Auto Window zeroes in on big European order

The Rs 30 crore Auto Window is in talks with a large railway coach manufacturer in Europe. "If we bag this contract, we could end up becoming one of the largest window manufacturers in the world," says Vispi Mehta, chief executive. Samples have already been sent to the potential customer which incidentally has five European countries in its belt and also supplies to the Indian railways.

Auto Window will then begin supplying around 10,000 windows by the end of the year. Between the three major manufacturers in Europe, the requirement is five lakh units a month. Auto Window has targeted 20 percent of this number which translates into one lakh windows. Another major order is expected from a bus body builder of Ashok Leyland and could be to the tune of two lakh windows.

The company is also setting up a Rs 20 lakh window plant in Goa specifically for Automobile Corporation of Goa (ACGL), its biggest customer. It will be commissioned by the end of this year and will meet the needs of 450 Tata buses each month. At present, Auto Window has four facilities in Mumbai, Nashik, Daman and Pune. The Mumbai plant has seven units of which one is dedicated to the Pune plant of Tata Motors. The Nashik plant makes 15,000 windows a month for Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors' Lucknow division that makes 1,000 to 1,500 buses. The third facility in Daman makes cold roll profiles for M&M and Maruti. Auto Window meets the needs of the Maruti 800 and Omni and is in talks to include the new WagonR and the soon-to-be-launched new Zen. Pune is a bus body building plant.

Mumbai accounts for a little over half of the total business, followed by Nashik, Daman and then Pune. Exports are about 10 percent of turnover but Mehta is quick to add that there is a considerable outflow to other countries through customers like ACGL. Europe is the biggest market with parts of Africa like Kenya and Tanzania taking a share. "Our direct exports go to Kenya, Tanzania and the United Kingdom. Otherwise, we have a presence in over 33 countries through Tata Motors," he says.

Auto Window will showcase its new windows at an exhibition in Birmingham later this year. These are being developed now and will be ready by early October. It has also developed new windows for ACGL buses exported to the Middle East. "The first lot of 50 buses has gone to Dubai and 250 more will head out to Kuwait in the middle of this month. We will then bring these windows to India," says Mehta.