Leading automotive component maker Pricol recently unveiled a new brand identity. The 42-year-old company has charted out a clear roadmap to double its revenue and expand its footprint in the international market. It now has a new logo, representing its value and commitment to its four major stakeholders – customers, employees, suppliers and shareholders.
Giving an overview of Pricol’s ‘Vision 2020’ plan, Mr. G. Sundararaman, President of the company, said: “This plan is part of our Managing Director Mr. Vikram Mohan’s vision to double the company’s revenue by 2020. We are targeting consolidated revenue of Rs. 3,000 crores by 2020.”
Sounding optimistic about the continued growth of the commercial vehicle (CV) segment, Mr. P.M. Ganesh, Chief Marketing Officer, stated: “The CV segment contributes about 20% in terms of sales to our overall revenue. The segment did well in Q3 and Q4 of last year. Q1 of this year had some momentum, but now we are again seeing some slowdown. However, when compared to previous years, the growth has been steady.”
Mr. Sundararaman stated that Pricol, which is known for its strong R&D and product development initiatives, is going to focus on all the three key verticals it operates in – instruments & sensors, pumps & mechanical systems, and telematics & asset management solutions. “We are doing a lot of research and development in new generation technology like TFT clusters and telematics, catering to the CV, off-highway and tractor segments.”
Mr. Sundararaman also talked about the company’s expansion plans vis-à-vis its manufacturing facilities. “We have been following an aggressive expansion plan. Our strategy combines organic growth as well as acquisitions. We already had an acquisition in Brazil. Our Indonesian plant has been running well for several years now. Apart from this, our MD has outlined our growth aspirations in terms of acquisition in the area of sensors and pumps, potentially in Europe.”
In India, the company’s new plant is coming up in Pune. The greenfield plant is expected to be up and running by September 2016.
Dwelling further on the company’s offerings to the CV segment, Mr. Sundararaman said: “In the field of hydraulics, we are major suppliers of cabin-tilt systems to major CV manufacturers. We have been working on the next generation electronic clusters for two-wheeler, off-highway and tractors and commercial vehicle segments. Sensors are being developed to meet the BS-VI emission control norms that are going to be enforced in India soon. So, in the area of regulation related sensors, we will be playing a very active role.”
Offering a glimpse of the success of the company’s telematic solutions, Mr. Sundararaman cited the example of JCB, the world’s largest manufacturer of backhoe loaders, using Pricol’s ‘Live Link’ solution in their backhoe loaders. “This technology allows a service engineer from any part of the country to find out about the health of any loader’s engine with respect to engine oil, maintenance schedules, fuel pilferage, etc. We have also developed a similar solution for John Deere’s products. The technology can be successfully applied across the CV, tractors and off-highway product spectrum.”
Pricol has also implemented telematics solution for a few major off-highway & tractors application which has been widely appreciated by the OEMs. Based on this success story Pricol is now working with a number of Telematics solutions across various customer segments across the globe.
Sharing similar views, Mr. Amit Dakshini, Chief Strategy Officer of the company, stated: “Our endeavor is to be present across the eco system of telematics using strategic partnerships and alliances to offer end to end telematics solutions to our OE as well as to our industrial and non-OE customers.”
By M.K. Prabhakar