INTRODUCTION

COMPANY PROFILES
Ashok Leyland has been a major presence in Indias commercial vehicle industry since 1948, the year it was born. The origin of Ashok Leyland can be traced to the urge for selfreliance, felt by independent India. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister persuaded Mr. Raghunandan Saran, an industrialist, to enter automotive manufacturing. They are one of the Indias leading manufacturer of commercial vehicles and special vehicles, engines for industrial purpose, gen sets and marine requirement equipments. For over five decades, Ashok Leyland has been the technology leader in Indias commercial vehicle industry, molding the countrys commercial vehicle profile by introducing technologies and product ideas that have gone on to become industry norms.

Ashok Leyland at the time of its inception was known as Ashok Motors. It was assembling Austin cars at the first plant, at Ennore, near Chennai. In 1950, the company started assembly of Leyland commercial vehicles and soon the local manufacturing under license from British Leyland, participation in the equity capital, in 1954, the company was re christened Ashok Leyland.

In 1987 the overseas holding by LRLIH (LAND ROVER LEYLAND INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LIMITED) was taken over by a joint venture between the Hinduja group, the Non Resident Indian Transnational group and IVECO Fiat SPA part of the Fiat group and Europes leading truck manufacturing company. Ashok P Hinduja is the chairman of the company. The Hinduja group also associated with Ennore Foundries Limited, Automotive Coaches and Components Limited, and Gulf Ashley Motors Limited.

The subsidiary holdings are Ashley Holdings Ltd., Ashley Investment Ltd., and Ashok Leyland Project Services. The chief competitors of the company are;

Mahindra Volvo Tata Motors

With a commanding strength of the about 12,000 employees the company is looking forwards to enhance the scope of its action. It is aiming at expanding its production operation overseas to make it a more globally accessible company. It is looking to acquire a small to medium sized commercial vehicle manufacturers in China and other developing nations, which have an established product line. An example would be the 2007 acquisition of the Czech based Avias truck business rechristened Avia Ashok Leyland Motors.

Since its inception, Ashok Leyland has been a major presence and these years have been punctuated by a number of technological innovations which went to become industry standard. This tradition of technological innovations and leadership was achieved through years of vigorous in-house research and development.

From 18 seater to 82 seater double-decker buses, from 7.5 tonne to 49 tonne in haulage vehicles, from numerous special application vehicles to diesel engines for industrial, marine and genset applications, Ashok Leyland offers a wide range of products. Ashok Leyland has seven manufacturing plants Ennore Plant, Chennai. Hosur Plants Unit I, Unit II and Unit II A. Alwar, Rajasthan. Bhandara, Maharashtra. Pantnagar, Uttarakhand

Early products of Ashok Leyland included the Leyland Comet bus chassis sold to many operators including Hyderabad Road Transport, Ahmedabad Municipality, Travancore State Transport, Bombay State Transport and Delhi Road Transport Authority.

In the popular metro cities, four out of five state transport undertaking buses come from Ashok Leyland. Some of them like the Double Decker and Vestibule buses are unique models from Ashok Leyland, tailor made high-density routes. Statistics reveal that the company is Indias largest exporter of medium and heavy duty trucks. It sells close to 83,000 medium and heavy vehicles each year. The company has a near 98.5% market share in the Marine Diesel engine markets in India. At 60 million passengers a day, Ashok Leyland buses carry more people than the entire Indian Railway network. The Five AL Values are: 1. International 2. Speedy 3. Value Creator 4. Innovative 5. Ethical

GROWTH MILESTONES OF ASHOK LEYLAND:

1966 Full air brakes introduced 1967 Double Decker buses introduced. 1968 Power steering offered. 1979 Multi-axle trucks introduced. 1980 Integral bus with air suspension. 1992 Self-certification status for defence supplies. 1994 ISO 9001 Certification 1997 Indias first CNG powered bus. 1998 QS 9000 Certification

1999 CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) introduced. 2000 Euro-I, Engines/vehicles introduced. 2002 ISO 14000 Environment Management System Certification. 2002 Exclusive Machine line 2 for Hino cylinder. 2003 E-Comet launched. 2004 50,000 mark vehicle produced. 2006- ISO/TS 16949 Corporate Certification.

ASSOCIATE COMPANIES:
Automotive Coaches & Components Ltd (ACCL) Lanka Ashok Leyland Hinduja Foundries IRIZAR TVS Ashok Leyland Project Services Ltd Gulf Ashley Motors Ltd Ennore Foundries Ltd

FACILITIES:
The company has seven manufacturing locations in India 1) Ennore, Tamilnadu 2) Hosur: Unit 1, Tamilnadu 3) Hosur: Unit 2, Tamilnadu 4) Hosur: Unit 2A, Tamilnadu 5) Alwar, Rajasthan 6) Bhandara, Maharashtra 7) Pantnagar, Uttarakhand Ashok Leylands Technical Centre, at Vellivoyalchavadi in the outskirts of Chennai, is a state-of-the-art product development facility, that apart from modern test tracks and component test labs, also houses Indias one and only Six Poster testing equ ipment.

The company has an Engine Research and Development facility in Hosur. The new plant in the North Indian state of Uttarakhand at Patnanagar is set up at an investment outlay of Rs.1200 crores. This plant is expected to go on stream in the year 2010 to cater mainly to the North Indian market taking advantage of the excise duty and other tax concessions. The facilities have been so designed as to accommodate further expansion in terms of capacity and future models. At full capacity utilization, 75000 vehicles will roll out of the Patnanagar plant.

The company has signed an agreement with Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA) in UAE for setting up a bus body building unit in the Middle east.

Ennore
Spread over 135 acres, Ashok Leyland Ennore is a highly integrated Mother Plant accounting for over 40% ALL production. The plant manufactures a wide range of vehicles and house production facilities for important aggregates such as Engines, Gear Box, Axles and other key in-house components.

Hosur Unit 1
Established in 1980, Hosur-I is the engine-manufacturing center within the Ashok Leyland production system. Apart from producing various types of diesel engines (including the engines manufactured under license from Hino of Japan) and CNG engines, the plant also manufactures and assembles heavy duty and special vehicles, Axles, AGBs, Marine Gear Box, etc. The facility is spread over 103 acres and is innovatively laid out, optimising the use of all resources.

Hosur Unit 2
Ashok Leyland established this state-of-the-art production facility in 1994 at Hosur. Spread over 236 acres, Hosur II houses finishing and assembly facilities including sophisticated painting facilities. The complex also houses one of the largest press facilities

in India for pressing frame side members. Laid out with an eye for the future, Hosur II has won acclaim from several automotive experts who have visited the facility.

Hosur Unit 2A
Ashok Leylands brand new Cab Panel Press Shop is an imposing addition to the industrial skyline of Hosur. At 800 m above sea level, it is also

the tallest in the Hosur industrial belt. This state-of-the-art facility is housed in a 99-acre expanse with a built up area of over 15,000 sq.m. The Shop is equipped to stamp select panels for Cargo cab, G-45 and C-45 FES - totally, 55 panels and their variants. Right now it houses eight presses and has the provision to accommodate four more. The versatility of the presses can be utilised for making panels of complex shapes and profiles with appropriate tooling and dies. In addition to catering to our present needs, the Press Shop can take up additional panels of new / current models. Right at the design stage, a

rainwater harvesting facility was integrated into the Shop. A 60,000-sqm lawn and the 2,500 saplings planted recently in the premises will give the Shop a cool, green cover. Built with an investment of Rs 1350 million, the Shop is designed and developed to be a state-of-the-art facility. The 210m long Press Shop consists of two bays with a 36m span in each bay. The 24m high Press bay has an underground tunnel, 7.1m deep and 90m long, to handle the end bits generated during the process of panel pressing. The other bay is 17m high.

Alwar
Established in 1982, the Alwar Unit in Rajasthan is an assembly plant for a wide range of vehicles with an emphasis on passenger chassis, including CNG buses, situated close to the northern market.

Bhandara
Ashok Leyland's Bhandara Unit houses manufacturing and assembly facilities for sophisticated synchromesh transmission and also has facilities for assembly of vehicles.

Pantnagar
Set over 190 scenic acres, the Pantnagar plant of Ashok Leyland is also its largest and one of the most integrated manufacturing facilities in Indian commercial vehicle industry. On 200,000 sq.ms of built up area, it houses best in class industrial architecture combined with the latest manufacturing technologies that is also ecology sensitive as reflected in the selection of machinery and processes. Highly energy efficient, the plant is designed to be remarkably operator friendly. The shop floors receive the maximum natural light and ventilation while the insulated high roof reduces the inside temperature by up to 8oC in the summer months.

Designed on lean manufacture principles, process control for high quality of output and flexibility to manage variety with quick changeovers are built into the machine and process selection. The factory boasts of latest generation equipment sourced from global leaders in Japan, USA, Europe and India.

The facilities have been so designed as to accommodate further expansion in terms of capacity and future models. At full capacity utilization, 75,000 vehicles will roll out of the Pantnagar plant.