Continental Automotive Components (India) Pvt Ltd, part of global giant Continental AG, is celebrating its 10th anniversary in India this year. Over the past decade, the company has established itself in the Indian market as a leading supplier of various components and sub-systems. In line with its growth, Continental recently inaugurated a new production line to manufacture circuit boards for electronic control units (ECUs) of two-wheeler and passenger car ABS and ESC, at its Bangalore Central Electronics Plant. These newly-added braking system components are part of the company’s Vehicle Dynamics (VED) business unit, which comes under the Chassis and Safety Division.
Continental’s Bangalore facility manufactures printed circuit boards (PCB), with the production divided into two processes – front-end and back-end. Spread over an area of 3,200 sq m, which has remained unchanged since being set-up, the facility manufactures components for multiple business units, including Passive Safety and Sensorics (PSS), Engine Systems, and Body & Security.
Following inauguration of the new line, we met with Prashanth Doreswamy, Managing Director, Continental Automotive Components (India) Pvt Ltd (R) and Harald Lichtinger, Senior Vice President, Vehicle Dynamics Operations Business Unit, Continental AG (L) to discuss a variety of subjects, including the company’s journey in India, demands for safety equipment from the market, as well as Continental’s focus towards its Vision Zero initiative of reducing and eventually eliminating road accident fatalities.
The company has plans afoot to set-up another new line, which will begin operations from 2019. This line will support engine systems ECUs that will focus on emission reduction, in line with government regulations of moving to BS VI emission norms in 2020. The new line will cater exclusively to two-wheelers, which is a division that was set-up with Continental’s acquisition of Synerject, supplier of petrol engine management systems and components for marine, motorcycle and recreation applications.
NEW LINE & PROCESSES
The decision to set-up a new line was taken in 2014. As a first step, the company decided to set-up an assembly line for VED braking components in Manesar by importing ECUs, which was then followed by the addition of the new line in Bangalore, Lichtinger said. This, he believes, is an important step for the company towards establishing its VED footprint in India. Customer feedback too has been positive, noted Lichtinger.
This story is from the February 2018 edition of Auto Tech Review.
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This story is from the February 2018 edition of Auto Tech Review.
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