AutoPartsAsia | AUGUST 2017 | 19Of course we need volumes to hold
the vendors’ interest; but being part
of the Volkswagen group certainly
helps in our interaction with them.
We have to localise otherwise we will
never be competitive. Lubricants,
filters, fuel quality, are some of
the elements which we are trying
to improve step-by-step so as to
optimise total cost of ownership and
give the customer a longer life-span
for his truck. The feedback from
customers has been quite positive on
the reliability of our truck.
Q: Would MAN India look at
sourcing components from locally
developed vendors for its global
operations?
A: Yes, it is already happening. We
are intensifying our activities here
as we see more potential for this.
We had a suppliers’ conference in
Pune and that was quite positive;
India is definitely a source for our
global sourcing activities. We have
a dedicated purchase team here in
Pune to take care of it on behalf of
our headquarters in Munich. The
other element is export of complete
trucks using local parts.
Q: How much of components have
you already exported?
A: I can’t give you a figure for
components; all I can say is that there
is room for improvement. It depends
on the quality of the vendors and
better logistics that can be made
available. ‘Just in time’ is a challenge
and industry has to get used to
it here; I see lot of prospects for
vendors to supply.
Q: How many markets are you
catering to for supply of fully-built
trucks?
A: Our core markets are Africa,
Central Asia, Middle East and
South East Asia. At the moment the
three hot spots are South Africa,
Middle East and Uzbekistan. These
are Euro-3 but in North Africa it is
Euro-4. It depends on the country;
some markets are still Euro-2. Going
forward we want to intensify exports
to South East Asian countries like
Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia.
Q: Can you tell us about your
product portfolio and the models
you have?
A: We have between 16 and 49
tonnes with about 125 variants. We
are covering all market segments;
there are some segments where we
want to intensify our market activities
on trends related to long haulage
on account of changes due to
implementation of GST, truck-tractor
and heavy duty mining business. It
will be 31 tonne plus in long haul and
50 tonne plus in mining.Q: What about engines?
A: For the current portfolio engines
up to 300 HP and transmissions are
completely localised – engines made
in-house at our factory in Pithampur,
and gear boxes from some vendors.
For heavy duty trucks, as numbers
are small, we import.Q: Coming to manufacturing,
many European companies are
taking initiatives to connect with
the manufacturing setup here to
produce according to customers’consumption needs. Industry 4.0
and IoT certainly help in this. MAN
in Munich is very strong in this
area, is an element of that adapted
in India?
A: It depends on the market, the
behaviour and planning cycles of
customers. European markets are
based, more than 90 percent, on
the build-to-order concept where
the customer wants to have his
personally customised truck. For this,
he is ready to accept a lead time of
two to three months for a truck that
meets specific needs to optimise his
business. Here, in India, we have a
flexible production system to manage
that as well.
Q: Are you getting signals from
India market for customised
products?
A: Yes, from some customers but
I see room for improvement. I had
seen this trend in Russia also – 75
percent of the market was on the
regular stock but customers were
slowly going in for tailor-made
versions.
Q: Lastly, your stints in Russia
and India; can you compare and
contrast?A: Both are emerging markets
with high volatility. India is a more
stable economy as it doesn’t
depend upon commodities, unlike
Russia. The Russian market now
is more dominated by European
products, even from the legislation,
specification and homologation
point of view. In India, the market is
different because the customers are
different and transportation here is
still made by many small players. I
expect to see consolidation in the
transport business in the future;
I already see some high-profile
transport companies doing good
business.