The Volvo Group and Eicher have been working for more than five years now to develop new solutions for India. In the Indian CV industry, fuel-efficiency is a major cost driver, and in this area, the Volvo Group's technology and Eicher's competence in frugal engineering have been very complementary," he explains.
Divry believes the joint venture has created a strong foundation in the last five years for future growth and success by modernising our product range, the manufacturing footprint, and the ways of working throughout the company. "And as Vinod mentioned, our financials are very robust; we are a debt free company."
According to Divry, the mammoth product development initiative for the Pro series range involved an investment of three million hours of engineering effort, 7.7 million km of testing and 50,000 hours of engine development. "The new range will deliver higher profitability over vehicle's lifecycle, leading to real productivity improvements through best-in-class fuel efficiency, good driver comfort, better drivability and higher up-time," he says. The Eicher Pro series range has undergone very stringent and gruelling test protocols to ensure superior up-time.
Extensive testing has been done not only in the labs and on the Volvo Group's torture track, but also with some of its customers in real world conditions. "Indeed, the last five and half years have been a great success story in terms of joint ventures," adds Aggarwal. "As a result, the entire new range is a result of synergistic work between the two entities."
Aggarwal says that the VECV has incorporated a lot of Volvo technology as well as Volvo processes. "Whether it is the cabin, the engine or the use of technology in terms of EMS and telematics, we are bringing the best of European trucking standards to India. The modern plant in Pithampur has access to top line manufacturing processes, which includes cab weld shop with robotic welding, CED paint shop, integrated testing facilities, 100 percent hot test facility for engines, and a lean and scalable manufacturing set up."
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Commemorating successful completion of five years of partnership between Volvo Group and Eicher Motors in July 2013, VECV started commercial production at its technologically advanced engine manufacturing plant in India. The plant has also been set up at Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh, India with an initial capacity of 25,000 units per annum in Phase 1 at an investment of Rs375 crore. The capacity will increase step by step to 100,000 units per annum as per the market requirements with an additional investment of around Rs125 crore. According to Aggarwal, VECV has substantially enhanced its engineering design capabilities as well with a strong focus on R&D. "We are designing all our engines at Pithampur," he says. The engine facility will be a global hub for meeting the medium-duty automotive engine requirements of Volvo Group globally for five- and eight-litre engines. The Euro 6-compliant diesel base engines will be supplied to Volvo Group plant in Venissieux, France where these engines will be assembled for the Volvo Group Euro 6 requirements. The same platform will be adapted to Euro 3 and 4 engine (BS3/BS4) technologies to meet the Eicher requirements in the new Pro range and other Volvo Group requirements for this type of engines in Asia. |
The engine plant
