Bosch kicks off injector production at Nashik

Bosch is well on track to equip Indian vehicles with common-rail diesel systems. The company, which has set aside Rs 1,800 crore between 2005 and 2008 for India, kicked off the production of complete common-rail diesel injectors from its Nashik facility recently. This unit has already been making armature group and valve group & body components (which go into a CRD injector) since 2006. In fact, Bosch has made 15 million units of different parts and exported them to Bosch Korea over the last one and a half years.

Starting next year, Bosch will also start manufacturing the other key CR components forming the magnet group and nozzle at Nashik. These are now being imported from markets like Germany, France, Switzerland and Turkey. Company officials told Autocar Professional in mid-April that the next step would be to localise the common-rail and its electronic control unit. The idea is to eventually make the entire CRD system in India.

FUTURE INVESTMENTS

“Looking at future investments, we need to take a call on localising the common-rail as well as the electronic control unit. We have not yet taken the decision on these two. Based on the volumes and viability of these projects, this is the next step of our investments, and which has not been included in what we have talked about,” joint managing director, Motor Industry Co (MICO), M Lakshminarayan told this correspondent in an earlier interview.

The start of CRD injector manufacturing at Nashik follows the rollout of CRD pumps from its Bangalore plant last year. Nearly Rs 550 crore has gone towards manufacturing common-rail systems in India. A bulk of this, to the tune of Rs 400-420 crore, has gone into Nashik while another Rs 100 crore has been pumped into Bangalore. The balance has been invested towards R&D equipment and machinery at both Nashik and Bangalore.

Last year, Bosch sold 40,000 CR systems and expects this to go up to 1.3 million by 2010. The 100-acre large Nashik facility will roll out 100,000 injectors in 2007, which will be scaled up to 3.5 million by 2010. This also means that Bosch has factored in its export volumes by this time. “The potential for the growth of diesel technology is huge and Bosch is committed to play a significant role in the growth of this technology through its pioneering innovations,” managing director, MICO, Albert Hieronimus told reporters in Nashik.

AMMAR MASTER