AAL rolls out one-millionth axle produced in India
Automotive Axles Ltd. (AAL), a joint venture of the Kalyani Group and Meritor Inc., celebrated its 30th anniversary with more than 1,000 customers, suppliers and employees attending the function held at its manufacturing facility in Mysore.
“Because of the trust reposed in us by our customers and the value recognized by our supplier partners, we have been able to achieve more than we anticipated when we began this joint venture 30 years ago, said Mr. Baba Kalyani, Chairman, AAL. “This partnership has enabled us to provide evolving drivetrain solutions highly customized for the India landscape. We’ve played an extremely important role in the modernisation of the Indian commercial vehicle industry”.
Established in 1981, AAL, with its manufacturing facilities in Mysore, is the largest independent manufacturer of rear drive axle assemblies in India. The company produces a wide range of rear drive axles for commercial vehicles ranging from six tons to 35 tons GCW; S-Cam actuated quick change air brakes for commercial vehicles and trailer axles for 10 tons to 13 tons GVW. Marketing and field service support is provided by Meritor HVS (India) Ltd., also a joint venture between Kalyani and Meritor.
“India’s growth in the commercial vehicle and industrial markets has been significant,” said Mr. Chip McClure, Chairman, CEO and President, Meritor, Inc. “The ongoing development of this country and the aspirations of its people provide us with the opportunity to serve these markets. We value our relationship with the Kalyani Group and are proud to say it continues to be one of our most successful joint ventures.”
As part of the celebration, AAL displayed its 1,000,000th “golden axle” produced in India as a symbol of the strength of the partnership. The axle will be retained by the company as a memento.
On the occasion, Mr. Baba Kalyani announced launch of four new products and outlined the company’s ambitious growth targets.
Two-speed axle
AAL announced launch of the first “green axle”, the new two-speed model MS 13 240. The axle is ideal for a range of commercial vehicles, including 4X2 dump applications as well as 4X2, 6X2 and 8X2 haulage vehicles. Full-scale production of the MS 13 240 series will start in mid-2011.
“Using proven drivetrain technology, we’ve developed a new two-speed axle for India that increases operational efficiency with extreme grade capability,” said Mr. Ashok Rao, President, AAL. “With access to a global network of expertise, we are developing new ‘green’ products engineered to provide our customers with axle solutions that offer energy efficiency, superior performance, and reliability.”
AAL’s new two-speed axle is customized for local operating conditions, while using proven technology developed for Meritor axle applications in various regions of the world, providing AAL customers with global quality at a local price. According to Mr. Raghunathan, Vice President, Meritor India, the MS 13 240 axle not only provides increased fuel efficiency but also improves turnaround time.
The MS 13 240 is approximately 6-8 per cent more fuel efficient than a conventional axle configuration and offers traction-on-demand allowing the driver to effectively manage difficult gradients. The multiple ratio design facilitates fast track road infrastructure and hill climbing. The axle is available in nine ratio sets ranging from 4.10/5.59 to 7.17/9.77.
Other new products
AAL is also planning to launch hub-reduction axles which are largely used in heavy duty applications like in minning and construction trucks. The third important new product development has been for Defence applications. AAL is a leading supplier of axles for Defence and military trucks.
Mr. Kalyani said: “We are the largest supplier of axles for the military segment in India. More than 80% of the military vehicles use our axles. Meritor has strong technology and capability on the military and defence applications.”
Globally, Meritor is the preferred drivetrain technology partner for major Defence applications worldwide. “Meritor is highly committed to the military business and intends to make a significant investment in engineering and prototype development to support these programs,” said Carsten Reinhardt, President of Meritor’s Commercial Vehicle Systems business. “Our unique capability in developing specialized drivetrain solutions makes Meritor the right partner to deliver the technology required for highly advanced, next generation vehicle platforms.”
Finally, the fourth important product launch is axles for off-highway segment. The company is looking at the Indian market for grader axles, loader axles and other products. AAL has started with assembling axles for Catepillar in India.
In January this year, AAL rolled back the brake business into the JV. Apart from the facility in Mysore, it has established another facility in Pantnagar for manufacturing brakes systems. The new plant has capacity to manufacture 40, 000 brake systems per month. Currently 12 per cent of AAl’s total business comes from the brake business, and the target is to increase this further. In the future, the company plans to introduce advanced solutions in drum and disc brakes too.
For the current year, AAL has set a target of Rs. 1,100 crores in turnover and hopes to double it by 2015. The company plans to set up a greenfield facility for manufacturing axles, and a decision regarding this will be announced soon. The Mysore plant is running at full capacity.
