India is expected to become the world’s third-largest automotive market by 2030 and will therefore become increasingly attractive for European car manufacturers and their suppliers. Already in September, five colleagues from the Thermal Surface Technology / Automation Technology business unit were allowed to carry out the assembly and commissioning of an ACCS-TPS system at our customer – in this case a service provider for one of the largest vehicle manufacturers in India and the fourth largest manufacturer of two- and three-wheelers worldwide. The location was Tumakuru, an industrial city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, about 70 km northwest of the capital Bengaluru, surrounded by beautiful hilly landscape and bordered by river valleys. Tumakuru is also known as the “Coconut City” due to its numerous coconut palms and is famous for various religious temples, forts and monuments. Our customer is currently producing two engine types on a specially developed pilot plant whose capacity is far from sufficient – currently about 300,000 engine blocks are produced per year, this number is to be increased to 500,000. In the future, demand for our technology in the Indian market is expected to grow strongly.
Traditional Hindu dedication of our ACCS-TPS facility
A special experience was a special ritual for the blessing of our ACCS-TPS system, which was performed by a Hindu priest to wish a successful and accident-free production. In addition to various prayers and ceremonies, the complex was decorated and painted with the “Om sign”. On the customer and supplier side, protagonists were selected and had to break open or sacrifice a coconut, an offering to one of the most important and popular gods of Hinduism – “Ganesha”. The elephant is virtually omnipresent in countless temples and representations. There is also a small temple next to our customer’s factory gate and a small altar in the entrance area for him. A priest holds a ceremony here every morning and offers a fresh coconut. We would like to thank everyone involved for this impressive experience and are looking forward to the future development in this dynamic market!
