Rane TRW Steering Systems opens new plant at Trichy for airbags and seatbelt assemblies

Rane TRW Steering Systems, a joint venture of the Rane Group with the German ZF Group, has opened a new facility for occupant safety products at Tiruchirapalli (Trichy), Tamil Nadu.

The facility is strategically located in Trichy-Chennai national highway, 40km from Trichy and 300km from Chennai. The new facility will address the expected market demand and add capacity to localise laser cutting of fabrics and airbag cushion manufacturing for captive demand and exports.

The company has invested around Rs 40 crore in the new facility. While initial capacity will be around 0.50 million modules per annum of airbags and 1 million units per annum of seatbelt assemblies, it would be ramped up to 1 million modules per annum of airbags and 2 million units of seatbelt assemblies in the next two years, with an additional investment of around Rs 25-30 crore. These investments are aligned with the goal to bring best-in-class technology to help customers to offer products with enhanced safety, the company says.

Commenting on the new facility,  Harish Lakshman, vice-chairman, Rane Group and managing director, Rane TRW Steering Systems, said, “This new state-of-the-art facility will help us to address increasing demand for occupant safety products and enable us to further localise the airbag cushion manufacturing process. In this milestone of Occupant Safety Division, I would like to thank our customers and partner ZF for their support in this growth journey.”

Pointing out the strategic significance, Dr. Michael Büchsner, executive vice-president, Passive Safety Systems Division, ZF Group added: “The Indian market is increasingly important for ZF Group and particularly for our Passive Safety Systems Division. Our joint activities with Rane are appreciated by local OEMs and support our competitiveness for global customers and platforms. The opening of the joint bag sewing plant in Trichy is the next logical step to further increase our vertical integration and thereby our customer service. That is only possible thanks to the continuous support by our JV partner Rane.”

Adding on the importance for the Indian market Suresh KV, Head of ZF India, said, “Safety is becoming a key driver for tomorrow’s mobility. With this investment both of the joint venture partners firmly support the target to significantly reduce the number of total road fatalities. Bringing key safety technology to the Indian market underlines the growing importance of this region for the automotive world.”