28 | AutoPartsAsia | NOVEMBER 2017
wheelers, three- wheelers, passenger
vehicles, utility vehicles, tractors,
trucks and construction equipment.
The company has forayed into the
aerospace sector also.
Vendor Development
From the vendor development point
of view how does the company get
influenced by its presence across a
wide spectrum of industrial segments?
Would it give an edge over the
competitors or is it a baggage that the
company has to carry?
Answering these questions from
AutoParts Asia, Hemant Sikka, Head
of Sourcing, Automotive & Farm
Equipment Division of Mahindra, said
that the company has a separate team
for vendors based on the segments
of the automotive industry that the
Mahindra Group is into. He observed
that all the cylinders do not fire at
the same time – it never happens.
The performance of the passenger
vehicles division - tractors, commercial
vehicles, two-wheelers etc - fluctuates.
But for the suppliers there will be
some of the sectors that will be doing
well. “When one part of the economy
is bad, like a poor monsoon eroding
tractor sales, others, like SUVs, may
flourish. Sometimes heavy commercial
vehicle sales may go flat, but tractors
will go up. It is a very good modelbecause suppliers are able to manage
their work flow with the Mahindra
Group better,” Sikka said.
Technology gets extended life span
in the Mahindra Group. He cited the
example of LED lamps that have
moved down to tractors; now the
tail lamps of tractors are of LEDs. A
technology that is applied on SUVs
has a chance to come to two-wheelers
in three or four years. After five, seven,
or 10 years it will come to trucks and
tractors. With such a product range,
Mahindra has evolved a ‘Single
Button’ policy for consumers where
the suppliers deal with one consumer
at a time for many products. Also,
combining businesses would increase