In its bid to meet limited capacity challenges at its existing plants, Maruti Suzuki has said that it will be adopting 'Kaizen' methodologies in its production processes that would help it to rationalize its assembly lines.
It is to be mentioned that the term term kaizen (Japanese for "improvement") is a Japanese word adopted into English referring to a philosophy or practices focusing on continuous improvement in manufacturing activities, business activities in general, and even life in general, depending on interpretation and usage. When used in the business sense and applied to the workplace, kaizen typically refers to activities that continually improve all functions of a business, from manufacturing to management and from the CEO to the assembly line workers. By improving standardised activities and processes, kaizen aims to eliminate waste (see lean manufacturing). Kaizen was first implemented in several Japanese businesses during the country's recovery after World War II and has since spread to businesses throughout the world.
I. V. Rao, managing executive officer, Engineering, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), said, "This will be a major milestone for the company and also brings new challenges as we could face some capacity constraints. By using the Japanese Kaizen production methodologies, we are working to bring about incremental gains in production at Gurgaon and Manesar plants." He added, "The Manesar plant is faced with serious capacity constraint. Therefore, we are in the process of further streamlining operations. However, we have no plans to add a third shift. We are actively considering expansion and a decision is likely by next fiscal. The company accounts for 54 per cent market share and we will continue to bring in new products to retain our hare," he said.
Meanwhile, the country's largest passenger car manufacturer is also planning to roll out brand centres across key metros in the country that will enable it to enahnce its brand salience. The company is looking to set up these centres (which are expected to occupy at least 44,000-45,000 square feet space) over the next 18-24 months. Financial Chronicle says that the company is on course to buying nearly 44,000 square feet space in Rajarhat, one of India's latest and fastest-growing planned new cities near Kolkata. "This concept is in an early stage and lot of changes may eventually happen. The brand centres are likely to showcase the best products from Maruti and Suzuki's stables. For instance, you could hope to see Hayabusa bikes in the brand centre besides the Maruti Eeco," a senior official was quoted as saying to FC, without disclosing any investment outlay for such centres.
In a separate media report, Maruti Suzuki has also revealed that it is looking to enhance its export base by entering into markets in the Middle East, South America, West Asia and Australia. "We are currently exporting our cars to the European countries but now we will start exploring new markets such as Africa, South America, the Middle East and Australia to boost our exports," a senior official told reporters in Chandigarh recently. The company has targeted to export 1.30 lakh cars by this fiscal end against 70,000 cars exported in 2008-09.
Talking about sales in the northern region, Maruti Suzuki said the company recorded 30 per cent growth in cars sales in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana (excluding NCR), Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh during the first nine months till December 2009 against the national growth of 22.5 per cent. The company has sold 72,000 cars in the region [comprising Haryana (excluding NCR region), Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir] during the period April-December 2009 as compared with 55,000 units it sold during the corresponding period of the previous year. "We are on an average selling 8,000 cars per month in these markets, which have grown by 30 per cent in April till December 2009," a senior Maruti official was quoted as saying to reporters.
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