The Hindu Business Line : Alwar unit: Prabha Engineers to see 30 pc rise in sales <br>Ashok Leyland too to benefit

The plant will fetch Prabha Engineers, which expects to end the current year with a turnover of Rs 50 crore, additional sales of Rs 15 crore — a 30 per cent rise.

Chennai , Jan. 29

AS far as setting up of new production facilities go, Prabha Engineers' Rs 2.5-crore new plant at Alwar is no big deal.

Prabha Engineers is a vendor of Ashok Leyland and has been supplying Front End Structures (FES), from its Hosur plant for the last 23 years. But the impact of the new plant on both Prabha and Ashok Leyland is expected to be substantial.

The FES is a bulky equipment and Ashok Leyland today spends about Rs 5,500 in transporting each piece from Hosur to Alwar.

The new plant expects to supply some 400 units a month, which translates to Rs 2.6 crore saving in transportation alone (which, presumably will be shared by the two parties).

Besides, there would be substantial savings from lower inventories and avoiding damage and pilferage of components in transportation.

The plant will fetch Prabha Engineers, which expects to end the current year with a turnover of Rs 50 crore, additional sales of Rs 15 crore — a 30 per cent rise.

Mr C. Sivakumar, CEO of Prabha Engineers, expects at least 30 per cent annual growth for the new unit. In addition, Prabha proposes to take up the manufacture of items such as fuel tank and cowl for Ashok Leyland.

The new plant will be formally inaugurated on February 8.

"From Bhoomi Pooja to trial production, it took us only six months," Mr Sivakumar told Business Line.

Prabha Engineers, a winner of `NIQR Outstanding Small Scale Industry Award' from the National Institute of Quality and Reliability, has seen rapid growth in the past six years.

From Rs 3 crore in 2000-01, the company's turnover has increased to Rs 42 crore in the first 10 months of the current year.

The company has also won the Platinum Award for the Best Vendor award from Ashok Leyland.

Mr Sivakumar, a regular speaker on SME development at various lecture circuits, attributes his company's success to its ability to overcome the "biggest challenge facing SMEs — attracting and retaining talent."

Apart from regular training in TPM and TQM, Prabha Engineers has keenly focussed on HR, bringing in a clutch of programmes aimed at making work fun.

These include fun outings, adventure tours, taking care of workmen's children by assigning each child a `mentor', providing training to spouses and monthly letters and a small monetary gift to parents of workers.

"In the past 23 years, we have never lost a single manday to strikes," Mr Sivakumar said.

Prabha Engineers' plans include possible takeovers of auto component units, diversification into other auto components and Mr Sivakumar does not rule out a public issue at some point in time.

The Prabha group is into also retailing (it runs a supermarket in Thanjavur), has a Titan franchise and a TVS Motor dealership.