Tata Motors, which is currently seeing robust demand for its passenger vehicles and has notched near-50 percent YoY in the first quarter of FY2019, has announced production ramp-up plans for its Sanand, Gujarat plant in FY2019.

Operating at 100 percent capacity utilisation, the Sanand plant, which has a manufacturing capacity of 154,000 units per annum, has thus far rolled out over 460,000 units since inception in June 2010. The company is currently mapping out its modular architecture plans and will distribute its passenger vehicle manufacturing between the Pune and Sanand facilities to meet its product expansion plans.  

Speaking at the Sanand plant today, Mayank Pareek, president, Passenger Vehicle Business, Tata Motors, said: “We at Tata Motors have been working aggressively towards our core strategy of Turnaround 2.0, aiming to ‘Win sustainably in PVs’. A lean manufacturing process plays a key role in our growth strategy, enabling the Sanand plant to contribute around 60 percent of the overall PV production. The plant has evolved to become a modern, state-of-the-art facility and is playing a vital role, meeting aspirations of Tiago and Tigor customers. The plant has already achieved WCQ 3 level in quality standards and we are extremely proud of this achievement.”

According to Pareek, Tata Motors which currently has a 6.8 percent PV market share, has been “outgrowing the passenger vehicle market for 30 months consecutively. Our product portfolio covers 70 percent of the PV market now; the target is to cover 90 percent by 2020.”

Spread across 1,100 acres, the Sanand plant has helped develop the automotive industry in the state of Gujarat. From a single-model (Nano) plant in 2010, it has today emerged as a multi-model facility and one of the most technologically advanced plants in the country.

With a flexible assembly line, the plant today manufactures the Nano, Tiago hatchback and Tigor sedan in 21 variants with 150 vehicle combinations. It also produces engines like the Revotron 1.2L Petrol (manual and automatic transmission), Revotorq 1.05L Diesel, 624cc MPFI petrol (manual and AT) and 1.2 NGTC petrol (manual and AT).

On December 6, 2017, the  Sanand plant began rolling out the first electric passenger vehicle for commercial use in the form of the Tigor EV and continues to support deliveries of the EESL order. Additionally, the plant is gearing up for more in the future.

The Sanand plant, which is Tata Motors’ youngest facility, leverages technology, over 190 robots and high levels of automation to increase productivity across processes. In the past two years, the number of staffers has increased by 80 percent to around 4,500. At present, the plant employs nearly 100 percent white-collar staff from Gujarat against the mandated requirement of 85 percent.

Eco-friendly plant
In June 2018, the Sanand plant, which is a zero discharge plant and has a systematic hazardous waste disposal process, was awarded CII’s GreenCo Platinum Certification. The plant uses  30 percent of renewable energy from total power consumption. The plant has commissioned 2MW of rooftop solar panels and off-site wind power mills with a 9MW capacity. The plant has a 180-acre green belt along with several other initiatives aimed at reducing the carbon footprint. With a focus on climate change, the Sanand plant has achieved 1,300-tCO2e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) reduction in carbon emission on an average per month in FY2018.