Supplying natural and synthetic rubber products to the automotive industry, Vajra Rubber Products (P) Limited is looking at CV industry for growth.

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Anusha B

Natural and synthetic rubber products find good use in commercial vehicles. Their use has been growing in-line with the advent of new technology in commercial vehicles. As a supplier of quality natural and synthetic rubber products, Vajra Rubber Products (P) Limited is looking at the CV industry to grow. Catering to a variety of industries including oil field, aerospace, carbon composite, mining, flow control, marine, railway and energy, and automotive, the Thrissur-based company, manufactures automotive components like moulded rubber products, rubber bellows, bushes, diaphragms, oil seals, montage rings, AF rings, O rings and engine mountings. To be precise, for the CV industry the company supplies axle bushing, bumper and bellows. Catering to clients like Scania and Tata Hendrickson among others, the parts supplied to the CV industry by the 30-year old company find use in suspension systems primarily. For example, the axle bushing that Vajra Rubber provides to Scania finds use in its truck suspension systems. According to Kannan P S, Director, Marketing, over 80 per cent of the automotive products made by the company find use in the CV segment. The other 20 per cent find use in other automobiles. The rising acceptance and demand for its products in the CV industry has the company looking at it for further growth. An ISO 9001: 2008, Q1 and TS 16949: 2009 certified company, Vajra Rubber Products is keen to increase its turnover from the current Rs. 50 crore to Rs. 75 to 80 crore by 2020.

Natural and synthetic rubber products

Of the natural rubber and synthetic rubber products that the company manufactures, demand for natural rubber products is higher, according to Kannan. Supplying natural rubber based components to its customer across the globe, the company also manufactures and supplies synthetic rubber products on demand. In its product portfolio, the ratio of natural to synthetic rubber is 80:20. Close to 90 per cent of the products made are exported, Kannan mentions. The rest find use in the domestic market. Offering end to end solution in the area of product design, prototyping and manufacture, the company has invested in a an in-house design facility. It has also invested in a chemical lab, rubber compounding facility, moulding and metal fabrication, CNC tool and component manufacturing facility. Other facilities include plastic injection, polyurethane moulding and carbon composites processing unit. The R&D centre supports production.

Export orientation

With 90 per cent of the company’s products exported, the focus of the company is on further increasing the export volume even as it looks at higher domestic thrust. According to Kannan, the company caters to international CV markets like USA, Australia, China and European countries. “We have been exporting our products to international OEMs. Since they are setting up operations in India, the supply chain continues uninterrupted. It also helps them to localise,” he added. Performing very well in the export markets, the hurdle the company has been facing in the domestic market is its location. According to Kannan, they are not close to any automotive cluster in India. “OEMs prefer to have their suppliers in the supplier park. They prefer them to be in their vicinity for hassle-free delivery. Not only do we find it difficult to deliver the products just-in-time, we also find it difficult to follow-up for payments,” he mentioned.

Unique formulations

Vajra Rubber Products takes pride in its knowledge of formulations. With hands-on experience for manufacturing axle bush from the drawing board stage, the production stages, according to Kannan, include concept design, its review, finite element analysis, prototyping, testing and mass production. Kannan mentioned, “We have joint venture partners in Russia and the USA. Bush knowledge is very important in this industry. The experts who advise us on the formulations have been serving this industry for more than 50 years. The tacit knowledge is transferred as technical inputs from them. These formulations can never be duplicated. We are unique among fellow players in this. As a reflection of this, our products are of superior quality and promise superior performance. The bus, that we offer, thus absorbs shocks, vibrations and disturbances, and contributes towards a smooth ride.”

Aftermarket

Vajra Rubber Products started its journey with an entry into the aftermarket 25 years ago serving passenger vehilce segment with ‘bush kits’. OEM business followed. Finding good amount of takers, the ‘bush kits’ found use in the reconditioning of automotive suspension systems. Ironically, the superior quality and long service life of the ‘bush kits’ soon saw the company struggling for growth in the aftermarket. “Buyers simply did not come back for a long time, such was the quality of ‘bush kits’ we supplied,” averred Kannan. Garage owners started losing business, and weren’t too happy either. A decision to withdraw from the aftermarket was taken. Plans are being drawn to enter the aftermarket again. This time around, the thrust would be through distributors. Stressing upon the focus to offer superior quality products, Kannan said that they are the only manufacturer in India to make rocket directional control unit called the ‘Flex Seal’. “India’s prestigious moon mission, the ‘Chandrayaan’ flew using our components,” he added. At its facility in Thrissur, the company has extensive product testing facilities. These include deflection test bench, shock test bench and acceleration test bench among others. To prove the ranking of the products some tests are also carried at a third party lab. Based on the customer’s requirement, the company is also capable of supplying customised products.

Challenges

One of the big challenges Vajra Rubber Products faces is the disposal of byproducts. It is a challenge most industries in this ares of work face. In pursuit of a solution to address this problem, the company has devised a way of scientific scrap disposal. “We have a proper way to dispose of the scrap. The rejections could be quantified as two to three per cent,” mentioned Kannan. He concluded, “Some industrial units which do rubber mats and other related rubber products buy our scrap. These are powdered and used for various applications.”