16 Jan 2008

After the Nano, it’s time for more innovative engineering at Tata Motors. The country’s largest vehicle maker, which stirred the auto world last week with its cheapest car ever, is now planning to reorganise its manufacturing operation through different hubs, a clear departure from the established manufacturing model at the 75-year-old company.

The Mumbai-based truck and car maker plans to come out with independent production hubs that will focus on making different vehicles at different locations, instead of the earlier integrated facility where it had the commercial vehicle and passenger vehicle production lines in the same unit.

It is in line with the philosophy that Tata Motors plans to shift its Ace unit from Pune to Rudrapur in Uttarakhand while new generational vehicles, including SUVs (sports utility vehicles), would be made in Pune. The shifting will free up over 5 acres in Pune that will be used to ramp up production of Sumo, Safari and Indica, sources said.

However, a Tata Motors spokesperson, when contacted, said the company adopts a flexible approach at all its units while concentrating on certain product categories in specific plants. The Dharwad unit in Karnataka makes buses while the Lucknow facility is used for trucks and buses.

The company’s oldest unit at Jamshedpur is for heavy trucks while the new location of Rudrapur makes Ace and Magic, the sub-tonne light commercial vehicles. The Pune unit makes cars and passenger vehicles. Although Tata Motors had initially planned to roll out the Nano from Singur, this plan is reportedly being reworked to Pantnagar in Uttarakhand. Tata Motors has planned a capacity of 2.25 lakh units for Ace, the sub-one-tonne truck, while the existing capacity in Pune is just around 60,000 units a year.

News Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com