PUNE: ZF, which has been doing business in India for roughly three decades, has now established an assembly plant in the industrial center of Pune, planning to produce an annual 25,000 heavy truck transmissions in the medium term. At production start, ZF employs roughly 80 employees in the truck transmission assembly plant; after production ramp-up, this figure will increase to approx. 150 in the next five years.
"In the medium term, our new transmission plant will produce approx. 25,000 ZF-Ecomid 9-speed transmissions annually for heavy trucks up to more than 40 tons weight", explains Mandeep Bhalla, head of ZF's commercial vehicle business in India. "Depending on the demand, we can produce other truck transmission types for our current customers Asia Motor Works, Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Mahindra Navistar, Volvo-Eicher, and Kamaz Vectra Motors as well as new customers."
"This location means that we are represented right at the center of the booming region of India, participating in the rapid growth of the aspiring country", explains ZF CEO Hans-Georg Härter.
"The comparative figures illustrate the potential that we see in setting up and expanding an efficient traffic infrastructure in India" says Rolf Lutz, Group Executive of the Commercial Vehicle and Special Driveline Technology division. "We want to make use of this opportunity with our new truck transmission plant."
"Unlike our competitors we can offer the entire product range for commercial vehicle transmissions: Manual transmissions, automated transmissions, and automatic transmissions", explains Rolf Lutz. "We can supply anything that is demanded by the market – right up to hybrid modules for all ZF transmissions. In doing so, we adapt the existing ZF technology to suit the requirements of the local markets", says Mr. Lutz.
"Transmission housings, gears, and shafts are already being produced in India; in the medium term, a localization level of 80 to 85 percent is planned", says Mandeep Bhalla. "And this is where an excellent supplier base, established during our long-standing commitment in India, will be very helpful".
It is to be mentioned that ZF is a leading worldwide automotive supplier for Driveline and Chassis Technology with 123 production companies in 27 countries. In 2010, the Group will achieve a sales figure of roughly EUR 12 billion with approximately 63,000 employees. ZF is among the top 10 companies on the ranking list of the largest automotive suppliers worldwide.