The Hindu Business Line : Addison shifts plants, warehouse from Chennai to new facility

Chennai April 30 Addison & Co has shifted its two manufacturing units and one warehouse in Chennai to a new facility at Sriperumbudur, close to the Hyundai car plant. The new facility was formally inaugurated today.

As a result, the Rs 150-crore tools manufacturer of the Amalgamations group has vacated its owned premises in the heart of the city, the rented unit in the industrial estate of Ambattur and its warehouse in Velachery.

Its main production centre stood on an area of 1.20 lakh sq. ft on Smiths Road in the heart of Chennai, abutting the arterial Anna Salai. On about a half of the vacated premises, the Amalgamations group intends to build a children's hospital. The other half is today a pricey asset and the group is "mulling various options."

The new facility at Irungattukottai cost Addison & Co Rs 35 crore to build. The investment was mainly on land and building — most of the plant and machinery went from its existing units — but the company also spent money on equipment such as a coolant handling system that would streamline the operations.

The unit, capable of producing 50,000 types of tools, would straightaway result in a productivity improvement of 15-20 per cent apart from simplifying logistics, according to Mr M.L.S. Rao, Director & Chief Executive, Addison & Co.

Mr Rao told presspersons that the new premises had enough space to house future expansions. The company expects the next bout of investments in the next two years.

The Chairman of the Amalgamations group, Mr A. Sivasailam, said that Addison & Co had no international collaborator and yet its products were in great demand.

Mr Sivasailam said the tools manufactured by Addison were supplied to OEMs in Europe, through companies such as Lux and PGT.

Meanwhile, it is also learnt that another company of the group, AMCO Batteries Ltd, is investing over Rs 100 crore in expansion. The company intends to take its two-wheeler battery capacity from 4 million to 6 million and double its 4-wheeler capacity from 0.6 million.

The company is a leading supplier of batteries to all major two-wheeler OEMs, but in the four-wheeler segment, it supplies only to the tractor manufacturers.

The AMCO Batteries' Chief Operating Officer, Mr R.A. Sridhar, said the company was hopeful of making a breakthrough into the passenger car segment this year.

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