Application-builder opens new CED plant to bolster growth
The year 2013 marked the 101st birth anniversary of Mr. Yashwant Narayan Chaphekar, father of Mr. Ashok Y. Chaphekar, CMD, Chaphekar Engineering Pvt. Ltd. On the momentous day, the company inaugurated the country’s largest Cathodic Electro Deposition (CED) plant for cargo bodies, outside a vehicle OEM facility, at its Hinjewadi facility in Pune.
Chaphekar, a million-dollar engineering company, today has an extensive gamut of automotive components and precision tools, catering to a wide spectrum of industries in India. The company is known for manufacturing cargo bodies for light and heavy commercial vehicles, truck applications, sheet metal components and precision tools & dies, backed by a well-equipped manufacturing plant, a skilled workforce and the determined leadership of CMD, Mr. Ashok Y. Chaphekar, and Director Mr. Sachin A. Chaphekar.
Chaphekar started off by building cargo bodies in the 1985, and ever since has expanded its product range to a great extent. The company manufactures cargo bodies for one tonne to 31T vehicles, offering over 60 varieties across the range. It has developed strong capabilities in manufacturing different truck applications, including containers, tippers, trailers, car carriers and tail lifts, as also specialized products such as cafeteria vans, service vans, vaccine vans and refrigerated vans, to name a few. It is also working with logistics companies on building standard cabins on cowl chassis, providing quality solutions at competitive costs, adhering at the same time to all required safety norms and Central Motor Vehicles Rules (CMVR) rules.
The load bodies for the Tata 407, which was launched 1985, were made by Chaphekar with other truck models from Tata Motors being fitted with load bodies designed and manufactured by the company as well. The cargo bodies have performed very well in the field, delivering excellent quality and reliability, and now with the CED plant, Chaphekar’s deliverables can only get better.
The CED facility, set up with an investment of Rs. 25 crores, is all set to give Chaphekar a major advantage over competition. Using a sixth generation paint from Asian PPG, the CED process results in a much superior output, prevents rusting to a greater extent, upto 1,200 hours of salt spray test against conventional process which offers 250 hours. The CED tank has a capacity of 80,000 litres and is one of the largest in the country.
New facilities coming up
Chaphekar has three manufacturing facilities in Pune. At the main plant, located at Pimpri, the company manufactures component assemblies such as side under protection devices (SUPD), hood locks and steering mounting brackets. The head office and second plant is located at Hinjewadi, with an installed capacity to make 3,000 cargo bodies per month, with the latest addition of the CED plant. The third plant, also located at Hinjewadi, is the dedicated tipper manufacturing facility.
The company is coming up with two new facilities, one at Pirangut which is 10 kms from Hinjewadi and the other at Dharwad. The former will be dedicated to the manufacturing of cargo bodies and special applications, while the latter would cater to the different application requirements of the southern markets.
Chaphekar works with leading vehicle manufacturers, including Tata Motors, Force Motors and Mahindra Navistar, for building different applications. While load bodies are built for the former two, the company has a dedicated facility for building tippers for Mahindra Navistar. It works closely with Tata Motors’ Lucknow facility, dispatching load bodies to the location to cater to the requirements of the fully-built vehicle (FBV) division of the latter.
Chaphekar has constantly expanded its customer base owing to its abilities to provide tailor-made solutions to customer requirements. Be it the side panel of trailers which gives a single-piece appearance, the containers with side-opening doors, or the bottle-carriers for Coca Cola company, Chaphekar has been able to deliver efficient complete solutions to many customers across the country. In the logistics space, the company works with KSH Logistics and Trans Systems in Pune, among many others, while talks are on with SVLL.
Expressing his views about his company’s focus for the coming years, Mr. Sachin A.Chaphekar says: “In the next couple of years, our focus will be on SCVs, LCVs and also ICVs. We will focus more on the cabin business in the HCV segment and also on building newer applications to meet customer requirements. With the CED coating capability, we will be able to offer much better product life for our customers, which will be a very important growth-driver.”
Since inception, Chaphekar has given due importance to design and development which has proved to be an important factor in the company’s success over the years. It makes all the necessary tools in-house and works with fixtures wherever possible, so as to eliminate the possible errors that are associated with manual labor. It performs around 8 to 10 km of welding every day in its facilities. Apart from supplying to the domestic market, the company exports a wide range of products, mainly for Tata Motors, to markets, including Sri Lanka and some African countries.