Stork Rubber Pvt. Ltd. (Stork Rubber), the leading domestic manufacturer of rubber moulded parts, is all set to enhance its presence in the domestic market, apart from strengthening its overseas operations. The two-decade-old firm, which is already supplying anti-vibration and suspension components for commercial vehicles in other countries, will now be replicating the same for the Indian market. With a strategic foothold in the HCV segment, Stork Rubber is confident that its domestic operations will contribute 50 per cent to its total business by 2017. Currently, sales from the export market account for almost 70 per cent of the revenue. Besides adding new geographies in its international business, the company is confident of bagging additional orders and clients in its domestic business.
In a tête-à-tête with MOTORINDIA, Mr. Jagdeep Singh Rangar, Managing Director, Stork Rubber Pvt. Ltd., stated: “We are largely an export-centric company and have been catering to light trucks, passenger cars and heavy-duty trucks. Stork is actively pursuing and building business with the existing export customers as well as Tier-I customers and identifying new opportunities in global markets. At the same time, we are pushing to grow in India with focus being on OE and Tier-1 customers. The objective is to have a 50:50 balance between our domestic and export business in three years.”
He added: “We are confident of bagging additional clients (in all segments) and increase our domestic market contribution to 50 per cent. In the domestic market (out of 30 per cent business that we have), it is 95 per cent in favour of OEMs and the balance 5 per cent for the aftermarket.”
It is to be mentioned that Stork Rubber manufactures and exports rubber to metal-bonded parts like control arm bushes, stabiliser bar bushes, stabiliser links, engine and transmission mounts, hyro mounts and bushes, strut mounts and rubber moulded parts, as well as mechanical control cables like brake and clutch cables, gear shifter cables, etc. It is a private limited company that started operating in 1995 and runs three facilities, one at Gurgaon, Haryana, having a capacity of 600 tonnes per annum (TPA), Chennai with 400 TPA, and Sitarganj, Uttrakhand, with 120 TPA. Overall, the company has a capacity to make 1.5 million units and 3.5 lakh cables per month. 
While Chennai is solely for the domestic OEM business, Gurgaon is for export and some OEM business, and the Sitarganj facility makes polyler insulators for the electrical transmission industry and auto components for the Indian aftermarket. It is also looking at OEM business in the Pantnagar belt.
The home-grown auto component maker will be supplying engine mountings (under the anti-vibration portfolio) and control arm bushes and anti-roll bar bushes as well as stabiliser links (under the suspension portfolio) for various auto component players, which in turn will be supplying to numerous domestic and international players in the country. The company is also keen to diversify into construction equipment, OTR and tractor segments in the medium term.
Mr. Rangar further observed: “Although we are supplying some parts to Tata Motors, our presence in truck and bus segments is minuscule. We already have a few part numbers for HCV segment which we export. But now we are actively working in the HCV OE segment in the domestic market and expect to start dispatches in the second quarter of 2015. This will be primarily meant for OE Tier-I and Tier-II customers. We are expecting substantial business from this segment because we are not yet present here (in the domestic market). It will bring substantial business for us by 2105-16 in the HCV segment. This will not only help us expand our presence in the domestic market, but will also enable us to explore opportunities beyond passenger vehicles. The products may not be the same as we sell to our overseas customers but are similar.”
In the export aftermarket, the company has a diverse range of products to offer, and on the rubber side, it has around 4,600 references. In the domestic market it is working with leading clients like QH Talbros, Jamna Auto Industries and Minda, and many more are expected to be added to its roster in due course. Indirectly, it is serving Tata Motors, Hyundai, Toyota, Isuzu, Mahindra and Mahindra, etc. In two-wheelers, it is a prominent supplier to Royal Enfield”.
Simultaneously, Stork Rubber is equally keen to augment its international business by entering new geographies and bagging additional orders. However, the company has no immediate plans to either set up a facility or go for any inorganic growth. Currently, it exports to over 30 countries worldwide, including Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Venezuela, the UAE, the UK and the US.
“We have been primarily an export-centric company. It was only after 2008 that we started exploring the possibilities of developing business within the country. That is why our main business continues to be exports. We started out in business in 1995, and it all started actually in South Africa. The products we sold were mainly for Toyota minivans in that country. We had good success, and customers in that country who, in the past had no access to imports, were very keen to work with us. 
So we actively developed the market, and for the first two years of our existence, we only focussed on South Africa and then we started spreading into Europe, the UK and the US. This was done not only to expand our business but also to derisk it against any political or geographical uncertainities. That’s how it all began. Our exports are further split into 70:30 with majority going for the aftermarket and the remaining chunk for Tier-1 suppliers and OES. We are not presently exporting to the Middle East and South-East Asia. These are the markets which we would like to explore,” added Mr. Rangar.
Initially floated with just Rs. 15,000 by Mr. Rangar, the company’s total investments in all the plants and machineries until now is in the range of Rs. 15-20 crores. In the last few years, Stork Rubber’s revenue grew by 15-20 per cent and it expects to register the same growth in the next few years.
When quizzed about its USPs that will enable it to sustain the growth momentum, Mr. Rangar asserted: “We are an ISO/TS 16949:2002 certified company and are backed by years of experience in the manufacturing and supply of quality automotive parts. That is the only reason that we have been getting ACMA awards since 2003-04. They were based on the parameters of quality, technology and productivity. We do our own tooling and development in-house and our products are always up-to-date. We keep trying to evolve and innovate in the way we do things, improve our processes, learn best practices globally and try to innovate on that. This approach has held us in good stead. Going forward, we would like to have our own capability to design and build parts from ground-up. While we are actively scouting for technology partners we are also working to develop our own design capabilities.”