Tata Motors which rolls out traditional models of heavy commercial vehicles (HCVs) here as well as the new world truck models it has just started launching, is looking for around 200 acres of land for setting up a vendor park to cater to the needs of the auto major?s full range of HCVs it proposes to assemble here.
?We need approximately around 200 acres of land which should be close to our works here,? said Tata Motors plant head S B Borwankar, adding that though the actual number of vendors who could be accommodated at the vendor base will depend on the actual space available, the area should roughly be able to house around 25-30 vendors of repute.
Apart from the need to have a vendor park, two of the company?s subsidiaries, H V Axles and H V Transmissions, as well as the Tata Cummins joint venture unit here, which supplies the auto major the engines that go into its HCVs, too need support from reliable vendors.
?Having a good vendor base will enable us to produce more HCVs here,?said Borwankar, adding that more than expansion, the unit is looking forward to producing ?more variety of vehicles? like army vehicles and several of the ?world truck? models including cargo trucks, tippers, etc which are yet to be launched here.
Though many of the around 600 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) auto component manufacturers housed in the nearby Adityapur industrial area have been supplying several parts that go into the auto major?s HCVs here for many years, issues like ?quality and timely delivery? of parts have been a bone of contention between Tata Motors and many of them.
For example, many of the units are said to have failed to supply parts to the auto major during a couple of weeks around mid-January this year owing to the local ?Tusu? festival which coincides with ?Makar Sankranti?, which though a one-day festival, normally claims 10-15 workdays.
Vendors who will put up units in the proposed vendor park will saving on the 3%-4% packing and transportation costs, which many of the current suppliers incur.
Though the auto major applied to the Jharkhand government for around 200 acres of additional land for a vendor park two years ago, there has been no response from the government.
With its Lucknow unit having recently been allocated land for a vendor park by the UP government — its Uttaranchal and Sanand (Nano unit in Gujarat) units already have such parks embedded in the projects — Borwankar is hopeful that the new Jharkhand government will look into the issue seriously.
The auto major is currently producing around 360 HCV chassis a day of all models, with more emphasis on the ?easily selling? regular HCV models than on ?world trucks?.
?Presently, we are paying all our attention to production of heavy commercial vehicles as we can now easily sell as much as we are able to produce here,” said the Tata Motors plant head Borwankar.