HUSCO opens new plant

HUSCO International has announced the commencement of operations at its new R&D and manufacturing facility near Pune. The company, one of the world's largest producers of hydraulic and electrohydraulic controls for automotive, construction, material handling, and agricultural equipment, will supply to these segments in India too.
HUSCO Hydraulics Pvt Ltd, the wholly-owned India subsidiary set up in 2006, started commercial production in June. It will initially supply control valves for backhoe loaders to JCB's Ballabgarh plant. The first phase of development on the 21-acre campus at the Talegaon Industrial Park covers 7,000sq.m. including 2,000 sq.m. of office and R&D space and 5,000 sq.m. dedicated to manufacturing and product testing.
It is also building up a world-class R&D facility that already supports HUSCO engineering needs worldwide. Thirty engineers-strong at present, it will grow to 100 by 2010. HUSCO plans to have an employee base of 70 associates by the end of 2007 and 300 by the end of 2010.
The company has invested $10 million in this first phase, and will put in an equal amount for two more phases that will be completed by 2012, says general manager Vikram Sharma.
The plant has a capacity to assemble control valves for up to 200 machines per day and will ramp up to 500 per day by mid-2008. It uses the latest manufacturing concepts including cellular manufacturing, lean manufacturing and the use of Six Sigma for process improvement and cost-reduction. HUSCO International chairman and CEO Agustin Ramirez Jr said that over the next five years it will turn out products not made elsewhere.
HUSCO International is also stepping up component sourcing from India, expecting to touch $10 million, to meet demand at its US and UK plants. By January 2008, it expects to start sourcing sub-assemblies like relief valves. "We expect to source the bulk of our relief valves from either China or India in the next two years. Sourcing from either of these countries will help us save $2 million," Ramirez said.
The $250 million company's customers include Caterpillar, JCB, John Deere, Volvo, Hitachi, CNH, NACCO, and Tata (Telcon) for construction equipment; John Deere, CNH, McCormick, AGCO, and Uzel for agricultural tractors, and Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Volvo, INA, Chrysler, and Cummins in the automotive segment.