Apollo reaches million milestone
This week the millionth truck-bus radial came off the production line at Apollo Tyres’ Chennai manufacturing facility. The TBR unit entered service in April 2010 with an initial production of 250 tyres a day; following a series of gradual ramp-ups a total of 4,000 tyres are now produced there each day. TBR tyres now account for 19 per cent of Apollo’s total commercial vehicle tyre production, a figure that mirrors India’s overall 20 per cent commercial sector radialisation level.
Commenting on the millionth tyre’s production, Satish Sharma, chief of India Operations at Apollo Tyres, said: “The fact that we have been able to put in capacities quickly to adequately address the needs of the growing Indian vehicle manufacturers, is a point of pride. From here, we are aiming to speed up the process and hit our next million in the next ten months. What has been heartening has been the high acceptance of Apollo’s truck-bus radials with the mature OEM and replacement customers, combined with the extensive service back-up that we have put in place.”
From the Chennai plant, Apollo Tyres supplies tyres to a number of OEM customers including Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and Eicher. In addition to a million TBR tyres, the factory has produced some three million passenger car tyres. Currently 75,000 passenger car tyres are produced in the Chennai facility daily for both original equipment customers and the aftermarket.
Apollo claims the Chennai plant’s speedy ramp-up has enabled it to quickly become India’s largest tyre producer and increase its domestic market share.
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