Innovation & customized solutions are key growth-drivers
By N. Balasubramanian
Interpump Hydraulics India Pvt. Ltd. (IPH) was established in 2006 as a 100 per cent subsidiary of Interpump Hydraulics S.p.A. of the Interpump Group, a pioneer in the manufacture of power take offs (PTO’s) and hydraulic pumps worldwide. The parent company, headquartered at Milan in Italy, commands nearly 80 per cent market share of PTO’s. In just over six years, IPH has gained a strong understanding of the requirements of customers in the Indian market, as reflected in the company’s expanding customer base and the innovative solutions it has pioneered.
In an exclusive interview to Motorindia at the company’s Hosur facility, Mr. P. Ramesh Joshua, Managing Director, Interpump Hydraulics India Pvt. Ltd., said: “Our aim is to provide complete hydraulic solutions for the Indian market. We focus on providing customized solutions for the OEM’s and on bringing innovative technologies into the market. We have a strong R&D team in India which works closely with the R&D centre at our Italian headquarters.”
The company is a regular supplier of hydraulic pumps and PTOs to Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors and Eaton, and is currently in talks with AMW, MAN, Daimler (Bharat Benz) trucks.
It also worked together with AL in the design and production of the co-branded hydraulics solutions for the ‘U-Truck’ truck range, providing them with a complete tipping kit which includes tipping cylinders made of hot rolled seam-less tubes, a technologically advanced directional control valve, pneumatically operated cabin control valve to control the tipping, a well engineered hydraulic oil tank apart from the PTO and hydraulic pump. Currently, IPH is working with AL in stabilization of axles for missile launchers in Defense applications.
Since 2007, IPH has been supplying Tata ACE power take offs and pumps to Tata Motors through distributors and body builders. In 2010, the company developed and supplied close to 1,200 PTOs for the market leader’s World Truck series for the G1150 gearbox on its 2518 model. Recently, it has also developed engine-mounted PTOs for Bharat Benz and tipping systems for the AL-Nissan DOST.
In order to meet the burgeoning demand for CV hydraulics in the local market, IPH has three state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, two at Hosur and one at Rudrapur, Uttarakhand. In their Plant-I at Hosur, IPH assembles 1,500 PTO’s, imports and integrates equal number of hydraulic pumps per month, for supply to Ashok Leyland plants in south India. It also produces around 1,000 PTO’s per month, mainly to cater to the requirements of Tata Motors.
The Plant-II in Hosur with a monthly production capacity of 700 cylinders and hydraulic kits, addresses the hydraulic needs of the southern body builders of AL. The Plant-III at Rudrapur, has a production capacity of 2500 PTO’s and pumps, along with 700 hydraulic cylinders and hydraulic kits per month, it also has a flexible manufacturing system in place, for PTOs and pumps. It has an in-house manufacturing facility for gears, shafts and housings for PTO’s and Pumps.
Technological capabilities
In 2006 IPH India introduced to AL for the first time, a pneumatically operated rear mounted PTO for ZF gear boxes. This shift from side mounted PTO to the rear mounted PTO’s reduced considerable amount of weight.
The rear mounted PTO’s were with dual axis, thereby providing choice of increasing the output rpm of the PTO, which enables a reduction in pump size capacity.
After enormous research and study, IPH has developed efficient tanks that are powder-coated and corrosion-resistant. Currently, the company is also in the process of making plastic tanks.
The hydraulic cylinders offered by IPH are also uniquely designed to be able to withstand more stress. These designs and developments are the outcome of a vigorous R&D drive launched by IPH both in Italy and India. The Indian technical centre also involves in making specific design customizations and test validations to offer tailor-made solutions to leading truck manufacturers.
The pilot-operated tipping valve is a first of its kind in India. It has been designed in such a way that both the PTO and tipping operations are controlled by a single lever and when tipping is done, the PTO automatically gets disengaged during tip down operation.
IPH currently employs over 80 people across its three locations. Until 2010, barring the recessionary phase, the company had maintained an annual turnover of Rs. 25 crores. In 2011, with the introduction of the complete hydraulic kit, nearly doubled its growth as it ended the year with a turnover of Rs. 48 crores.
Globally, the parent company has a manufacturing facility for PTO’s and pumps in the United States Of America under the brand name Muncie, which specializes in the manufacture of PTO’s for automatic transmissions and holds 70 per cent market share in the US.
The Italian company also has a joint venture with Wuxi Weifu in China for manufacture of PTOs, pumps and related products.