In a segment that is largely unorganized, change is coming rapidly. Inserting engineering and AIS approvals into the works of vehicle body building is the key to this. And Truck Body Works (TBW), an off-shoot of Tube Investments of India Limited was founded for this exact purpose. In an exclusive interview with N. Balasubramanian, V. Vijayakumar, Head – Business Development & Operations, reveals the company’s vision and strategy in pounding this sector into shape.
Strength lies in structure. And it is true for rough and tumble vehicles such as trucks. And the purpose of founding Truck Body Works (TBW) in 2018 was exactly this – to bring engineering into truck body building.
Its parent company, Tube Investment of India Ltd. (TII) is part of INR 369 bn Murugappa Group which was founded in 1959 following a merger between TI Cycles of India and Tube Products of India. A decade prior to this, TI Cycles of India entered the manufacturing business with bicycle production.
The onus of carrying forward TII’s legacy of manufacturing quality products for the automotive industry among others lay solidly on the fledging company’s sturdy shoulders. Today, TBW, as an off-shoot of TII, is focused on providing engineered bodybuilding solutions to the ‘big boys of the road’, i.e., the trucks and trailers.
TBW has made a name for itself in providing advanced engineering solutions that meet the stringent standards of AIS and ARAI.
Why ‘grey’ rules the roost?
Indian bodybuilding industry has largely remained underdeveloped over decades despite the advancement in technology and modernization of vehicle design concepts, unlike in countries abroad. But change is coming.
Vijayakumar says: “This is an attractive industry to be in. Even though the profitability may be low, there is consistency in cash flow. When you look at the entire value chain of funding norms for a commercial vehicle, you are able to leverage every possible opportunity except for the bodybuilding part of it. NBFC does not fund bodybuilding activity because it is about 12% of the entire value of the product and is about 25% in bulkers or trailers. We found that the underwriting is not being done because it is an unorganized segment and that is why TBW came into being.”
Bringing ‘Organized’ into Unorganized
Prior to founding TBW, the officials began exploring a few bodybuilding companies that were not doing well financially. But entering the segment meant working locally yet needing to spread across the country simultaneously.
Vijayakumar explains: “For one, this business is location dependent because most customers prefer the bodies being built locally. Our constraint was that being local meant the volume potential available was limited. Thus, we decided to have 4 plant across India, Chennai in south, Pune in West, Bawal in North & Odisha in East. We started our plant operation in South, West & north this year. In Q4, East will also get started. In addition to this, we are working to have multiple contract manufacturing across India as we grow, this will give pan India reach to TBW with Own & Contract manufacturing setup which will cater to OEMs, Large fleet Operators and Retail fleet Operators.
Engineering Capabilities
TBW brought in many capabilities and developed products by an experienced Product development team and using the central technology and resources at the TII
He expands on its capabilities: “TII has been in the industry for 70 odd years, and we possess multiple strengths. For example, our sister concern, Tube Products of India, is one of the largest precision tube manufacturers around the world. We have the capability to manipulate 60-70 grades of steel and each of those grades have been manipulated in multiple different ways, and into multiple different product lines. Even though the basic product is a tube, it has multiple dimensions and skews to it. Every weakness, dimension and every grade matter. And each tube is used for a different purpose. Having been servicing the commercial vehicle segment for long, we understand all the dynamics that go into designing a structure that is suited for the Indian road conditions.”
TBW is adept at offering advanced automotive tubular construction for greater structural rigidity, modular design that enables interchangeability of the ‘horse’ with ease, and special e-commerce related modifications based on customer needs.
Product Portfolio
TBW has a range of products on offer for varied usages – be it for open haulage of cargo like cement, coal, sand, steel coils among others, closed haulage for auto components, FMCG, vehicle carriers and tippers. According to Vijayakumar, certain products have already received AIS compliance certifications while the process is on for others.
Vijayakumar elaborates: “We decided to start off with a load body and soon, we are launching all kinds of trailers, tankers and those for special applications. We understand that this would require capacity enhancements. So, we will be increasing the capacities of existing plants or looking at new facilities as the product range increases and as the demand goes up. We are working on AIS 113 approval for trailers. We already developed our Prototype of Flatbed, Sidewall and Tipping trailer which is under Road trials with our customers.”
He shares: “We are doing cost benefit analysis to get to the certifications. We feel that the Indian market has not yet implemented the relevant regulations effectively. But we assure that our designs are fully compliant. We will definitely go for all the certifications as an upsell process.”
Advantage TBW
The key differentiator of TBW is their ability to understand the customer requirements and to work around their pain points. TBW recognizes and eliminates this by redesigning and re-evaluating every design.
He continues: “If a customer has a specific application in mind, we design the product to match it. If a truck / trailer carrying coal with return load of steel coils or bulks, we get into the depths of detail to understand the application parameters and take care of them in the most optimum way possible.”
With e-commerce business in the talks, TBW is looking at designing specific type of containers as per the customer’s requirements.
Vijayakumar explains: “We are designing a Tanktainer (Container frame with tank / Bulker in) which can easily be mounted from one truck onto another. And that container can be put into any other modes of transport including railways and even the proposed waterways when they open.”
Customization is the key here. Designs that are tailor-made which provide continuous efficiency to truck fleet operators has been possible only because of engineering. The knowledge of working with tubes, high strength steel sections and Alloy steel are the USP of TBW.
He agrees: “Conversion of solids to tubes plays a huge role in automobile weight reduction. Many applications are converted to tubular structures. This was pioneered by Tube Products of India (TPI), one of the parent companies of ours. The L and C channels in the trucks add to weight of the vehicle but when they are converted into tubular structures we save on the weight of the body. Besides, the torsional stability is improved. So, intense engineering has gone into these changes. We also offer high strength steel and Alloy steel to offer light weight solutions”
The woes endured by the fleet operators due to badly executed jobs by the unorganized bodybuilders is thus eliminated by TBW as much as possible.
Reach & Network
TBW delivered about 500 units till now. They have 4 Zonal offices at present and plans are afoot to expand ‘hopefully’ by next financial year.
Vijayakumar shares the details: “We received the approval from the board early this year to set up manufacturing facilities. We started our plant operations in Pune, Bawal and Chennai. East will be start before end of this year. We have 4 exclusive contract manufacturing setup vendors across India. Going forward, we have plans to add about 6 more exclusive vendors this year.”
He is confident that the exclusive vendors see potential in working with TI because they have realised that the reach that TBW commands has customers seeking them out, which translates into reduced efforts on the vendors’ part in bringing in orders.
He says: “We control the design, and the manufacturing process. And our executives are deployed in their plants to ensure that the products are made as per our design and our standards. And that helps them reduced production supervisory costs too. The element of trust, reliability and transparency in the operations becomes obvious to our customers”
TBW is in discussions with a couple of OEMs to partner them on the retail front for all the product categories across India.
Road Ahead
With a strong team of about 40 and adding, TBW has a 5-year plan in place.
Vijayakumar shares: “In the mid-term we are looking to close at about Rs. 500 crore turnover. In the near future, we will look at other relevant products either going up or down the value chain expanding both ways. Though this year till now has been quite turbulent, we still were working to establish our facility and build good relationship with the OEMs and large fleet operators”
With capacity being built up to about 400 units a month using all 4 of their plants in this year, TBW encashes its niche as a one-stop-solution to bring in a big difference in the way large fleet operators are serviced.