Bangalore plant foundation laid
Scania Commercial Vehicles India (SCVI) recently held the ground-breaking ceremony of its industrial site in Narasapura, Bangalore. Mr. Henrik Fagrenius, Managing Director, SCVI, laid the foundation for the new plant. Mr. Sivakumar Viswam, Director Sales, Mr. Suresh Ekambaram, Director After Sales and Mr. Stefan Wiklund, Director Finance, were among those present on the function.
The new plant will be a completely knocked-down (CKD) assembly unit for truck and bus chassis. Bodybuilding of city buses and coaches is also planned at this facility which has been specially designed to be in line with global standards of the Scania Group.
Said Mr. Henrik Fagrenius, Managing Director, Scania Commercial Vehicles Pvt. Ltd.: “We are ready to start construction of our plant. The ground-breaking ceremony signifies an important landmark for Scania in India. With this new assembly unit in Bangalore, we are confident of meeting the requirements of our customers. Currently we have three trucks under testing and are in discussion with some customers for our on-road vehicles, both trucks and buses. In the mining and construction segment, we will continue to work closely with L&T to further strengthen our aftersales.”
Scania has been working with L&T in the mining and construction segment and will cater to the on-road segment with its new Narasapura facility. The CKD plant will be constructed on an area of 35 acres and will also be the headquarters of SCVI.
The company targets an annual roll-out of 2,000 heavy haulage trucks and 1,000 inter-city multi-axle buses and coaches from the plant within five years. The first truck is expected to roll out in April 2013, before which the company might import and supply completely-built vehicles.
Scania’s commitment to the Indian market is highlighted by the increase in its investment from an initial figure of Rs. 1.5 billion to Rs. 2.5 billion at present. The company’s new facility will function as a CKD assembly unit for trucks and buses in the first phase and will also be used for bus body building and servicing at a later period. The company will also set up a warehouse in India to improve availability of parts. Since its entry into the Indian market, it has focused on the mining and construction segment and has performed quite well with the partnership of L&T. With 80 per cent of the country’s electricity being coal-powered and the huge reserves of coal available, the mining segment offers enormous scope for the company’s products.
Focus on niche segments
After a comprehensive study of the Indian market, Scania is now ready to foray into the on-road segment where it will focus on the over-dimensional cargo (ODC) sector and other niche segments. These include transport of chemicals and petroleum, which are quite demanding, and have high dependence on uptime, fuel efficiency and total cost of ownership (TCO). In the niche segments, fuel efficiency influences 45 per cent of the TCO while the capital cost of the vehicle is only 25 per cent. Scania trucks are capable of offering around 15 per cent fuel efficiency, a figure which also depends heavily on the skills of the driver. The company offers the Opticruise, an automatic gear-shifting system for the driver to improve fuel efficiency.
“We will offer high HP, high capacity and sturdy trucks for the heavy segment. We will not enter the mass market segment. Our focus is in the niche segments which have demanding operations. In the coming years, the niche segment could grow faster than the mass market segment and we might as well see the niche segment become the mass market segment in the country”, the Managing Director added.
Currently Scania offers the P 380 8×4 heavy tipper which has performed very well in the mining segment.
For the on-road segment, it has four products on the cards: a 360hp 4×2 truck and a 410hp 6×2 truck, both with a lift axle, a 460hp 6×4 truck with a technical capacity to carry 100 tonne load and a 500hp 6×8 truck capable of carrying a load of 150 tonne, both for ODC applications.
Driver training
Driver training has become an important focus area, more so with the growing dearth of commercial vehicle drivers. Scania has been conducting driver training sessions in cooperation with L&T for the mining segment which will be extended to the on-road segment as well. The training sessions are conducted on-site so that the drivers are provided with expert guidance in realistic conditions and are devised to give them complete knowledge about the product in terms of technology, handling and safety features.
The main focus of training is fuel-efficient driving to guide drivers to use the truck in the most fuel-efficient manner by maintaining proper engine conditions, speed levels and timing the gear-shifts correctly. The company also offers refresher training sessions periodically.
The upcoming manufacturing facility is also aimed at further boosting the company’s sales and service activities in the country. This will bring in a variety of models and also shorten the delivery time for customers.
Said Mr. Fagrenius: “We have world-class products and will need a good service network in the country. We are currently in discussion with private dealers and will set up service outlets in strategic locations across the country, with service vehicles available for on-site service.”
Scania provides high service levels that provide high uptime and low operating cost for customers. The company’s strategies for India are innovative, offering value through lower TCO for customers and will bring in the best products and services to the country.