ACI Bureau
Mumbai head-quartered CEAT, the flagship company of Rs.22,000 crore RPG Enterprises, is one of India’s leading tyre manufacturers and has a strong presence in the global markets. CEAT produces over 37 million tyres a year and offers the widest range of tyres to all segments and manufactures world-class radials for heavy-duty trucks and buses, light commercial vehicles, earthmovers, forklifts, tractors, trailers, cars, motorcycles and scooters as well as auto-rickshaws.
CEAT continues to resonate with its purpose of ‘making mobility safer & smarter every day.’ “On the back of our innovative and agile methods and the drive to experiment, we have become one of the largest Indian manufacturers of high-performance tyres for all vehicle segments. We seek to sustain growth and deliver future-ready products and solutions that are safer, smarter and better in every respect. We build best-in-class products through a culture of continuous innovation. Our tyres are durable and provide a secure grip, thereby ensuring the safety of our customers on the road, every day. We are expanding our reach and distribution, introducing differentiated products and creating strong brand associations and social media presence. With our cutting-edge mobility solutions, we are leaving no stone unturned in our drive to create a ‘safer, smarter and better’ tomorrow,” H V Goenka, Chairman, and Anant Goenka, Managing Director, said recently in their address to the investors.
“CEAT is built on strong ethos of passion, values, dynamism and resilience and remains committed to helping millions of vehicles travel safely,” they mentioned. Producing over 37 million world-class tyres for a wide range of vehicle segments, CEAT has reported a consolidated total income of Rs.7023 crore in FY2018-19.
A diversified conglomerate with interests in the areas of infrastructure, tyres, information technology, pharmaceuticals, energy and plantations, CEAT, founded by R P Goenka, with a lineage that dates back to early 19th century, is progressing Today, on a solid foundation of trust and tradition. Backed by RPG Group, a name synonymous with steady growth and high standards of transparency, ethics and governance, CEAT, since its inception in 1958 has steadily expanded its tyre production capacities. Today it is one of the leading tyre manufacturers in India with a capacity to produce over one lakh tyres daily from its six manufacturing plants.
The CEAT plants are in: Halol, for passenger car radial, and Truck Bus Radial tyres; Bhandup for Truck Bus bias and off-road tyres; Ambernath for off highway radial tyres; Nashik for light truck bias and off-highway tyres; Nagpur for two-wheeler tyres, and its upcoming plant in Chennai for passenger car radial tyres. CEAT’s manufacturing operations are carried out through a combination of in-house manufacturing facilities and outsourcing units.
R & D
State-of-the-art R&D centres at Halol, India, and Frankfurt, Germany, enable CEAT to come up with safer and smarter products to fulfill the mobility needs of its customers.
The driving force of CEAT is to work towards a smarter tomorrow, by investing in upgrading technological and R&D capabilities to deliver high-quality, innovative and customized products across categories. The CEAT facilities are well-equipped with new simulation technologies for predictive testing, enabling better understanding of products. Its constant endeavour is to improve R&D capability in the areas of fuel efficiency, grip, durability and noise. The company focuses specially on developing simulation technologies, predictive testing capabilities and using novel materials and advanced raw material characterization.
Automation, digital, design thinking and data analytics are expected to help reduce product development time to make the development efficient and agile. According to the Annual Report, “Various technologies developed in the last few years in the areas of reducing rolling resistance and noise, and improving grip and tyre life will accelerate the product development of electric vehicle tyres for passenger, two-wheeler and commercial categories, which will be a key focus area for FY 20.”
International business
CEAT continues to be a dominant player in tyre exports from India. Geographically, the company has a stratified export market divided into seven clusters. This division has helped CEAT better understand customer needs and design market-specific products. This year, CEAT expanded its global footprint by entering 9 new countries. Now it is present in over 100 countries. ACI
