May 15, 2013: Bosch Electrical Drives India, a division of Bosch Group India, today inaugurated its new manufacturing facility in Oragadam, near Chennai. The plant will design, develop and manufacture window lift drives, engine cooling modules, blower modules, wiper linkages, wiper arms and blades. Since 2008, the company had a leased manufacturing facility near the city, essentially to cater to Hyundai Motor India. More orders were garnered over time, which warranted a whole new facility.



At present, the Rs 35 crore facility has a manufacturing capacity of 1.5 million window lift drives, 500,000 wiper assemblies and 200,000 HVAC modules. By 2015, capacity will be ramped up to produce 2.2 million window lift drives, 700,000 wiper assemblies and 500,000 HVAC modules.

With 30 percent localisation at the factory level, the facility will mainly act as an assembly line and will not undertake any fabrication. With a built-up area of around 9,000 square meters and a total area of around 40,000 square meters right in the heart of Oragadam, the company is well poised to expand further to meet future demands.

Bosch Electrical Drives India began operations in 2008 making wiper assemblies for the Hyundai i10. A year later, it began supplies to Ford India and since then has been catering to major OEMs like Mahindra & Mahindra, Volkswagen India, General Motors India and Maruti Suzuki India. The company also supplies to some Tier 1 suppliers like Visteon and Valeo.

Dr Steffen Berns, president, Bosch Group India, said, “This move to set up our own plant in Tamil Nadu further underlines our commitment to the Indian automotive market. From the new plant, we will support all Indian automotive customers with our innovative products from electrical drives.” The plant was officially inaugurated by Manfred Baden, executive vice president (sales), Bosch Electrical Drives; chairman, Bosch Electrical Drives India, at an event presided over by chief guest Seung Hyun Hur, executive director, Procurement Division, Hyundai Motor India, and Dr Steffen Berns, president, Bosch Group India; managing director, Bosch Ltd. The event was also attended by Soumitra Bhattacharya, joint managing director, Bosch Ltd, and Subramanya Ullal, managing director, Bosch Electrical Drives India. Till date, Bosch Electrical Drives India has sold over 10 million components to various international carmakers like Hyundai, Ford, General Motors, Mahindra, Renault, Nissan and Volkswagen. With the new facility, Bosch Electrical Drives will increase its present strength of 265 associates by 350 in the next three years.

KARTHIK H

Photograph (L-R): Soumitra Bhattacharya, joint MD, Bosch Ltd; Manfred Baden, EVP (sales), Bosch Electrical Drives; chairman, Bosch Electrical Drives India, and Subramanya Ullal, MD, Bosch Electrical Drives India, at the Oragadam plant inauguration.