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Roots Inds first in Asia to get TUV's ISO/TS certificate

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

Roots Industries Ltd, the Coimbatore-based leading automotive ancillary unit, has become the first Asian company to get TUV Rhineland's ISO/TS 16949 global automotive system certification for world class quality products as well as for adapting international standard production norms.

The Rs 450-million decade-old group company is a leading supplier of horns for the Indian and global automotive manufacturers, with a 60 per cent share in the domestic market, and 25 per cent of its production going for exports, mainly Japan, the US, Germany, Italy, and South Africa.

The TUV (Technischer Uberwachungs Verein/Technical Surveillance Agency) of Germany, with an annual sales of euro 1.2 billion and clients in about 90 countries the world over, is one of the leading authorised global certification bodies, chosen by the Industries Automotive Task Force for awarding the ISO/TS 16949 certification.

According to TUV Rhineland India Ltd managing director Guido Ingwer, the major OEMs which support TS 18949 worldwide are the BMW, Daimler-Chrysler, Fiat, Ford, General Motors, PSA Peugeot-Citroen, Renault SA, and Volkswagen.

"The reason for the creation of ISO/TS 16949 is to enhance the quality process and bring about a common automotive scheme for certification bodies which will be recognised by all IATF members. It also brings benefits of improved product and process quality for global sourcing," Ingwer stated while awarding the certificate to Roots on Thursday.

Receiving the award, Roots chairman and managing director (CMD) K Ramasamy said the new technical specification would become the sole automotive industry quality management standard in the future. "The purpose of developing ISO/TS 16949 is to harmonise the automotive standard systems for quality assurance in the supply chain," he added.

With a paid-up equity of Rs 10.6 million and an authorised capital of Rs 20 million, the company is projecting a turnover of Rs 600 million at the end of the current financial year (2000-01), ending March 31st. "The export turnover will be around Rs 240 million as against Rs 200 million during the corresponding period of the last fiscal year (1999-2000)."

Though an unlisted company, the Bombay-based Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has 25 per cent equity stake in Roots, with the balance among the promoters, relatives, friends, and employees. The average net profits have been hovering around 8-10 per cent over the years despite bouts of recession.

In India, Roots is a major supplier of various types of horns to Mercedes Benz, Telco, M&M, Toyota, Maruti, Mitsubishi Lancer. The company is also collaborating with Robert Bosch, SA of Spain, to manufacture the entire range of Bosch horns in India. It also supplies its products to the Indian as well as the US defence orgainsations.

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