NK Minda Group inaugurates new plant manufacture painted wheel covers [Oct 2011]

November 10, 2011 11:44 am

Auto components manufacturer NK Minda Group inaugurated a new plant at Manesar in Gurgaon. This plant will use a superior quality Japanese process, for production of painted wheel covers for Indian OEMs manufacturing four wheelers. The plant was inaugurated by S Maitra, CEO, Supply Chain, Maruti Suzuki India.NK Minda Group has invested around Rs.5 crore in this plant. The start of production (SOP) is set to be in January 2012 with a set annual volume of 1,20,000 pieces and installed capacity of 6,00,000 pieces wheels annually. However within the same space and paint facility and with increase in moulding machines, capacity can also be enhanced to thrice over. The plant is expected to reach the break-even point by the year 2013-14.The production and sale of these wheel covers will be taken care of, by two separate JV companies. Mindarika Pvt. Ltd. (MRPL), a group company of NK Minda Group, will manufacture the painted wheel covers, and Tokai Rika Minda India Pvt. Ltd. (TRMN) will be responsible to supply it to OEMs. MRPL and TRMN are existing Joint Ventures between Minda Industries Limited and Tokai Rika, Japan.Nirmal Kr. Minda, CMD of NK Minda Group said, “The wheel cover market has a potential to reach Rs. 100 crore in the near future. MRPL has the technical competence and capability to manufacture wheel covers of varied thickness, up to 1.2 mm, over and above its contemporaries. This gives a weight reduction advantage to OEMs. Tokai Rika, Japan is an established player in the field of wheel covers and provides full technical support to the JV companies. It is a major supplier of wheel covers to most OEM’s in Japan.”