A business vertical of Oerlikon, Drive Systems has started work on a new facility in India at Sanand
Oerlikon's Drive Systems Segment is building a third Indian plant in Sanand in the state of Gujarat, a hub for the automotive industry. The segment, which markets products under the Oerlikon Graziano and Oerlikon Fairfield brands, laid the foundation stone recently. Spread over 30 acres of land, the plant is scheduled to go on stream in early 2015.
Speaking on the development, Oerlikon Group CEO Jürg Fedier, said, "This marks an important milestone for the Group's further development in India and is a clear signal that we continue to execute the Group's growth strategy in which regional expansion plays an important role".
Oerlikon's Drive Systems Segment has been present in India since 1999, and as of the beginning of this year the Segment CEO has been based in Delhi. The Segment operates an Oerlikon Graziano production site in Greater Noida and an Oerlikon Fairfield site in Belgaum. At present 60 per cent of the Segment's Indian revenues are from domestic market sales and 40 per cent are from export sales in theagricultural, construction equipment, commercial/utility vehicle and industrial applications markets. India is of increasing importance to the Drive Systems segment as both a market and manufacturing base.
"Although the Indian economy has slowed down in relative terms, absolute growth is encouraging and we are confident that this market holds tremendous potential for our business", said Heriberto Diarte, CEO of the Drive Systems Segment. He added: "Our Indian operations will likely account for some 20 per cent of our Segment turnover and employ half of our total workforce once this third plant is fully operational."
Sanand is an established hub for automotive companies and is replete with specialised prototyping and assembly engineering talent. The new plant is expected to enable Drive Systems to deliver high-tech products and solutions at competitive cost by leveraging local talent for local markets in an area where most current and prospective customers are based. The new Gujarat plant will produce transmission synchronisers, for which India is already recognised as an international competence centre, and assemblies for full and final transmissions for high-end trucks, off-road applications and passenger cars. The new plant, expected to create 500 jobs, will also reflect Oerlikon's commitment to environmental sustainability with high energy efficiency and efficient waste water management.
In continuation to its efforts to focus on Drive Systems, Oerlikon Drive Systems, at CTI Shanghai, displayed complete drive systems, gearing solutions and transmission components, with a product portfolio providing transmissions for high performance cars, complete solutions for all-wheel-drive vehicles and agricultural tractors, as well as Torque-Hub planetary drive for industrial machinery and off-highway mobile equipment. Of considerable interest proved to be the high performance sportscars transmissions and on the last hybrid and electric programs, 2SED and 4SED. The first product has been studied for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, it is a dual-speed seamless-shifting transaxle that can be coupled with a transversal electric motor, for front or rear full electric axle.
It has been defined perfect for inner city transport, not only for the reduction of the CO2 emissions and environment noise but also for significant cost savings. The 4SED, displayed during the show is Oerlikon Graziano's four-speed seamless shift electric transmission. By using two small electric motors instead of a single large unit, and by providing four ratios, the motors run close to their peak efficiency for more of the time, and shifts are accomplished without interrupting the drive. Overall energy consumption is reduced by up to 15 per cent compared to a single-speed transmission, which translates into increased range or improved performance. The technology is scalable to suit a wide range of different vehicle types, urban electric cars, high performance cars, hybrid 4WD applications, electric city buses and trucks. It is suitable also for applications with 48V motors, allowing significant cost savings and reducing risks of high voltage.