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Our Bureau

Pune , May 7

THE Pune-based Fleetguard Filters Pvt Ltd, had set up an air housing plant exclusively for Tata Engineering and now it is in the process of putting up an exclusive plant for Ashok Leyland for air intake system.

Talking to Business Line, Mr Niranjan Kirloskar, Managing Director, Fleetguard Filters, said the company is also in the process of indigenising sponge rubber, currently being imported from France.

Once the indigenisation was completed, this would cut down costs and would also give a free access to the Fleetguard worldwide market. Once the product has been indigenised, not only the export market would be catered to but also the domestic market, which has a consumption of about 10,000 sq m of sponge rubber.

The Bangalore plant production would cater exclusively for the Ashok Leyland requirement and is expected to be operational one year down the line.

The project cost of Rs 2 crore would be financed by banks and would be fall in as debt, Mr Niranjan said while noting that it was yet to identify the banks for this purpose. This plant would have a similar capacity as the Jamshedpur plant. The Jamshedpur plant had become operational in October last year has an installed capacity of producing about 2,500 air housings per month.

The investment that has gone into this plant is about Rs 2 crore and has been utilised from the internal accruals of the company. He noted that with the setting up of the plant in Jamshedpur, the lead-time of reaching the materials had been reduced from 10 days to one and had also brought down the damages caused due to logistics.

Fleetguard Filters, a 50:50 joint venture with Fleetguard Inc of the US and the Pune-based Perfect Sealing System, has also expanded its Pune operations during the fiscal 2003-04.

It has increased its air filter production capacity from 1,000 to 3,000 filters per shift and in the centrifuge filters from 3,000 to 9,000 per shift. It is also proposing to start a new manufacturing facility in Nandur here for the spin on-line segment.

This facility is expected to see light within a couple of years and the total investment that has gone into the Pune expansion plans is about Rs 1 crore. The company has three plants in Pune, Nandur, Wadki and Hinjewadi and one in Jamshedpur (Tatat Engineering) and another in Bangalore (under process) for Ashok Leyland.

Mr Niranjan said the company is also in the process of rolling out air filters, which were smaller in size and has already developed a smaller air housing system for which it would be applying for patents. Currently, it has applied for three patents, one in rubber and two in filter designs, a year ago. He said the company was getting into these as the OEM market requirement was for `miniscule air filters' so that the body of the vehicle could be made bigger. Mr Niranjan said the company has recorded revenues of Rs 93 crore for the fiscal year ended March 2004 and was targeting revenues of Rs 120 crore for the current fiscal.

Of this revenues, about 80 per cent came in from the heavy-duty engine segment and the rest from the automotive truck market, which the company had entered into last year. The company was looking at a mix of 50:50 from both the segments, as this would ensure higher volumes from the automotive segment and higher margins from the heavy-duty engines. "But this can be achieved not overnight but would at least take us another couple of years time," he added.

More Stories on : New Projects | Engineering | HCV/LCV/Tractors

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