A small-scale truck manufacturer introduces a new range of heavy-duty commercial vehicles. By Venkatachari Jagannathan.

Chennai: Thirty one year old Anirudh Bhuwalka, promoter and director, Asia MotorWorks Limited (AMW), Mumbai, over simplifies the truck-making process. He would probably describe the process as "simply zero in on the top manufacturers of engines, gearboxes, axles, clutch, cabins and other components and mount them together on a chassis."

Bingo! And you have a global truck.

Sounds as simple enough as a child making a toy truck out of plastic parts. That is precisely what Bhuwalka is doing at his Bhuj plant. Sourcing mission-critical components — engines from Cummins, clutch from Valeo, axles from Arvin Meritor, gearbox from ZF, cabin from FAW, China — he rolls out trucks with carrying capacities ranging between 25 tons to 49 tons. With a localisation level of around 95 per cent, the company's tag line says AMW-The global truck.

AMW recently launched two models — a 49-ton tractor (the 4923 TR) that can be used as a carrier for steel coils, oil, steel plates, cement bulker, tip trailer and inland container, and a 25-ton tipper (the 2523 TP) used in the construction and mining sectors.

According to R C Mangal, vice president, marketing, powered by 235 hp engines these trucks enable faster turnaround, hauling higher payload and reduce the fleet size by nearly 30 per cent for a fleet operator. Further the 9-speed gearbox offers higher fuel efficiency that would result in lower cost per ton per kilometre — in other words higher profits per-ton kilometre.

According to Mangal, AMW trucks are perhaps the only ones in the market than can carry the highest permissible load with high fuel-efficiency at a competitive price. "The cost per kilometre while operating our vehicle is nearly 50 per cent lower than that of competition," he claims.

A simple concept difficult to actualise
While the concept of shop-assemble-and rollout trucks may not be new to the Americans, it is certainly new in India. At a time when the Indian truck makers have their own facilities for critical (engine and gearbox) and non-critical components, AMW's shop and assemble concept for trucks had few takers initially. It was no mean task for Bhuwalka and his team to make the concept a reality.

"A greenfield truck project without foreign tie up, people refused to believe," says an official.

Finding vendors was tough as the initial volumes were low. Similarly convincing the financiers — to fund the project as well as the truck operators to purchase the AMW trucks — were not easy.

"All the truck purchases are financed by lenders who base their decision on the kind of vehicle being financed. As the financiers fund a business, the business asset should be dependable and well known," explains Bhuwalka.

On the technical side doubts were raised about assembling aggregates into trucks. For instance one should get the brake balance right as one cannot just buy the foundation brakes of different truck and match it with a vehicle with different engine. Similarly in the case of the rear axle, the crown-and pinion-ratio is matched with engine output.

P Dhanasekaran, head, R&D, asserts, "All the technical issues have been taken care of. The components match with each other very well."

Undeterred by doubts, Bhuwalka and his team persisted with their idea. "Things started easing once the homologation of the vehicle happened successfully and production started," explains Sharad Patankar, head, procurement.

Starting operations in 2002, AMW has sold around 200 units till date. "The results are really good. The drivers of our trucks plying in coal mines are more comfortable and manage to make more trips than drivers of other vehicles," Bhuwalka claims.

That is possible as the air-conditioned cabin has a large and comfortable bed, FM radio, adjustable power steering, and all-round visibility.

Gung-ho about the future he says, "The demand for heavy commercial vehicles is driven by three factors — a buoyant economy, the Supreme Court ruling against overloading of vehicles and the various new road projects."

As the manufacturing sector is performing well, the commercial vehicles sector has grown by nearly 40 per cent in 2003-05. "In the last six months, alone the tractor-trailer segment has grown fast. There is a need for larger-duty trucks," he adds.

AMW is not competing against any of the existing players, says Bhuwalka. Presently the trucks are available in the 150-177 hp at the lower band and 300 hp at the higher level. AMW with its trucks are trying to fill the gap that exists between these two with its 235hp trucks.

"We will not eat into the market shares of Ashok Leyland or Tata Motors. All we seek is to have a share in the incremental market growth."

The company has started getting serious business enquiries. According to officials, oil sector companies and Reliance are showing keen interest in the 49-ton tractor that can haul a 35,000-kilolitre oil tanker. Presently the largest is 25,000 kilolitre tanker from Volvo.

Similarly, steel companies have started showing interest in AMW's truck as the existing trucks can now carry only one steel coil after the Supreme Court judgment banning overloading. AMW's truck can carry two steel coils that would result in cost savings for steel companies.

Bhuwalka's lips are sealed when it comes to numbers. "Our capacity is scalable based on the demand," is all that he says. He would neither confirm nor deny reports that the company has invested around Rs500 crore till date and another Rs1,500 crore will be invested in course of time.

It is learnt the company rolls out around five vehicles per day, which will soon go up to 10. The ultimate target is to make 30,000 vehicles per annum. "Very soon the localisation levels will touch 100 per cent. We will be making the cabin at our plant itself."

In five months, the company will launch a 300hp vehicle. Other models due to be rolled out are the 2518 HL, a 6x2-wheel haulage, the 4018 TR and the 4930 TR. Speaking about the plans for getting into smaller capacity vehicles he says, "Our plate is full for now. We have to earn money first and ensure our dealers also earn."

AMW will have a distribution network of 151 dealers based in Class A cities. While the company has tied-up with Cummins to stock spare parts, it will establish warehouses in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttaranchal to stock other parts.

To export wheel rims
Apart from making trucks, AMW has the capacity to roll out 2.45-million wheel rims per annum. The company acquired two-wheel rim plants from Europe. Declining to disclose the seller's name Bhuwalka says, "Along with the plant we got the clients and we will soon start supplying them from India." Similarly the company is expecting orders for its crash barriers from the road builders.