The Hindu Business Line : Building luxury

With a new facility going on stream in the next couple of months, the company can produce at least 2,000 buses in the current fiscal and targets rolling out over 2,500 buses in 2009-10.
As there is a capacity constraint, we are planning to expand our capacity at an estimated investment of Rs 35 crore - N. Srinivasan, Assistant General Manager (Operations).

_ M. Moorthy

A bus built by Irizar TVS

R. Ravikumar

Irizar-TVS, a joint venture between Ashok Leyland Ltd, Irizar S. Coop of Spain, and TVS Ltd, is a major player in the bus body building industry in the Tiruchi belt. Set up in the year 2001, the company currently has two facilities.

Irizar S. Coop is an established body builder of international repute and part of Mondragon Corporation Cooperativa group. As per the joint venture pact, Irizar will provide technology for manufacture of contemporary bus bodies. Irizar luxury coaches operate in 65 countries globally in compliance with safety and homologation standards of those countries.

Hence, the Indian joint venture is also capable of building bus bodies that comply with European standards. And, it currently builds bodies for both the domestic and export markets. However, exports account for the most.

According to Mr N. Subramanian, President, Irizar-TVS, the company built 1,400 buses during the year 2006-07 as against 1,057 buses in the previous year. In 2006-07, of the 1,400 buses it built, 1,170 were exported and the remaining for the domestic market. The company builds all Ashok Leyland buses that are meant for export.

“As there is a capacity constraint, we are also planning to expand our capacity at an estimated investment of Rs 35 crore,” said N. Srinivasan, Assistant General Manager (Operations). According to him, with a new 2 lakh sq.ft. facility going on stream in the next couple of months, the company can produce at least 2,000 buses in the current fiscal and targets rolling out over 2,500 buses in 2009-10.

Apart from this, Irizar has also been developing new luxury buses for the Indian market. It has transferred the technology to build Intercentury bus bodies and also trained people from the Indian outfit. Irizar-TVS has built a few buses on this platform on Ashok Leyland’s 260 hp rear-engine chassis, said Mr Subramanian.

Irizar-TVS closed last year (2007-08) with a turnover of Rs 75 crore with exports accounting for Rs 60 crore. In the previous year it earned Rs 54 crore with export income at Rs 40 crore. “As there is a huge demand in the domestic market, we hope to double our domestic sales and also substantially increase the export segment during the current financial year,” said Srinivasan. It currently employs close to 1,000 people and may add another 300 during the year. “HR is a big issue here as it is a skill-oriented job and there are not enough number of trained personnel readily available. We have to recruit and train them at our facilities here,” says Mr Subramanian.

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