Ring Plus Aqua has entered into the manufacture of flexplates to address the demand for locally manufactured automatic transmission
Despite the push for Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) in commercial vehicles by OEMs in India, owing to its cost effectiveness, automatic transmission have had loyal followers. The most recent example is the supply of a front engine city-bus fleet by Tata Motors with Allison automatic transmission to the city of Ahmedabad.
US-based Allison transmission has invested in a manufacturing plant for automatic transmissions for commercial vehicles and special application vehicles (including defense applications) at Chennai. An essential part of such transmissions is a flexplate, a component that the Raymond Group company, Ring Plus Aqua Ltd. (RPAL) has taken to manufacture. Flexplates mark an extension of the product portfolio for the company, which has manufacturing facilities at Sinnar, Maharashtra. Though reluctant to reveal much about the order his company has received to supply flexplates, Vikram Jaisinghani, CEO, RPAL, announced, “Indulging in the production of flexplates when the market matured for automatic transmission was a natural migration.”
Classifying its product applications depending on the nature of their application – Commercial Vehicles (CVs), Passenger Vehicles (PVs), Off-highway segment and power gensets, RPAL is also into exports. Remarked Jaisinghani, “Wherever there is an engine and a transmission, the products of our company find an application.” For CVs and off-highway equipment where the engine size is big and therefore the size of a flywheel or a torque converter is also large, RPAL’s products find use. Such applications also ensure that the company enjoys a better margin on the products. “It is common knowledge in the industry that higher size flywheel ring gears for CVs and off-highway equipment generate better margins. The size of flywheel rings gears in PVs is less than 300 mm diameter. For CVs it is up to 450 mm diameter. For off-highway equipment, the size is over 450 mm diameter. In terms of volumes, explained Jaisinghani, the flywheel ring gears for CVs and off-highway equipment amounts less.
Europe, USA and Canada contribute to over 65 per cent of RPALs flywheel ring gear sales revenue. For bearings it is 70 per cent. To maintain higher efficiency apart from design and quality of the products Ring Plus Aqua has put in place an efficient supply chain network. RPAL is a tier 2 supplier. Its supplies are thus routed through tier 1 suppliers. “There are numerous part numbers, different complexities (different part sizes) and stock keeping units involved. All these play a role in 100 per cent on-time delivery (OTD),” explained Jaishinghani. To support JIT (Just In Time), RPAL has got warehousing arrangements that act as supply depots in India and abroad. “We have warehouses in Europe and USA which support our commitment to JIT,” Jaisinghani added. In a market that RPAL operates an OEM’s testimonial and approval for products and services is of as much importance as it is in terms of connectivity. Mentioned Jaisinghani, “Our production process is an amalgamation of raw material inventory, ERP to ensure efficient material planning and warehouses.”
RPAL has installed machines that ease operations like cutting, welding, induction hardening, slitting, hobbing, etc. Putting forth a case in favour of faster production capacity, Jaisinghani stated, “We can turn out a CV flywheel ring gear of 500 mm diameter with an order of 500 numbers in four to five days.” However, the turnaround time is a little longer for water pump bearings and flexplates. A water pump bearing goes through a lot of testing and validation at RPAL and at the respective OEM too.
A crucial part of an engine that is subjected to high levels of endurance is a water pump, and its bearing lives a hardy life. Its the bearing that is usually the cause of the water pump failure. Instrumental in making RPAL a preferred brand is the expertise of its skilled staff and engineers. The ramp up in flexplate production comes at a time when the CV sector is looking up. Infrastructural growth is expected to provide further boost to the CV sector in the near future. “Growth in the coming times will emerge from infrastructural activities. The one that has the technological edge and an ability to respond to market changes quickly will reap the benefit,” concluded Jainsinghani.
