Continental's Gurgaon plant recently reached a production landmark of ten million Electronic Brake Systems (EBS) and hundred million Wheel Speed Sensors (WSS). The EBS portfolio comprises Electronic Stability Control (ESC) for passenger cars and Anti-lock Brake Systems (ABS) for passenger cars and two wheelers. The signals from the WSS are required for control systems like ABS and ESC.
1.3 million plus people die in road accidents worldwide every day with 50 million being injured. According to a Ministry of Road Transport and Highways report in 2023, In India, 53 accidents and 19 deaths occur every hour, or an average of 1,264 accidents and 42 deaths daily due to road crashes. ABS technology was made mandatory in 2019 followed by a proposal for ESC in 2022 by the government for road safety.
Sukhdeep Sandhu, Head of Safety and Motion, Continental Automotive India, emphasised on the company's expertise in active and passive safety systems. Additionally, he highlighted the localisation of production and R&D by Continental.
The company has been pursuing a long-term strategy towards ‘Vision Zero' which aims to achieve a world without road fatalities, injuries and crashes. With the setup of assembly lines at Gurugram for ABS and ESC for two wheelers and passenger cars in 2016, the company began steps to localise safety components.
"We are proud to achieve this milestone and continue to focus on localization. As a Tier 1 supplier, we follow global manufacturing standards and have adopted several advanced technologies to create a digital shopfloor" said, Anudeep Garg, Head of the Gurgaon plant, Continental Automotive India.
He further added, "Additionally, industry 4.0 technologies enable us to not only maintain product quality and enhance efficiency but also to effectively streamline our supply chain. We aim to increase the manufacturing capacity of EBS and WSS in double-digit percentages in the next three years for both passenger vehicles as well 2- wheelers."
The company entered in a joint venture with Japanese firm Nisshinbo Holdings in 2022, to localise machining for valve blocks for Electronic Brake Systems (EBS) in India.