Prevailing wide spread spectrum
Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd (SBPFL) is a renowned precision-forged gear manufacturer present across three locations globally with a total of seven manufacturing plants - three in India, three in Germany and one in Hungary. "The three Indian manufacturing facilities are located in Gurgaon (two) and Pune (one). In Germany, the three facilities are located in Remscheid, Duisburg and München. We recently expanded our Hungary manufacturing facility, which is essentially a machining and heat-treatment operation. Currently, we are engaged in machining at this plant, but in future, we will move to heat treatment operations too. We established our Hungary facility solely for this operation, as earlier we were forced to outsource machining operations and now we have brought this in-house to Hungary, which is a low-cost country," informed Kapur.
Sona BLW has automated machining and forging lines and employs 2,300 people worldwide. "The Company and its German and Hungarian subsidiaries manufacture nearnet-shaped gears (bevel gears), precision-forged speed gears, synchroniser rings, E-axles and differential assemblies for automotive and other applications. We are renowned for our patented warm forging German technology and manufacturing high-precision forging components for cars, trucks, agricultural applications and construction-equipment makers. We currently have around 12 percent market share in the precision-forged gear business worldwide and supply to key global customers, including major OEMs such as Daimler, Volkswagen Group, Renault, MAN, Scania, BMW, and Caterpillar, among others," he added.
The Indian arm of Sona BLW also supplies to OEMs in the passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles and tractor segments like Maruti Suzuki, Tata, Mahindra & Mahindra, TAFE, Escorts, Volvo Eicher, ITL and Bharat Benz. "The Indian company also has significant exports to leading global automotive players such as John Deere, American Axle, Linamar, CNH, Carraro and DANA. Globally, it is known for high-quality standards, design innovation and high customer satisfaction," Kapur continued.
With these strengths, how has been the year for the company? "The group registered 34 percent growth during FY2016-17. The last year has been exciting as we chartered the new path of growth for the coming decade. The decisions taken last year have turned us into a very fast-moving agile company. Much of this growth comes from our exports to the United States and the upswing in the commercial vehicle market. The axle count has also begun increasing in the commercial vehicle platform due to the kind of vehicles that are being manufactured. This has definitely given us an uptake in the year gone by,"Kapur informed.
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