Once the government stimulus packages are announced and implemented, the industry should be able to get back on its feet, says Suresh K V, President, ZF India (P) Ltd.
Impact on Business and Recovery Strategy
At ZF we have taken all the necessary measures to ensure the health and safety of our employees. In such an unprecedented crisis situation it was imperative that we act with agility and speed. In fact, we started sensitizing our people with precautionary measures right from early February based on our experience in China. Our local team established systems and processes to enable us to stay connected virtually, including setting up of a task force across all ZF locations in India and shipping laptops to our research and development engineers. Post the lockdown phase, production ramp-up plans will be measured and gradual. We will continue to adhere to all the guidelines prescribed by the government including the social distancing rules and continue to maintain the highest level of hygiene to ensure employees can work in a safe and healthy environment.
BS VI Transition
The ZF 9 commercial vehicle speed transmission is already BS VI-complaint. Environmental consciousness and awareness of its impact on human lives has become even more prominent in the lockdown days with people experiencing cleaner air quality, especially in big cities which had earlier been struggling to reduce air pollution and toxicity levels. There have been countless stories about these with even memes being created in the social media about visibility of far-off locations to exaggerate the level of clean air and clear visibility. Meanwhile, the road towards BS VI will not be an easy one as we try to delicately balance the financial and economic impact of the pandemic. But it is absolutely necessary to make this shift. In order to reduce emissions, this is one big step forward.
Expectations from Government
We need to accept the fact that the focus of the government currently is to get the spread of the virus under control and eventually eliminate the disease itself. With this objective in mind, some positive measures have been initiated by the state right from early March, finally culminating in the lockdown. The business community is now looking forward to stimulus packages to restart the industry and economy.
Outlook: Present and Future
Commercial vehicles make for the lifeline of the economy. Once the government stimulus packages are announced and implemented, the industry should be able to get back on its feet. We are confident that over a period of time, the automotive industry will have a growth trend.
Medium to Long Term Impact
During the pandemic period there was also a wave of innovation, mainly in terms of we use technology to meet our otherwise manual work processes. Digitalization in all aspects of our work will become more and more prominent. In the CV industry, faster adoption of technology could be a turning point for us to shift to more advanced trucks and buses. Another important challenge which will have to be addressed is the new condition related to social distancing which will become a part of the ‘new normal’!