The Hindu Business Line : INA Bearings opens unit in Talegaon

The company, which has been operating from rented premises at Pirangut since 2001, shifted its three existing product lines — plastic and steel cages, drawn cup bearings and engine components — to the new premises.

Addition of a welded cage line is expected soon, so also a new product line for water pump bearings is expected in the coming months.

Stating that they were "in the country for the country'', Mr Hans Jurgen Goslar, Executive Vice-President, and Chief Operating Officer, Schaeffler Group, said the plant, which has an installed capacity of 40 million components annually, will cater essentially to domestic demand from two-wheeler and four-wheeler manufacturers. Two more plants can be built in the existing space to enhance capacity if need be, he added.

Structural details

Mr Biswarup Dhar, Managing Director, Schaeffler Group, and head of the Talegaon facility, said the company expected to touch capacity production by the middle of 2008. As per projections, the turnover which stood at Rs 135 crore in 2006, will double in the next three years.

Talegaon plant has 18,000 sq m of manufacturing area, 350 employees and will call for an investment of Rs 225 crore by the middle of 2008. Its clients include manufacturers such as Toyota, Hyundai, Fiat, Hero Honda and Bajaj. An engineering and test centre is also being set up on the location to tailor-make products for the Indian market.

Schaeffler Group plans to invest Rs 600-650 crore in INA Bearings and its other two installations in India — FAG at Baroda and LuK at Hosur — over the next three years, Ms Maria Elisabeth Scheffler, partner and chairman of the supervisory board, Schaeffler KG, said.

The group's turnover for the year ending December 2007 is pegged at Rs 1,000 crore.

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