By R. Natarajan, Managing Editor & Publisher
Gabriel India Limited, a leading name in the Indian auto component industry, has completed five decades of its existence. The company provides the widest range of Ride Control products in India with Shock Absorbers, Struts and Front Forks, catering to Passenger Cars, Utility Vehicles, Commercial Vehicles and Two Wheelers.
The pioneer of Ride Control products in the country, ‘Gabriel is a renowned brand synonymous with shock absorbers. Its products have established a significant presence in all automotive segments, viz: OEMs replacement markets and exports. Over the last fifty years. Gabriel India has earned the reputation of being a complete solution provider of innovative and proprietary products that have become the company’s hallmark.
The flagship company of Anand, Gabriel commenced operations in 1961 with a single plant in Mulund, Mumbai and has grown manifold since then with seven manufacturing facilities spread across the country (Pune, Nashik, Hosur, Dewas, Gurgaon, Parwanoo, Sanand). The Motor India Editorial team recently visited Gabriel Corporate office at Pune and manufacturing facility at Chakan to witness the state of the art manufacturing facilities and process adopted by Gabriel.
Discussing with Mr. Manoj Kolhatkar, Managing Director of Gabriel reinforces the company’s direction towards technology superiority to remain competitive. Over the last 50 years, Gabriel has developed a high level of technical competence and skills. In addition, Gabriel has technology collaboration with KYB Corporation, Japan and KYBSE Spain for 4 Wheeler and Yamaha Motor Hydraulic Systems Japan for two wheeler product development. This has enabled Gabriel provide futuristic products to global OEMs in India.
Gabriel’s focus is on innovation to provide cost effective solutions to customers, says Manoj Kolhatkar, Gabriel has so far filed 16 patents covering products and process apart from winning the Golden Peacock Award for Innovation twice during 2007 and 2012.
Continued focus on R&D has set the path for future. Gabriel has three well equipped state of art R&D centres located in Chakan, Hosur and Nashik to develop new products and carry out comprehensive testing and validation so as to optimize performance and enhance capability of its Ride Control products. These facilities provide value added services to all customers in areas of noise measurement, value engineering improving product quality by root cause analysis of customer complaints as well as cost reduction through localization efforts. These R&D centres also provide customers with a facility to conduct ride tuning exercise on site through custom built mobile ride tuning vans.
This apart, Gabriel is setting up a Tech Centre for 2 Wheeler product developments at its Hosur plant. This facility, expected to be ready in 2013, would have unique and futuristic facilities for product design & validation. Gabriel is also setting up a ride evaluation facility for customer vehicle evaluation. This is would be over and above the onsite ride and handling facility already available with Gabriel. Says Mr. Manoj Kolhatkar, Gabriel would continue to invest a part of its sales in R&D and product development year on year as part of its strategy and way forward.
Gabriel way forward is on focusing and building sustainable manufacturing process through reduced carbon foot print and bringing in green technology in all its manufacturing locations. Gabriel’s manufacturing footprint enables timely deliveries to customers while optimizing the availability of material. With a combined capacity of over 24 million Shock Absorbers and Struts and 2.7 million Front Forks, these facilities cater to the requirements of all segments of the market, making Gabriel the leading Automotive OEM supplier in the country. Gabriel also services the requirements of Defence, Railways and the Aftermarket segments in India.
The Anand Group firmly believes that Business is 90% people as the Chairman Emiritus Mr DC Anand proudly asserts that his key asset is the Group’s dedicated workforce. Gabriel has taken this initiative forward laying great emphasis on employee development through training of people both at the in-house Anand University (Anand-U) and by deputing to external training. Gabriel is proud to receive the recognition from Great Places to Work as the third best place to work in the auto component industry during 2012, a unique honour for inspiring trust among people and instilling pride, creating an environment with the workplace that promotes camaraderie.