Hirendra B Divgi is the Executive Director of Divgi TorqTransfer Systems. He has over 30 years of experience in advanced gear manufacturing processes and their influence in drive train products.
Divgi-TTS supplies transmission and transfer case components and subsystems for small cars, utility vehicles and commercial vehicles. Can you share some experiences that have challenged the company's prowess and how were they mitigated?
Over five decades of the company's history, there were innumerable experiences that challenged the company's prowess. However, one that stands out is the opportunity we got in the early 2000s to design, develop, manufacture, and supply an advanced Electric Shift on the Fly (ESOF) 4X4 transfer case to Ford for their JV with Mazda, located in Thailand.
The mandate was to design this transfer case to mate with an automatic transmission built by Ford at their plant in France but to be supplied in Thailand, where Ford would integrate it. The other challenges were to meet a tight target price at a relatively low volume and manage the complexity of programme management between stakeholders spread over North America, Japan, and Thailand.
We focused on training our best engineers with generous inputs from BorgWarner in programme management and coupled that with engineering support from BorgWarner and the supplier ecosystem we had in Pune that could handle the lower volume challenge. Further, we brought in our experience in frugal engineering in tooling to put together a set-up that I am proud to say delivered first time right and a warranty incident-free track record over the programme's lifecycle that lasted seven years.
What are the opportunities that came when India moved to BS-VI?
While BS-VI impacted companies involved in the supply of engine components and related subsystems more directly, for us as an automotive drivetrain systems supplier, it is more important to track the evolving trajectory of emission norms in which the implementation of BS-VI is only one, though a significant step.
Most Indian automotive OEMs invested heavily in upgrading their engine technologies in meeting the BS-VI standards in time, based on the earlier experience of the Government of India's strict implementation of the BS-IV norms. In my opinion, this, along with the pressures of launching new models, consumed all the engineering resource bandwidth of Indian OEMs, leaving open some vulnerabilities that we, as an independent drivetrain systems supplier, can fill and support our OEM customers retain their competitive edge. This would be primarily the field of automatic transmissions and AWD systems.
What are the new opportunities that you see in the domestic market?
The recent event of Ford exiting the Indian market has demonstrated that the Indian market and the Indian customers are extremely value sensitive. It has time and again been demonstrated that leading global brands cannot take the Indian customer for granted by offering shoddy outdated products or products that do not have features that appeal to the Indian value perception.
Many carry the misconception that the Indian market is price sensitive. It is not; the failure of the Tata Nano, in contrast to the tremendous success of the Tata Tiago, Nexon and Altroz that have propelled Tata Motors’ market share back into the double digits, demonstrates that the Indian customer is much savvier than made out to be, in ferreting out true value combined with safety, features and aesthetics and is willing to pay for better products and features, if 'sensibly' priced.
Hyundai's tremendous success in India in contrast to Ford's failure in the same time frame, the tremendous market response to the new Mahindra Thar, Tata Safari and the close to a cult following for the Royal Enfield are the other examples of success stories, where companies have paid close attention to the Indian customers' value perception.
At Divgi-TTS, we have a slew of products that tap into this value perception, and we continue to see opportunities collaborating with our OEM customers to bring them to market fruition.
Indian auto component manufacturers have to some extent benefitted due to geopolitical imbroglio. What has been your experience? Elaborate.
We have seen new interest from our existing global customers and through new inquiries for sourcing from India because of the geopolitical situation. However, due to the continued disruptions in the industry on account of the 2nd and 3rd waves of the pandemic and more immediate challenges like the shortage of semi-conductor chips, this has not yet realised its full potential. So I would say it is a work in progress, but the opportunities for the Indian auto components industry as a whole, are definitely there.
Can you tell us about your contribution to PHEVs and pure EVs?
We are approaching the electrification of the automotive industry with a multipronged strategy to ensure we are ahead of the curve in its adoption. This means being nimble-footed in addressing the market needs as it transitions from ICE through some stages of automation/hybridisation to pure electric. This impacts product technology and process technology and the tectonic shifts it causes in the supply chains.
By having a strategy to map every phase of this transition and be future-ready with product technologies and the means to deliver them, we support our Indian and global customers in the even bigger challenges they face.
Can you tell us about the initiatives taken to make the products flawless? What's the current average PPM at which you supply to your customers, and what is your target?
All our manufacturing facilities are compliant with the latest quality, safety, and environmental protection standards, the IATF16949: 2016, OSHAS 45001: 2018 and ISO14001: 2015 EMS. We are currently at zero ppm level at our major customers' level for the past three years and at a double-digit level at our manufacturing facilities. In addition, we have ongoing Kaizen programmes to keep the continuous improvement culture alive.
Further, for the last five years, we have been practising sustainability reporting as per the GRI guidelines, which have now been converted into standards and audited by independent auditors. It is our desire to protect the quality of our operations beyond the realm of product quality into the realm of sustainability by transparently reporting and assuring our customers that they are receiving quality assured products manufactured in a safe, environment-friendly fashion, meeting specific sustainability development goals.