Jaya Hind Montupet, has inaugurated its Dewas facility to manufacture gravity die-cast aluminium components for automobiles.

Story by:

Bhushan Mhapralkar

Jaya Hind Industries and Montupet SA joint venture has commissioned its second gravitational die-cast facility at Dewas in Madhya Pradesh. Built in a short span of one year with an investment of Rs 200 crore, the plant was inaugurated by Yashodhara Raje Scindia, Minister for Commerce, Industries and Employment, Madhya Pradesh. A significant development in view of the order to supply aluminium cylinder heads to the ambitious Ford Dragon 3-cylinder petrol engine project, the plant marks the second facility of the Jaya Hind Montupet Pvt. Ltd. joint venture, which has both the partners owning a 50 per cent stake each. The joint venture was inked in 2013 with the transfer of Jaya Hind’s gravitational die-cast facility at the Urse plant near Pune to it. While Ford and Mahindra compete for the top slot as far as business is concerned, the joint venture also caters to commercial vehicle manufacturers like Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, Ashok Leyland, SML Isuzu, Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors and Force Motors among others. Set to turn out 325,000 cylinder heads as part of Phase 1, the Dewas plant is designed to have an installed capacity of one-billion cylinder heads per annum. To play a vital role in terms of domestic consumption and exports according to Prasan Firodia, Director, Jaya Hind Montupet Industries Pvt. Ltd., in Phase 1, the Dewas facility will produce 325,000 cylinder heads per annum. Work on Phase 2 will commence next year, and lead to a capacity hike of 600,000 cylinder heads per annum.

Supporting the operations of the plant is a set of modern equipment and an amount of automation. “The equipment at the Dewas plant is dedicated to produce new Ford (Dragon) engines that will be sold across North America, Brazil, China, India and Europe. The cylinder heads produced here will be supplied to Ford’s Sanand plant. The Dragon engine will find use in the Ford Ecosport and Aspire, which will be imported to over 70 countries,” mentioned Prasan.

With the technological support of France-based Montupet SA, which is claimed to be the second largest cylinder head manufacturer in the world with a manufacturing footprint spanning across America, Ireland, Bulgaria, India, and the home country of France, the joint venture would reach out to newer markets of the Russian Federation, China and the Asia-Pacific region. As is desired by global OEMs to ensure quality and an ability to meet stringent Euro V and Euro VI emission norms, the Dewas plant, said Firodia, has its critical processes automated. “Critical processes including the pouring of the molten metal, sand for making the core, placement of the core and the extraction of casting from the mould are fully automated by incorporating the latest technology. The processes also ensure consistency in quality and safety. They allow for 22 kg of molten metal at the rate of 10 times per station per hour; 24 hours a day and 7 days a week,” stated Prasan.

Averred Stephane Magnan, Chairman & CEO of Montupet SA and Director of Jaya Hind Montupet Pvt Ltd., “This JV will have a major impact on the company’s development in the years to come. The technical excellence of Montupet combined with Jaya Hind Industries’ management excellence will provide the JV the best chance of success.” Capable of producing cylinder heads with complex designs (the Dragon cylinder head has an integral exhaust manifold) flawlessly, the sand used to make the core is imported from Germany. It is treated in a core shop to prepare the core. The core is supplied to an automated line for the finished casting to be had at the end of the process.

Supplying die-cast aluminium parts to various automobiles, including an aluminium cylinder head to the Maxximo, oil sump to the Ashok Leyland Partner, cylinder head to the TUV300 and Scorpio, transmission case to the Alto, cylinder block to the Ford Fiesta, cylinder block and cylinder head to the Ford DV5 and DV4 diesel engines respectively; cylinder block of the 1.2-litre mFalcon petrol engine that powers the KUV100, 9-speed gearbox housing to the Captain tipper, transmission case to the Eicher Pro series, gearbox housing to the Traveller, clutch housing to Nissan Sunny, transmission case to Renault Pulse and Duster, cylinder head cover of the Traveller 2.2-litre common-rail engine, Bosch VE pump housing of the Traveller and the 407, crank case of the Jeeto, ladder frame to accommodate the balancer shaft of the Dragon 1.5-litre PFI engine between the block and the oil pan, 4-cylinder rocker cover for the Eicher Pro series, flywheel housing for the BharatBenz MD 914, cylinder head for the Dragon 1.5-litre PFI petrol engine, and flywheel housing for the Eicher Pro series. Apart from the most modern analytical and testing equipment, the Dewas plant is also equipped with the most modern machining equipment as well. With the support and active involvement of Montupet, which was recently acquired by Canada-based Linamar Group, the Dewas plant is expected to begin manufacture of a critical aluminium part for yet another automobile manufacturer. Discussions are claimed to be underway. Not stopping at that, a strategic decision to invade the Chinese market is also being deliberated upon, and if approved, may involve setting up of a facility in China as per the requirement of an OEM. Set to play a global role amid the mandate given to the joint venture to handle any business generated in the Russian Federation, China and the Asia-Pacific region, the Dewas plant of Jaya Hind Montupet joint venture also reflects upon the rising influence of

Madhya Pradesh as an automotive manufacturing destination.