Kavia Engineering bags Toyota awards

Bangalore-based Kavia Engineering has bagged four awards — for maintaining zero ppm, quality, cost reduction and towards growing ISO 14001 — from Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts (TKAP). The company is now negotiating with Rane Madras (Chennai) and a TVS Group company for supply of cold forged components. Commercial production for both clients is to commence from the second quarter of this fiscal, says Vivek Gupta, executive director. Kavia is already a single-source supplier to TKAP, Rane Madras (both Mysore and Pondicherry), Kirloskar Toyoda Textile Machinery, Harita Seating Systems, Motherson Sumi and Ashok Leyland.

Kavia posted sales of Rs 4 crore in 2005-06 and expects to cross Rs 6 crore this fiscal. Set up in 1999, the company which is certified for ISO 9001, TS 16949 and ISO 14001, began manufacturing sheet metal components and cold forge items, later turning single source supplier to TKAP for rear axle tubes. It is working on plans to set up a new facility at Jigni, 30km from Bangalore, sometime in mid-2007. At present Kavia makes around seven million components per year including about a million cold forged items covering 70 sheet metal parts and about 10 cold forged parts.

The last fiscal saw Kavia develop 34 new components in both sheet metal and cold forged items. It now plans to design, tool up and manufacture about 50 new components every year. The zero ppm award from TKAP is thanks to a very stable manufacturing process. In addition to extensive application of poke yokes, the shopfloor is equipped with sketches and visual indicators to assist operators, who are multi-skilled and trained to operate a variety of machines. “Toyota extended its help and support for us to enhance our quality levels,” says Gupta.

Kaizen plays a vital role at Kavia, which has divided it into 21 categories including safety, cost, energy, environment and production. It has also completely eliminated the use of mineral oil for machines and substituted it with edible oil.