ZF India, known to regularly introduce innovative products to the market, remains a dominant player in the premium bus and truck segment.
“We made a significant headway to strengthen our presence in India with the inauguration of a multi-product facility at Chakan, Pune. Here we assemble truck transmissions and chassis components (Torque Rods and V Links). For the Bus segment, we supply automated manual transmission (6 & 12 speed), manual transmission (6, 9, 12 and 16) and automatic transmission (6 speed), front and rear axles, shock absorbers, retarders & clutches which are direct imports from the group company,” said Mr. Suresh KV, President, ZF India.
The approximately 22-acre state-of-the-art manufacturing plant at Chakan came up at an investment of about Rs. 150 crores (€20 million). “The new plant, also known as the ZF multi-product facility, has become home to car powertrain and commercial vehicle technology, ZF services, engineering and the administration of ZF India Pvt. Ltd. Although the current utilization of the plot is about one-fifth, it has the capability to produce 25,000 transmissions per annum. This also indicates the group’s growth plans for the country”, revealed Mr. Suresh.
It is evident that the global reputation and strategic investment in India have helped ZF make inroads in the Indian CV segment. “We have provided fully automatic transmission for Scania’s city bus and have also started supplying the 9-speed manual transmission to MAN Trucks India,” he said.
Engineering solutions
With the Group’s proficient know-how and skills, ZF has proved itself in the field of driveline and chassis systems. The ZF Group completed the acquisition of TRW so as to emerge the third largest automotive supplier at the global level. ZF Friedrichshafen AG also took over the Industrial Gears and Wind Turbine Gearbox business of Bosch Rexroth, which marked its entry into the business with industrial gears.
He further observed: “We have also taken various steps to expand our current chain of products. With this in mind, our focus remains to reduce consumption and emissions and increase productivity, driver comfort and safety while also increasing the ease of operation.”
The Government’s ‘Make in India’ campaign has paved way for the growth of manufacturing companies in India. This move has further evolved the consumers and their demands leading the manufacturing companies to continuously improve and innovate their products to provide the market with the best quality.
Mr. Suresh said: “We will focus on the ‘Make-in-India’ theme and source quality products for our global portfolio. While we are looking at organic growth for the existing ZF products in India, we are also exploring opportunities for other verticals to be present in the business park for the Indian market. We are trying to source products from different commodities to support the different ZF entities across the world, thereby establishing India as a premium sourcing hub globally. To aid this we have established a global purchasing office in the country. In the CV segment, we are focusing on VA#VE (Value analysis# value engineering) solutions in 9 Speed transmissions. Further, we have initiated work on the development of AMT solutions for the Indian market and will also launch tie-rods and drag links soon.”
ZF has been operating in India for over three decades. Headquartered in Pune, it has nine plants spread across major States. These plants are a mix of wholly-owned and joint venture operation with roughly 3,000 employees in India. ZF Hero Chassis Systems Pvt. Ltd., a 50-50 JV between ZF India Pvt. Ltd. and Hero Motors Ltd., was also inaugurated at Oragadam near Chennai recently. This unit will focus on assembling front and rear chassis systems for passenger cars.
Mr. Suresh also said: “The synergies from this consolidation will enable us to become leaner and improve efficiencies which will help us provide a compelling value proposition to our customer.”
ZF strongly believes in being present in every market. In the construction equipment space, the current volumes of backhoe loaders and wheel loaders are low, due to which ZF is focusing on expanding into other market applicable segments.
“As a system supplier we focus on the entire drive and combines advanced software features with transmissions and axles. We supply power shift technology transmissions & modular design axle to all types of construction equipment. The transmissions are either semi-automatic or fully automatic, and the axles are driven axles with rigid and steering types,” he added.