A New Autopia

TATA MOTORS HAS MOVED QUICKLY TO START MANUFACTURING THE TIAGO AND TIGOR AT ITS SANAND PLANT, AFTER REALISING THE PLANT'S POTENTIAL.

- Jayashree Kini Mendes

SOMETIMES IT PAYS TO CHANGE HORSES midstream. Provided you have an alternative or backup plan. That's what Tata Motors did at the Sanand plant in Gujarat. The facility, which was set up to produce the Nano, is now being utilised to manufacture the Tiago and Tigor. The smaller numbers of Nano is compelling the company to manufacture other models based on orders received.

What the company did not foresee and expect was that the Sanand plant would soon go on to achieve 100% capacity utilisation. Since the last few quarters, Tata Motors has been seeing a robust demand for Tiago and Tigor, and accordingly announced production ramp-up at its plant. The Sanand plant has a production capacity of 1,54,000 units and so far the plant has manufactured 4,60,000 units since its inception in June 2010. The 5,00,000 unit production mark will be celebrated in October 2018.

Speaking about strategy, Mayank Pareek, president, passenger vehicle business, Tata Motors, said, "We have worked a strategy of 'Turnaround 2.0' and that stands on three pillars—sales enhancement, cost reduction, and improving efficiencies. This is where Sanand plays an important role. The whole idea is to win Sustainability in PVs. A lean manufacturing process plays a key role in our growth strategy, enabling the Sanand plant to contribute around 60% of the overall PV production. The plant has already achieved WCQ 3 level in quality standards and we are proud of this achievement.”