests; no external infrastructure is needed. The correlation has to be really high so that when it goes into the actual test track it should perform similarly.

Q: There are still people who want to do only actual testing, even in areas where real testing can be minimised.

Ramanathan: That’s perhaps because they are still not aware of the technology. It depends on their comfort level. With today’s technology you are bringing in more models at a faster rate, with each model having hundreds of variants. You have to

model closer to the final product at the beginning itself. It enables refinement at the design stage to make the models better. The infrastructure and machines required for testing is prohibitively expensive, and it may run in to crores of rupees.

Many tests are required with so many models in line. It is impossible to do physical testing on all of them.

That’s why most OEMs are interested in this now; the best companies in the world have already established end-to-end. In Europe it’s on and people have also started thinking about it here in a big way; we will catch up very soon.

Q: What about emission testing, especially with the government skipping Bharat Stage (BS) V and directly going to BS VI?

Ramanathan: We have to establish facilities for that now, not all are up to BS VI. We have some special systems that can be used for development work; our customers are asking for some infrastructure to be put in for BS VI. We are in discussions with them and will be ordering some systems later this year. We will have to upgrade our facilities for that.

Q: From the research point of view how is the work going?

Ramanathan: It’s going on very well.

Customers are interested in us for taking up ‘lab to road’; they want to minimise the testing time. They want us to build systems that would help them. It’s a big challenge but we are on the fast track to get it done.

Q: Would you be setting up similar labs elsewhere in India?

Ramanathan: That’s a very expensive proposition, not affordable right now. However, our on-road testing departments are mobile.

We have teams in Pune, Delhi and Chennai to take care of things like road load and duty cycle measurement, city and highway fuel consumption measurement etc.

We have teams all over India to take care of this. To create infrastructure for big laboratories like powertrain labs and NVH labs that are fixed in one location will be unaffordable for us.

We have a testing centre in Coimbatore with manufacturing in Chennai. We have offices in Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi.

Q: Do you have plans to upgrade the test facility in Coimbatore?

Ramanathan: We are regularly upgrading it, based on customer feedback. This goes on in every laboratory. The upgradation is totally dependent on what our customer demands.

Q: What are the tests that you are not doing now but will be doing soon?

Ramanathan: Presently, we are able to do quite some vehicle- on-road related tests. We are doing quite a bit of NVH work – this lab still needs a little bit of upgradation, we need some equipment here. On the emissions side for Euro-6 we need to upgrade.

These are areas we are looking at for the next 12 months.

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 135

COVER STORY – Allied Industries

JCB To Tap Growth Opportunities In India APA Bureau

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CB India, the country’s leading construction equipment manufacturer, is looking at growth opportunities created by the Make in India programme and the other efforts of the government of India to revive stalled economic activity in the country such as Digital India, Skill India and Swachh Bharat.

The company is well positioned to leverage the opportunities that arise from them. It continues to set benchmarks in innovation and technology to produce world-class backhoe loaders, wheeled loaders, excavators, skid steer loaders, telehandlers, compactors and generators.

It recently launched JCB Livelink, a technology-based on the internet of things. Developed by Wipro, it is an advanced telematics technology which provides service, operation and security updates to customers on real time basis. Livelink collects data and information about the machine’s health, important, vital parameters and location through built-in sensors and send it to JCB Secured System using mobile communication technology. It is then sent to the machine owner via SMS, email and through the websites.

Through this JCB has been able to successfully connect over 10,000 construction equipment and machines, such as backhoe loaders, excavators and compact wheel loaders, deployed for its customers across India.

In two separate instances where machines were stolen, their owners received pop up messages about their location when they were switched on by the stealing party.

Both the machines were then recovered with the help of the local authorities. Similarly, in case of refuelling and maintenance 136 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

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the machines can send pop up messages to the owners’ mobile devices or computers.

Over the years JCB India has invested more than Rs 2,000 crores in India and employs over 5,500 people. It has a network of 63 dealers and over 650 outlets throughout the country.

The company started the journey in 1979 with the manufacturing of only backhoe loaders in India and now it offers 45 different types of models in seven product categories. These products are also exported to over 65 countries.

It has production facility in Ballabgarh near New Delhi, which is also the headquarters. This production unit is the world’s largest backhoe loader plant. With over 330 engineers, India is also home to JCB’s largest design centre outside UK.

Constant Innovation With regard to technology the company constantly keeps innovating in order to make its machines advanced, in terms of fuel efficiency

and low maintenance for the benefit of our customers.

The company displayed innovative, Made-in-India, Made-for-India machines at CONMAC 2015.

Three new variants of the Tracked Excavator– JS220, JS205 and JS120 were on display. In the Compactor range, VMT330 and VMT 860 Compactor were on display. JCB also showcased another major variant of their backhoe range –JCB 3DX Super.

JCB’s India built Skid Steer Loader is also known as the Robot and it is regarded as the safest Skid Steer in the world. Given its compact size, this machine is most useful in solid waste management and general construction in restricted areas.

Even at Excon 2015 it showcased 25 Made in India machines and introduced the “ecoXcellence” range of backhoe loaders. Also on display were the JCB 220LC Xtra Tracked Excavator - a new entrant from JCB India in the 22 Tonnes market, the 455 ZX Wheeled Loader in the 5 Tonnes segment and the new Master Loader.

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COVER STORY – Allied Industries

Schwing Stetter Is Always Innovative

By Anand Sundaresan

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he construction industry has been witnessing several improvements along with the changing market expectations.

And this has reflected in the construction equipment manufacturer as well. The concrete in itself has not changed much for the last several decades. However, the quality and types have changed depending on the applications such as high-rise building and high-quality concrete for extra strengths.

Therefore, the concrete has changed with additives like plasticizers, micro silica, steel fibres, accelerators and retarders to get high-strength concrete to support the demanding applications and also to maintain stability till it reaches the construction site from the batching plant. From on-site concrete production to off-site locations, the delivery of concrete takes time due to distance to be travelled.

Earlier, the construction industry used to have M 30 (the strength of the concrete is 300 kg per cm square) of M 35 grade concrete. Now it has moved to M 80 or M 100. All these changes call for relative technology upgradation in batching plant that we make. Our equipment should not only be capable of handling the aggregates such as the sand, cement

and water but also to have systems to weigh the additives and systems to inject these things in to the concrete properly. It has to have the additional peripherals and accessories. All these calls for matching control systems in the batching plant.

Secondly, the customers are expecting to carry out most of the jobs such as statistical information (purchase and consumption of aggregate to control pilferage) through the control systems.

Besides, the large customers are looking at linking their batching plants in different locations through a network to a centralised control station. This enables them to optimise the productivity and logistics, depending up on the consumption pattern.

The customers have gone one step ahead to connect their plants to their ERP systems to check on cost. This calls for a major role played by the batching plant manufacturers with respect to upgradation of their control system.

Anand Sundaresan

138 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

Here the software development plays a key role. To cater to the emerging demand we have to add smart control systems in our plants and keep upgrading it continually.

batching plant. For the in-line silo for storing the aggregate, we have developed kits that can be transported easily. There is also mobile foundation to support these kinds of requirement.

In 2015-16 road contracts worth about 8,000 km had been awarded and in most of the places, we are recommending our customers to look at mobile batching plant options, as they can save cost. By the fifth shifting of the mobile batching plant the cost would have been amortised.

Truck-Mixer In addition, the customers are expecting feedback from the plant to have proactive maintenance so that the machine up time is always high. Remote diagnostics and planned maintenance schedule help contain the unexpected failures.

Our electronics department has to continuously work on to support the customers’ requirements that come up almost daily.

Mobile Batching Plant In order to facilitate the increasing requirements of our customers from the road building segment, Schwing Stetter is offering mobile batching plants. These units used to be stationery and needed expensive, proper foundation, and took three to five weeks for erection and commissioning. In order to save these expensive and specific requirements Schwing Stetter introduced mobile batching plant.

We also innovate on the truck-mixer. We have brought in about four different models facilitating operations and cleaning.

We have one more version available in Germany, which is light weight but expensive. Unfortunately our customers may not be able to afford it now. However, when the road regulations become more stringent with respect to overloading, then the lightweight machines will have its entry.

In terms of boom pump, we have introduced about five different types.

Also we have introduced ‘shot creating’equipment that can spray concrete in tunnels. We are the only company making it in India. We have supplied quiet a good number of

these equipment to hydro projects, railway and metro projects, in India and also to railway network in Bhutan and other places. Besides, we have exported them to Brazil.

The Challenges However, we have a few challenges and the prime among them is the non-availability of components. As we are not willing to compromise on quality, we are forced to import. We are trying to develop vendors for most of the components and aggregates but the availability of the required grade of steel itself is an issue. Due to lack of volumes, the steel producers in India are unable to support us with the particular grade of steel that we require. Availability of skilled people for manufacturing is another major issue. We have to spend lot of resources for training.

During the last six months there has been cheer on the face of all the construction equipment manufacturers because of good orders fuelled by lot of road contracts.

In addition the earth moving segment is doing well as the excavator and backhoe business has steadily been going up. The first four months of this calendar has witnessed 33 percent against the same period last year. Still there are lot of opportunities from the Railways and ports. By 2020 we hope to reach Rs. 4,000 crore from about Rs 1,250 crore in 2016.

Anand Sundaresan is the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Schwing Stetter India

We have Mobile batching plants of 2.5 Cubic Meter (CBM) per batch which can produce 120 to 130 CBM of concrete an hour. We are the only company in the country making this type and capacity of batching plants which are ideal for National Highway jobs. By this the customers can save about Rs 15 lakh for each foundation for setting up and installing a batching plant. Our recent introduction is a 30 CBM mobile plant - M30Z. In addition the cement silos have to be mobile too, to match mobile AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 139

SAFETY

The Reality Of Automotive Safety Recalls S

By Louis Rumao

afety recalls of automotives may be costly for the OEM’s, but parts suppliers, and especially dealerships, can benefit from the recall campaigns. In general, automotive recalls are not a big deal. They have become quite common. Since 1967, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has recorded more than 10,000 safety-related and compliance recalls, averaging more than 200 recalls a year.

In 2015, there were nearly 900 recall campaigns, affecting more than 51 million vehicles. Of the 15 major nameplates in the US, during 19802013, Mercedes-Benz USA had the lowest recall rate of 0.41, with 2.1 million recalled vs. 5.2 million sold, while Hyundai Motor Co. had the highest recall rate of 1.15, with 9.9 million recalled vs. 8.7 million sold. The remaining 13 OEM’s fell in between these two extremes.

Even exotic makes like Lamborghini and Lotus were not immune to the occasional recalls.

GM, the largest automaker in the US, recently recalled a record 31 140 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

million cars and trucks for various safety issues. The most serious were related to a flawed ignition switch in 2.6 million cars that have been tied to numerous deaths. Recently Toyota agreed to a $1.2 billion penalty to settle a criminal probe over claims of unintended acceleration that led to a recall of over 10 million vehicles.

At present, OEM’s are recalling millions of vehicles with 28.8 million Takata airbag inflators, becoming the largest automotive recall in the US history. Another 85 million Takata air bag inflators are being investigated and would have to be replaced if the company cannot prove they are safe. Of that 85 million, 43.4 million are passenger-side inflators, 26.9 million are for side airbags, and 14.5 million are installed in steering wheels. If all the inflators are recalled, they would total almost 114 million.

The issue involves defective inflator and propellant devices that may deploy improperly in the event of a crash, shooting metal fragments into passenger compartment.

Approximately 34 million vehicles are potentially affected in the US,

and another seven million have been recalled worldwide.

Recall Process

In the US, safety recalls may be initiated voluntarily by an OEM, or could be mandated by the NHTSA which manages relevant recall information about vehicle components or systems which experienced a safety-related defect or did not comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).

OEM’s are required to notify vehicle owners with specific details – make and model, vehicle identification number (VIN), component ID and the nature of the problem. Letters are sent to the registered address of the owner. Unfortunately, millions of older recalls are still open, with notices ignored, or not reaching current owners or vehicles not in service.

Seeing a business opportunity, J.D. Power and Associates has announced a new venture, called J.D. Power SafetyIQ, to help automakers locate and notify owners of older recalled vehicles. “It’s a new business. There are a lot of people who need this information. Imagine consumers,

retailers and dealers being able to benefit from this information”, John Tews, J. D. Power spokesman, said.

Recalls Are Costly The safety recall costs can be from repairs, legal liabilities, blow to brand image, and damage to shareholder value.

The most direct costs to consider are the financial costs of a recall to the automaker. The obvious one is the repair cost. Repair costs for a car manufacturer may be lower than they would be for consumers, given the lower part costs and labour expenses that the automakers pay to the dealers.

Another big cost for a major recall is legal liabilities. Class action lawsuits pop up quickly when a recall is announced, and the punitive cost is always severe when serious injury or death is attributable to the defect.

OEM’s carry liability insurance that may bear the brunt of the expense, but company’s bottom line is always affected. GM had to pay out $625 million for the ignition switch defect that caused 124 deaths and more than 274 injuries.

Automakers also face a number of other, less tangible, expenses. For an OEM with a significant recall, one of the biggest costs will be the blow to its brand, trimming the value of its vehicles by a few hundred dollars. That brand damage equates to a serious opportunity cost and lost sales. In the highly competitive automotive industry, where

manufacturers battle hard to convince consumers to spend significant amounts of money on their products, the blemishes of a recall can be enough to drive some consumers, who are in the middle of making a car buying decision, to competition.

For the most part, those recalls go unnoticed by investors because they’re minor and have relatively inexpensive fixes. Occasionally, however, an automotive recall becomes a serious issue for an automaker - such has been the case with Toyota, GM and Takata.

General Motors closed the books on its epic year of recalls in 2015, saying they cost the company $4.1 billion in repair costs, victim compensation and other expenses, and caused operating profits to fall to $6.5 million in 2014, even though GM sold a record number of cars worldwide.

A recall for Takata airbags, possibly involving several million vehicles, would take years to complete and cost Takata billions of dollars and possibly leading to its bankruptcy.

Advantage Dealerships The tremendous increase in the number of safety recalls is a golden opportunity for car dealers to make money. GM’s recall for the ignition switch repairs and Takata recall for airbag inflators are estimated to send billions of dollars as incremental business to dealers.

Additionally, recalls bring customers to the showrooms, who may not have been there for years, offering sales opportunity for dealers. One

Toyota dealer reported that he sold 80 new cars to owners of recalled vehicles who had come in for the recall campaign. Dealers are also being proactive in searching and contacting owners of recalled vehicle, using several new websites specifically developed for recalled vehicle database. Such customer contact brings in not only the recall fix business, but also added customerpaid service business. A company called Recall Masters specialises in training dealer personnel in how to handle owners of recalled vehicles.

Chris Miller of Recall Masters claims “dealers can get significant revenueadd by suggesting other repairs that the customer may need”.

Can Recall Be Good?

All of the downsides notwithstanding, quite a bit of good can come from a recall for an OEM if it’s executed correctly. When the public sees a company taking on extra costs to protect consumers, the implications can actually be positive. A zero recall rate, or even a low recall rate, could indeed imply that the automaker is doing a better job of manufacturing and quality control, thus improving its brand image better than the competition. “The recall rate could be an indication of a manufacturer’s risk tolerance or strategy. Some automakers may issue recalls at a higher frequency because they may be more cautious and proactive,” iSeeCars.com CEO Phong Ly, said.

NB: Photos are only representational

INSIGHTS

German Automotive Industry Success Is Role Model For Emerging Markets

By S Raj

I

n 2014, the global production of passenger cars and commercial vehicles was almost 90 million (cars 67.7 million, commercial vehicles 22.2 million). This growth was led by China along with the recovered US market. German manufacturers increased their market share in China to more than 22 percent and continue to gain market share in the US.

German Automotive Industry With a turnover of EUR 384 billion the automotive sector is the largest industry sector in Germany contributing to around 20 percent of the total German industry revenue.

The German car manufacturers produced nearly 15 million passenger cars globally of which only 5.6 million (three percent growth) were made in Germany. The rest of over 9.3 million (eight percent growth) were made in 70 countries.

Of the 5.6 million cars made in Germany, 77 percent were exported.

This means three out of every five German-branded passenger cars are produced overseas. At the same time, domestic production in the past 10 years has risen by over five percent when the other West European markets have shrunk. Germany is Europe’s number one automotive market in terms of production and sales accounting for over 30 percent of all passenger cars manufactured and over 20 percent of all new registrations. With 43 OEM sites producing for major auto brands, Germany also hosts the largest concentration of OEM plants in Europe.

The automotive supplier (auto component) industry grew 4.2 percent in 2014 and stood at Euro 73 billion.

142 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

About 85 percent of the supplier industry is mittlestand (SMEs).

Yet, 70 percent value addition is done by the supplier industry.

Among the world’s top 100 suppliers, 21 are German and of these,six belong to the top 25. Exports account for 37 percent of the turnover.

Focus On R&D, Innovation With an R&D spending of EUR 17.6 billion, which is one-third of total country’s R&D expenditure and also one-third of global automotive R&D expenditure, the automotive sector is the most innovative industry sector in Germany. It sets standards in fuel efficiency, emission, safety, quality, comfort, design and networking.

The biggest German automotive supplier files on an average, 19 patents per working day. Over 93,000 personnel work for R&D in the German automotive sector. No other country in Europe has a comparable concentration of auto-related R&D, design, supply, manufacturing and assembly facilities.

Suppliers and service providers based in Germany profit from close client interaction starting from the pre-development stage. They take advantage of joint research activities with some of the world’s leading automotive technology research institutes and universities. This

S Raj

would be the right approach for the emerging markets including India to emulate Germany.

Nine out of 10 German companies filing patents are predominantly active in the automotive sector – the innovation power of the German automotive sector. The major topics for the future range from the advancement of classic powertrains and alternative fuels, the roll-out of electric mobility and the digital revolution in vehicles, right up to selfdriving cars.

S Raj is the Regional Director (Automotive Expert) at Indo-German Chamber of Commerce, Chennai

M E

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Publishers of:

EVENT

Increased International Participation At Automechanika Dubai 2016 APA Bureau

A

utomechanika Dubai 2016, therecently-held largest automotive aftermarket exhibition of the Middle East and Africa, showcased innovative automotive technologies across six product groups of Parts & Components; Electronics & Systems; Repair & Maintenance; Tyres & Batteries; Accessories & Tuning; and Service Station & Car Wash.

144 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

The event that witnessed three days of networking in a diverse market had 2017 exhibitors. Parts & Components, and Electronics & Systems, were the largest with 1,408 exhibitors, a six percent growth over the previous edition. Meritor, the world’s largest independent manufacturer of axles for the heavy duty industry, was one of the headline exhibitors. A healthy outlook for the Middle East’s auto

spare parts and service industry has put the global spotlight on Dubai.

Organised by Messe Frankfurt Middle East, Automechanika Dubai featured 25 country pavilions, and 38 international trade associations.

Spanning 70,000sqm across 15 halls, the showpiece event grew eight per cent year-on-year in both exhibitor numbers and exhibition space. The 14th edition of the annual showcase,

which took place duringMay 8-10, 2016, at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, featured exhibitors from 58 countries, and attracted 30,018 visitors from 119 countries. These attributes keep the show on the radar of the world’s biggest suppliers of auto parts and services.

The exhibition was inaugurated by Mattar Al Tayer, Director General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors at the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), Dubai.

participated include Auto Ignition, Devendra Exports, Gabriel India. Gold Seal, IP Rings, India Pistons, Jamna Auto Industries, LG Balakrishnan& Bros, Minda Industries, QH Talbros, Shriram Automotive, Sona Koyo, Stork Auto Engineering and Valeo Friction.

The German manufacturer Schaefflerexhibited at Automechanika Dubai for the seventh year in a row, and showcased its LuK, INA, FAG, and Ruville brands, covering a wide product range for

Iljin, Korea’s largest manufacturer of tapered roller bearings.MCB, the UAE’s first company to supply automotive bearings for Japanese, Korean, European, and American car models, is looking for distributors in the Middle East and Africa for ILJIN, which holds a 30 percent share of the world’s wheel bearing market.

Having first connected at Automechanika Dubai several years ago, the two companies have now gone full circle. “Together with Iljin, we are currently on a look out for

The turnout from the international trade reinforces the decision by leading global players to continue investing in the Middle East and Africa. The record turnout at the three-day event underlines a buoyant Mid East market for spare parts – estimated to grow at six percent CAGR to US$17.27 billion by 2020 from US$12.98 billion in 2015. The Middle East vehicle sales are also set to rise, from 3.2 million in 2015 to 4.4 million in 2020 according to Frost & Sullivan, bringing the total car tally on regional roads to 44.5 million, up from 34.8 million in 2015.

The combined growth of car sales and spare parts demand has attracted the attention of the world’s leading aftermarket brands at Automechanika Dubai 2016, and they showcase their latest wares and innovations to a select group of more than 30,000 trade buyers from 135 countries.

More From Overseas With 90 per cent of the exhibitors based outside of the UAE, Automechanika Dubai 2016 was also the most internationally representative in its 14-year history, highlighted by 25 Country Pavilions, including debut pavilions from Japan, Peru, the Netherlands, and Iran.

Spearheading the international exhibitors were the country pavilions from Germany and Koreawith 103 and 88 exhibitors respectively, followed

by Italy (78 exhibitors), Turkey (75 ) the US (58), Brazil (25), South Africa (16) and Japan (11). From India there were more than 80 exhibitors with largest delegation represented by the members of Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA). Some of the companies

engine, transmission, and chassis applications for almost all vehicles.

IoannisVrantzoglou, Managing Director of Shaeffler Middle East, said, “Schaeffler is taking part at Automechanika Dubai to gain new deals, meet new customers, and boost our sales activities within the Middle East and African region. We are operating in a huge, emerging market that’s not yet saturated, with a lot of potential and opportunities.

Under a normal and steady political situation, the growth is expected to continue.

Meanwhile, the UAE company Mineral Circles Bearings (MCB) announced its newly inked partnership with

distributors,” said HassaneinAlwan, MCB’s Marketing Director. “With innovative vision and performance spirit, MCB and Iljin’s power beyond focus attitude paves the new future for the bearing industry in the region and the world over,” he added.

Exhibiting for the second time at Automechanika Dubai, the Americanheadquartered Fortune 500 company, Meritor, views the Middle East and African automotive aftermarket as one of its key growth markets. “The Middle East and Africa is one of core strategic topics for the next three years, so this is really a very important market,” Janusz Zielinski, Sales AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 145

EVENT Director for Europe, Middle East, and Africa at Meritor, said.

“We started business here around three years ago and we’ve selected local spare parts distributors, but this is still under development. We’ve just started and we have to be more active here. We’re showing that we’re coming from the OE (Original Equipment) side; we’re not just a spare parts manufacturer. It’s important to communicate that our products are of OE quality, because what we sell to the OE is the same as what we sell to the aftermarket”.

Zielinski added that, “What’s interesting at Automechanika Dubai is the diversity of visitors, and even though we’re late-comers to the region, everyone knows our brand, and that we’re an aftermarket specialist.”

Repair & Maintenance At the forefront of the 118 Repair & Maintenance exhibitors was Caltex. Exhibiting for the first time at Automechanika Dubai, Caltex showcased its Havoline lubricant range for passenger vehicles, Delo (Diesel Lubricating Oil) for commercial vehicles, and its Techron fuel system cleaner.

Adriaan de Kok, Area Business Manager for the Gulf and Middle East at Caltex’s parent company, Chevron Lubricants, spoke of the regionwide transition into demanding cleaner, more efficient, and better quality lubricants that are aligned with international standards. “The standards and vehicle requirements are rapidly advancing, and the demands on today’s engines are not what they were ten years ago,” he said.

“We’re seeing an adoption of really high standards by regional Governments, and an aspiration to be responsible when it comes to environmental criteria, engine protection, and fuel economy. Our vested interest is in consumer education and making sure that the aftermarket trade understands the benefit in our products to the end customers. And ultimately this leads to the Gulf’s aspirations for a cleaner, safer environment.”

Accessories & Tuning Meanwhile, stealing the spotlight 146 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

from the 191 exhibitors in the Accessories & Tuning section was the Japanese company Kuhl Racing, which launched its fully customised gold-coloured Nissan R35 GT-R. The unique golden sheen was hand painted and engraved with intricate patterns by master engraver Takahiko Izawa. The dazzling car, which comes with a 3.8 litre V6 twin turbo 545 hp engine, had a special Automechanika Dubai price tag of US$750,000.

KazuyoFurusho, Kuhl Racing’s representative at Automechanika Dubai, said the show-stopping sports car had already attracted the interest of buyers in a region that loves gilty pleasures. “The reaction from visitors at Automechanika Dubai has been amazing, and everyone thinks it is real gold, or wrapped with golden paper,” said Furusho, who added the whole customisation process took six months to complete, and includes enhanced aerodynamic features, a reinforced body and precision handling. “So far we’ve had interest from buyers in Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. It’s not a car for everyday use.

It’s exclusive and unique, and buyers here like this type of thing.”

Tyres & Batteries With 232 exhibitors, Tyres & Batteries has been the fastest growing section at Automechanika Dubai 2016, having grown by 21 percent over the previous year. UAE-based Al Dobowi, the section’s stalwart, returned in 2016 with the announcement of the opening of the Middle East’s largest battery manufacturing plant. “Our new battery plant in Techno Park in Dubai will open in September this year, and will have the capacity to produce 1.2 million car batteries a year,” SurenderKandhari, Chairman

of Al Dobowi, said. “We’ve partnered with Exide, one of the world’s largest producers and distributors of batteries. Now Exide batteries will be made in the UAE, and distributed throughout the Middle East and Africa.”

“In its 14th edition this year, Automechanika Dubai has passed the 2,000 exhibitor mark for the first time. Compare this to the 119 exhibitors at the inaugural show in 2003, and it’s clear we’ve come a long way. What sets Automechanika Dubai apart is that it serves as a crucial knowledge platform to analyse industry trends, opportunities, and fresh perspectives, view the latest products available in the market, connect with existing contacts, and of course, seek new business partners,” Ahmed Pauwels, CEO of Messe Frankfurt Middle East, said.

Automechanika Dubai 2016 has raised the bar again, delivering real business opportunities, while shedding light on the latest advancements in automotive aftermarket services and technologies,” he said. “While it’s positive to see the show grow in-line with industry expectations, what’s more important is that our customers – the exhibitors and visitors – leave every year with both tangible and intangible benefits that are measured in more ways than dollars and signs. This is how we know that Automechanika Dubai will continue to be a force for many years ahead,” Pauwels said.

Messe Frankfurt has announced that the 15th edition of Automechanika Dubai will take place from 7-9 May 2017.

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Interaction Automechanika,designed specially for the aftermarket, has been playing a great role in its Dubai edition since 14 years. It has become a superb platform to deliver information from the producers and manufacturers to the business consumers.In an exclusive interaction with T Murrali of AutoParts Asia, Michael Johannes, Vice President, Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH, said that Automechanika will be an innovation platform for all stakeholders. The excerpts:-

Q : Automotive industry has been evolving and electronics is driving the mobility. Going forward how do you see the evolution of the electronics and systems part of Automechanika?

Johannes: I wouldn’t say that it is for the particular segment – the electronics and systems. I think the industry and everyone has to see what will be the upcoming developments. At the moment we don’t know; but we have realised during the last ten years that the development is growing faster and faster and that this will be an ongoing story.

We are already in the process. I think there is going to be a lot of changes in the industry because, in the process of evolution, lot of things will change and it will be dramatic. Time is changing fast and therefore, we need to take the people along with us and deliver the information on latest products and trends. There is a huge lack of information at the moment.

Automechanika, which is specially for the aftermarket, is a superb platform to deliver information from the producers and manufacturers to the business consumers.

Q: With superior technologies the life of parts and consumables has been increasing, eventually reducing the parts change intervals.

As the largest exhibition company for aftermarket, are you affected by the technological development?

Johannes: You are right in saying that the products will have longer life but on the other hand the products are getting more expensive. There is always a challenge and opportunity.

If you have the right product in the market with a brand as well, then the customers would appreciate to invest in these products, paying more; and this is the opportunity for the company. If you deliver low 148 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

quality with low price, it may not make sense at the end, because the product may not be available in the market.

I think there is always a cycle in life and industry.

Q: Messe Frankfurt has been conducting Automechanika shows in the markets that are unique.

How was Jedda Michael Johannes edition, since it is closer to Automechanika Dubai?

Johannes: Jeddah is a very good example because our customers have told us that Saudi Arabia is a special market place. Not everybody is interested but Jeddah helped the Saudi market. We started with 150 companies, targeting the Saudi market alone. It will not become a huge exhibition but will continue to be a niche show.

Q: Where do you see opportunities for Messe Frankfurt to conduct the next Automechanika, which will be 16th location?

Johannes: We have a lot in the pipeline. This year we launched Jeddah and Birmingham and we are very much focussed on Automechanika Frankfurt at the moment. This is because the development is very fast and we would like to show the industry that Automechanika is an innovation platform.

Q: Can you compare the 2014 edition of Automechanika Frankfurt with the forthcoming show?

Johannes: We will have a little more exhibitors and the size will be the same as the entire lot is sold out.

In 2018 it will be bigger as we are

building now our new hall 12, behind hall 10. This will add another 30,000 square meters of space. We are happy that we join forces with the Tyre Show Reifen Essen. I think it makes sense for the industry and this is what the customers want.

Q: Can you throw some light on your initiatives on remanufacturing?

Johannes: Messe Frankfurt is working together with APRA and MERA. Remanufacturing is getting stronger in Europe and we are working with different associations.

In the coming years it will play an important role. It is a matter of fact that the customers are asking for high quality standards; it is not always about the price. There are so many markets for remanufactured parts and components and therefore we are dedicated to put in more efforts in Automechanika.

Q: Do you see a new segment evolving for remanufacturing, at Automechanika shows?

Johannes: Well, we think if there is a development, we could imagine that we will have a special section, special topics and special interests for remanufacturing. The thing always is that the Automechanika shows are getting so big, especially for visitors

that we have to make sure that they will find immediately what they are interested in. If remanufacturing is playing a more important role in the future, then we have to ensure that the visitors will find products more easily.

laws, the rules and regulations are right because at the end of the day the customers would like to have

quality products. If this cannot be guaranteed, then it will become difficult.

Q: The US government is promoting remanufactured products for its service vehicles. Do you think this would help exhibitors like you to support the eco-friendly products?

Johannes: We have been active in this topic since many years now and it is not that we are trying to put this now into our agenda.

Remanufacturing has always been a part of Automechanika; it may not have played an important role as it should have. The new law in the US is good for remanufacturing; it is not so strong in Europe.

Remanufacturing plays a very important role in different parts of the world. It is a bit different in the emerging markets. The most important thing is to make sure the AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 149

EVENT

CAPAS 2016 Catalyses Sourcing Opportunities The third edition had larger participation from Sichuan Province

T

he 3rd annual Chengdu International Trade Fair for Automotive Parts and Aftermarket Services (CAPAS) has opened new vistas for the players in the automotive

Fiona Chiew

APA Bureau space not only from the Sichuan Province, of which Chengdu is the capital city, but also from other regions of China and the rest of the world. The recently concluded show, considered to be

Stphan Buurma

Southwest China’s leading automotive trading platform, had much to offer, from parts and services to accessories and tuning options, to the automotive industry players and enthusiasts.

In an effort to connect the western, central and eastern regions of China, as well as parts of Eurasia and regions of Africa, the commercial vehicle industry continues to expand in China.

New business opportunities and connections were found at the new Commercial Vehicle zone of CAPAS. For the first time, the show had over ten representatives from the commercial vehicle segment with special focus on environmentfriendly vehicles. There were electric and hybrid vehicles – buses, trucks and passenger vehicles as well – at the show.

The inaugural ceremony was signified by pressing the crystal ball by Wang Xia, Chairman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Automotive Sub-Council, Li Gang, Chairman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Sichuan Council, Liu Jie Vice Governor of Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China and Stephan Buurma, Member of the Extended Board of Management, Messe Frankfurt GmbH. Buurma told the gathering that the automotive industry in China has been experiencing huge growth and the Southwest China region has especially seen a jump in production numbers.

The Sichuan region alone has enjoyed a 9.1 percent vehicle production increase year-onyear. Spanning the three primary automotive sectors of Parts &

Components, Accessories & Tuning and Repair & Maintenance, CAPAS is also growing exponentially each year as a reflection of the region’s growth and its marketability. As more and more companies see the benefit of attending CAPAS the exhibitor numbers continue to grow, he said.

the automotive market continues to rise. Many manufacturers have established factories in the region and production percentages progressively accelerate. CAPAS emerged as a preferred platform enabling both exhibitors and buyers to tap into the swift current of the market.

Held at the Chengdu Century City New International Exhibition & Convention Centre with 35,000 sqm of exhibition space, CAPAS witnessed rapid growth over the last three years. Organised by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Automotive Sub-Council (CCPIT-Auto), Messe Frankfurt (Shanghai) Co Ltd and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Sichuan Council (CCPIT-Sichuan), the expo had 738 participants, nine percent more than in the previous edition.

Interestingly, Chengdu is the second largest in China in terms of car parc and the city has a vehicle parc of 3.68 million passenger vehicles in 2015 (about 17 percent growth over the previous year), which is close to 15 percent more than the annual sales of similar vehicles in India. The Sichuan province has a vehicle parc of 7,680,000 passenger vehicles at the end of 2015, witnessing about 15 percent growth.

Interestingly the show witnessed close to 150 exhibitors from Sichuan province alone. It was double the number participants in CAPAS 2015. According to Fiona Chiew, General Manager, Messe Frankfurt (Shanghai) Co Ltd and the Show Director of the trade fair, this is a clear signal that the response from this province has been increasing as more and more automotive companies here wanted to expand their operations and hence opted to participate in CAPAS. The Sichuan area in Southwest China has experienced accelerated growth recently and

In 2015, 1,051,000 vehicles were manufactured in Sichuan province, which was a 9.1 percent increase to the previous year. According to China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Sichuan Council, there are 13 car manufactures in Sichuan, as of 2015. The OEMs are supported by over 290 components manufacturers in the province.

The well-established vendor-base support the vehicle makers with several systems including plastic parts and sheet metal to castings and forgings. There are also quite a few companies involved in manufacturing parts using alternate materials including carbon fibre.

The participants included Eneos, Liqui Moly, Mobil, China National AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 151

EVENT

Bluestar Group, AMG Auto Parts and Jiutong New Type Friction Material.

Consistent Growth Over the last three years, the show has experienced rapid growth.

Matching the increased number of exhibitors CAPAS organisers saw significant growth in the number of visitors. In CAPAS 2015, there were 13,250 visitors, of whom 189 were from overseas markets.

Out of 738 exhibitors, 38 were from other countries. Also, the number of exhibiting countries and regions had risen to 10 this year. A few companies from Indonesia and Italy participated in the exhibition for the first time this year and companies from Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the US have been returning to the show.

Many companies have experienced the benefit of CAPAS first-hand.

Several of those companies have returned to the 2016 edition. Some of the participants that were responsible for the patronage were Aborn, AsiaPacific, Liqui Moly, Luoshi, Musicson, Ruili.

Well-known brands that exhibited at CAPAS for the first time this year included Bluepoint, Bluestar, BoHai Piston, Cummins China, DCEC, Eneos, FAST, Haida, Heavy Duty Truck, Liao, Mitasu, Olympus, Qianjiang Spring, ruiming, SAICIVECO HONGYAN, Shaanxi Automobile Group, Shijiazhuang Jin Kaien, Snapon, Trainsway, Winsafe, Yongtai among many others.

New Energy The show also witnessed innovations within the field of renewable energy and this was conceptualised as ‘New Energy’ zone at CAPAS. The

zone was coorganised by the Group Office of Sichuan New Energy Automotive Industry Development.

The latest models in the ‘Made in Sichuan’ new energy vehicle fleet were showcased at the show. These models included new energy vehicles from acclaimed passenger and commercial vehicle manufacturers such as Brilliance, Chengdu Ace, Inmax, Li Jue, Shudu and Yema.

Visitor Groups There were several opportunities for sourcing the latest innovations in the automotive industry-related OE and aftermarket services. There were buyer delegation from several overseas markets including Malaysia and Turkey. There were more than 20 local visitor groups looking to understand and capitalise on the immense marketability of the automotive industry in Southwest China. These visitors were primarily from the surrounding areas of Sichuan such as places in the districts of Chongqing, Gansu, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Tibet and Yunnan.

Visitors, pursuing a better understanding of Southwest China’s growing automotive aftermarket and possibilities, included Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Shanghai, Tianjin and Zhejiang. Altogether the visitor groups comprised about 8,600 trade professionals with new delegates from the Chongqing Auto Service Industry Association, the Commercial Vehicle Production and Marketing Association and the Chongqing Auto M&R Industry Association.

Yet another new programme kickstarted at this year’s CAPAS was on strategic partnership.

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This was primarily to allow strategic partnerships between selected industry-leading brands and the organisers. The partnership offered five companies, Liqui Moly GmbH, Ruili Group Ruian Auto Parts Co Ltd, Shanghai Musicson Tech Co Ltd, SKYFIL Auto Parts Manufacturing Co Ltd and Wenzhou Ruiming Industrial Co Ltd, to promote and explore the market with the maximum benefits possible.

Fringe Programmes There were 17 Fringe Programme at CAPAS 2016. The topics covered the three primary automotive sectors of Parts & Components, Accessories & Tuning and Repair & Maintenance.

The list of activities included ‘Made in Sichuan,’ Self-driving Travelling Activities, CAPAS Academy 2016 Auto Parts Intelligent Manufacturing, CAPAS Car Tuning Carnival 2016, China Auto Venture Capital Summit & China (Sichuan), Automobile Industry Investment and Cooperation Conference and China Automotive Industry Venture Competition 2016.

The fringe programme was a unique opportunity for industry players to share information about the automotive industry, the market and the future of the automotive parts and aftermarket services trade in Southwest China. Besides, it enabled the participants to network with their peers.

Going forward Messe Frankfurt might look at a few segments including tyres to participate in CAPAS, Chiew said. The response to this event from the region has been encouraging that Messe Frankfurt is planning to include new segments within the automotive space. This will give the visitors more options at one shot, while visiting the show.

BRAND TRENDS

MALCORP - The Global Source For Rubber Automotive, Industrial Parts APA Bureau

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he Malaysian Consortium of Rubber Products (MALCORP) is the ultimate one-stop sourcing centre for rubber automotive components, industrial hoses, marine fenders, bridge bearings and rubber gloves. It is a consortium of a group of dynamic Malaysian companies producing automotive, industrial, commercial and general rubber products.

Set up by the Government of Malaysia in 2001 to enhance export competitiveness of rubber products, MALCORP has grown by incorporating an entire spectrum of services, ranging from design, development and prototyping to the final stages of implementation and production.

Each of the companies in the MALCORP consortium specialises in the manufacture and production of an extensive range of automotive, industrial and general rubber products. These products are exported to over 40 countries and the name MALCORP has become synonymous with high-quality global rubber automotive products. It has the means to produce the huge range of rubber automotive replacement parts suitable for Japanese, Korean and European cars.

MALCORP has a mould bank of over 15,000 items suitable for Japanese,

Korean and European cars and trucks. This enables customers anywhere in the world to source any of these rubber automotive products through a single supplier. They can find the exact product that meets all their requirements. The range includes a vast selection of rubber radiator hoses for vehicles of major brand names from all around the world. It is constantly adding to the list.

MALCORP has become the complete rubber products sourcing centre in the region and is readily accessible to all international buyers. Over the past decade, its portfolio of international clients has increased with regular orders from over 40 countries around the world. With a comprehensive range, stringent quality control, competitive pricing and a global presence, MALCORP is well equipped to meet the requirements of the most discerning clients.

Commitment To Quality MALCORP’s continued success can be attributed to its strong emphasis on maintaining the highest international quality standards. Not only are products made by the best Malaysian rubber manufacturers consortium members, they are all original equipment as well as replacement market manufacturers having sufficient resources,

capabilities and experience to supply high-quality products in conformity with international standards.

MALCORP receives technical support from two research institutions under the Malaysian Rubber Board, namely the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre in Brickendonbury, the UK, and the Rubber Technology Centre in Malaysia. Both of them are leading and most progressive rubber research and development laboratories in the world.

Another key benefit for MALCORP customers is the seamless integration of logistic solutions. Via MALCORP, customers can enjoy consolidation of shipments even if orders are made from various different Malaysian rubber product manufacturers within the Consortium, thus providing greater ease in logistic management and reducing shipping costs to the customers.

MALCORP has recently launched its Electronic Catalogue. Through this system, customers worldwide need only to insert the OEM number or model of cars and year or the application of the part they are looking for in the on-line system and all information required by the customer will be available including prices. This E-catalogue will cut short the long process of browsing hard copies of catalogues.

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GLEANINGS - India

Bajaj Launches Desert Gold Avenger APA Bureau

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ajaj Auto launched last year the new Avenger range The Avenger 220 Cruise, 220 Street, and 150 Street.

The new Avenger series redefined the cruiser bike segment to offer unmatched international styling and cruising comfort. The new Avenger 220 Cruise retained the classic cruiser comfort and looks while the all new Avenger Street range was designed for easy city riding. Post the re-launch, the brand catapulted to the number two position in the sports segment with volumes crossing 25,000 a month.

BAL has launched an exciting new Desert Gold Edition of the Avenger Cruise 220. Inspired by the glamorous shades of the desert, the Gold colour

together with the dark brown seat upholstery and back support provides a unique premium look to the Avenger Cruise 220.

Commenting on the launch of the new colour range, Eric Vas, President, Motorcycle Business, Bajaj Auto Ltd, said, “The Avenger has always been known for its world class styling and unbeatable cruising comfort.

The introduction of the Desert Gold edition offers a remarkable new look for Avenger lovers. This is a unique colour and we are confident it will generate widespread excitement in

the already growing cruiser segment” All other specifications of the bike including Bajaj’s trusted 220 cc DTSi engine, remain unchanged. The Avenger 220 cruise dons a 5-speed gearbox to enhance the entire cruising experience for bikers. With raised handlebars, low slung seat and iconic windshield the Avenger 220 cruise is the finest cruiser bikes in the segment.

New Activa-i From Honda Comes in 3 Colours APA Bureau

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dding to its youthful appeal and freshness, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt. Ltd (HMSI) has launched three new colours of Activa-i. The personal compact scooter receives a refreshing twist and is Honda’s seventh new model of 2016. The new Activa-i is aimed at extending the legacy of brand ‘Activa’ and its leadership in the automatic scooter segment. It is priced at Rs 49,521 (ex-showroom Chennai). The dispatches of the new Activa-i has commenced.

“In line with our strategy to surprise our customers by adding freshness to our products regularly, the 2016 Activa-i is Honda’s seventh new model of 2016. With this, 154 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

we are confident of driving rapid scooterization of two-wheeler industry”, Mr. Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Senior Vice President – Sales & Marketing, HMSI said.

Besides the new colours Pearl Trance

Yellow and Candy Jazzy Blue, the standard variant of new Activa-i will be available in Pearl Amazing White and Black.

In addition to Orchid Purple Metallic and Pearl Amazing White the Deluxe variant will be available in the new exciting Imperial Red metallic colour also.

Known for its sleek, lightweight and compact design, powered by the 110cc HET engine (Honda Eco Technology), Activa-i generaes 5.84 kW of power (8 BHP @7,500rpm) and maximum torque of 8.74Nm@5,500 rpm.

GLEANINGS - India

50,000th BMW Rolls Off Chennai Plant APA Bureau

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MW Plant Chennai has recently rolled out the 50,000th car locally produced in India. “It is with great pride that we are rolling-out the 50,000th car locally produced at BMW Plant Chennai. Each and every BMW that is locally produced is of the same international standards as anywhere else in the world and brings a smile on the faces of our customers. Highly skilled employees, advanced manufacturing processes along with state-of-the-art machinery and technology provide all the necessary ingredients to achieve these tough standards. We are proud of this achievement and look forward to many such milestones in the future,” Jochen Stallkamp, Managing Director, BMW Plant Chennai, said,

The allnew BMW 7 Series received the distinction of being the 50,000th car locallyproduced in India.

Launched Dr. Stallkamp, MD - BMW Plant Chennai with the 50,000th car at the Auto produced on two assembly lines Expo 2016, here. Presently, the BMW 1 Series, the all-new BMW 7 Series continues the BMW 3 Series, the BMW 3 Series to break the innovation barrier in Gran Turismo, the BMW 5 Series, automotive industry with its gamethe BMW 7 Series, the BMW X1, the changing futuristic technologies.

BMW X3 and the BMW X5 are locally BMW Plant Chennai started produced. It has increased the level operations on 29 March 2007. Up of localisation up to 50 percent. to eight car models are locally

Honda Cars India Pins Hopes On BR-V Sales APA Bureau

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onda Cars India (HCIL), which has been recording negative sales in the last six months, is pinning hope on the newly launched compact SUV, BR-V, to bring back growth this year. HCIL has registered monthly domestic sales of 10,486 units in April 2016 against 12,636 units in the corresponding month last year.

However, in the financial year FY16, Honda recorded a growth of 1.5 percent by selling 192059 units.

However, the entire passenger vehicle sales grew by 7.2 percent.

“India is a key market for Honda and as part of our business expansion plan, we are focusing on increasing our customer base with new model

introductions. The launch of BR-V marks Honda’s entry into the popular compact SUV segment,” Yoichiro Ueno, President and CEO, HCIL, said.

BR-V is available in both Diesel and Petrol fuel options in India.

The petrol variant is equipped with Honda’s popular 16-Valve, 4-Cylinder 1.5-liter i-VTEC engine with new and exclusively developed 6-speed manual transmission and first-in-class Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT). The diesel variant is equipped with the 1.5 L i-DTEC diesel engine from Earth Dreams Technology series in 6-speed manual transmission.

BR-V has been developed at Honda R&D located in Bangkok, Thailand.

In line with HCIL’s safety direction in India, BR-V comes equipped with Dual SRS Air Bags as standard offering across variants, along with host of other active and passive safety features.

The success of BR-V becomes very crucial for HCIL as its previous launches, Amaze and Mobilio, have seen major sales decline.

Honda has high hopes on BR-V. However, experts feel that in the presence of strong competition and established players, the Japanese carmaker should have given a more competitive price at least initially to excite the customers.

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 155

GLEANINGS - India

Southern Railway To Cut Car Export Cost APA Bureau

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he Southern Railway, which caters to the Chennai automotive cluster, has released an Auto-Vision document to leverage the growth triggers of competitive pricing, operational effectiveness, capital expenditure, rationalisation of management practices and enhancing teamwork within employees and proactive outreach towards customers. It has also signed MoUs with two major Ports, to bring down the car export cost to match the cost by road transportation.

The vision document released by Vashishta Johri, General Manager, Southern Railways, aims at generating Rs 500 crore revenue from

the automotive sector in 10 years at a CAGR of 30 percent and enhancing the rail share in the export/ coastal RO-RO segment to Rs 90 crore.

The Division wants to take the rail share to 50 percent in the container- based export market, an expected revenue of Rs 60 crore, and to run daily two parcel express trains for maintenance spares and supplementary goods and to leverage the warehousing business to generate about Rs 150 crore.

Ajeet Saxena, Chief Commercial Officer, Southern Railway, said that the Division is working on bringing down the cost to attract automotive cargoes.

Now to send a car by truck costs around Rs 1,000 and by train Rs 1500. The MoU with the Chennai Port and Kamarajar Ports is to bring down this cost.

Officials said the Ports have agreed to bring down the cost in warfage and handling charges

which will bring the cost close to the road transport. The Southern Railway has also written to the Railway Board to reduce the freight to become more competitive, the officials said.

V Anand, Manager, Hyundai Motor India Ltd, which sends six percent of its traffic through trains, said that cost is a major challenge. Lack of dedicated freight corridor, absence of loading and unloading infrastructure, absence of connectivity to manufacturing clusters, complicated structure of freight rates without alignment to market dynamics and fuel price are the major issues.

The limited availability of rakes and slow speed are some of the key reasons that have restricted the growth of freight movement through trains. The private auto terminals are too expensive under the auto hub policy.

Hyundai Delivers Special Grand i10 In 20th Year APA Bureau

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yundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), the country’s second largest car manufacturer and largest passenger car exporter, has introduced Special Edition of Grand i10 and Xcent commemorating 20 years of its Foundation in India.

Winner of the Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) award in 2014, Grand i10 has become part of over 308,000 Happy 156 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

Indian families offering a complete package from style to performance.

Launched two years ago Xcent has become part of over 120,000 families offering unmatched performance, fuel efficiency and safety.

Rakesh Srivastava, Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing, HMIL, said, “It is our continuous effort to gauge changing customer preferences and keep introducing

new technology in our products to offer high value to our customers.

Introduction of Grand i10 special edition will further enhance the value proposition of the product and aims to achieve the highest customer satisfaction. Xcent has emerged as India’s most loved family sedan and we are confident that the Special Edition will further enhance the excitement among the customers.”

GLEANINGS - International

Ford Honours Global Suppliers at 18th Annual World Excellence Awards APA Bureau

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ord honoured its topperforming global suppliers at the 18th annual World Excellence Awards. Fiftyseven awards were presented to suppliers who exceeded company expectations and distinguished themselves from their peers by achieving the highest levels of global excellence in 11 categories.

“Ford’s World Excellence Awards allow us to recognize suppliers who demonstrate a strong commitment to quality, performance and teamwork,” Hau Thai-Tang, Ford Group Vice President, Global Purchasing, said. “These awardwinning companies have helped Ford deliver a breakthrough year, and we are

thankful they are part of our One Ford team.”

Ford World Excellence Award categories include:• Quality, green, safe and smart for suppliers who demonstrate leadership in Ford’s primary brand pillars; • Aligned Business Framework for suppliers who most exemplify the Aligned Business Framework principles, with emphasis on quality, value and innovation; • Special recognition for suppliers that delivered results exceeding expectations; • Lincoln luxury, which

recognizes a supplier helping transform Lincoln to be the luxury vehicle of choice; • Diverse Supplier of the Year and Supplier Diversity Development Corporation of the Year to honour suppliers that excel in integrating diversity into their organization and business process; • Gold and silver for supplier manufacturing sites that have demonstrated superior quality, delivery and cost performance throughout the year.

The 18th Annual World Excellence Award Winners: Quality Brand Pillar ThyssenKrupp Maxion Wheels TI Group Automotive Systems Auma – Bocar Group

Leggett & Platt Automotive Group Schaeffler Group

Green Brand Pillar Panasonic Automotive Systems PPG Industries Durr Tupy S.A. Kautex Textron GMBH & Co. KG

Aligned Business Framework BorgWarner Corporation Flex-N-Gate Linamar Corporation Continental AG Thai Summit Group Hitachi Ltd. Agero Active Aero Group Nemak

Safe Brand Pillar Windsor Machine Group Walbridge Delphi Automotive Autoliv Smart Brand Pillar Magna International Inc. Valeo

Lincoln Luxury Harman International

Special Recognition Tower Automotive Martinrea International Inc. Diverse Supplier Of The Year Systems Technology Group

Supplier Diversity Development Corporation Of The Year Lear Corporation Gold Spectra Premium Industries Inc. WPP Abel Construction Company Inc. Transportes Lar Mex SA DE CV Comstar Automotive Technologies Autoliv BKI SA Valeo Lighting Injection SA Yazaki Systems Automotive SRL Rehau SA DE CV Denso Manufacturing Tennessee Inc. Dana Automotive Systems Group

Soc. Michelin DE Part Ind E Com LTDA Silver Iljin Donga Automotive Yapp India Automotive PGI Far East Precision Products Co. BorgWarner Poland SP. Z O.O. Brose Sistemas de Fechaduras Para Automoveis Robert Bosch GMBH Paulstra SNC Honeywell Garrett Italia SRL Advics North America Inc. Hella Electronics Corp.

Ogura Corporation Pirelli Pneuss SA EWIE Europe Ltd Sewells Australia PTY Ltd.

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 157

GLEANINGS - International

FCA US Jefferson North Plant Produces Six Millionth Vehicle APA Bureau

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he FCA US Jefferson North Assembly Plant celebrated a significant milestone when the six millionth vehicle produced at the Detroit facility – a 75th anniversary edition 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee – rolled off the assembly line recently. In its 24-year history, the plant has built enough vehicles to circle the globe one and a half times.

“Reaching this milestone is a reflection of this plant’s commitment to supporting the continued growth of the Jeep brand around the world and playing a role in the comeback of Detroit,” Curt Towne, Jefferson North Plant Manager, said. “Our employees are proud to be part of this unique time in the history of both the Company and the City. They understand that not only are they contributing to the success of FCA US, but they are proving that Detroit will always be the Motor City.”

To keep up with demand, nearly 4,500 people work at the 3-millionsq.ft facility on an alternative work schedule, meaning three crews work two 10-hour shifts each day, six days a week. It takes a day and a half for a vehicle to travel from the body shop, where body panels are welded together, to when the vehicle rolls off the assembly line. In 2015, the plant produced 365,542 vehicles. Nearly 25 percent of the plant’s production is shipped to 135 markets around the world.

Plant, home of the Dodge Viper, and the Mack Avenue Engine Complex), Jefferson North has been pumping out vehicles since 1992. Chrysler invested $1.2 billion to bring the first Grand Cherokee to market, which included vehicle research and development, vehicle engineering, and construction of and equipment for the new Jefferson North plant. The groundbreaking for the new plant was on May 31, 1989. The first Jeep Grand Cherokee rolled off the line on January 14, 1992.

Twenty-Four Years In Detroit

In addition to the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jefferson North also produced the Jeep Commander from 2005-2010 and began production of the Dodge Durango in December 2010. The plant celebrated the 5 millionth vehicle produced – also a Jeep Grand Cherokee – at the plant on August 13, 2013.

One of three FCA US manufacturing facilities located in Detroit (the other two are the Conner Avenue Assembly

The former Jefferson Assembly Plant, built in 1907 by Chalmers Motor Car Company, was twice the size of the

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current plant’s original footprint (3.6 million sq.ft compared to 1.75 million sq.ftt, respectively) and produced a total of 8,310,107 vehicles in its 83year history.

In addition to the standard Trenton, Mich.-built 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine and Kokomo, Ind.-built eightspeed transmission, the 6 millionth Grand Cherokee has the following standard equipment – an 8.4-inch Touch Screen Radio, GPS navigation, Blind Spot Detection and embossed 75th anniversary logo on the seat.

The milestone vehicle was ordered with two optional equipment packages – the 75th Anniversary Luxury group and the Off-Road Adventure II group. These packages include nine amplified speakers with subwoofer, dual-pane panoramic sunroof, leather trim seats, ventilated front seats, Quadra-Drive II 4x4 system, Quadra-Lift air suspension and trailer tow group.

GLEANINGS - International

Daimler Designs Digital Transformation

APA Bureau

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ieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, has said that “our common goal must be to make Digital Life into a self-evident part of our culture on a daily basis. To be successful, this culture must give new ideas a real chance.”

Accordingly Daimler AG unites the strengths of a global group with the flexibility of the young entrepreneurs’ scene. Driving digitalization across all corporate units is a decisive aspect of this strategy.

Recently the automotive manufacturer held a DigitalLife Day (the second in a series) in Fellbach near Stuttgart, which brought together 500 employees from many departments and locations under the motto “Information, Inspiration, Innovation”.

Along with the group’s digital strategy and presentations by internal and external experts, in keeping with the kick-off event in 2015, the focus was on an employee ideas contest on digitalisation.

The winner of last year’s DigitalLife Day employee ideas contest was the

app “pacTris”. Meanwhile, the app, which will be launched shortly, was presented to the public at its own stand. The app enables scanning the bar codes of packages at the time of purchase in order to find out if all packages can fit in the user’s car.

“Digitalisation is creating an exciting new era of mobility”, Wilko Andreas Stark, Head of Daimler Strategy & Mercedes-Benz Cars Product Strategy and Planning, said. “That is why the digital transformation has top priority for us. In this respect, the decisive lever is the employees’ mindset as they are the ones who provide us with the most valuable impulses,” he said.

The ideas contest this year had 10 competing employee teams. They presented their innovations in exciting and entertaining pitches every three minutes to an enthusiastic audience.

The team of “Chatbot Messenger” prevailed. The idea behind “Chatbot Messenger” is not only to process customer inquiries by phone, but also to use the bundled reach of existing messengers and apps. Thus, a majority of queries are answered

directly and with maximum comfort for the customers.

DigitalLife@Daimler Daimler has been consistently pursuing the topic of digitalization for a long time and has made it into a core element of its strategy. The goal of the DigitalLife@Daimler Initiative is to develop and implement the key measures for addressing the digital transformation and to promote the culture of innovation. This Initiative is supporting numerous digital projects for direct implementation in the business units and is promoting active dialogue among employees, top management and the Board of Management.

The success factor of the initiative depends on co-working across divisions and hierarchy. The initiative is facilitated, among others, by the DigitalLife Community and the DigitalLife Blog on the Intranet as well as by events and workshops such as DigitalLife Day, open discussion fora (Open-Spaces) and hackathons, at which employees develop new apps within a record time.

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 159

GLEANINGS - International

Chevrolet Camaro Celebrates Golden Jubilee APA Bureau

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ifty years ago, in May 1966, the first pilot prototype Camaro was built in Cincinnati. The first pilot prototype Camaro (No. 100001) was assembled on May 21, 1966 at the General Motors Assembly Plant, located in Norwood, Ohio, a few miles from Cincinnati. Why Cincinnati?

GM produced a large share of the subsequent production Camaros at the Norwood plant and used the construction of 49 pilot prototypes to develop the assembly line and equipment needed for high volume, serial production.

The Norwood plant was not going to be the only assembly line for Camaros. The company also built three pilot prototypes at its Van Nuys, Los Angeles, plant. A special Historic Vehicle Association (HVA) exhibition of the first Camaro (No. 100001) will

be on display in Detroit to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the launch in 1966. The exhibition will coincide with the annual Woodward Dream Cruise week (August 13-20). The first Camaro will be on public display in the HVA’s glass cube that recently featured President Reagan’s Willys Jeep on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

Top Secret—For Real Ford spent years keeping the public guessing with show cars and concepts that hinted at the anticipated Mustang. GM, by contrast, revealed nothing about the Camaro until the car’s name announcement in June 1966 and formal Detroit launch in August 1966. Dealers had cars within a month.

The Camaro almost wasn’t. GM brass considered dozens of names including “GeMini,” Commander,” and “Wildcat,” until finally settling on “Panther.”

The company then invested over $100,000 in Panther badges only to dramatically change course just a few weeks before the debut. “Camaro” emerged as the dark horse winner.

Camaro vs.

Mustang The Mustang proved that GM’s small and sporty Corvair wasn’t the right recipe. So GM rushed development of the 160 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

Camaro, delivering the car in 36 months, and nearly photocopying Ford’s playbook. While the Camaro did not equal the Mustang’s incredible sales success—Ford sold over half a million Mustangs in 1965—GM moved more than 400,000 Camaros in the first two years. But perhaps more importantly, the Camaro kicked off Detroit’s greatest rivalry, pushing each to new heights.

A Golden Tradition General Motors used a gold exterior and interior colour scheme for its first prototypes and kept that tradition for the Camaro. And amazingly, that gold prototype Camaro (No. 100001) still exists. The success of the Camaro not only represented a positive boost to General Motors’ sales and profits, but also played a key role in the subsequent boom of the so-called “muscle car” market. And GM was a powerhouse muscle car maker.

To History Register The first Camaro (No. 100001) is currently being exhaustively measured and documented by the HVA using the guidelines set by the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Heritage Documentation and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER). Once complete, the material will permanently reside in the Library of Congress, joining such iconic cars as the Shelby Cobra Daytona prototype, the first Meyers Manx dune buggy and one of the last surviving Futurliners. This is being done to preserve an important chapter in America’s automotive heritage.

Corporate Sponsors

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www.asianretreadconference.com Corporate Sponsors:

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Associates AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 161

GLEANINGS - International

XCMG Releases New G-Series Products

APA Bureau

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he leading construction and mining equipment manufacturer XCMG has has released in Xuzhou, China, 17 truck cranes and all-terrain cranes in the new G-series production line.

Smart technology, green power and ultra-performance were highlighted.

“The G-series has accomplished 15 technological breakthroughs at the highest level, six of which were introduced for the first time in the industry worldwide. Through the hoisting machinery department’s efforts, we wish to reach a new starting point that continues to challenge creativity and innovation,” Lu Chuan, Vice President of XCMG Construction Machinery Co Ltd, said.

The six breakthroughs of the G-series are: Intelligent crane boom technology; Intelligent crane travelling control system; Intelligent hoisting planning and implementation system;

Low-speed, high-torque power transmission system; New energy saving hydraulic system; and Crane energy recovery technology.

The 17 truck cranes and all-terrain cranes greatly improve operation efficiency, accuracy and safety. The green energy saving technology reduces the average MPG by 12 percent and increases energy utilization by 15 percent while improving the grade ability by 45 percent. The ultraperformance of the G-series cranes is testified by the up to 15 percent improvement in operation capability compared to products of the same tonnage.

One center piece of the G-series launch is the XCA100E, the allterrain crane is equipped with new

energy-saving hydraulic system and intelligent boom design as well as a smart travelling control system.

The G-series was jointly designed by top XCMG researchers in Europe, North America, Brazil and China through advanced global product data management platform with the industry 4.0 concept that centers on ground reaking innovation, userfriendly principle and sustainable development, promptly adapting to the changes in the global construction machinery industry.

Faurecia Joins DMDII To Help US Industry APA Bureau

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aurecia, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers, has announced that it has joined the new Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII), based in Chicago.

DMDII, a public-private research and development organisation of UI LABS, is a world-class, first-ofits-kind manufacturing hub that will encourage factories across the US to deploy digital manufacturing and design technologies for improved efficiency and cost-competitiveness.

Faurecia joins DMDII as an Industry Tier 2 member, alongside other 162 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

world-leading manufacturers such as Boeing, Caterpillar, Procter & Gamble and Microsoft. Together, DMDII partners will create software and other digital tools to be used in their internal operations and research activities worldwide.

Faurecia researchers will serve on the organisation’s Technical Advisory Committee, which will identify gaps in current knowledge of digital manufacturing and design, look at business problems that need digital solutions, and develop a technology roadmap. “Our involvement in the DMDII is a natural extension of our

own digital manufacturing initiative, Faurecia 4.0. Through this program, Faurecia joins with industry partners, academia and government to help manufacturers capture data at every stage of the production process and better control both processes and costs,” Faurecia North America President Mark Stidham, said.

UI LABS is a Chicago-based research and commercialisation collaborative, bringing universities and industries together to define problems, design partnerships and deliver scalable solutions to tomorrow’s most important challenges.

GLEANINGS - International

Scania Celebrates 125 Years Of Innovation APA Bureau

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cania, now part of the German Volkswagen AG, is celebrating 125 years of innovation in 2016. From its founding as a privately-owned wagon-building company in 1891 to today’s connected vehicles, Scania has stood steady through hostile takeover attempts and financial crises.

Today Scania has two major stakeholders. With a 70.94 percent equity holding, the German automotive company Volkswagen AG is Scania’s biggest shareholder.

It gained this by first buying Volvo’s stake in 2000, after the latter’s aborted takeover attempt, increasing it to 36.4 percent in the first quarter 2007, and then buying the remainder from Investor AB in

March 2008. Scania then became the ninth marque in the Volkswagen Group. The other major stakeholder of Scania is the German truck manufacturer MAN SE which holds a 17.37 percent equity; Volkswagen AG owns 75.03 percent of MAN.

Scania Down The Years The privately- owned wagon-building company Vabis was established in1891 in Södertälje in Sweden to produce open goods wagons and transport wagons. Some 20 years later, Scania-Vabis was created through the amalgamation of Vabis with the Malmö-based, privatelyowned machine-manufacturing company Scania. It was in 1923 that the Scania-Vabis designer August

Nilsson developed a four-cylinder, overhead-valve engine. Its power and reliability were of major benefit in trucks and buses. Following this in 1936, Scania-Vabis developed its first diesel engine, something that impressed the trade press during test drives. “To my surprise, I could hardly hear the engine,” wrote one journalist. “However, I certainly felt its effect as the bus shot forward like an arrow.”

Scania-Vabis opened its first production facility outside Sweden in São Bernardo do Campo, near São Paulo in Brazil in 1961. In 1969 Scania introduced the 350 hp, 14-litre V8 turbocharged engine. It was the most powerful truck motor in Europe then and pioneered Scania’s low-rev philosophy with a high-torque output at low engine speeds.

Scania’s first modular commercial vehicle range, the 2-series, was launched in 1980. The new 3-series was launched in 1988 and in 1989 it bagged the International Truck of the Year award. By then Scania had developed capabilities to tailor trucks to suit customer specifications. The 4-series was launched in 1995 and it also received the International Truck of the Year award. Scania’s millionth vehicle rolled off the assembly line in 2000.

Scania’s Young European Truck Driver competition made its debut in 2003.

Numerous winners have since been crowned. In 2009 Scania launched the Scania Touring, a new coach built in partnership with Chinese bus bodybuilder Higer. Scania and Higer joined forces to produce buses in China for the world market.

In 2010 Scania’s new 730 hp V8 engine was celebrated as the most powerful in the world without having to compromise on fuel efficiency. This was followed by the introduction of Europe’s first Euro 6 truck in 2011, two years before it became mandatory. In 2013, the New Streamline models for long distance transport were launched and in 2015 Scania delivered its 150,000th truck with activated connectivity.

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 163

GLEANINGS - International

Ford Award For Lear Corporation APA Bureau

L

ear Corporation, a leading global supplier of automotive seating and electrical systems, has announced that it was recognized by Ford Motor Company as Supplier Diversity Development Corporation of the Year for 2015.

Lear received the award from Ford at their 18th annual World Excellence Awards ceremony held in Dearborn, Michigan. These awards were presented to Ford suppliers who exceed company expectations and distinguish themselves from their peers by achieving the highest levels of global excellence in 11 categories.

The Supplier Diversity Development Corporation of the Year Award

honours the supplier that has excelled in integrating diversity into their organization and business process.

“Our World Excellence Awards allow us to recognize suppliers who demonstrate a strong commitment to quality, performance and teamwork,” Hau Thai-Tang, Ford Group Vice President, Global Purchasing, said.

“These award-winning companies, like Lear, have helped Ford deliver a breakthrough year, and we are thankful they are part of our One Ford team.”

Matt Simoncini, Lear’s president and CEO accepted the award on behalf of Lear and the Company’s 136,000 employees, and commented,

“Diversity is one of our Core Values, and we are committed to integrating diversity into everything we do.

Diversity makes Lear a stronger and better company.”

Lear Corporation serves every major automaker in the world, and Lear content can be found on more than 350 vehicle nameplates. Lear’s world-class products are designed, engineered and manufactured by a diverse team of approximately 136,000 employees located in 36 countries. Lear currently ranks #174 on the Fortune 500. Lear’s headquarters are in Southfield, Michigan.

Dana Promotes ‘Made In China 2025’ Drive APA Bureau

D

ana Holding Corporation has hosted a symposium to promote innovation and manufacturing excellence in China in support of the country’s `Made in China 2025’ initiative. The one-day event was held at the company’s technical and manufacturing campus in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, as part of a celebration of Dana’s 25th anniversary in China.

Featuring representatives from China’s leading vehicle manufacturers, industry associations, research institutions, universities, and government officials, the forum included discussions on ways the industry will play a key role in supporting the `Made in China 164 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

2025’ action plan announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology last year.

Participants reviewed key objectives of the `Made in China 2025’ initiative that will be addressed by the vehicle industry, as well as the market trends and evolving technologies that impact the achievement of innovation, sustainable development, manufacturing excellence, product quality, and human capital.

“The success of the ‘Made in China 2025’ plan depends on a collaborative effort that includes many key stakeholders,” Antonio Valencia, president of Dana China, said. “This forum allows us to bring together diverse leaders in the industry to

review the relevant provisions of this national initiative, discuss the challenges that we face in achieving goals, and demonstrate how we can work together to identify solutions and achieve success together.”

Dana’s presence in China dates to 1991, and today the company operates 10 facilities in China that employ nearly 7,000 people (including operations that are part of a 50-50 joint venture). Dana manufactures axles and propeller shafts for the passenger car, light-duty truck, commercial-vehicle, and offhighway vehicle markets. In addition, Dana produces sealing and thermalmanagement products in the country.

GLEANINGS - International

Dayco Wins Best Plant Award From PSA APA Bureau

D

main diesel and gasoline engine platforms and have done so for more than 25 years.

ayco, a leading engine products and drive systems supplier for the automotive, industrial and aftermarket industries, has announced that it has received the Best Plant Award from the PSA Group, the French manufacturer of automobiles sold and marketed under the Peugeot, Citroën and DS brands.

The award, presented during PSA’s 12th annual Best Supplier Awards, recognizes the Dayco belt manufacturing plant in Manoppello, Italy, for its performance in manufacturing excellence according to the PSA Group’s quality standards.

“Dayco is honoured to receive the Best Plant Award from the PSA Group for the second consecutive year,” John Bohenick, Chief Executive Officer for Dayco, said.

The Dayco plant in Manoppello produces timing belts and Dayco’s first-to-market timing belt-in-oil system

Opened in 1975 and acquired by Dayco in 1993, the Manoppello plant is also home to one of Dayco’s newest products, the Electric Power Steering Belt.

“It’s really a pleasure for me, and for all of the people that work in this plant, to see our daily efforts recognised by our customers especially when the award comes from one of the most important global vehicle manufacturers,” Carlo Fulgenzi, Manoppello Plant Manager, said.

used in multiple applications, engines and industries. The 200 Dayco Associates working in the Manoppello plant manufacture timing belts and timing belt-in-oil systems for PSA’s

At this year’s event, PSA presented 79 production facilities with the Best Plant Award in recognition of their performance in manufacturing excellence according to the Group’s quality standards, from producing the vehicle to handing over the keys to the end customer.

Gordon Millar Award For John Deere APA Bureau

J

ohn Deere has been named winner of the sixth annual SAE Foundation Gordon Millar Award. The award, which is funded by AVL, is given in special recognition of an individual or organisation that best demonstrates continuous philanthropic support of the SAE Foundation Mission to encourage and increase student participation and achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

“John Deere has created a powerful model for supporting

STEM education,” Don Manvel, Chairman, AVL Americas, said. “The company specifically complements its investments in effective STEM programmes that not only make them stronger, but also create a rich culture of mentoring and coaching essential for the growth of STEM. It is fitting to note that Millar himself had a long and distinguished career at John Deere, where he was Vice President of Engineering.”

“To be recognized for our dedication to STEM at John Deere is incredibly humbling,” said Pat Barnes, Program

Director, John Deere Inspire, the Deere STEM programmed, who accepted the award. “The goal of John Deere Inspire and all of our employee volunteers is to significantly increase the number of high-quality students, including underrepresented talent, who enrol, graduate, and are successfully working in STEMrelated professions. We are proud to share the commitment of the SAE Foundation to help the students of today become the innovators of the future.”

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 165

GLEANINGS - International

BorgWarner Expands REMAN Line APA Bureau

B

orgWarner is expanding its North American REMAN turbocharger line to include turbochargers of all brands.

REMAN, or remanufactured, turbochargers combine the quality of a new original turbocharger with the competitiveness of a remanufactured system.

They are professionally restored with new production validated parts on BorgWarner series assembly lines to meet the same high-quality performance standards as new turbochargers. All BorgWarner REMAN turbochargers are backed by a 12-month unlimited mileage warranty.

“Trucking fleet, agricultural and construction equipment operators demand durability and component availability. BorgWarner REMAN turbochargers are an economical solution that helps owners get the most for their investment,” Frédéric Lissalde, President and General Manager, BorgWarner Turbo Systems, said.

“Over one million turbochargers around the world have been revitalized through our REMAN programme, offering costconscious customers a high-quality alternative to a new turbocharger.

Remanufacturing also contributes to a significant reduction in landfill

waste and requires less energy and natural resources than producing brand new units,” he said.

BorgWarner’s REMAN process involves completely disassembling the unit, replacing damaged or worn parts with new OEM-qualified parts, reconditioning serviceable parts using proven cleaning technologies, re-assembling the turbocharger on the most advanced assembly lines in the world, and high-speed core rebalancing of the turbocharger rotating assembly. Advanced testing procedures confirm high quality.

HELLA eVacuum Pump For Brake Systems APA Bureau

A

utomotive supplier HELLA has developed an electrically- driven vacuum pump for vehicle brake systems that promises impressive performance, durability, power efficiency and packaging.

High-efficiency gasoline engines, diesel and turbo- and super-charged engines, as well as hybrid or full electric powertrains, are examples of where HELLA’s new electric vacuum pump is designed to provide ondemand brake-system vacuum.

Automakers and suppliers are working to reduce CO2 emissions to meet strict new requirements taking effect in 2020 and 2025. New fuel-saving approaches often have a direct impact on other engine

166 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

functions that, for example, provide vacuum to support brake-booster systems. HELLA’s new UP5.0 Electric Vacuum Pump solves this problem by meeting vacuum requirements for brake boosters under the most demanding applications.

Fuel efficiency and fully-independent vacuum generation were objectives for the development of the UP5.0.

HELLA’s new vacuum pump will help car makers meet new emissions marks, while satisfying consumer demand for smooth and consistent brake-pedal feel with reliable performance.

As a bonus, the new electric vacuum pump will increase a vehicle’s fuel efficiency, resulting in CO2 savings of up to 2g CO2/km compared to

mechanical pumps. This equates to fuel savings of 0.2 to 0.4 miles per gallon. Through creative material selection, proprietary design and improved high-volume production processes, HELLA’s newest pump delivers cost savings of about 20 percent compared to the company’s previous generation of stand-alone vacuum pumps.

As a global market leader, HELLA currently supplies electric vacuum pumps to more than 40 international OEMs. HELLA’s fuel-pump production capacity currently totals more than six million units daily, and the company has increased capacity in the mid-term. HELLA manufactures fuel pumps in Germany, Romania, the US, Mexico and China.

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GLEANINGS - International

ZKW Opens Production Plant In Mexico 2019. “The investment for the current construction stage of approximately US $70 million has been guaranteed. By 2019 the plant’s planned annual sales will rise to around US $86.5 million,” Schubert said.

Strategic Location

APA Bureau

Z

KW Holding, the Austrian lighting system specialist, has a opened a new production unit in Silao in Mexico. It was inaugurated recently by Managing Director Armin Schaller, ZKW CEO Oliver Schubert and Miguel Marquez Marquez, Governor of Guanajuato, together with numerous guests. This plant will produce high-quality main headlights for premium automobile manufacturers in the entire NAFTA region.

“Opening this plant is a great step for ZKW. For the first time we have a production plant in the NAFTA region and are consequently opening up a new continent for our business.

We are thus not only increasing our global footprint, but, in accordance with our strategy, also following our customers into new markets,” Schubert said.

Schaller also emphasized the important role of the new location: “Opening this plant is a further milestone in the success story of an Austrian company which, as a family business, has developed into a worldwide manufacturer of premium headlights. The plant in Mexico will mark the start of a new era for ZKW,” he said.

After the ground-breaking ceremony in October 2014, ZKW is launching the first expansion stage of its new location in Mexico. The new plant will be equipped with innovative technologies for producing high-quality automotive lighting systems. Plastic injection machines, hard coating systems for coating plastic headlight diffusers, metalizing systems for metalizing reflectors, paint lines and assembly lines for completing the products will be operated in the future.

Pre-series production of premium main headlights has already begun. The full production capacity of around 700,000 headlights is scheduled to be reached by 168 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

The new ZKW plant is situated in the GTO Puerto Interior Business Park in Silao, in a central location and close to the car manufacturers in the NAFTA region. Mexico also offers various free trade agreements, and thus important customs advantages. The Park already has 147 foreign companies.

ZKW is looking for qualified skilled employees for the 320 planned jobs in the new production plant. “The Guanajuato region offers outstanding conditions for attracting employees, because there are almost 30,000 students on some 130 different courses, many of whom we can talk to as potential staff,” Schubert said. Guanajuato is regarded as one of the economically most dynamic federal states in Mexico with above-average growth rates.

“The investments of companies like ZKW create new jobs and training posts. They also enable many students to pursue careers abroad,” Governor Marquez said about the importance of the companies that have become established.

The ZKW Group is one of the world’s leading providers of lighting and headlight systems for the automotive industry. The group designs and produces complex premium lighting and electronic modules for international automakers using state-ofthe-art manufacturing technologies. Its top products include powerful and cost-efficient complete LED systems.

GLEANINGS - International

Daimler Plans Engine Plant In Poland APA Bureau

D

aimler AG plans to invest about € 500 million in a new production facility in Poland. The first Mercedes-Benz Cars plant in Poland is to be established in Jawor, about 70 km west of Wroclaw. It will produce four-cylinder gasoline and diesel engines for MercedesBenz passenger cars. Production is expected to start in 2019. The location decision and implementation of the project are dependent on various final commitments regarding the investment conditions, including the granting of State aid for the investment in Jawor.

“The planned establishment of a new engine plant in Poland is a further step in our global growth strategy.

Capacity expansion in Eastern Europe reflects the increasingly international orientation of our powertrain production compound.

This will lead to more flexibility and efficiency in our worldwide production network,” Markus Schäfer, Member of the Divisional Board Mercedes-Benz Cars, Production and Supply Chain Management, said.

“With the new facility in Jawor, we want to start the second engine production of Mercedes-Benz Cars outside Germany. This allows us to react flexibly to market changes across several plants. The powertrain production compound is managed by the lead plant in Untertürkheim,” Frank Deiß, Head of Production Powertrain Mercedes-Benz Cars and Site Manager Mercedes-Benz plant Untertürkheim, said. The future employees at the engine plant in Poland will be prepared for their new tasks with extensive training courses.

“The planned construction of a new engine plant in Poland by Daimler AG is evidence of the good state of our economy. We are open for international investment and will systematically implement our plan for

sustainable development so that we are attractive for further investors,” Mateusz Morawiecki, Poland’s Economy Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, said.

“Mercedes-Benz will build modern diesel and gasoline engines at the site in Jawor. I hope that the new plant will be a catalyst for further projects with technologically advanced products and will make the Polish economy even more innovative and competitive. This investment strengthens PolishGerman cooperation and is symbolic, especially in view of the 25th anniversary of the Friendship Treaty of June 17, 1991,” the Minister said.

Production Centres The Mercedes-Benz Cars powertrain production compound comprises several German and international sites, managed from the lead plant in Untertürkheim. Engines, transmissions, axles and related components are produced in Untertürkheim. The focus of the

Mercedes-Benz plant in Berlin is on the development and production of ultramodern components and parts as well as engine production.

The Mercedes-Benz plant in Hamburg develops and produces axles and axle components, steering columns, components for exhaust systems and lightweight structural parts. The MDC Power engine factory in Kölleda in the German federal state of Thuringia is a one-hundred-percent subsidiary of Daimler AG and produces fourcylinder engines for Mercedes-Benz and Mercedes-AMG vehicles. Engines and other major components are also produced outside of Germany.

The Daimler subsidiary Star Transmission in Romania assembles transmissions and produces parts and components. The joint venture BBAC in Beijing, China, produces engines for local demands. As part of the strategic cooperation between Daimler and the Renault/Nissan Alliance, Infiniti produces four-cylinder gasoline engines for Mercedes-Benz at its US plant in Decherd, Tennessee.

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 169

GLEANINGS - International

ZF Honours Employees For Inventions APA Bureau

Z

F honoured 10 outstanding inventions by employees spanning a wide range of products, processes and mobility sectors with its internal ‘Graf-von-Soden Invention Award’.

The jury faced a tougher selection process than usual due to the two new divisions, the ZF TRW and E-Mobility, as well as the large number of patents generated by inventive ZF employees in 2015.

In total, 1,036 new patents were registered last year, 14% more than in the previous year.

“The power of innovation among our employees is a key driver of our company’s progress and is deeply rooted within our company culture which is very much alive”, Stefan Sommer, ZF Chief Executive Officer, said. “It is therefore all the more important for us to honour and promote employee efforts and achievements in this area”, he said.

The Graf-von-Soden Invention Award has become an established benchmark for innovation. It is presented annually and was named after Alfred Graf von SodenFraunhofen (1875 – 1944), cofounder, first managing director and later member of the Board of Management of ZF. In 2016, the year which marks the fourth anniversary of the award, the focus was on ten new outstanding inventions by ZF employees.

The ten award-winning inventions: (1) The Car Powertrain Technology Division developed a new smoothing fixture and method for smoothing the gearing of the individual gears.

This invention has been completely integrated into the production.

(2) The Car Chassis Technology Division created a vibration170 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

frequency-dependent, passive damping system, which makes it possible to increase driver comfort in a purely mechanical and cost-efficient way.

(3) If commercial vehicles get stuck in holes or on slippery surfaces, the driver needs to be able to initiate ‘rock-free manoeuvres’. ZF’s Commercial Vehicle Technology Division has developed an automated system to assist the driver.

(4) The ZF E-Mobility Division has invented a new distribution, and in particular, an advanced electromagnetic screening and decoupling of the different layers.

(5) ZF’s Industrial Technology Division has developed a new system for propellers of large watercraft.

Specifically, the new invention is a rotary unit integrated into the transmission which also continuously drives the ship screw propeller when the main engine is switched off.

(6) A new telescopic steering system assembly arrangement consisting of three parts is an outstanding process engineering achievement which generates high performance

advantages was among the inventions of the Active & Passive Safety Technology Division.

(7) A completely different method is used in heated steering wheel production whereby electric conductors such as heating wires are inserted in parallel with the production step of cutting the foam layer which is required to insert the heating wires in the first place.

The production tools required for this operation are also part of the invention.

(8) Improved differentiating algorithms in an occupant restraint system make it possible to activate the system faster and more intelligently than before.

(9) An integrated multi-stage transmission unit with two additional intermediate gears increases the power of an electric park brake actuator to such an extent that heavy goods vehicles will also benefit in the future.

(10) Corporate Research and Development also received a Grafvon-Soden Invention Award for an innovation in the area of safety.

GLEANINGS - International

GKN Launches Electric All-Wheel Drive Technology On Global Vehicle Platform APA Bureau

A

series of new C-Segment vehicles will offer consumers the option of adding plug-in electric all-wheel drive using GKN Driveline’s latest electric axle drive (eAxle) technology. eAxle is an evolution of systems developed for hybrid supercars that use electric all-wheel drive to boost performance and efficiency.

GKN has secured orders for a major global platform, and production is under way at the company’s eDrive production facility in Bruneck, Italy.

The first application is the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer PHEV. GKN Driveline Chief Executive Phil Swash said: “GKN Driveline continues to bring the future of eMobility into the here and now. Our total focus on driveline innovation, our unmatched expertise in all-wheel drive and our 14 years of production experience in eAxles are now making eAWD viable in smaller, more-affordable vehicles.

From the i8 to the 2 Series Active Tourer, GKN’s work with BMW reflects our position as the development partner of choice for the coming wave of plug-in hybrids with eAWD.”

Compact Car Applications GKN’s new electric axle drive has been optimised for compact car applications. The lightweight singlespeed design has a transmission ratio of 12.5:1, reducing the electricmotor speed in two stages. The system generates up to 2,000Nm and 70kW of additional torque and power – enough for a vehicle’s pureelectric mode to achieve speeds of up to 125km/h (78 mph) and for an all-wheel-drive (AWD) mode that accelerates considerably faster than conventional mechanical AWD systems.

When hybrid operation is not required, the e-machine can be disconnected from the driveline by an integrated disconnect device, which uses an electromechanically actuated dog clutch. This minimises rotating losses at higher vehicle speeds when disengaged. Gear and bearing arrangements have also been optimised for efficiency, NVH and durability. Precision engineering throughout the system, including a low-backlash high-performance transmission differential, ensures transitions between pure-electric, hybrid and ICE modes are transparent to the driver.

eAWD Capability The latest generation of GKN eAxles represent a significant breakthrough in terms of performance, size and cost. For many front-wheel-drive vehicle platforms, it is now simpler and more effective to electrify the rear axle than to bolt on a hybrid module

to the main transmission.

GKN Automotive President of Engineering Peter Moelgg, said: “GKN’s eAxle technology is passing a key milestone in its evolution at a time when the demand for all-wheel drive and plug-in hybrids is strengthening.

This latest system advances the business case for electric all-wheeldrive capability in hybrids. A number of automakers are introducing our technology on their premium models and starting to transfer eAxle hybrid versions to higher-volume models.”

GKN launched its first eAxle applications in 2002. The company was awarded Official Porsche Technology Partner status for its contribution to the plug-in hybrid Porsche 918 Spyder programme. It launched the world’s first two-speed eAxle in the plug-in hybrid BMW i8. GKN supplies the eAxle on the Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine PHEV programme also.

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 171

GLEANINGS - International

Magna Opens Exteriors Facility in Mexico APA Bureau

M

agna International Inc., a leading global automotive supplier, has opened Magna Exteriors Queretaro, a newly constructed facility in Queretaro, Mexico, to manufacture automotive exterior products. Company officials were joined by Queretaro Governor Francisco Dominguez Servien and other members of the local, state and federal governments to celebrate the occasion.

The 290,000-square-foot, stateof-the-art injection moulding and robotic paint line facility will employ about 600 people and will supply global automakers with moulded and painted parts such as fascias, bumpers and rocker panels.

“On behalf of Magna, I want to thank the city and state of Queretaro for their ongoing support and collaboration on this project,” Magna Exteriors President, Grahame Burrow, said. “They have helped make it possible for us to come here and establish this first-class team and world-class operation, and we are excited for the opportunity to support

our customers from this new facility,” he said.

Magna established its first Mexico facility in Puebla in 1991. Today Magna has 30 manufacturing facilities, one engineering and product development centre, and over 25,000 employees in Mexico.

Magna has 306 manufacturing operations and 92 product development, engineering and sales centres in 29 countries. It employs over 147,000 people to deliver `superior value to our customers through innovative products and processes, and world class manufacturing’. The company’s product capabilities include producing body, chassis, exterior, seating, powertrain, electronic, vision, closure and roof systems and modules, as well as complete vehicle engineering and contract manufacturing.

Aluminium Casting Project In UK Recently the company has announced that it will build a new world-class aluminium casting

facility in Telford, the UK, to support Jaguar Land Rover. The new facility is expected to be approximately 225,000 square feet and will create up to 295 jobs at full capacity. Working with the UK Trade and Investment and the Automotive Investment Organisation, along with financial support from the UK Government’s Regional Growth Fund, helped to secure this project. Construction is expected to start in the autumn of 2016.

Once production begins in 2018, the facility will use Magna’s innovative high-pressure vacuum die casting process to produce a number of advanced lightweight aluminium castings– a key building block in the next generation all-aluminium and multi-material vehicle architectures.

By using these types of castings, Magna helps automakers deliver maximum strength and stiffness and minimum weight, ultimately achieving better fuel economy, safety and handling.

“We are excited to work closely with Jaguar Land Rover in the development of this project which will bring the most advanced structural casting technologies to the UK,” said John Farrell, President of Cosma International, an operating unit of Magna International. “As lightweighting continues to be a key technology driver, we are uniquely positioned to help automakers achieve optimal weight savings throughout the vehicle architecture,” he said.

Magna, through its Cosma International operating unit, is one of the world’s premier suppliers providing a comprehensive range of body, chassis and engineering solutions to automakers around the world.

172 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

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AAITF (Auto Aftermarket and Industry Trade Fair) 1–3 June 2016 Mexico City, Mexico Comnet Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd Tel: +91 11 4279 5000 Email: amanpreets@eigroup.in www.comnetexhibitions.com Automechanika Birmingham 7-9 June 2016 NEC Birmingham, United Kingdom Forest Exhibitions Ltd info@uk.messefrankfurt.com Tel: +44 (0) 1483 483 984 www.automechanikabirmingham.com Tyre Expo India 2016 14-16 July 2016 PragatiMaidan, New Delhi Singex Exhibitions Pvt Ltd tyrexpo@singex.com www.tyrexposeries.com/india Asian Machine Tool Exhibition 8 -11 July 2016 PragatiMaidan, New Delhi Reed Triune Exhibitions Pvt Ltd 0124 - 477 4444 Info@triuneexhibitions.com www.reedexpo.in Truck Trailer & Tyre Expo, India, 6 - 8 Aug 2016 Codissia Trade Fair Complex, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

Media Day Marketing, Tel: +91-9342185915/9341473494 E-mail :tttexpo@gmail.com www.trucktrailerntyreexpo.com Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show – GIIAS (2016) 11-21 Aug 2016 Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE), Jakarta Seven Events (PT Amara TujuhPerjuangan) www.indonesiaautoshow.com MIMS Automechanika Moscow 22 - 25 Aug 2016 Expocentre, Moscow, Russia Marketing Director. Technical fairs.

Tel: +7 495 649 87 75 ext 124 nadezhda.fomina@russia. messefrankfurt.com Surface & Coating 2016 26 - 28 Aug 2016 Chennai Trade Centre,

174 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

Nandambakkam, Chennai Confederation of Indian Industry b.jeikrishnan@cii.in www.ciisce.in Moscow International Auto Show – MIAS, Russia, 24 Aug -4 Sep 2016 Exhibition Center, Crocus Centre Association of the Russian Automakers (OAR), Tel: +7 495 620 4580 – 6204578 www.oar-info.ru Automechanika Frankfurt 13 - 17 Sep 2016 Frankfurt am Main Messe Frankfurt GmbH, automechanika@messefrankfurt.com Tel: +49 69 75 75-0 www.messefrankfurt.com 66th IAA Commercial Vehicles (2016) 21-29 Sep 2016 Exhibition Center, Hanover Verbanb der Automobilindustriee.V. (VDA) www.iaa.de Pune Machine Tool Expo 29 Sep- 02 Oct 2016 Auto Cluster Exhibition Centre, Pune Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers Association(IMTMA) http://tradeshows.tradeindia.com/mtx-pune/ Automotive Testing Expo 2016, Novi, Michigan 25 - 27 Oct 2016 The Suburban Collection Showplace, Novi,MI, USA UKIP Media & Events Ltd E-mail: r.lengui@ukipme.com www.ukipme.com 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

Advertisers’ Index A 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 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, India 18 – 20 Nov 2016 Chenai Trade Centre, Chennai.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Tel: +91-44-42444555 www.cii.in 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 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 95th European Motor Show, Brussels 14-22 Jan 2017 Rue de la Science, 1020 Brussels, Belgium Brussel Expo Group http://autosalon.be/fr India Rubber Expo 2017 19-21 Jan 2017 Chennai Trade Centre, Chennai AIRIA http://www.indiarubberexpo.in/ ACMA AutomechanikaIndia 21-24 March 2017 PragatiMaidan, New Delhi Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India Pvt Ltd http://acma-automechanikanewdelhi.in.messefrankfurt. com/newdelhi/en/exhibitors/ welcome.html New York International Auto Show 14-23 April 2017 Jacob Javits Convention Centre NYIAS http://www.autoshowny.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. messe­frank­furt.com www.automechanikadubai. com Tyre Expo India 2017 11-13 July 2017 Chennai Trade Centre, Chennai Singex Exhibitions Pvt Ltd tyrexpo@singex.com www.tyrexposeries.com/india

Ace Micromatic 27 Al Dobowi 15 Altair Engineering India Pvt. Ltd. 31 Anand Automotive Ltd. 11 Ashok Leyland Ltd. Back Inner Asian Retread Conference 2016 161 Asian Tyre & Rubber Conference 2016 147 Atlantic Grease & Lubricant 73 Automechanika Frankfurt (HP) + APA Web ad (HP) 71 AutoParts Asia 143 AutoParts Asia – Subscription 129 Autoserve 2016 119

C Continental Automotive Components (India) Pvt. Ltd

9

D Delphi -TVS Diesel Systems Ltd

43

E Elofic Industries Ltd

25

F Far East Enterprises Fiem Industries Ltd

95 85

I ICAT 4 Igus (India) Pvt. Ltd 63 India Rubber Expo 2017, Chennai 137 IRMRA 117 IR Tubes Private Ltd. 115

K Kloeckner Desma Machinery Pvt Ltd

1

L Lucas TVS

23

M MALCORP 39 Meritor HVS (India) Ltd. 75 MRF 5 MSC software 57 My TVS 99

N National Engineering Industries Ltd. New Swan AutoComp Pvt. Ltd. NRB Bearings

33 109 45

R Roots Industries India Ltd. Rubber Asia

79 173

S Sankar Sealing Systems Pvt. Ltd.

13

T Tata Motors Back Cover TIDC India 53 Titan Company Ltd. 65 Turbo Energy Private Ltd. 59 Tyre Asia 167 Tyrolit 83

V Vajra Rubber Products (P) Ltd. 89 Varroc 47 VE Commercial Vehicles Front Inner Velox Tyres Pvt. Ltd. 91

Z Zenith Industrial Rubber Products Pvt. Ltd.

105

AutoPartsAsia | June 2016 | 175

AUTO LaUGH

Hurried World

L

ook at the surging crowds at Indian airports. They are more chaotic than what you see at railway stations.

With the rapid expansion of low-cost carriers, more people are flying, once the preserve of the wealthy and the elite.

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

‘Any one can fly now,’ is the favourite marketing slogan of budget airline Air Asia.

It’s offering cut prices, often cheaper than rail. Its recent stunning low prices were to celebrate its landmark. It flew 2.5 million passengers since its launch in June 2014.

There is an uptake in air travel across various airlines. It is an indication of the rising economic prosperity of Indians who are in a hurry to catch up with wealthy nations since the economic liberalisation of 1991. We see dogwalkers flout rules ignoring zebra lines. Even the dog knows when it is right to cross, but its master breaks the norms with impunity.

On the road, the rage is common. The mindset of drivers/riders needs to be changed: Saving precious time is cited as an excuse to flout traffic rules. Such attitudes remind me of some anecdotes.

If anyone is in a hurry wanting to be taken care of by a pretty nurse, one should remain patient. A man who hurriedly leaps off a cliff naturally jumps to a conclusion that may not always be right. Those running in front of a car hoping to gain time, get ‘tyred’ while those running behind get exhausted.

Anyone who drives like hell is bound to get there quickly. All youngsters know it, but they still want to put ‘speed’ in their life hoping to get ahead. They enjoy the freedom and the speed of the digital space. These youngsters are glued to the cellphone all the time without realising there are many things in life that have not changed.

Social Narrative Besides peripheral notions of social transformation, there are many 176 | AutoPartsAsia | June 2016

fundamentals that remain constant in our social narrative.

Even on the ubiquitous cellphone, we should talk to our mothers lovingly, fathers respectfully, wives truthfully, brothers heartfully, sisters affectionately, and children enthusiastically. In the context of digital disruptions, we should always ensure that we converse with relatives empathetically, friends jovially, officials politely, customers honestly and workers courteously. However, talk to politicians carefully and to God silently.

These are the constants in an ever-changing world. Let me explain some of the constants that we cannot ignore. I notice that single

men come home, open the fridge, see the same boring stuff in it and then go to bed.

Onthe other hand, married men come home, see the same boring stuff on the bed and then open the fridge.

Young people are often described as ‘cellfish’ because they continue to talk on their cellphone, oblivious to the effect on others around.

Carcolepsy is described as an inability to stay awake and alert when in a car. It is as worse as hiberdating, which is described as a state of mind when someone ignores all their other friends when dating a boyfriend/girlfriend.

Deja poop is a feeling that the same stupid thing keeps happening over and over. It is like contracting terminal illness when you get sick waiting for a flight that never takes off.

AUTOPARTS ASIA | June 2016

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