It was nearly two years ago that Fiat com-menced activities at its Greenfield plant in Ranjangaon, 60 km north of Pune. Built on a sprawling 8,50,000 sq.mtrs of land in the Ranjangaon MIDC, Fiat makes the Palio and Linea here. It will soon launch the Grande Punto from the same location. Pilot production of the Grande Punto is said to be underway. Currently, the Italian automaker produces an estimated 120 cars a day with good amount of local suppliers spread in the surrounding countryside. One of the tier suppliers, Fairfield Pressings, is situated in the same MIDC that Fiat is in. 

Part of the Jagtap Group of Companies, which was founded by V M Jagtap, who is also the managing director of the group, Fairfield Pressings specialises in the manufacture of sheet metal components and assemblies. The company supplies 50 critical body-in-white sheet metal components to the Fiat Linea including parts that make the strut tower, silencer body holds, structural brackets, and many others. Most of these components may look simple to an untrained eye but are tough to imitate and sport complex angles. 

Comments Ranjit Jagtap, V M Jagtap's son who is currently heading Fairfield Pressings: "Fiat has its own systems which are very good. We make 50 Linea body-in-white parts and had to implement CMM inspection, checker panels, etc, - something that was hardly acknowledged until now in sheet metal industry. We had to undergo rigorous product qualification procedures for approval. With Fiat, we have grown in the true sense." Adds V M Jagtap, "Fiat has helped us with new and innovative technology and lessons, which ensure defect free products for JIT supply". 

Fairfield Pressings is also developing hinges for the Linea bonnet and deck lid. These simple looking hinges are actually quite complicated to produce. Currently imported, according to Jagtap, these hinges sport complex shapes and indents. Jagtap states his company was able to learn a lot even during the development of the Linea hinges. "The seemingly simple looking hinges have complex shapes and angles. Even the rubber bushes in the hinge are expandable; the metal bushes are self-lubricated. To ensure the right properties, we have to import the thermally expandable bushes (seals) from Germany and the self lubricated bushes from Italy," adds Ranjit. 

Stating that he is proud to meet Fiat standards, Jagtap expresses an intention to export roll-formed hinges. Hinges also form a significant share of the group's product range. Pointing at the Linea bought by his younger son Vikram, V M Jagtap announces that Fiat wants his company to export hinges to other Fiat locations. Interestingly, the Linea and Grande Punto share the same platform and thus a great deal of components. 

To further develop the hinge business, which forms an important part of the group's product portfolio, the company has earmarked a sum of Rs 2 crore for investment at Ranjangaon to set up a dedicated hinge line. This would hike the overall investment of the Ranjangaon plant to an estimated Rs 12 crore. A large share of the additional expenditure would essentially go towards the setting up of a new hinge line and procuring of new Special Purpose Machines (SPMs). 

Avers Jagtap, "We have imported modern stat machinery recently and would need more, looking into the future." Two new presses and a metal shearing machine were also recently installed at Fairfield Pressings. Apart from Linea components, Fairfield also supplies 14 body-in-white parts to Fiat Palio, including body reinforcements and front suspension wishbones. Some critical sheet metal modules for Piaggio (India) Truk are supplied from here. These are again hard to imitate and were a challenge to develop. Satisfied with the Truk components, Piaggio has placed an order for six three-wheeler parts, the tooling for which is currently under development at the groups' other plant called Ranvik Engineers at Bhosari. 

Remarks Jagtap: "We make our own tooling and have a well-equipped tool room at Bhosari." Special machines like the Hartford CNC vertical machining centre and Electronica EDM wire profile tool cutting centre make up the tool room. Apart from centralised tool room operations, there is an interesting co-ordination between the two group companies, Fairfield Pressings and Ranvik Engineers. While some sheet metal components made by Fairfield Pressings for Tata trucks are supplied to Jamshedpur, a few Tata Safari floor components made at Ranjangaon are supplied to the Bhosari plant. These, along with other parts manufactured at Bhosari and sourced from outside, make up the Tata Safari floor pan. The Ranvik Engineers' plant is also undergoing expansion at the moment. Acquired two years ago, new machines would be added to the current range, hiking the total investment at the Bhosari plant in the region of Rs15 to Rs 16 crore. 

Busier of the two, the layout of the Bhosari plant includes an administrative block and two manufacturing blocks. One of these is new and manufactures chassis of the Tata 407. These amount to over 21 varieties including those that of the 407 light bus (LP). Work essentially starts with the rolled C-section long members. These are coated and various aggregates are added over three stations including welding, bolting and riveting of cross members, mounts, etc. The chassis is then epoxy painted and heated in an oven to cure. The chassis are then dispatched to the Tata plant at Pimpri-Chinchwad on a JIT basis. 80 chassis are made per day. This figure is expected to go up to 200 once the 709 chassis starts rolling out as well. 

Order for the 709 chassis is delayed because of the slow down. Pointing at the chassis being loaded for dispatch, Jagtap comments that his group is single source for 90 per cent of the products the group manufactures. "Tata is looking at rolled members. We would need to invest for such a technology and are currently working towards it," he adds. 

The older manufacturing block is divided into four sections - tool room, a small design centre, press shop and a welding line. Work is on to improvise the layout of this portion as more orders pour in. Once the work is done, new equipment and machinery would be added. "We recently acquired these two new presses," explains Jagtap, pointing at the robust German presses being installed. "A 1000-tonne press, 800-tonne and a 500-tonne press is in transit," he reveals further. "This will equip us with a better capacity and heavier dies and tooling." The weld line is where the Safari floor is welded. A large single piece of floor panel is welded to a frame cage with the aid of jigs and fixtures and welding guns. While a good share of sheet metal parts that make this floor pan are pressed in the adjoining press shop, a portion of this section is dedicated to the hinge line. The hinge line produces hinges for Tata Safari, Sumo, Truk and Same tractor. Apart from hinges and Safari floor pan, an important spread of Ranvik Engineers' product range includes cross members of the 407, Sumo and Safari. 

Work on the body-in-white sheet metal components for the yet-to-be-launched Tata 'cross-over' are in progress. The dies for the same are being developed. Ranvik expects an order of 16 body-in-white parts for the 'cross-over', which is claimed to be a utility vehicle. The group is also expecting orders for the new upcoming models of small, four-wheel truck in the near future at Ranjangaon. 

The big news is, however, yet to come. And this would be the successful establishment of an export channel for hinges and other sheet metal parts in association with a versatile Italian company. Neither Ranjit nor V M Jagtap reveals the name of the Italian company. Instead, they stress on the fact that discussions are currently at a primitive stage. Discussions are also on with Volkswagen. If they materialise, the group will be supplying sheet metal components to the Polo hatch and Polo notch, according to Ranjit. 

Looking ahead, V M Jagtap puts it: "Recession has put tremendous pressure on us. Margins are depleting, signalling tough times ahead. We are sustaining, improvising and innovating. We are working hard to maintain our position and learning new ways of growing in such trying times. Most of all, what we learnt working with a global player like Fiat is enlightening. We are extending the practice to our other clients."