Introduction- Maruti Suzuki India Limited

Maruti Suzuki India Limited was established in February 1981 with the name Maruti Udyog
Limited. The company later joined hands with Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan in 1982 to start
a joint venture agreement. Upon starting the production and other operations in 1983, the
company rolled out its first Maruti 800. Ever since then, MSIL has grown in leaps and bounds to
cater to a large pool of customers in India and abroad. It has been one of the most successful
companies in supply chain and logistics management in the Indian automobile market. Currently,
the company is engaged in the businesses of manufacturing, purchase and sale of motor vehicles
and automobile spare parts. MSIL has six production facilities in India three located in
Gurgaon, Haryana while rest are situated at Manesar, Haryana. The company manufactures more
than 1.1 million cars per year and has more than 15 brands to offer across 150 variants. The sales
network is spread across 1471 cities in the country [1]. The company has more than 250 suppliers
which function in a unified fashion. Therefore, it becomes crucial to efficiently manage supply
chain and logistics management at MSIL.

Supply Chain at MSIL

The company has been focusing to maximize throughput and lower cost by revamping supply
chain strategies. With respect to the suppliers, the company has been following milk run system
[2]
wherein containers collect raw materials from suppliers and deliver the same to MSIL plants
after performing certain check-calls. The empty containers are finally returned to the suppliers
and the process goes on. MSIL also focuses on just-in-time (JIT) delivery and to achieve this in
material supplies, company prefers locally based suppliers. Moreover, the company has also
lowered its material requirement from one month to 15 days so as to reduce inventory levels
[3]
thereby benefiting in cost savings. As per data, the plant inventory fell by 70 per cent. This
process was first initiated with tier one suppliers in view to make the supply chain operations
leans at all levels. The raw materials are bought in bulk to further help the company in reducing
procurement costs. The company manages Maruti Centre for Excellence (MACE) to give
vendors advice on vendor efficiency.

As far as outbound transportation is concerned, MSIL has been increasing its infrastructure and
moving towards hub-and-spoke distribution models for vehicle and spare parts. This is
achieved through regional vehicle and parts distribution centers. The integrated supply chain
model at MSIL has helped the company to meet its customer requirements and fulfill the
demand.

[1] http://www.marutisuzuki.com/company-at-a-glance.aspx

[2] http://automotivelogistics.media/interview/maruti-suzuki-on-raising-the-indian-supply-chain

[3] Supply Chain and Logistics Management Innovations at Maruti Suzuki India Limited, Dr.
Tapasya Julka and Ajaybir Singh Lamba, International Journal of Management and Social
Sciences Research (IJMSSR), Volume 3, No. 3, March 2014