New Chakan facility to meet growing demand
By R. Natarajan, Managing Editor & Publisher
With its sustained leadership over the years in emissions control and integrated R&D centres around the world, Tenneco Inc. has leveraged on its advanced technology, capabilities and know-how in India in its effort towards making a significant contribution to air quality via its diesel exhaust filtering and treatment technologies and gasoline engine catalytic converters.
With over 80 manufacturing facilities and 14 engineering centres covering six continents and an employee strength of 24,000, Tenneco Inc. clocked a turnover of $7.2 billion in 2011, of which 47 per cent was accounted for by North America, 42 per cent by India, Europe and South America, and the balance 11 per cent by the Asia Pacific region. For Tenneco, India is in fact one of the fastest growing markets.
A multinational corporation headquartered at Illinois in the US, Tenneco has brought in proven, world-class ride control and emission control technology to both domestic and international vehicle OEMs. In 1995, the company set its manufacturing footprint in India, and today it has five production plants and two just-in-time (JIT) facilities in the country.
Its emission control components under the brand of Walker are produced at the Chennai and Pune plants, while the world-renowned Monroe brand ride control components are turned out at the Hosur and Bawal units. The company also has a plant at Pondicherry manufacturing sintered products mainly for captive consumption, and a dedicated plant at Halol meeting the requirements of General Motors. The JIT facilities are situated at Pune and Chennai.
In an elaborate discussion with R. Natarajan, MOTORINDIA Managing Editor & Publisher, during his recent visit to Tenneco’s Pune factory, Mr. Pankaj Kapoor, Deputy Managing Director of Tenneco Automotive India Pvt. Ltd., explained how the Indian operations became the fully owned and 100 per cent subsidiary of Tenneco USA in 2006 and how exciting the last three years had been for the company. During the last three years, the company has not only enhanced its market share for its various products but also achieved a tremendous growth of 49 per cent CAGR in sales. Being a global leader in emission control technology, it has not only applied its technology but also adapted it to Indian conditions.
Recently the company set up its modern and greenfield facility at Chakan in Pune, where the first phase of production of emission control equipment has already commenced. This plant will also produce modular assemblies for struts mainly for Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra vehicles. With this, the operations at the Tenneco plant at Sanaswadi, Pune, will be shifted to Chakan.
Referring to the major developments under the Tenneco management, Mr. Kapoor pointed out that, apart from modernising and upgrading the existing plants at Pondicherry, Hosur and Pune, the company also expanded the manufacturing footprint by establishing a state-of-the-art plant at Oragadam near Chennai, Bawal in Haryana and Chakan. The new Chakan facility will also have an engineering centre for emission control products similar to the one set up for ride control products at Hosur.
Training for the future
Since training is a very key element for the company’s success Tenneco has gone in for vigorous training of its manpower through all its facilities matching the global standard.
It has spent a lot of time and money for training. The entire process has enabled the company to meet the growing customer demand. This is clearly evident in the Indian R&D support being extended to Tenneco’s Japanese operations.
Side by side, in the last three years, the company has also introduced 15 new platforms for ride controls and more than 10 new platforms for emission control products. The company fully believes in the four pillars of strength – a balanced approach, product technology, operational excellence and the people.
On Tenneco’s special engineering skill, Mr. Kapoor said: “Our engineering activities operate as part of one ‘virtual global technology centre’ using expertise anywhere in the world to support specific local needs. In India, we don’t just apply our technology; instead we adapt it to the specific customer requirements.
Everything we develop here is tailored for the local market to meet the market expectation in terms of product performance and cost. Our products are locally engineered for maximum performance according to the emissions legislation in our emission control business and to improve vehicle comfort and ride according to road conditions and infrastructure in our ride control business.”
He further observed that his company recently opened a dedicated full-fledged engineering centre at Hosur with full engineering and testing capabilities for meeting its customer requirements in India for ride control. It is also developing a similar facility for emission control.
The company further plans to extend its existing competence levels in India, (for both ride and emission control), to offer complete offshore testing and validation for global projects.
The emission control products are locally engineered for maximum performance in accordance with the emission legislation in India, while the ride control products are engineered to provide maximum vehicle comfort based on the Indian road conditions and infrastructure. The company employs the multi-tunable valve (MTV) technology that helps to fine-tune the ride and handling performance specific to the vehicle use.
With the aim of providing all its customers the same level of services across the globe, in terms of design, manufacturing, quality and delivery, Tenneco India has modernized all its plants to meet global standards. These facilities serve a growing customer base, including Maruti Suzuki, Ford India, Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Mahindra & Mahindra, VECV, Renault-Nissan, General Motors, Toyota Kirloskar, Nissan-Ashok Leyland, TVS Motor Company, etc. As the Indian market evolves, the company has its strong focus on constantly improving the balance between its manufacturing footprint and customer mix.
Mr. Kapoor revealed that out of Tenneco Inc.’s overall turnover, 66 per cent comes from emission control products and 34 per cent from ride control business. However in India, more revenue for the company comes from ride control equipments. Catering predominantly to the light vehicle market, the segment generated 73 per cent of its revenue, while the aftermarket and the CV segment contributed about 18 per cent and nine per cent respectively.
Based on the 2011 results worldwide, Tenneco OE revenue from the CV segment, which includes commercial as well as specialty vehicles, is around 11 per cent. However, it expects this to shoot to 30-35 per cent of OE revenue by 2016. With the emission regulations expected to become stringent and as the infrastructure needs drive huge investment on off-road and on-road commercial vehicles, the company is all set to expand further in the CV segment.
Recently, the company entered into an agreement with a major European customer for supply of exhaust systems for its 9-25 tonner light duty vehicles to be launched soon. In addition, it is also venturing into low-cost commercial vehicle products that are expected to boost the Tenneco revenue in the ride control business segment.
According to him, in the aftermarket, Tenneco expects to see a further business growth over the next 5-10 years and plans to be well positioned to cater to the increasing demand for servicing and parts replacement with a view to achieving a bigger market share in ride control aftermarket shock absorbers and struts with its Monroe brand, as in Europe and North America.
Monroe which celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2006, has stood the test of time. The brand is synonymous with quality, customer satisfaction and new product technology.
Participating in Tenneco’s global coverage program has enabled the company to expand its coverage to 85 per cent of the Indian market.
Improved logistics for prompt deliveries, new and unique distribution concepts, online catalogue of products and training programs to the mechanics are a few initiatives undertaken by the company to support its objective of becoming a market leader.
Mr. Kapoor was delighted to reveal that in the last three years Tenneco has bagged customer awards and recognition from OEMs like Tata Motors, Renault Nissan, Maruti Suzuki, Toyota, etc. With its strong base in India’s three major vehicle producing hubs, Tenneco is highly confident of becoming the No.1 ride control supplier in the country soon.