Oerlikon Drive Systems goes to Sanand for its third plant in India

September 16, 2013: As first revealed by Autocar Professional in its June 1, 2013 ‘Gujarat Special’ issue, Oerlikon’s Drive Systems Segment is setting up its third plant in India in the automobile hub of Sanand in Gujarat.

The high-tech industrial group segment with its two brands -- Oerlikon Graziano and Oerlikon Fairfield -- laid the foundation stone on September 14 for the third plant. “This marks an important milestone for the further development of Drive Systems in India. With the new capacities, we will not only continue our growth in India but upgrade our capabilities to more high-tech driven products,” said Heriberto Diarte, CEO of the Drive Systems Segment.

Oerlikon Drive Systems says the new plant will enable it to make high-tech products and solutions at competitive costs by leveraging India’s strengths as a ‘best-cost labour market’ and with many of its existing and potential customers being in Gujarat. While the Oerlikon Graziano plant in Noida specialises in manufacturing high-performance gears and synchronisers, and Oerlikon Fairfield in Belgaum assembles drive units for industrial applications, the Gujarat plant will produce a range of products including transmission synchronizers, for which India is already recognized as an international competence center, to assemblies for full and final transmissions for high-end trucks, off-road applications and passenger cars.

India to play key role in global strategy

Oerlikon Drive Systems has been present in India since 1999, with production sites of both its brands Oerlikon Graziano and Oerlikon Fairfield at Greater Noida and Belgaum respectively. Earlier this year, New Delhi was chosen as the home location for the global CEO of Segment Drive Systems.

With the region acquiring increasing significance for Oerlikon, both as a market and a manufacturing base, this new investment will further boost the company’s ambition to be a trusted partner for OEMs in emerging markets as it already is in the developed markets. “Although the Indian economy is currently in a difficult situation, we see further demand and growth potential for our business. The Indian operations of Segment Drive Systems will likely contribute about 20 percent of its global turnover and employ half of its total workforce once the plant is fully operational,” said segment CEO Diarte.

"This marks an important milestone for the Group’s further development in India and is a clear signal that we continue to execute the Group’s growth strategy in which regional expansion in plays an important role,” said Oerlikon Group CEO Jürg Fedier.

In the past years, the segment has continuously increased its business in market share in India. Currently, it earns 60 percent of revenue from the domestic market and 40 percent from exports, covering the agricultural, construction equipment, commercial and utility vehicle markets as well as industrial applications. The new plant will be spread across 30 acres, create almost 1,000 new jobs, and will be a showcase for Oerlikon’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

“Our endeavour is to make the plant a truly sustainable site. This means more than a third of the site will be green and we will have an energy efficient building, resulting in 30 percent reduction in energy requirements, plus zero discharge of water and 100 percent rain water harvesting and waste water management. Our goal is to attain the coveted ‘IGBC Gold certification’ status in all aspects of sustainability and be a trendsetter among our peers in the region,” says Sunil Sehgal, director, HR and Legal, Oerlikon Drive Systems-India.

Photograph:

L-R: Vivek Prakash, MD, Segment Drive Systems (India Business Unit), Heriberto Diarte,CEO, Segment Drive Systems, Khurshed Thanawalla, Chief Country Representative, Oerlikon Group – India at the press conference in Ahmedabad.