RSB Transmissions (I) Ltd will soon enter into a joint venture (JV) with a German trailer major for manufacture of high-speed trailers at a location on the Pune-Mumbai highway.
According to RSB Transmissions managing director SK Behera, the company will enter into the JV for a ‘complete trailer assembly’ facility.
“We are going for a JV with a big German trailer manufacturer,” said Behera. He said he couldn’t disclose the company’s name and the exact ‘majority stake’ RSB would have in the JV without signing the agreement, which will take another couple of months to be finalised.
The RSB Group has decided to invest Rs 13 crore initially in the project, which is expected to go on stream in the second half of 2008.
“The high-speed trailers are to be produced by the JV company at a 30-acre site on the Pune-Mumbai highway because the market is primarily in the western region,” said Behera.
The trailers coming out of the facility will have hauling capacities of 20, 30 and 40 tonnes.
Also, depending upon market requirements, the JV will start manufacturing 2,000 trailers a year and go up to 10,000 units.
The German JV partner is also expected to buy back some trailers for sale to its own global clients.
The RSB Group already has a technology agreement with Gunther Albert GmbH for trailer designs. It also has a strategic alliance with BPW Axle, Germany .
RSB Transmissions is also set to become the first major auto components manufacturer in Orissa. Chief minister Navin Patnaik will lay the foundation stone for the company’s Rs 430-crore (in four years) casting & forging unit near Cuttack on August 30.
The RSB group, which is emerging as a major automotive components manufacturer with a multi-location presence in India , is planning investments of around Rs 220 crore during the current year at units spread over the country. It is also targeting a turnover of Rs 1400-1500 crore during 2007-08.
The RSB group is currently in a consolidation phase as both International Auto and RSB North America LLC (the latter was created in 2006 to take over Michigan-based Miller Brothers Mfg) are to be merged with RSB Transmissions Ltd.