CHENNAI: Ashok Leyland’s new commercial vehicle plant at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand, flagged off on Friday, is said to be its largest manufacturing
facility. Set up on 190 acres with a built up space of two lakh sq mt, it is also one of the most integrated manufacturing facilities in the Indian commercial vehicle industry.
" Best in class industrial architecture combined with the latest manufacturing technologies has created a truly modern facility that is also ecology sensitive as reflected in the selection of machinery and processes", the company said.
The company has pumped in an investment of over Rs 1100 crore to create a capacity of 75.000 vehicles on top of the current one lakh capacity in the existing plants. Due to the tax concessions in the new State, it will enjoy a cost advantage of Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 per vehicle.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal inaugurated the plant on Friday in the presence of Union Minister for heavy industries and public enterprises, Vilasrao Deshmukh and company officials.
Hinduja group chairman, S P Hinduja said , " We will continue to support Ashok Leyland in its investment and growth plan. The quick economic recovery augurs well for the auto industry. We are committed to continued expansion in the future. The plant is an example of this".
ALL MD, R Seshasayee said, " With the opening of this plant, Ashok Leyland’s centre of gravity will shift from south to North India. We will further consolidate our north India base when we transform Alwar ( in Rajasthan) bus body making unit into an integrated bus manufacturing plant in the next 3 to 4 years.
Company officials said the plant has the latest generation equipment sourced from global leaders in Japan, US and Europe and India. It is highly energy efficient and designed to be operator friendly. It is also designed on lean manufacturing principles and process control for high quality of outuput.
ALL has created a large capacity water body for water harvesting with water treatment and recycling to ensure zero discharge. Over 75 acres have been earmarked for green cover area and over 10,000 trees have been planted.
The company intends to maximise local value utilisation and create employment for local population. It will open a new career for the youths by sponsoring them for a three to four year courses in association with a reputed technical training institute.
It also plans to achieve over 50% local procurement by this year end. This will translate into excise duty exemptions and VAT rebates which can be passed on to the end customer. Several key vendor partners of the company, accorded preferred supplier status, have accepted the invitation to set up facilities in the State. This will lead to better supply chain management for the company obviating the need for stores and enable " produce to deliver".
Source : ET
