Sundaram-Clayton Ltd (SCL), a member of the TVS Group, yesterday inaugurated its new foundry at Oragadam, near Chennai, in Tamil Nadu. The new facility was inaugurated by Young Key Koo, MD and CEO of Hyundai Motor India.

The Oragadam plant has been set up with an investment of over Rs 150 crore. This major capacity expansion aims to meet the rapidly growing demand for its products from the automotive industry and will primarily serve Hyundai Motor India. With a capacity of 8,000 tonnes, the plant will produce machined castings ranging from 1.9 kg to 7.2 kg.

As a leading manufacturer of machined aluminium castings, SCL produces more than 50,000 tonnes of castings annually for the passenger car, commercial vehicle and two-wheeler segments, supplying to key customers like Hyundai Motor Company, Cummins, Volvo, Daimler, PACCAR, BMW, Honda, Ford, Hanon, Wabco, ZF and TVS Motor Company.

SCL is known for its industry leading quality practices and its best practices in manufacturing, driven by Total Quality Management (TQM), Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and lean manufacturing.

“At SCL we are committed to work as closely with the customer as possible,’’ said Dr. Lakshmi Venu, the joint managing director of SCL. “This facility reinforces our drive to serve our customers by cutting down supply times because of the proximity to their factories and gives us a competitive edge. This is a critical advantage given the lean inventory management of our customers who want the supply chain to be agile.”

SCL says it is confident that the Indian automotive market will continue to see robust growth. With fuel-efficiency improvements being important to the Indian market, aluminium components will play a key role in supporting OEMs to meet their consumers’ expectations. This capacity expansion is a part of SCL’s strategy to partner in the lightweighting of their customers’ vehicles, both with R&D capability and a responsive supply chain.

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