On the look-out for strategic partner to boost growth prospects
Gibraltar is an integrated air spring manufacturer and a strong player in the domestic aftermarket space, and when we say strong it’s not just in sales numbers but a clear market leader by being the preferred choice in the replacement market. Any STU in India running air suspension buses cannot afford to miss Gibraltar which is making steady progress. If we term quality as the front axle, adoption of right technology at the right price will be the rear axle that drives brand Gibraltar’s success story.
India is known to have the widest platform of buses all the way from 1150 mm to 400 mm, and Gibraltar has a product catering to the entire range, making it a clear leader in terms of market share. We had an opportunity to visit the company’s ‘Green – Integrated – Compact Manufacturing Plant’ in Kolkata and interact with its Founder and Director, Mr. Pronob Kumar Guha, a veteran in the field of air springs with decades of experience.
Excerpts:
Kindly tell us about your background in the industry and the origin of Gibraltar.
I have been involved in the air springs field from the 1970s in North America. I was with a well-known air-springs company there and have held various positions in sales and marketing. When I came back to India, I wanted to bring some technology here, and the immediate one which struck me was air springs. Henry Ford, Edison and Firestone back in 1933 were the three engineers who had pioneered air springs and my initial background was in selling air springs in North America.
We started this company as Gibraltar distributors in October 1993 to sell air springs from our North American partner in India. Subsequently our company became Gibraltar Air Springs, and once we started making air springs, our brand received good recognition in the market. Our priority and focus on quality has brought us where we are today, with customers even in regions like Korea and other overseas markets appreciating our products a lot.
Air springs being a specialized industry, how do you manage to achieve the required technology and maintain your strong presence in a dynamic market?
Yes, this is a very specialized industry involving rubber with the two biggest enemies being sunlight and dirt. We had set up our plant based on these factors and have two separate areas for preparation of rubber and manufacturing. As you walked through, you would have witnessed a sea-change between what is outside and inside our premises. Even when we talk about ‘Make-in-India’ there can be two types – one is to bring in global technology and assemble the products in India and the other is to completely make in India. We follow the latter where we completely make our products in India. We are not just assemblers but an end-to-end product manufacturer with in-house technology.
How do you manage your production and what are your strengths in manufacturing?
Each and every product we sell has a unique code which helps in tracking. From the date the rubber was made to the date of dispatch of the finished product, we can track each and every milestone in the manufacture of the air spring. With respect to testing, we perform 100 per cent testing of the characteristics of each and every air spring produced while others do it only in samples. Our rigorous and uncompromised testing process sets us apart from the rest.
What are the verticals and product segments where your products are supplied to?
There are three general areas where our products go to, the largest ones being the automotive segment which includes buses and trucks. The next one is railways, not just Indian but others as well, especially for metros. The Government is planning to bring metros in every major city, and this opens up a lot of opportunities for us. The other area is the highly profitable industrial market where the product size is very niche. It is more for machine installation beds where the air spring works as an isolator. Another industrial application is in actuator where the air springs ensure smooth and required movement, which hydraulics or pneumatics cannot offer. Customers are ready to pay a premium to ensure their operations run smoothly and industrial air springs are a good example for the same. Paper, steel and aluminium are a few industries which use air springs, but what I comment here is, ‘It is only the engineering imagination that can limit the application of a product’.
Are you looking to explore any new avenues and markets?
We would like to make an entry into railways which requires some specialized testing with particular equipment. Tests like life cycle test and stiffness test are mandated by railways and have to be carried out. We are on the job of getting the machines at low cost using frugal Indian engineering. Right now we do not sell our products to railways but still want to get our products tested through external agencies. We will be the first to have the testing machines in India with our initial trials underway proving to be very successful.
What is the size of the replacement market for air springs for commercial vehicles and how many units do you produce every year?
The life of the air spring in a new bus is almost two years or three lakhs kms. When the bus starts aging, it is the air springs which take maximum beating in the suspension and hence need to be replaced once a year. We have a capacity to make 2,40,000 air springs per year and are striving to achieve full capacity. The figure was nearly 14,000 units annually a few years back and has doubled year on year.
In the domestic market, our first STU customer was SETC and MTC in Tamil Nadu, following which we added APSRTC (Andhra Pradesh), BMTC (Bangalore), CSTC (Calcutta) and others who remain our major customers till date. The air spring capacity mentioned above includes export markets wherein we have received fantastic response from different regions.
What is the status of supplying air springs directly to OEMs and how are you progressing in this regard?
We are in talks with almost all OEMs in India with developments already underway. We are confident of bagging some good orders in the near future. Just making air springs was not our vision when we opened this plant in 2013, which is why we are investing in technology and brand and take the company to greater heights.
What is your share of business as between trucks and buses at present?
At present, 90 per cent of our sales comes from buses and 10 per cent from trucks. We are not interested in selling more units at the expense of quality. There are many Chinese and Turkish air spring makers who compromise quality for cost. In our case, all our customers, from small operators to large STUs, prefer our products. In most cases we are a single source supplier and have established ourselves as a one-stop shop for all kinds of air springs for buses.
The truck market in India has probably not moved to air suspensions as fast as the bus segment. How and when do you see the rise of trucks with air springs in our country?
We have bagged an order from an OEM for supplying air springs for trailer suspensions. The project is in the prototyping stage and we will be coming out with the product soon. Globally the truck and trailer air spring market is much bigger than the bus air spring market though the latter appears to be more. We as a company are keen on developing products for trucks and trailer as well. The market for truck air springs is maturing fast and we now have products for the application. Now with rising popularity of lift axle trucks, the interest in air springs is moving even faster.
How is the LCV segment in India accepting air springs?
Traditionally all the air spring manufacturers are keen on the M&HCV segment and not LCVs. But in the case of Chinese and European markets there are a number of LCV applications such as ambulances, caravans, etc. which use air springs. With respect to our product for LCV buses and vans, we have started supplies to a Dutch company which is a specialist in air suspensions for LCVs and a market leader in Europe.
We learnt from you last year that you are open for equity partnerships to support your technology know-how and the strong market position you have created. What is its status now? What are your growth plans for the coming years?
We are already being examined by some companies for potential partnership and are open to collaborate with global majors if and when required. We are ideally looking for a strategic partner who could add a new dimension to our growth story, not just in India but also globally. We are open to having representatives from our partner company as part of our management board and take part in decision making. We are also ready to discuss equity partnerships or any other approach that could be a win-win one.
On our side, we are consistently doubling our turnover year on year. As for the medium term, we expect Gibraltar to become a stellar brand and the most preferred air spring manufacturer in the country in around five years from now.