The Hindu Business Line : Tata Motors' paint job may go to Fiat

Auto major Tata Motors has approached carmaker Fiat to outsource its painting job to help it tide over the crisis arising from a fire accident in the paint shop at its Pune works. The company is faced with a pile-up of engines and chassis as vehicle shells await painting. The company is keen to avoid a disruption in its production scheduleespecially during the festive season.

Company sources told Business Line that Fiat's Kurla paint shop was likely to take up the job of painting Tata Motors cars even as it had simultaneously pressed the paint shop of its commercial vehicle business unit (CVBU) into 24X7 operation.

A Tata spokesperson when contacted maintained that the car plant's paint shop would begin production over the course of the next week but declined to give a specific date. "We have mobilised the two paint shops of the CVBU to minimise the impact on production but it will still take some time for us to ramp up to full volumes," the spokesperson said.

Replying specifically to a query if Tata Motors is approaching Fiat to outsource painting of its cars to its Kurla facilities, the spokesperson said, "While some of our pick-ups are usually painted by Fiat at Kurla, what we might do is increase the volumes of pick-ups that go there to tide over the situation so that capacities are released at our Pune plant."

The company is also working overtime at speeding up work on the new paint shop for its Ace model which it hopes to utilise to get its production of cars back into normalcy.

"Even with the best efforts, the earliest things are going to be near normal is towards the end of the first week of October," sources said.

If the company's move to head to Kurla goes ahead, it will not be part of the joint venture agreement that the two companies signed recently, but will be a one-off outsourcing job, the sources said.

According to sources, of the 760-780 passenger cars/day that is produced at the Pune plant, the CVBU's paint shop is currently handling around 450 despite working round-the-clock.

Tata Motors had announced after the fire broke out on September 21 that is has an inventory stock of a week in place.

The Pune passenger car plant manufactures the Indica, Indigo and Indigo Marina models.

More Stories on : Outsourcing | HCV/LCV/Tractors | Paints | Tata Motors Ltd

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