Force Motors is a fully, vertically integrated automobile company with expertise in design, development and production of the full spectrum of automotive components, aggregates and vehicles. Its product range covers SCVs, MUVs, LCVs, SUVs and agricultural tractors.
Demand for vehicles in the segments in which Force Motors is active has continued to be subdued during 2014-15. In view of the increasing emphasis on school buses and ambulances in the country, the proportion of these vehicles in the overall sales of the company has shown improvement. While there is potential for significant growth in the years to come as the economy is picking up, it should be noted that school buses and ambulances are a small niche of the commercial vehicles and passenger transport market.
Rising sales
Force Motors sold 29,366 vehicles in 2014-15 compared to 27,537 vehicles in 2013-14. During the year, the company achieved a topline of Rs. 2,638.90 crores while its sales turnover stood at Rs. 2,610.31 crores compared to the previous year’s Rs. 2,275.50 crores. The proportion of LCVs and utility vehicles in the product mix has increased in relation to SCVs. Profit before finance costs and taxes, from operations for the year under review was Rs. 131.50 crores compared to the operating profit of Rs. 71.81 crores the previous year. Net profit after finance costs, depreciation and taxes was estimated to be Rs. 101.36 crores for 2014-15.
Force Motors has made significant efforts to align product offerings in the van range to the changing market requirements. The Bus Body Code is to be applicable to all vehicles with seating capacity of more than 12 passengers. The company has effected the necessary improvements and modifications in its vehicle range, to ensure compliance. It entered into a contract to supply engines for BMW’s Indian operations.
During the year under review, a project was undertaken to set up a dedicated facility to meet this requirement in Chennai. It is a matter of pride and satisfaction for the company that the young team engaged in the project established this facility within seven months from the assignment of the contract to achieve actual production of the first engine, including procurement of land, designing and construction of buildings, installation of equipment and organising the actual production.
Besides the Pithampur plant, which is Force’s main facility producing the Traveller and Trax range of vehicles and having its own facilities for production of engines, transmissions, etc., the company has now separate factories in Chennai and Pune for producing engines and transmissions, as stated above, for leading luxury car makers.
The Akurdi factory of the company focuses mainly on the production of tractors. The R&D activities, production engineering and tool manufacturing at Akurdi have been expanded and modernized to tackle future challenges.
Technology absorption
Force Motors has been focusing on development of extremely light weight vans. The T-2 family of Traveller vehicles has a self-weight which is approximately 1000 kg less than most competitive vehicles. Similar effort is under way to develop light weight options for other seating capacities. This development has called for strong effort in engineering, including product and process development, as also material selection.
The company has completed the development aspect of a full range of common rail engines which will be highly fuel efficient, enabling a low carbon footprint. It has developed a new family of transmissions with higher efficiency and reliability, and low friction, using light-weight materials. All these weight reduction activities and development of new engines and transmissions have called for significant technology development and absorption activity. The expenditure on research and development for new products, including that on projects and tool engineering, was 2.69 per cent of the operational turnover of the company for the year under review.
The tractor business of the company has shown an improvement in sale on account of the focused effort in select markets and the significantly improved customer support established. Its sale improved by 28 per cent. While the 25 horse power Orchard tractor has met with very good acceptance in select markets, efforts are on to enhance the penetration of higher horse power tractors from the Balwan range, available in the company’s product portfolio.
During the year, special efforts have been made to introduce product variants on the Traveller platform. On the 26-seater Traveller, a special luxury model with air suspension and air-conditioning with seating for 15 passengers has been introduced.
Force Motors’ 4×4 off-road product, the GURKHA, is widely acclaimed and appreciated as one of the best vehicles in the category. In the Rain Forest Challenge competition, which is an international competition carried out under excruciatingly difficult conditions, the company’s vehicles were placed first and second in 2014.
Focus on engine development
The company has made satisfactory progress in developing a complete range of engines, with various displacement capacities such as 2 litres, 2.6 litres and 3.2 litres. These engines are designed to meet not only the BS IV emission requirement, but are capable of meeting the BS V and BS VI emission regulations. Further development activity is taken up in this regard. Force’s Engine Tech Centre has been very well utilized in this effort.
The company has also completed development during the year, of a new family of transmissions suitable for the future requirements, compatible with the power ranges for BS IV, V and VI engines. The design, development and proving of the new family of transmissions has been carried out in-house.