Rane TRW Steering Systems Occupant Safety Division has inaugurated its airbag manufacturing plant, adjacent to its seatbelt plant in Singaperumal Koil, Chennai. The airbag manufacturing facility was inaugurated by Nigel Harris, Managing Director and President, Ford India. Rane TRW Steering Systems is a 50:50 joint venture (JV) between Rane group and ZF TRW.
The airbag plant is spread across an area of 1,800-sq m, and will assemble driver and passenger airbag modules. It will have an initial installed production capacity of about 500,000 airbags per annum, with sufficient space to expand as the market grows in the future. Rane TRW said it is currently working to localise airbag components, in order to improve its competitiveness in a highly cost conscious market like India.
Harish Lakshman, Managing Director, Rane TRW, said inauguration of this new facility demonstrates the company’s commitment to support technology evolution in the passenger vehicles. He added that Rane TRW expects constant growth in the application of frontal airbags over the next decade and that the company will be well-positioned to support both global and domestic OEMs.
Rane TRW’s Occupant Safety Division manufactures seatbelts and airbags, and caters to customers including Ford India, Renault Nissan, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and Daimler India Commercial Vehicles. The company exports almost 15 % of its seatbelts volumes to Brazil, Colombia, Vietnam and Thailand, among other markets, the company noted. The seatbelts plant has been in operation since 1997. Together, the plants have about 450 employees.
