Wheels India plans to foray into air-suspension for trucks and trailers

CHENNAI: Leading steel wheels manufacturer Wheels India today said it plans to enter into manufacturing of air-suspension for truck and trailers. "On the suspension side, we have been predominantly looking at bus suspension. We are now increasingly looking to enter into domain of truck suspension and trailer suspension, Wheels India Managing Director Srivats Ram told reporters. The company is also working on ambulance system, he added. He said as far as wheels are concerned there is demand, "but on the suspension products, what we are trying to do is to create a demand in this segment." On their future plans, he said the company proposed to increase the capacity of its five plants to 15 million wheels by next year from the present 13 million wheels at an investment of Rs 70 crore. "Presently, we are producing 12 million wheels (across five plants). We will be adding another million and half capacity over the next year. Right now, we can reach up to 13 million wheels ... next job is to reach 15 million... that may be by next year," Ram said. Of the Rs 70 crore, "bulk" of the investments would go into their two plants in Chennai. On their technical collaboration with Japanese-firm Topy Industries, he said, "By tying up with Topy Industries, we get involved in early product development and design. As a result, there is a possibility for us to become a preferred supplier (to the customers of Topy Industries)," he said. Asked about the company's manufacturing plant at Wardha in Maharashtra, where it is diversifying into power sector, he said the plant would break even by the fourth quarter of 2011. "We have invested around Rs 25 crore. We started last year, it is expected that fourth quarter of this year, we will break even," he said. In the first phase, the company plans to manufacture critical structurals like auto-weld beams, boxes, columns and girders for large boilers made by some of the biggest power plant suppliers, and other applications. On the outlook for this financial year, he said the domestic market has been sluggish in the first quarter and is likely to remain so in the third quarter as well. However, "We expect fourth quarter to be strong," he said.