The Manesar-based UNO Minda, N K Minda Group has embarked on an aggressive growth strategy. Barely a fortnight after it had announced a joint venture with Nabtesco Automotive Corporation of Japan, it has now tied up with AMS Co of Korea.
On December 26, UNO Minda, NK Minda Group and AMS Co, the Korean market leader for lighting systems, entered into a Technical License Agreement (TLA). The pact was signed between Minda Industries Ltd’s Lighting Division and AMS Co by Sang-Man Park, president, AMS and N S Warrier, CEO, MIL Lighting Division.
AMS Co, which was set up in 1995, manufactures and supplies automotive lamps to OEMs. It makes headlamps, tail-lamps, foglamps, high mount stop lamps (HMSL), and all exterior lamp parts.
The TLA has been signed for the design, manufacture and sale of highly engineered automotive lamps. With this agreement, AMS would provide technical support for design and development of headlamps, tail-lamps, and foglamps, both with conventional light sources as well as new technologies such as LED light sources, for four-wheeler OEMs in India and Indonesia.
Commenting on the association, S M Park said, “We were impressed with the professional capabilities and expanse of the UNO Minda Group. Their infrastructure and zeal to provide better value to OEMs is par excellence. India is a growing market for us and we are pleased to partner with UNO Minda to bring best practices to Indian OEMs and to explore and expand the markets within Asia.”
N K Minda, CMD, UNO Minda, said: “Though a young company, AMS has exceptional in-house technologies. The expertise its engineers have gained in designing and manufacture of lamps for some of the major OEMs in Korea is outstanding. AMS also has footprints in China, Uzbekistan, North America and South America. The company is renowned for its technical excellence, exhaustive product expertise and extensive experience. With this partnership, we are strategically venturing into a new product line, in keeping with our diversification and consolidation approach to the Indian market.”
Targeting speedy growth
For UNO Minda, NK Minda Group, which is a leading supplier of proprietary automotive solutions to OEMs as Tier 1, this agreement will give it a new fillip particularly in the fast-growing Indonesian market.
The Group is a global player with manufacturing facilities in Indonesia and Vietnam and offices in Japan, Europe and China. It has 31 manufacturing plants in India and has JVs and technical agreements with renowned manufacturers in Italy, India and Japan.
On December 6, the Group had announced a JV with Nabtesco Automotive Corporation, which manufactures air brake components for design, manufacture and sale of air brake products for commercial vehicles and clutch actuation systems for passenger vehicles.