Story & Photography : Bhargav TS
Endurance Technologies, manufacturer of suspensions, braking systems, clutches, castings and alloy wheels has bagged an order from Tata Motors for its Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV). This business involves supply of hydraulic drum brake system, 240,000 units annually. The order from Tata Motors has made the Aurangabad-based component manufacturer foray into the LCV segment. Currently it manufactures disk brakes for twowheelers, drum brakes for three-wheelers and passenger cars. The company is mulling options to set up a plant in Gujarat.
Speaking to Auto Components India, a company official said, “Our casting division serves the commercial vehicle industry, but for the brake division we have bagged the first business in the LCV segment.” The company hopes to supply the samples during this month and commercial production is likely to commence from the second half of this calendar. Initially Endurance will be manufacturing 20,000 units per month and will ramp up the capacity in the later months.
Brakes division was started in 2004 and has its dedicated manufacturing facility in Aurangabad. The facility has a capacity to manufacture 135,000 units a month and mainly manufactures two-wheeler hydraulic brake systems for Bajaj Auto, Royal Enfield and Yamaha. It also manufactures hydraulic drum brakes for three-wheelers and has a capacity of around 60,000 vehicle sets. The component manufacturer has also joined hands with Beijing West Industries (BWI) for technical assistance to develop braking systems for four-wheelers in India.
Endurance is also working on reducing the weight of the components by looking at various materials. The company has replaced cast iron with aluminium for a few components including flywheel housing. Recently it substituted cast iron with high pressure aluminium die cast for transmission casing, which reduced weight by about 40 percent. “We are currently working on several projects to make products in the same material but through different processes including low pressure die-cast, to lower the weight further. We see aluminium emerging as a preferred metal for automobiles as it gives significant advantages in weight reduction eventually meeting emission norms,” the official added.
Endurance began its operation in 1985 to make aluminium diecast components; the company has evolved to making aluminium castings, suspensions, transmissions and braking products. Currently it manufactures high and low pressure diecast components like cylinder heads, crankcase, rear drum brake casing, gear box housing, valve housing and bed plates. Out of the entire product portfolio, aluminium diecast components account for nearly 40 percent of the group’s turnover.
The company’s second largest business vertical is suspension systems, which account for nerly 25 percent of the sales. It manufactures front and rear shock absorbers for several OEMs including Bajaj Auto, Kawasaki, Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India, India Yamaha Motors, Royal Enfield and Suzuki Motorcycle India. In order to propel growth in the suspension systems, the company is also eyeing scooter business to supply telescopic forks and gas-charged rear shock absorbers. Endurance has also forged an alliance with WP Suspensions to develop inverted front forks and monoshocks for the high-end motorcycles. Recently, the component maker has also started supplying braking, suspensions, castings parts and alloy wheels to the premium motorcycle OEM.
Endurance has 16 manufacturing plants in five strategic auto hubs such as Aurangabad, Pune, Manesar, Pantnagar and Chennai. It has three plants overseas – two in Germany and one in Itlay. The company also have five R&D centres – for brakes, clutch, transmission and suspension for two / three wheelers and suspension for four-wheelers. Last year, Endurance Group recorded a turnover of Rs 3800 crore including overseas business and this year it is expecting to clock around Rs 4,000 crore. ACI
