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PUNE, Dec. 17

TO make deeper inroads into the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and the after-market segments, Fleetguard Filters India Pvt Ltd has decided to put Fleetguard filters in place of the current Cummins filters. Talking to presspersons, Mr Rick J. Mills, President, Fleetguard Inc, US, said this would ensure that the engines had a longer life while keeping the environment clean. He said all these years Fleetguard had been manufacturing the filters, but they carried the Cummins logo, used by Cummins as OEM as also through its after-market channel of CDSS (Cummins Diesel Sales and Service).

"With this new initiative, the filters across the globe would be known as Fleetguard filters, and not Cummins filters. This is an initiative which has been taken up by Fleetguard to expand its sales as Fleetguard filters are known worldwide as also in the domestic market. It is basically a form of brand building exercise,'' he said.

Fleetguard India's sales have been growing at a yearly rate of 20 per cent for the past three years and it has a market share of 40 per cent in industrial/heavy duty filtration products.

"It is now the worldwide policy of Cummins US to use only Fleetguard branded filtration products on all its engines and India is privileged to be the first country where this new policy measure is being initiated today,'' he said.

Tata Cummins had already standardised on Fleetguard Filters as OE and now Cummins India would do so on all its engines and also as spare parts through its after-market sales channels. However, it is well known in the market that Fleetguard Filters Ltd manufactures all Cummins branded filters with `C' as its logo.

Mr Mills said the same process would be taken up at its other markets such as Europe and Asia where the private filters would be changed to Fleetguard filters. Having clocked a turnover of Rs 62 crore in 2001-02, Fleetguard has decided to become a major player in the on and off highway automotive and diesel engine powered equipment sector in both the OE and the after-market segments.

It is expecting to touch a turnover of Rs 80 crore in the current fiscal with exports of over Rs 6 crore. "On an expanding sales turnover base, it would like to attain exports of over 25 per cent in the next three years,'' he added.

Mr S.S. Pandit, Chairman of Fleetguard India Pvt Ltd, said the company, which has its manufacturing base in Pune, has a capacity to produce two million filters per year. The company is planning to increase this to four million by the end of the next fiscal year.

For this purpose, an investment of $1 million is being brought in, though the route of investment has not been decided. The Fleetguard range of products comprises air fuel, lube, hydraulic and coolant filters, filter indicators, fuel water separators, diesel coolant additives and filter components and also filtration media.

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