Indian component maker serving global OEMs

By Staff Report December 30, 2024 5:50 pm IST

Automotive components require a unique selling point, which MVD AUTO COMPONENTS achieves by focusing on customising and developing parts that customers find challenging to source or develop in India. Vishal Bhatnagar, CEO and Managing Director of MVD AUTO COMPONENTS, discusses the company’s manufacturing operations in India.   

How does your company ensure efficient operations while catering to OEM customers across India?

Our operations are spread across 3 locations in the NCR region of Delhi. This helps us coordinate the plant’s common sales and dispatches. Our OEM customers are across India, and we have representatives in Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Rudrapur, Alwar, Kolkata, Faridabad, and Hoshiarpur.

We have an in-house lab with modern testing facilities to meet stringent quality requirements . We believe in “No Compromise on Quality.” Our success is attributed to quality, a magic word that should be ingrained in all our employees and staff.

We strive to meet and surpass our customers’ quality standards to build trust and ensure the reliability of our direct online deliveries.

What products do you offer for passenger cars, tractors, commercial vehicles, and marine and earthmoving applications? Highlight the USPs. 

When we started in 1993, our initial products were designed for Suzuki-Maruti Suzuki cars and vans, offering parts like window locks, door locking knobs, and side indicator lenses for Maruti vans. These parts had maximum breakages during use and had good aftermarket sales. The turning point occurred with the development of Carburettor Solenoid Switches, which were previously imported from Japan at a high cost. We developed these switches for the first time in India at a fraction of the importation costs and started supplying them to leading carburettor manufacturers who were supplying to leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). These Tier-2 supplies started the learning process of OEM Quality & Systems. 

Later, we developed Radiator Fan Thermostat Switches, Automatic Transmission Solenoids, and Power Steering Switches for OEMs importing these. We were the first Indian company to develop and supply these parts to them. We take great pride in being a 100% Indian company supplying these products to leading OEMs, competing against imported parts and MNC companies. Our core competencies include switches, sensors, and solenoids, which currently have thousands of part numbers available.

What R&D capabilities enable you to stay updated with evolving trends in the automotive components sector?

Our unique selling point is new product development, focusing on customising and developing parts that our customers find challenging to source or develop in India. We have an R&D Team with a liberal budget, working on the best software and simulation. Our marketing team always identifies complex parts that our customers are looking to develop, either for sourcing or cost-cutting.

What process does your company follow for developing new components, and how do you prioritise innovation?

We communicate with customers through direct visits and participation in major automotive shows and forums. This exposure provides us insights into innovative technologies happening worldwide. We need to understand these ever-changing dynamic innovations and adapt ourselves to be ready to offer these to our customers. We collaborate with our customers’ technical teams to enhance these innovations, tailoring them to their specific needs. The customer can further offer these products to their onward customers through their vehicles or spares. Our collaboration with customers has been recognised through “Excellent” vendor ratings and awards for quality, deliveries, and growth from them and the Government of India.

How has the company grown since its inception, focusing on client base expansion and geographical reach?

The company was established in 1993 by Late Vimal Bhatnagar in our home garage. Before starting this company, he had over 30 years of experience working with top International Auto Components Manufacturing Companies.

In 1995, our first OEM customer was a top carburettor manufacturer. We developed carburettor solenoid switches for them, and they imported solenoid switches to Japan. In 1996, we started Gurgaon Unit and had our 1st export customer, a USA-based company, which was the leader in Automatic Transmission Parts and is still one of our biggest customers. In 1996, we created Thermostat Switches for Escorts Tractors and began providing supplies for these and other switches. In 1998, we developed Reverse Gear Switches for Ashok Leyland and got their vendor code. We supply over 50 parts to them, serving all their units across India.

In 2001, we started the Delhi (Okhla Industrial Area) unit. From 2001 to 2010, we added more OEM customers like Hindustan Motors, Bajaj Tempo Ltd (Now Force Motors), AMW Motors, Sonalika Tractors, Indofarm Tractors, Eicher Engines, ACE Cranes, Voltas Air International (Tier-2 for Tata Motors).

As we continue expanding our business, we focus on established OEMs such as Ashok Leyland and Escorts. In 2014, we started our Noida Unit-I. From 2014 to 2020, we included more Indian OEMs and supplies to international OEMs, such as Kohler Engines, Lister Petter Engines, TZen, Mitsubishi Engines, and Yanmar.

We export to leading aftermarket distributor brands in 30 countries, in addition to these OEM customers. Most of our export customers are in the USA, UK, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, etc. 

What is your company’s future roadmap? Are you working on any innovations in your products and services portfolio? 

We started our Noida Unit-II and plan to add more product lines, particularly switches, sensors, and solenoids, for the new technologies. We have obtained design and patent rights for several solenoid valves and are developing new parts for electric vehicles or next-generation CPCB-4 engines.

We are actively engaging with several high-technology international companies to explore opportunities for potential collaborations soon.