Scania display at Bus World 2015 includes Metrolink, Scania’s intercity bus, trucks, and India’s first green bus that was launched in Nagpur in 2014.
Scania India operates a bus and truck manufacturing facility here, and globally, the company continues to provide sustainable transport solutions in Europe, Latin America, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa.
At the end of Lay 2015, Scania India inaugurated its bus manufacturing facility in Narasapura, Bangalore. The complete manufacturing unit entailed an investment of Rs 300 crore, and its current production capacity stands at about 1,000 units per year. The facility will serve the Indian market and become a hub for exports to other markets in Asia. Scania is committedto bring global tech and manufacturing practices to countries it operates in.
Scania truck manufacturing facility in Narasapura was inaugurated in October 2013. Yearly production capacity now stands at 2,500 trucks and 1,000 buses. The bus will be an export hub for regions such as Asia, Middle East and Africa over the next five years.
Scania India looks to double production capacity to 2,500 bus units and 5000 trucks by 2017 end with an employee strength of 800. Narasapura plant will accommodate a state-of-the-art bio-gas unit to produce alternative fuels locally. Local bus and coach assembly in India is a focus area, and ethanol buses will be assembled here too. Make in India campaign facilitates manufacturing sectors to grow rapidly in India, and Scania looks forward to large-scale manufacturing activities here.
Geographical position of India is advantageous for Scania to connect with Far East Asian, African and Middle Eastern countries. Scania eyes manufacturing expansion through products powered by alternative fuels for sustainable development.
Scania Commercial Vehicles India makes available on-road haulage truck models: R 580 6×4, the G 460 6×4 and the G 410 6×2 and off-road P 410 8×4 coal, and mining tipper. New bus range includes Scania Metrolink, 12m, 13.7m, 14.5m solutions for the Indian market. Scania ethanol bus is BSV compliant. At an investment of Rs 300 crore, the truck and bus manufacturing facility also houses a service workshop and a central parts warehouse.
Scania engine (industrial marine engines) range is also available in India. Its service network and service vans support its dealership network across south and western regions. There are site workshops in mining operations. In India, Scania buses and trucks have been designed to meet local conditions and customer requirements.
Scania looks to make available a well-structured sustainable transport system in India, working in sync with the country’s economic vision to establish smart and sustainable cities. Scania solutions will cater to commercially and economically viable sustainable transport systems.
Narasapura plant houses 3 operational buildings spread over 12,500 sq mt with shared components for buses and trucks. The plant aims at 90% localisation, and has 30-35 vendors catering to it. With the gearbox, engine, chassis, axle, and driveline coming in from Sweden, assembly operations here also include busy body building.
Of 268 employees at present, 28 pct are women. Staff works in two shifts. 13,00,000 training hours have been provided to plant workers here. The complex bus building process includes anti rust applications, reinforcements of 6 mm, on a heavy and rigid design that passes 2017 allover protection tests. A two component paint process is used. Bus body assembly shifts along the shop floor with the 10th stage being shell mounting. The sealing process is concluded earlier.
Scania looks to sell 305 buses in 2015, and 650 in 2016. Between state transport and city commuter needs, Scania India looks for clients in the public and private sector with orders coming in similar numbers from both sectors. In fact, with its current order list, Scania is behind production. A bus from the company would require advanced booking of 6 months.
Across building processes, tag time has reduced to 4 hours from 15-16 hours initially when trial runs began. There are 26 bus building stages at the Scania India plant. Between docking days, and initial training wherein a bus took 35-40 days to build, average bus building time stands reduced to 26 days at the end of April 2015.
The 100 pct safety structure, is now catering to 3 axle units, and will move to 2 axle offerings later. Once the bus is built, it moves to fit and finish activities, interiors and windshield fitment, seats, fire extinguisher and stickers, coolant, wheel alignment, and Pdi shower test, before bus body manual quality assurance tests are carried out. Low floor 14.5 m and 13.7 m buses are being built.
Scania aligns with Make in India campaign and is keen to promote India as a manufacturing hub as it expands operations here. Bus World 2015 will be hosted at Bombay Convention and Exhibition Centre (BCEC), NSE Ground Off Western Express Highway, Goregaon East, Mumbai.
