The Hindu Business Line : Magna unit firms up plans for subsidiary in Pune

Milton (Ontario), Oct. 11 Cosma International, a division of the Canadian automotive component major Magna International, has firmed up plans to set up a wholly owned subsidiary in Pune to make components for body parts.

Speaking to a group of Indian journalists on a tour organised by Magna to visit its facilities in Canada, the General Manager of the company, Mr Klaus W. Niemeyer, said the key driver to set up a facility in Pune was the order bagged by Cosma Body Systems from a European car manufacturer that is setting up a plant in India.

The proposed facility will start with assembly operations of sheet metal stampings sourced from local vendors and supplied to customers. Over a period of time, it will start stamping operations and supplying body systems, he said.

In addition to the European customers, Cosma is in advanced level of talks with a few passenger car manufacturers in India, he said. The vehicle manufacturers have evinced interest in sourcing structural components such as instrument panel beams, cradles, IT beams and cockpit panels.

Service support

Cosma has its engineering services in Bangalore to support the Magna group’s global requirements. The centre is working on product development, energy management and analysing newly developed components and modules in terms of design for manufacturing and assembly. This centre is connected with engineering centres in Ontario and Graz in Austria.

One of the recent developments is a new method of manufacturing stampings out of pre-painted sheet metal. The company is working on making lift gates and doors out of pre-painted sheets, he said.

Thrust on R&D

Magna Group sees the Indian region as a market of strong growth potential in research and development besides catering to the domestic market and global sourcing. The Chief Technical Officer of Magna America, Mr Ted Robertson, said the group is keen to capitalise on the Indian automotive industry’s traditional strength in metal works, especially castings, forgings and design activities. This will help the group to deliver products conforming to global standards of technology and quality with Indian pricing.

India is set to become one of the largest engineering centres since the group has been transferring resources of sophisticated engineering programmes from Graz to the Pune centre. The challenges are to optimise space in the car and also reduce the weight of the vehicle.

Original equipment manufacturers are looking at reducing body mass to the extent of up to 30 per cent and the onus is primarily on vendors, he said. “We are working on possible usage of high-strength steel, hybrid structures, magnesium, carbon fibre and composites,” to achieve the goal, he said. The group is also working on systems and components such as batteries, trans-axle, invertors and converters for electric and hybrid vehicles, he added.