Yamaha India’s third manufacturing facility comes with an initial production capacity of 4,50,000 units per annum and will be increased to 1.8 million units by 2018.
Yamaha India has been doing relatively well with its operations in the country offering a range of motorcycles and more recently scooters as well. Expanding its operations, the Japanese manufacturer that builds a strong name over a motorsport rich heritage inaugurated its third manufacturing facility in the country located at the industrial park in Vallam Vadagal on the outskirts of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Joining the facilities in Surajpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Faridabad (Haryana), the new plant will help the company meet the increasing demand of the market and will be producing a range of commuter motorcycles and scooters.
The new Yamaha production plant is spread over 177 acres with the facility covering 109 acres while 68 acres are dedicated to vendor partners. The plant comes with an initial annual production capacity of 4,50,000 units, which will be expanded to a total of 2.5 million units by 2018. The automaker had first signed an MoU with the state government in 2012 and managed to get the place up and running within three years. Yamaha will be investing a total of Rs. 1500/- crores in multiple phases till 2018 in the plant and currently employs 2000 people that will be increased to 3900 over the next three years.
The new Chennai facility is also the first of its kind in the Yamaha group to get a ‘Vendor Park’ and will see nine vendors invest a cumulative Rs. 1000/- crores, while employing around 3000 people by 2018. With the vendor base close, the facility brings together production operations of main external part suppliers, thereby reducing loss in the areas of production management and distribution. Further, the new plant is also eco-friendly with maximum use of sunlight, zero water discharge and recycling of waste water being adopted for optimisation of resources.
The third Yamaha India plant will be producing the new Saluto 125cc motorcycle as well as the Fascino, Alpha, Ray and Ray Z scooters with the entire lineup powered by a 113cc motor. The company sold 7.4 lakh units in 2014 and a host of oncoming growth is expected to come from scooters that have seen a 25-30 percent year-on-year hike in sales. Backed by the new commuter products, the automaker is aiming to achieve a double-digit sales figure in 2015. The new facility will also help the company expand in South India with the region contributing to 50 percent of total sales.
