Osamu Suzuki has been the face of his company for decades. On Tuesday, the octogenarian’s son, Toshihiro Suzuki was elevated as President and Chief Operating Officer of Suzuki Motor Corporation. Yasuhito Harayama, likewise, was appointed Vice-Chairman in a leadership recast carried out to meet future challenges.

Passing the baton

O Suzuki will continue to be Chairman & CEO but it is clear that the baton has passed on to the next generation. It is a timely move since there was no indication of his successor for some years now. O Suzuki played a key role in establishing his company’s Indian operations which are today the most critical along with Japan.

Tuesday also saw Suzuki Motor draft a new mid-term roadmap for its car and two-wheeler businesses. Its mission statement is to develop products of superior value by focusing on the customer; establish an innovative company through teamwork; and strive for individual excellence through continuous improvement.

As part of this vision statement, the Suzuki group will take on challenges as Team Suzuki and reform the business culture. This will include according top priority to quality and fostering a global culture. Likewise, development of human resources will focus on those who can think smarter while structuring an information network within and outside the group.

Interestingly, this initiative will include strengthening global human resources by recruiting foreign executives. Globalisation will start in India and applied worldwide. Suzuki also plans to diversify its profit source through an ‘All-Grip’ reform which will go beyond reliance on Japan and India’s small cars.

In manufacturing, the company will continue to strive for higher fuel efficiencies in its mini segments while growing its auto gear shift presence. It will also focus on weight reduction across its car range using a new platform which has increased rigidity by 30 per cent.

Trying new tech

Suzuki plans to shorten product development cycles by checking functions and quality through digital manufacturing before making prototypes. It will develop new production technologies for engines and light platforms by placing Japan as the mother plant. Cost-competitiveness will be enhanced across production bases and parts will be procured more efficiently though the Japan-Asia network.

The roadmap will see Japan, India, Indonesia, Thailand and Hungary as global production bases. The Gujarat plant which will be ready over the next two years will be the company’s most evolved facility. For motorcycles, frame and engine production will be consolidated in the ASEAN region.

Going forward, new product developments for cars will be consolidated into three lightweight platforms: Mini, A and B. There will be inter-segment use of common parts through modularisation. Indian engineers will play a bigger role in global programmes, already being done in Maruti operations.

Suzuki proposes to launch 20 new models in five years. In the mini car space, the idea is to constantly introduce one model every year while the A segment will see six models in five years. The B, C and SUV categories will have a combined nine models launched till 2020.

Japan will continue to be the base of development and production where mini and compact models will be constantly introduced every year. India will focus on new buyers while ASEAN will see the development of Indonesia and Thailand as support for Japan and India.

As for its motorcycle business, Suzuki will return to the origin of ‘running, cornering and braking’ where it will focus on fun-to-ride and easy-to-ride. It will consolidate production base in ASEAN and develop sales network of large displacement models. In India, the 150cc Gixxer motorcycle is perhaps an indication of this new thinking where power and performance will lead the way for Suzuki.

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