Française de roues focusing on original equipment

When listing off the major European alloy manufacturers, it isn’t hard to forget the “Française de roues” plant in Diors, smack in the middle of France. The company, along with Dial, is the only cast alloy wheel manufacturer remaining in France. The wheel maker has been established for a number of years and was known as Montupet before its parent company announced plans at the start of to divest its wheel business to Indian company Deltronix.

Immediately following this transaction, the former Montupet operation’s business with car makers, which in some instances was only getting under way, suffered and business relationships with customers such as Seat and Alfa Romeo folded. The wheel manufacturer however retained supply deals with the two major French vehicle makers – PSA, with its Peugeot and Citroën, and Renault, with its partners Nissan (supply for the Qashqai was a huge success) and Dacia. In addition, the alloy wheel supplier was and remains market leader with minor vehicle manufacturers such as Mia and Axiam, producers of vehicles that are virtually unknown in the UK but a presence on French roads.

“My role now is primarily to re-expand our customer base,” shared sales director Patrick Farque-Metais, who previously served in this capacity at the “old Montupet” and as of last autumn was asked to return to the fold by new owner Deltronix. He explains to Tyres & Accessories a bit about the family-owned Indian company behind the French wheel business, now renamed “Française de roues”, or F2R for short, and why the wheel manufacturer retains the highest standards that will, once again, see strongly it engaged in original equipment business.

The Deltronix group

Established 20 years ago, the Deltronix group belongs to the Gupta family and is primarily engaged in supplying the Indian automotive sector with products such as the rubber components used in ignition equipment. The company is also Indian market leader, with a 70 per cent share, with its activated carbon filters. And Deltronix’s wheel business now accounts for more than 50 per cent of its corporate portfolio.

Taking advantage of existing Indian OE contacts, Farque-Metais worked towards ensuring that British manufacturers Jaguar and Land Rover, both part of India’s Tata group, were supplied by Deltronix – as are, amongst others, Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra in India and global players who have set up shop there, including General Motors, Ford and Volkswagen.

Part of the reason why the alloy wheel business is growing in importance for Deltronix is that the company has established a new plant in Chennai. This entered operation in December 2012 and has an annual capacity of 2.2 million cast alloy rims. Several years earlier, market analyses conducted by the Gupta family into which segments of the emerging Indian automotive industry are expected to grow most of all in the near future led to a decision to engage in cast alloy rim production. Previously only Visakhapatnam-based Synergies Casting Ltd. and Enkei manufactured these products in India, and therefore Deltronix intends to fill a gap in the market.

It was at this time that an opportunity presented itself. Montupet, which had already closed its alloy wheel plant in Northern Ireland at the turn of 2006/7, now wished to dispose of its facility in France. This offered not only the chance for a newcomer to gain a production site, but also to acquire much-needed know-how. And the French plant had know-how aplenty, having been in operation since 1970.

But there was a catch: Today Montupet and Française de roues must share the Diors plant. Thus walls were erected and buildings repartitioned following the acquisition. Overall, this set up where two completely independently-operating firms work under the one roof functions very well, shares Patrick Farque-Metais. Admittedly small jealousies have surfaced, such as when high utilisation rates meant that the F2R workers needed to remain at work while their counterparts at Montupet enjoyed a holiday.

The company’s business model sets out that, at least initially, the Indian alloy wheel plant will manufacture basic and, by European standards, small dimension wheels. These wheels are be suited to the Indian market, however the F2R sales director says production in Chennai also promises a better mix for European customers. As opposed to Chinese-produced wheels, tariffs play virtually no role when it importing wheels from India, therefore it in essence irrelevant whether a mould to produce a particular wheel is set up in Chennai or in Diors.

Yet the goal isn’t to have two fundamentally identical factories with low pressure cast moulds; instead, the factory in Diors will be utilised for specific niche requirements, confirms plant director Piere Braillon. With a maximum capacity of around two million units, F2R will hardly be able to keep abreast with the largest firms supplying original equipment customers, however it will come into its own with specialties that that would perhaps interrupt the production flow at these other factories, such as individualised, large-dimension wheels.

The headquarters of Française de roues is located in Paris and employs only several people, however managing director Kapil Gupta spends a large proportion of his working week there. About 460 people work in the plant itself, which is located some three hours’ drive away from Paris. The plant has both ISO TS 16949 and ISO 14001 certification. Production is carried out according to a 4-shift model from Sunday evening to Saturday morning. 

Since Deltronix acquired the plant in 2010, seven million euros have been invested in projects that include a new smelting oven, and a further five million has been set aside for new equipment such as an automated x-ray facility plus production flow optimisation. Turnover at F2R amounted to 81 million euros last year, representing the production of 1,720,000 units. While the Chennai plant has a daily capacity of 10,000 wheels, capacity at the sister plant in France is 9,000 a day and average daily output last year was 7,700 wheels. The company expects production levels to remain the same in 2013. Plant management currently doesn’t foresee the occurrence of any real bottlenecks such as those experienced by some factories due to the constant growth of wheel dimensions.

The alloy AISi7Mg is exclusively used and wheels from 13 to 19-inches are manufactured (the Indian plant is able to produce wheels up to 21-inches). Currently 18-inch fitments are the strongest sellers at F2R and account for almost 50 per cent of all wheels produced; the percentage of diamond cut wheels manufactured is almost exactly as high – just a few years ago this was a niche product. Two Alstom paint facilities are in operation at the plant, the first of these processes around 4,000 units up to 17-inches in a working day and the second can handle double so many and is compatible with wheels up to 19-inches.

Specialities

Coloured wheels presently account for just a small proportion of total production, but this is growing rapidly. These products have already been supplied to OEM customers, evidence that the firm has rich experience in this area, and it is ready to produce in greater volume at any time. Technologically-speaking, Française de roués is well established; for example, for more than two years it has utilised laser technology and is astounded that others still celebrate this as an innovative breakthrough. Some technologies the plant has long used would have benefitted from patent protection during the transition from Montupet to F2R, and are now widely used by other wheel makers. However it still enjoys the benefit of patented processes, such as TCA (short for Thermo Compactage Accéléré).

When it comes to colours, inserts and logos on its wheels, F2R has a full line of product solutions at hand in order to fulfill the high requirements of OEM customers. This also applies for the increasingly-used stickers used for personalising wheels in the replacement business. The manufacturer says it is in a position to take all shades of colour into account and a total of 24 various colour tones, combined in either ‘satin’ or ‘gloss’ finishes, are already used in the production process. “Bi-colour-Diamond” wheels are becoming an increasingly popular choice for ‘fun cars’ and turn even small electric cars into eye catchers. F2R offers individualised markings that can be applied and then later removed: these can be colourful or shaded, or any other wish the company receives.

Such a focus is otherwise only known in the replacement business. The difference here, and it is a major one, lies in the fact that F2R has managed to realise such wishes while also fulfilling the high demands of the original equipment segment. Due to historical reasons the focus remains on original equipment, Patrick Farque-Metais notes, however in the medium-term nobody is against targeting the aftermarket with such products,  either independently or on behalf of other replacement market providers.