MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG has increased its share in the joint venture with Force Motors Ltd. from 30 to 50 per cent. “In increasing our share we are taking on more responsibility for the further successful expansion of our activities in India. MAN will be significantly spurring on sale of our Indian-built trucks in the growth markets in Asia and Africa,” said Anton Weinmann, Chairman of the Executive Board of the MAN Nutzfahrzeuge Group.
“Force Motors welcomes the closer involvement of MAN. This increase in its holding is proof of its confidence in our successful joint venture,” said Abhay Firodia, Chairman and Managing Director of Force Motors.
Begun in 2006 the joint venture produces heavy trucks with the MAN CLA brand for India and for export to Asian and African countries. Some 90 per cent of the parts used now come from local suppliers who are meeting MAN’s high quality standards. The product range extends from chassis via construction-site tippers to semi-trailer tractors for long-haul transport.
The MAN CLA occupies a leading position as a premium truck in the Asian market, thanks to its technical equipment standard, comfort, safety and high-quality production.
The joint venture, which is now in a position to invest in further expansion of production and the sales network, will be managed hereafter by MAN Nutzfahrzeuge and Force Motors in close co-ordination.
MAN acquires VW Truck & Bus business
MAN AG is to acquire VW Truck & Bus based in Resende in Brazil from Volkswagen AG. The company with an enterprise value of 1,175 million euros is set to be transferred on January 1. The executive bodies of MAN and VW have already granted their approval for the deal.
VW Truck & Bus which has been producing trucks and buses in Resende since 1996 is Brazil’s largest truck manufacturer and leads the market for trucks with a gross vehicle weight of more than five tons. The vehicles are primarily sold in Latin America and South Africa. Around 47,000 trucks and buses were supplied in 2007.
The company has a comprehensive sales and service network in Brazil and neighboring countries. Around 5,000 employees work at the Resende plant, one of the most modern truck production facilities for VW Truck & Bus and its partner suppliers. Acquiring the Brazilian company and its strong brand enables MAN to expand into the South American market, thus consistently strengthening its commercial vehicles business.
The CEO of MAN AG, Håkan Samuelsson, sees the acquisition as an important step for the MAN Group: “Having concentrated on our core business units, MAN is now focusing on expansion in all business areas. The acquisition of VW Truck & Bus in Brazil marks another milestone in our international growth in trucks and buses. The new business area with its strong market position will provide MAN with access to the Latin American market. At the same time, we can see considerable synergy potential for our production network. VW Truck & Bus has a strong regional sales network and a state-of-the-art truck and bus plant at its Resende site. We look forward to further strengthening the company’s position together with its President, Mr. Roberto Cortes, his management team and the employees.”
“I don’t think we have been treated any less than platinum by Ritchie Bros. so far!”, he says.
Another valuable resource is Sameer Malhotra, his Ritchie Bros. representative. “Sameer brings the philosophy of the company to his personal behavior with all of his customers. He is right there when I have questions or need more information. He calls me regularly and informs me of upcoming machines. Sameer is like an alarm clock! He doesn’t let us miss bidding on something we’d like to buy”, according to Navneet.
JCBL, India’s leading manufacturer of buses and special application vehicles, is focussing on the niche segment where it can add value to its customers. The company has partnered with global leaders in providing industry leading solutions. The latest announcement is the tie-up agreement with Cross Mobil of Germany for manufacturing ambulances. The first set of 150 ambulances have been delivered to the HMRI in Hyderabad.
JCBL has also recently developed couple of Armoured vehicle for Defence and civilian applications like cash van. This is another fast growing segment considering all safety and security situations that we are faced with.
“We at Mondial, backed by decades of longstanding experience in handling a diverse customer base across the globe, provide our B2B clients with high quality customized solutions for all their customer needs at various stages of their customer life cycle. We have customised softwares, technology platforms and experience of working with 40 automotive clients globally on all these touch points”, adds Mr. Sethi.
Mondial has also invested in a state-of-the-art contact centre facility at Gurgaon working 24/7, 365 days. “Our key strength lies in our operating platform which has been developed in-house using all our experience working with our customers in various global markets and understanding their needs”.
“Gradually, we started marketing the product across India to all bus body building units and created the market for PU sealants in India. In a sense, McCoy has been responsible for the birth of PU sealants in India”, says Mr. Amit.
The response was overwhelming, says Mr. Amit. “We have till date conducted over 30 such workshops all across India including all major bus body builders, State transport corporations and even OEMs like Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland. The results were obvious. Wastage levels dropped from as high as 15 per cent to 3-5 per cent in most units, and this resulted in significant saving for the customer. We are also do a monthly or quarterly audit to ensure that the systems and process are followed”.
Sidwal is currently a 100 per cent Indian company with no technology tie-ups for any of its products. Going forward Mr. Sidhu says he is open to forging technical tie-ups for specific product segments. To enable the business has been clearly segmented into various verticals like rail, bus, Defence and telecom. This could give an opportunity to forge partnerships with multiple partners, says Mr. Sidhu.
All these projects are on the drawing board. The company is expected to make official announcements soon, and the projects will be operational by 2010, says Mr. Vinay Maheswari, Business Group Head (JBM Auto - SPV Division & JBM Industries), JBM Group.
The JBM Group (Neel Metal) has acquired technology for the manufacture of garbage compactors from its joint venture partner Fanalca which is engaged in manufacturing garbage compactors in various parts of the world since last 20 years. Garbage compactors manufactured by it are being used in many countries.
GroupSynergy core business verticals are five in number, viz., Strategy Development & Implementation, Manufacturing Processes & Technology Upgrades, People Development, HR Outsourcing, and Customized Video Interventions.
The implementation of the Code of Practice for bus body building is round the corner, and many fear that this will put an end to business of small bus body builders in the country. In fact, I should confess that even I was of the opinion that the introduction of the Bus Code will sound the death knell for smaller bus body building units. Karur was one destination which everyone had their eyes on. It is a small town in the hinterland of Tamil Nadu with a concentration of 50+ bus body builders with a capacity to manufacture 5 to 50 buses a month totalling 4,000 buses in a year.
But if is there is anyone out there writing off the Karur Bus Body builders, here is some interesting news and probably some learning as well. To combat the challenge ahead, the bus body building units at Karur have come together and formed what is called, Karur Bus Body Builder Cluster Ltd., an independent entity, which will act as a common facility centre for the various units in Karur.
If you go through the history of the bus body building industry in Karur, you will find that it all started with one company called L G Balakrishna & Bros. This was the first company to have started building buses decades ago. It was in the 1980s that some of the employees of LGB came out and started their own units, and slowly the units started multiplying in numbers and today there are more than 50 units, building over 4,000 buses with a total turnover of Rs. 400 crores.
The sad part of the story is that LGB, the parent company, has today moved out of this business. But there is definitely a sense of gratitude among the bus body building community who unhesitatingly dedicate their success to the strong foundation laid by LGB.
Thanks to the various initiatives taken by MSME, this cluster has doubled its business to over Rs. 200 crores in the last 5 years. This is just a small example of how MSME helps small industries to come together shunning their imagined disabilities and synergize their strengths to reap the benefits of cluster development.
Excerpts from the interview with Mr. Akhilesh Kumar:
