VE Commercial Vehicles, a joint venture between Eicher Motors and Swedish truck maker Volvo, has decided to go ahead with its plan of setting up a new 40,000-units-a-year factory in Bhopal even as the Indian commercial vehicle market stares at its steepest decline in growth in a decade.

MUMBAI: VE Commercial Vehicles, a joint venture between Eicher MotorsNSE -4.92 % and Swedish truck maker Volvo, has decided to go ahead with its plan of setting up a new 40,000-units-a-year factory in Bhopal even as the Indian commercial vehicle market stares at its steepest decline in growth in a decade.
Vinod Aggarwal, managing director, VE Commercial Vehicles, told ET that the first two quarters of 2020-21 may not see a very steep decline on account of price hike.
“Dealers are defensive, financers are defensive and so are automakers. As a result, there has been hardly any pre-buy. We expect the same to continue in March. Hence, the demand should be much better in the next financial year than expected earlier,” said Aggarwal.
Sales in the 16-55 tonne truck segment plunged more than 50% yearon-year in February. In April 2019-January 2020, VE Commercial Vehicles registered a decline of more than 23% year-to-year to about 39,000 units, with a market share of 6%.
The company’s BS-IV stock has come to down to just five days and much of its production is aligned to retail demand. Aggarwal said the company is insulated from Covid-19 and has its supplies secured for March. It expects the market to rebound to low single-digit growth in the next financial year and outpace the market, said Aggarwal.
Unveiling the company’s Eutech BS-VI range of trucks in Pithampur on Wednesday, Aggarwal said that while the company is in the midst of severe cost-cutting plans and may defer some investment, it won’t stop strategic investments like expansion of the Bhopal factory, where production is set to begin from April 1.


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The largest two-wheeler maker in the country, Hero MotoCorp saw its sales decline by almost 20% as the company sells primarily in the domestic market where demand has taken a severe hit due to a wider economic slowdown and sharp price hikes for vehicles due to regulatory interventions.

MUMBAI: Two-wheeler makers registered a sharp decline in sales in February amidst weak consumer sentiment and the outbreak of Covid-19 coronavirus in China further affecting production and aggravating the situation.
The largest two-wheeler maker in the country, Hero MotoCorpNSE -8.16 % saw its sales decline by almost 20% as the company sells primarily in the domestic market where demand has taken a severe hit due to a wider economic slowdown and sharp price hikes for vehicles due to regulatory interventions.
The company’s production was also less by about 10% than what it had planned due to a shortage of parts as factories in China have shut due to the virus outbreak, according to an earlier statement.
“Substantial progress has been made in developing alternate sources for procuring components,” the company said in a statement on Monday. “Meanwhile, the component makers in China, having restarted production, are also expected to resume normal supplies soon.”
Production was down at TVS Motor too by 10% due to production shutdowns in China, the company had earlier notified. The company’s February two-wheeler sales were down by about 17% on account of a sharp fall in domestic demand.


At Bajaj AutoNSE -7.42 %, the impact of coronavirus was about 5% of the production, according to sources. The company’s two-wheeler sales were down about 5.4%, it growing exports partly compensating for the decline in the domestic market.

Royal Enfield and Suzuki Motor Company were two companies that registered a growth in sales in the recently concluded month. While the maker of Bullet and Classic motorcycles registered 1.4% growth in sales to 63,500 units, it was much less than its peak period over a year ago when monthly sales exceeded 70,000 units. At Suzuki too, the 2.6% growth rate in February was moderate when compared to what it was before the onset of the ongoing slowdown.
Two-wheeler Sales Slide in February…
Two-wheeler sales declined sharply in February compared with the year-ago period as manufacturers rationalised stocks, amid tepid market demand, to ensure a smooth transition to BS-VI emission norms. Supply-chain disruption due to Covid-19 outbreak in China also hit production at Hero MotoCorp and TVS Motors last month.



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Indian shop floors are going smart. Manufacturing, a typically labour-intensive process, is adopting technology to boost productivity and save costs. It is automating core processes to improve quality and stay competitive. This is Industry 4.0 at its most granular.
Take, as an example, the new Thermax NSE -0.02 % plant at Dahej in Gujarat.
At the ion exchange resins unit, the company has removed workers from its chemical mixing process. Instead, it has created an algorithm for each ‘recipe’. An operator feeds the recipe into a system. It then releases chemicals automatically from vats located on the top floor of a five-storey structure. The steamer and chiller, on the floors below, are then set to the required temperature and pressure.
“It’s a very tough process to create algorithms for each product. We’ve taken what was a manual process and completely automated it,” said M S Unnikrishnan, managing director, Thermax.
Thermax plans to upgrade 13 other plants, some of which are nearly four decades old. Its new facility in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, is already highly automated and the company has cut the production cycle to 15 days from 40 earlier.
The industrial automation market is India is worth $2 billion, according to industry estimates. The degree of automation, however, varies across sectors.
Consumer goods makers have adopted Internet of Things (IoT) to track processes and deployed robots on the shop floor.
Automakers are using augmented reality or virtual reality to train employees, especially those working on complex processes.
In other sectors, production drawings are being replaced with handheld devices, reducing potential errors. Some manufacturers are using 3D printers.
Engineering giant Larsen & Toubro is rapidly automating shop floors and construction sites. On the shop floor, for example, welding is no longer a manual job, even down to maintaining the right temperature.
“The operator now sits in a console and monitors the process, which provides a better work environment for him, as well as improving the quality of the work done,” said S. Anantha Sayana, chief digital officer at L&T.
Automating a heavy engineering line with a 12-month product cycle is different from mass production supply chains, where the process is repetitive.
Three years ago, L&T digitally transformed its construction business, which is 60% of the company. “We’ve connected more than 9,600 pieces of equipment at over 400 project sites, by installing sensors and gateways which give us real time data and visibility,” Sayana said.
Enormous amounts of data are being generated through sensors, said Amit Ray, Managing Director, Data & Analytics, Protiviti India.
“However, if this data falls short on quality, accuracy, and timeliness, it loses its value,” he said.
To unlock true value from manufacturing assets, IT and operational technology systems need to be integrated. This will enable efficient data governance, information security and ease of use.
Ashok Leyland NSE -10.65 % recently automated its cab panels pressing plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. It upgraded the existing dies and presses with automated solutions. Soon, output increased two-fold.
“In a cab weld shop, digitization has enabled quick changeover of models, wherein with only soft touches, the entire process gets reset to the required model production,” said Harihar P., senior vice president – manufacturing and project planning, Ashok Leyland. “This ensures 100% product quality without defects.”
In automaker Mahindra and Mahindra’s shop floor, 70% of the body shop methods are robotic, from the earlier manual-only workflow.
“We believe that the enabling ecosystem for adoption of technology is critical,” said Vijay Kalra, chief of manufacturing operations – auto sector at M&M. “The people who finally have to work on these technologies should be well versed with it and the need should also come from their end.”
The auto industry is doing rapid prototyping using some of its 3D and AR/VR solutions, said Anumukonda Ramesh, country manager at Unity Technologies, which sets up platforms to develop such applications.
Reliance Industries NSE -7.51 % is investing in virtual reality, useful in interactive training and testing for improved safety and reliability.
“3D printing will be an important component of the RIL’s digital manufacturing architecture. RIL has procured state-of the art printers to experiment and learn about this new technology platform while developing potential use cases in manufacturing,” according to its 2018 annual report.
Most companies are relying on internal teams to design and plan the shift to automation. They are working with start-ups or other vendors only for the actual technology.
“Many of the core technologies and platforms for our solutions are available in the market, we do the solutioning in-house. We also have access to the expertise and services at group companies,” said L&T’s Sayana.
Implementing the changes is, however, challenging.
“For executing the digital initiatives across Mahindra, initially we faced some internal challenges in terms of IT infrastructure, equipment compatibility and skill gap,” said Kalra of M&M.
Retrofitting existing equipment with sensors without affecting production is a worry, slowing automation. Lack of coordination across the value chain is yet another headache.
“Individual technological advancements will fail to achieve its true potential if the current ecosystem of partners, start-ups, technology providers remains disjoint and operate in their individual silos,” said Ray of Protiviti.
Yet, benefits outweigh the hiccups, as increased adoption shows.
Thermax and L&T track all material entering the shop floor. This helps in better understanding where components are used. The traceability factor has cut down wastage.
The high cost of investment may be a deterrent, but cost savings are proving to be attractive for manufacturers. The automation initiative is only expected to quicken from here on.

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