Vibrant plans to tap 4-wheeler arena

The Vibrant group, which makes automotive horns and electrical accessories for two-wheelers, plans to tap the four-wheeler segment. It has kicked off talks with Tata Motors to supply its small yet loud horns for the Rs 1-lakh car. Vibrant's OE business accounted for 50 percent of its Rs 7 crore turnover last fiscal with the balance coming from the aftermarket.

Bajaj Auto, to whom it is a single-source supplier for three-wheelers, takes up 85 percent of its OE business with the balance taken up by Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India and Kinetic Motor. Vibrant was also a single-source supplier to LML until the latter went bust. The group caters to the aftermarket through its Toyo India, Mitutoyo and Toyomite brands. Exports to Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Middle East and Iran account for five percent of its business.

Moiz Habibulla, general manager (marketing), Vibrant Marketing Company, said that the group aims to increase turnover by 20 percent this fiscal with exports doubling over two years. It is also in talks with carmakers in Europe to boost exports even though the focus will be on the overseas aftermarket. Moreover, Vibrant plans to import horns, electrical accessories and relays from China. "We hope to add another range or allied products to our portfolio," Habibulla said.

The Vibrant group consists of four companies: Vibrant Auto Components, Vibrant Industries, Toyomite Industries and Vibrant Marketing Company. It has seven units in Mumbai with a production capacity of 150,000 horns a month. The group has 75 vendors who perform different sub-assembly operations like moulding, pressed components, rubber moulding, Traub items and so on. However, the final assembly, testing and packaging of the horns comes back to Vibrant.

HS Chavan, production manager, Vibrant Industries, explained the group purchases all the critical raw materials and components and provides it to the vendors. More than 30 components make up a single horn. Vibrant tests every sub-assembly operation before passing it on for the next.

"We have a control plan where there is a checklist for each and every component. It comes to us for final assembly where we do bracket assembly as per the models along with testing, packaging and dispatch," he said. Normally, a horn is tested in terms of its lifecycle where one cycle is equivalent to putting it on for a second and off for three seconds. Vibrant's customers seek three to five lakh cycles.

"We have been able to work around and match it. Our rejection rate with Bajaj is zero ppm and in the case of HMSI, it is 200 ppm down from 375 ppm. HMSI now want us to come down to 175 ppm," Chavan said.