ZF to Showcase its Latest Technological Offering at bC India 2013
Please brief us about ZF India, its important business areas, products range and their application area.
ZF is a leading worldwide automotive supplier for Driveline and Chassis Technology with 121 production companies in 27 countries. In 2012, the group will achieve a sales figure of roughly €17,4 billion with approximately 75,000 employees. ZF is among the top 10 companies on the ranking list of the largest automotive suppliers worldwide.
In India, ZF has a footprint of 10 plants spread across Pune, Pantnagar, Gurgaon, Chennai, Coimbatore, and Madurai. The components and systems manufactured in India cater not only to the automotive industry, but also to segments like Wind energy and Electronic industry. In the Off-Highway Technology segment, the company has a strong local sales as well as an engineering team, which caters to the requirements of OE's in the Construction Equipment and Material Handling industry.
The global operations of ZF also manufacture automatic transmissions, axle drive and clutch components in its Powertrain Technology Division, as well as suspension and rubber plastic components in its Chassis Technology Division. These high technology products are also supplied to OEM's manufacturing luxury and high performance passenger cars in India. ZF continues to be a dominant player in the premium Bus and Truck segment through its wide product portfolio.
The after sales support for service and parts for the entire range of ZF products is provided by the strong aftermarket network of ZF Services across the country withits branches in Pune, Bangalore and Raipur.
The Indian market is unique and ZF considers this as one of the fastest growing markets in the Asia Pacific region. That being said, the growth of the CE industry and the market conditions especially in the last year have been challenging and we hope the coming years would prove our judgment right about long-term growth story of the Indian infrastructure.The Indian market is voluminous but operates on an economical price yet high value concept unlike any other market in the world. ZF products are traditionally known for their technological innovation that caters to the premium range, but going forward we plan to develop value proposition products to capture a larger share of the market. ZF focuses on the "total cost of ownership" or "total life cycle cost" not only at the design stage but also considering the after sales support strategy to bring higher value to its Indian customers.
What is the market size ofthe products being promoted by the company in India?
ZF continues to enjoy increased momentum in Asia Pacific and is well positioned to achieve further growth in this region from now until 2015. Until 2015, ZF Group's sales are projected to increase from €15.5 billion to about €20 billion. To support its aggressive growth targets, ZF Group will make global investments at a record level of €1.5 billion to expand its locations and invest in new products in 2012. ZF group's sales for the Asia Pacific region are targeted to reach about €2.919 billion by 2012, from €2.629 billion in 2011. The key markets that will contribute to this growth would be China, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Australia, and Vietnam. In India, ZF continues to be a market leader in the Bus and Truck segments and considers this as a fast growing segment. ZF also has a dominant market position in the Wheel Loader and other CE segments.With the thrust of the Indian government on infrastructure development, this segment is only set to grow in the years to come.
Apart from manufacturing axles and related transmission system for backhoe loaders for key OEMs in India; what is the current status of your plans to go in for the localization of other driveline systems including axles, transmissions and electronics for off-road equipment as well as complete axle range for on road vehicles? How would these systems prove to be cost-effective giving the benefit of advanced technology, thus reducing logistic and installation costs in various applications?
ZF has already localized the Wheel loader axle and a new range of transmissions will be approved for localisation in 2013. We have also recently strengthened our business development footprint for the Indian market through establishing a local engineering resource. The engineering team in India will focus on product strategies in order to address better product positioning for the local market through design-to-market exercises. Additionally, the local resource will support our OEM customers in their new projects, bridging the geographic divide between India and Germany thereby reducing lead times for a faster response and effective project to business conversions.
To back up these advantages, what are the technical pre- and post-market services provided by the company?
ZF conducts stringent quality checks before products are dispatched to the customers as part of its technical pre- market service.
To address the post-market service, ZF Services has a wide service footprint with its own company branches across Pune, Raipur and Bangalore and covers the entire Indian region with an increasing Service and Parts Dealer network.
What are the company's plans to participate in the second edition of bC India mega event for CE sector and focus of market promotion? How much optimistic the company is about its participation in this show, would it provide a perfect platform to connect with its customers?
ZF participates in major trade fairs around the world to network and showcase latest technological innovations. This is the second time that we are participating in bC India, the International Trade Fair for Construction Machinery, Building Material Machines, Mining Machines and Construction Vehicles. We are present in Hall H2-D17. bC India, provides a good platform to the CE industry to come together under one roof to network, discuss and showcase the latest technological advances & understand the market trends & demands in the CE domain. We will directly be reaching out not only to OEM's but also to end users in India through this Trade show. Customers will witness ZF's latest Technological offerings suited for Cost reduction, less consumption and increased productivity.
NBM&CW February 2013
