The Indian automotive components industry has seen exponential growth in the last few decades. India has become a favourable destination for investment as it has enabled rapid development in infrastructure, rapid growth in lifestyle, strengthening of local markets and most importantly ease in operations due to streamlining of government policies. According to independent research, the automotive industry pertaining to India is looking for bagging and tagging the US $100 billion worth of turnover by 2020. The reason being, it is supported with hefty exports varying from the US $80-100 billion by 2026. There are a lot of companies capitalizing on this opportunity and has initiated various operational activities prioritizing gains.
Rest is History
A company that is more than 60 years old in this industrial race and still making wonders across the nation and the globe is Stumpp, Schuele & Somappa Springs Pvt Ltd. The story goes back to the beginning of 1960, the organization was established by the MG Brothers Group. Padmashri Somappa’s vision on automotive expansion in India was coming to fruition as he wanted to be part of this growth story through manufacturing particularly engineering products. The company which aided this vision was none other than MICO (Bosch) India, who at that time was a major Springs importer. Bosch needed a local spring producer and therefore, SSS came into existence in association with M/s Stump & Schuele, Germany. With a single plant location in Yr1961, the company’s operations went up to 13 plants in India along with one in the USA and becoming an organization worth Rs. 600 crores in Spring Business. “We cater to Tier – 1 and Tier – 2 part makers of all Automotive OEMs in India and our clientele exceeds over 200 members!” exclaims the SSS team. “We produce 8000 part nos along with handling 24,000 MT of steel per year in our organization,” the team adds. The company’s products are globally accepted and exported to most matured customers in American and European markets. “We enjoy global connect for Technology, Products, Markets & Services” and this has surmounted to a tactical advantage for the SSS. The company has a state of the art Research & Development department from the last ten years and is leading in innovative material and product design along with overall development. “Our R&D is recognized by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research,” the team proclaims. “The company prides in providing solutions to the clients as per their engineering requirements rather than just products,” shares the team. The prominent portfolio of the clientele from the company includes big names like Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, Tata Motors, Hyundai, Daimler, Volkswagen, General Motors, Ford, Fiat, Ashok Leyland, Cummins, Schaeffler, and Bosch, etc.
Out of the 1500 employees, the company is currently having more than 100 engineers with an average age of 38; making it one of the youngest team in Auto-components industry. The one who is spearheading the firm’s operations is Satish Machani – Managing Director, SSS. He has led the company for the past fifteen years and has enabled its evergrowing status across the world. One of the guiding principles of the firm that contributed to its expanding reach amongst all the Indian automakers is Ramesh Machani – Chairman Emeritus, SSS.
Back to the Future
Automotive Industry today is facing a very new challenge, the adoption of Electric Vehicle from the on-going IC engine-driven vehicles. It is an issue and equally an opportunity to grow and develop as the technological advancements catch up with the industry. Disruptions are often great for taking new leaps. “I believe our company is poised for the leap,” says Satish. “New systems bring in new parts requirements and our company is working with various OEMs to develop and introduce new products in the market,” Satish tells. The Indian story remains strong as vehicle penetration remains very low. There may be disagreement with experts on how much time it may take, but no one can Dispute the fact that the market can grow to 5 times the prevailing size.
MAKE in INDIA initiative launched in 2014 by the government, has really assisted the core segments in localizing key raw materials like grade steel which has a large application and consumption in the industry. “In our organization, we invested INR 300 million to carry out a special process on steel, which we were importing until March 2019.” This has significantly saved the precious dollars for the country and also opened the opportunity of export, for the company.
Satish Mentions, “To be successful in Indian Automotive Space, the key ingredients remains being Frugal, Commitment to highest Quality and delivering parts to it’s committed purpose. With this background, Make In India, opened avenues for SSS to look at Defence space, where again our country is Import Dependent. SSS is happy to share that we are the early organisation to be awarded the Licence to produce Small Arms & Ammunition for the country. Due Investments will take place in the coming months for setting up this Unit. Again this initiative opens up the opportunity to become global player”
Manufacturers of the Indian automotive sector have done exceedingly well in the international marketplace. Segments like forgings, castings and machined parts have made their existence known across various countries.
Also, technology adoption in manufacturing has surmounted to eliminating waste, improving output time, ease of adjustment to dynamics of the market, Supply Chain’s seamless communication process and so on. The organization believes in adopting appropriate technological advancements from time to time for measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of the system, in order to remain the domain leader. “As far as technology adoption goes, we are proud to say that we were one of the few early organizations to adopt ERP in SAP way back in 1998,” claims Satish.
No Time Like the Present
SSS produces almost all variants of spring products, which have a wide range of applications from the headlamp to taillamp in any automotive vehicle or related product. The major application of the springs made by the company can be found in a vehicle’s engine, Brakes, Suspension, Seats, Clutch, Transmission & Vehicle Stability along with many others. The USP of the company is that it is one of the few firms, that can facilitate designing, developing and validating developed parts globally. “This helps our customers to find solutions with an appropriate value under one roof with hassle-free efforts,” informs Satish. As per the experience of the company, the major challenges encountered in the Auto-component manufacturing business are listed below:
- Lack of proper Infrastructures like power and proper roads.
- Dynamic environmental regulations and adapting to them.
- Balancing outputs and maintenance for determining the profits of the organization.
- Various taxes and compliances.
The strength that differentiates SSS from its competitors, is its belief in the tag line – ‘High-Quality Spring Manufacturer’ which has made them one of the best-in-class organizations in the industry. “We have lived and continuing to live up to our tag line, by applying high quality in each of the processes in our company,” states the SSS team. One of the good things about the company’s is that the employee trust and confidence index is rated among the best in automotive component industries. “Our organization always strives to maintain our work environment as the best place to work for,” describes Satish. “Our Organization always tries to extend the best to society by maintaining the best in class salaries for our colleagues, by paying taxes on time to concerned government bodies and by promoting charitable activities like schooling, food, clothing & shelter to the required in the society,” he elaborates further.
There is a charity group operating out of Ananthpur,(Yemmiganur) Andhra Pradesh; the hometown of Ramesh Machani which enables schools, drinking water and medical care, etc. to the underprivileged section of the society. The group has recently received recognition from the UN for its social responsibility which is a great achievement on its own.
