Indian roads of late are witnessing the best of vehicles being rolled off the shopfloor of global multinational OEMs. An important contribution to the quality of vehicles comes from Tier-1 suppliers who develop systems and parts which are attuned to global standards. One such company is Omax Autos Ltd., which is one of the leading auto component manufacturers in India. Omax has made its recent foray into the truck assembly segment with its Bangalore facility having received an initial order of complete truck assembly from one of the global truck manufacturers in the country.
Omax’ Bangalore facility had rolled out its first truck assembly in March 2014 which signalled its successful foray into the segment. Speaking at the launch, Mr. Kishor Karnataki, President & CEO – PC & CV, Omax Autos, said: “A focussed assembly cell has been created at our Bangalore plant, where the truck is assembled in 3 stages starting from frame assembly, engine & powertrain dropping and cabin assembly with tuning.”
Omax entered the commercial vehicle segment by establishing its Lucknow plant in 2007 and started production in 2009, developing truck frame assemblies for Tata Motors, the market leader in the CV segment. The company is currently a single source supplier of truck frame assemblies to Tata Motors’ M&HCVs manufactured at Lucknow. In the initial phase, Omax had started with around 30 frames per day from its Lucknow facility, and today the capacity has been enhanced ten-fold to nearly 300 frames.
Mr. Karnataki added: “There is lot of scope for growth in the CV segment, and as a next step we have entered into assembling of trucks in a big way. We have a good opportunity to expand our capacity at other locations as we have already achieved the leadership position by becoming the largest independent frame assembly supplier for the M&HCV segment. We focus not only on the size of business but also on the quality of business processes.”
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Devashish Mehta, Head – Strategy & NBD, Omax Autos, said: “Omax Autos has been a major player in the auto component segment for the last 30 years. Currently Omax is the largest Tier-1 chassis assembly manufacturer in India with a peak volume catering to 45,000 vehicles per year. We had a vision of making complete truck assembly at our facility and showcase our engineering strengths. We have now taken a step towards attaining that vision by undertaking the complete truck assembly with suspension, powertrain, transmission and cabin assembly for a renowned global OEM at our Bangalore facility. We are targeting an annual volume of 10,000 vehicles in 3 years.”
Optimistic outlook
Despite the Indian automotive industry passing through a major downtrend in the last couple of years and the CV segment being among the worst hit, Omax remains optimistic about its future growth prospects. Explaining this, Mr. Karnataki shared: “The CV segment is becoming increasingly cyclic, and since we operate in the M&HCV domain, it has been a good learning experience to cope up with the cyclicity. Going forward, we are quite confident of widening our customer base and product portfolio, thanks to our expertise in manufacturing technology.”
Talking about the company’s Pantnagar plant, which was built in 2012 specifically for Ashok Leyland, he disclosed: “We started with chassis cross member assemblies for Ashok Leyland’s U-truck vehicle platform and have now got the opportunity to work with them for the Boss ICV and the new Captain range.” Omax’ Banglore facility manufactures certain critical parts, including structural and engine components for Ashok Leyland-Nissan and Volvo Trucks. The products of global quality standards are also exported to markets such as Thailand and China.
Omax has laid out a clear strategy to boost its business by entering new product lines and is working on it despite the prolonged slowdown in the automobile market. “In addition to CV chassis, we are looking to diversify into bus structure, fuel tanks and exhaust systems. All of them will be built at our existing manufacturing locations and we might set up new production lines for the same”, he said.
Omax is also looking to further expand its presence in the LCV segment wherein it already supplies products to Ashok Leyland Nissan’s Partner and MITR platforms.
The CV business contributes to 25 per cent of Omax Group’s total turnover.With new product lines and customers in the sector, the company is confident that the share would rise to at least one-third of its turnover in the next few years. “While we are growing organically, we are now moving up the value-chain from being a sub-assembly manufacturer to becoming a complete solution provider. We are also open to the idea of working with a partner to diversify into new products. Our long-term target is to become a globally renowned system supplier”, signed off Mr. Karnataki.