Following the successful launch of its first program for its interior systems plant in India, Faurecia is gearing up for the next level of challenges. "This entails successfully meeting the increasing customer demands including localising the LHD (left hand drive) interiors and further improving the overall product quality to make sure that the product is well appreciated in European markets," says Vidhyadhar Limaye, Faurecia's India Director.
Limaye believes the people factor will play a key role in achieving Faurecia's goals. "We have to focus energies in ensuring that we retain all our talent across the organisation and maintain motivation levels to get the desired output." In terms of getting its processes right, the company has already introduced the Faurecia Excellence System at its Chennai plant and now wants to ensure that this plant is recognised as a world class benchmark for India in interior systems. "Several improvement projects and employee trainings aimed at Employee Empowerment are in the pipeline to ensure that this plant is able to deliver not only customer expectations but also delight," Limaye says.
While the interior systems group primarily focuses on the exports market, Limaye does take a note of the rather disappointing 2013 for the automotive industry in India. "The economic downturn, increasing interest rates, significant devaluation of currency and a turbulent and unpredictable stock market were some of the factors. However, improvements in the local automotive market are expected for the 2nd half of 2014." Of course, he is well aware that the situation will not repair automatically and the administration will have to play its part well.
From the automotive perspective, Limaye believes the government must provide incentives for export of automotive parts and components as well as tax holiday considerations and extensions. "Basically, the government needs to encourage the industry to start thinking of exporting," he says, adding that focused efforts on manufacturing sector and on younger generations to build a long term strategies to improve Indian manufacturing capabilities is equally critical. "Of course, there needs to be increased focus on infrastructure development leading to improvement of road network across all states."
Of course, Limaye is confident that 2014 is going to be a growth year for Faurecia Interior Systems in terms of expansion. "We have been operating from one plant so far with an investment of Rs30 crore; however this year we will be duplicating our capacities with similar sized investments in plant and equipment to catch up on customer projected volume growth and LHD product localisation in India. Following this, we will also await further program awards from our existing and targeted customers in this area," he says.
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