Tata Motors is making new plans for its Sanand plant, now operating at 100% capacity utilisation.
The plant has so far rolled out over 450,000 units and is among the automaker's fastest expanding plants.
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There have been troubled times. Back in 2008 Tata was forced to cancel plans to build its then-new Nano at Singur in the Indian state of West Bengal, and abandoned the half-built plant due to local protests over land acquisition for the facility.
Tata then decided to shift Nano to its light truck facility at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand at relatively short notice, eventually launching the budget priced car in 2009. In April 2010, capacity limitations at Pantnagar were solved as this then-new Nano plant at Sanand in Gujarat came on stream.
Tata said it was currently mapping out its modular architecture plans and would distribute its passenger vehicle manufacturing between Pune and Sanand to meet its product expansion plans.
Mayank Pareek, head of Tata's passenger vehicle business unit, said a lean manufacturing process plays a key role in Tata's growth strategy enabling the Sanand plant to contribute around 60% of overall PV production (still making a few Nanos) but concentrating on Tiago and Tigor models.
On 1,100 acres, the Sanand plant has played an important role in the development of the automobile industry in the state of Gujarat. From a single model plant in 2010, the plant is now a multi-model facility and one of the most technologically advanced plants. With a flexible assembly line, the plant today manufactures 21 Nano, Tiago & Tigor variants in 150 vehicle combinations. It is also producing engines – Revotron 1.2L – petrol (manual & auto transmission), Revotorq 1.05L – diesel, 624 CC, MPFI – petrol (manual & auto transmission) and 1.2 NGTC – petrol (manual & auto transmission).
Sanand also produced the first Tigor EV and continues to support deliveries of a fleet order.
The plant has 190 robots, with high levels of automation to increase productivity across processes. In last two years, the number of employees has increased by 80% to 4,500.
?Sanand is a zero discharge plant and has a systematic hazardous waste disposal process. The plant uses 30%-35% renewable energy and has 2MW of roof top solar panels and off-site wind power mills with capacity of 9MW. The plant has 180 acres of green belt created and nurtured using waste water. The plant achieved a 1,300-tCO2e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) reduction in carbon emission on an average per month in fiscal 2018.
