Hyundai Motor India Ltd (MHIL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Korean auto maker Hyundai and the country?s second largest car manufacturer, plans to expand its manufacturing capacity by around 70,000 units to meet higher volume demands.
Hyundai said the capacity will be increased by fine-tuning the existing manufacturing process without having invest hugely in the plant in Chennai. The car maker?s decision comes in the wake of its sales equalising its installed capacity in recent months on the back of surging demand for its cars in the Indian market. The auto giant has been nearly utilising its full capacity of its Chennai manufacturing facility with 24×7 floor level management with the help of three shifts at the production plant.
The sources at HMSI employees union told FE that the company has already taken steps to increase the output of cars.
Talking to FE, Arvind Saxena, director-marketing and sales of HMIL said, ?When the demand goes up, the company possibly can expand the capacity by another 70,000 units through a debottlenecking process at the production plant level. This can be done by a small investment.? However he declined to give details about the investment that could be pumped in to ramp up the capacity by improving the manufacturing process.
Hyundai currently operates two manufacturing plants in Chennai with a combined annual installed capacity of six lakh units. Last calender year the company sold around 5.6 lakh units while it is expected to clock 5.9 lakh units in sales in 2010, almost close to the current installed capacity.
With sudden boom in the auto market this year, the vehicle manufacturers have started expanding their capacity in emergency manner by adopting various technical expertises at plant level.
Already the country?s top car maker Maruti Suzuki has increased its car output by two lakh units per annum by adopting various floor level efficient practices at its existing manufacturing facilities in Gurgaon and Manesar, which originally have an annual installed capacity fo 10-lakh units.