The plant for manufacturing air springs of Firestone TVS Private Ltd., a joint venture of Firestone Industrial Products Company of the US and Sundaram Industries of the TVS Group, was formally inaugurated on July 30 at Vellarippatti, 16 km from Madurai City, by Mr. Mike Cerio, President of Firestone Industrial Products.
The plant will have excellent infrastructure with advanced testing facilities backed up with Firestone expertise. In the first phase, it will produce air springs for air suspension systems manufacturers, automotive OEMs and after-market, as also for Indian Railways.
The air springs manufacturing process involves mixing of rubber compounds, calendaring, fabric preparation, building and curing. The superior technology of Firestone, which has more than 80 years of experience in air spring manufacturing, has enabled the joint venture to come up with the development and manufacture of automotive air springs, to begin with, in a record span of time. Endurance evaluation facilities and various other R&D; are also available with the plant. The company has plans to ramp up capacity to manufacture half-a-million air springs annually in five years time.
Firestone TVS intends to cater to the requirements of not only automotive industry and Indian Railways but also other industrial segments by importing different types of air springs from Firestone, USA, and distributing them throughout the country. In the automotive after-market, the company will strengthen its network through appointment of TVS Group Company and other distributors for sales and service.
