With purpose-designed luxury vehicles, Anders Grundströmer, MD, Scania India, has redefined intercity bus travel in the country.
BY INDIRA RAO
Oh! You work for Scania. One of the best bus rides of my entire life was in your Metrolink. It was comfortable, stable and above all silent. For once, I was really happy sitting in a bus. Congratulations and thank you!” Anders Grundströmer, MD, Scania India and senior VP, Scania Group received this reaction on producing his passport to an immigration personnel at the Bengaluru airport.
This bus that the gentleman was referring to is from Scania’s new range called The Scania Metrolink. This was launched at the beginning of 2013 and comes in three lengths – 12m, 13.7m, 14.5m. “The new bus range is purpose-designed for luxury intercity or charter travels. It was launched to meet the growing needs of safer and more comfortable connected solutions for the Indian market,” opined Grundströmer. “The above example perfectly depicts that there is a growing understanding and need of quality, comfort and safety in India and this encourages us to bring more of such buses into India.”
Probably that is what led them to open a bus manufacturing facility at Narasapura near Bengaluru on March 31, 2015. The company has invested Rs 300 crore in this facility. It serves the Indian market and aims to become a hub for exports to other markets in Asia. “The bus factory is built for the capacity of 1,000 buses a year. Our next step is reaching 1,670,” mentioned Helmut Schwartz, director, production (buses and coaches), Scania India.
The chassis used in the buses is imported from Europe. Agreeing Schwartz added, “This chassis exactly fits our production requirement. We don’t assemble something that we have to disassemble later. What we build here is the entire bus body and some components.”
According to Grundströmer the bus chassis is 20% localised, while the mining and the on-road trucks are 40% and 20% localised, respectively. “Our target is to localise up to 60% without compromising on our global safety standards and quality. The simplest things to localise are the tyres and the wheels. We have also started localising the casted material, bushings, connectors between the chassis and the body – basically all the components.” The big parts are still imported. This is because the bigger parts need more testing to guarantee the same quality as that of Europe.
Seconding he added, “We are currently working with our suppliers to bring it to the right level. Once we are sure of this we might start thinking of manufacturing other things too. As of now we are content with manufacturing the entire bus body from procuring the raw material to getting the bus on the road from this plant.”
The Indian arm of Scania started with its first industrial facility housing a truck plant in Narasapura, in October, 2013. This facility serves as the centre of the company’s commercial operations in the country. These trucks are basically used in mines and coal fields.
The main focus, today however, is on their intercity coaches and green buses. “Come July and we will introduce our new city bus that will run on ethanol and biogas. This is done using local fuel generated from waste, which takes away 90% of the Nox, CO2 and other particles. This is better than India’s emission norms for heavy diesel vehicles, Bharat Stage-III,” averred Grundströmer.
‘Local waste to local fuel to local transportation’ is their mantra to establish their presence in the sustainability market. “In India 95% of all waste goes into landfills compared to 1% in Europe. In a country that has 18% of the world’s population, only 4% of the water is fresh. Seeing this stark difference we decided to take all this waste and make it useful,” affirmed Grundströmer.
“We are a 24-year-old company and we are known for being front-runners in promoting sustainable transport solutions globally. This is what we want to bring to India too,” avowed Grundströmer. Their role model city for developing these biofuels is Nagpur. “We work with specialists in this field to make ethanol. And I am not talking of ethanol for blending; I am talking of a blend that has 95% pure ethanol and 5% ignition improver. This sort of a concept creates new income streams too. There are so many wins in this for India and I think it’s great for this market where the ppm levels keep increasing day-by-day.”
The concept has picked up in Delhi and Mumbai too. “You have to understand that today you do not have hundreds of ethanol factories in India for blending. This is unique to Scania and we have brought to the Indian market. We are also working with consultants from Sweden to make the sewage plants more efficient. We invest in cleaning, scrubbing systems, etc. to upgrade the raw gas,” informed Grundströmer.
The ethanol and biogas filling stations are ready for use in Nagpur. “The government is in talking terms with Indian Oil and the others as the same pump currently used in petrol pumps cannot be used for Ethanol. This is a liquid fuel and hence needs a separate pump. India has already introduced biofuel as a commercial fuel on 6th March, 2015 and this is a good step according to me,” said Grundströmer.
Scania also puts a lot of emphasis on maintenance. “India is famous for not maintaining things and hence their buses last well for only two-three years. Our buses look brand new even after 15 years. This is entirely a new concept for India – from taking care of the waste problem to running buses on this waste produced in each city. Introducing such things into the Indian market is what makes us stand out from the rest.” Secondly, these buses are connected to the internet and hence sitting at home one can find out the bus timings and the stops. This reduces the endless waiting at bus stops. The concept of the green bus has spread to other cities like Delhi and Mumbai too and the respective state governments are in the process of understanding and introducing such buses in their cities.
Grundströmer has been associated with Scania (which is now owned by Volkswagen) since 30 years and has held varied positions in different countries. Maybe it was this experience that gives him the confidence to introduce new concepts and make them work in any country. He reminisced, “I started Scania in Russia after which I was responsible for the European sales. Following that stint, I was sent to India to build up our first industrial set up in Asia. It should be interesting to note that we did not enter China first but chose India. This was primarily because you can start a 100% wholly owned subsidiary here and also there is a good availability of English-speaking public.”
Grundströmer feels that the Indian mindset of frugality is also changing. He gauges this from the interest their premium luxury buses have been receiving. “In India we are building products that posses the same quality as seen abroad. The Scania production system which is unique to us emphasises that people have to work with continuous improvements.”
He further added, “We make our people responsible for developing their stations. For example, anybody can stop the line if they see or sense something is wrong. We prioritise everything. If we promise a delivery to a customer on the said date we will deliver it unless we have detected a problem at the last moment. The company’s leadership principles and core values are very strong and call for no compromise.”
The Indian subsidiary also does not tolerate any violation on gender. In the bus factory, Scania has employed 28% women. “In totality, in the whole company we have 18% women population. Our target is to reach 50%, which is a challenge in India. Nevertheless, we will do it because we realise that a mixed society is better for the cost of operation per kilometer,” stated Grundströmer.
Scania also has put into place a structured workflow. “Like Schwartz mentioned earlier, we have developed a manner in which our products have to flow. India’s infrastructure is hindering its progress. In Singapore, for example we move five containers from one truck out of the port. In India this is not possible,” affirmed Grundströmer.
“India’s problem is that it is a federation and not a country. Laws change from state to state and this causes a huge problem for manufacturers like us. Reforms have to come in and in all this chaos we are trying to formulate a structure so that the work flow is smooth and without any hassle. That is where we are different from other companies.”
Grundströmer further appended, “Our buses are probably one of the safest in the world because they fulfill all the safety tests.” Just like in aircraft, they too have safety videos and instruction manuals in each seat pocket. Fire detection and suppression systems are also present in the buses. They also try to promote using seat belts in buses.
“I fail to understand India’s enmity with these belts!” chuckled Grundströmer. “You can have the safest buses in the world but in an accident if you don’t use safety belts, you will roll over and fall out. Around 150,000 people die on Indian roads. When people can wear seat belts on airplanes why not in a bus? In fact, it is more dangerous to be on the road than in the air!”
Drivers form an important part of Scania. The communication systems fitted in the buses ensure that the drivers are running the buses safely and within the speed limit. “The problem is that the drivers change constantly in India and hence we have to train and retrain all the time,” pointed out Grundströmer.
Scania came to India later than most well-known manufacturing companies and have already brought in the concept of green buses, structured workflow, fuel from waste, etc. “We have entered India and have introduced our concepts without compromising on global quality. We work very hard with our suppliers so that they meet our standards. Safety is also something we never negotiate on and are constantly training our staff on its importance too.”
Scania develops its R&D with the help of L&T Technology Services. Their association with L&T is quite strong and they work with them not only in R&D but also IT and mining.
Scania India currently runs on the capacity of 2500 trucks and 1000 buses. “We will deliver around 900 trucks and 300 buses by end of year. Our plan is to sell 5000 trucks and 2500 buses per year by 2020. By next year we aim to be in the top five markets for Scania for buses. By 2020 our aim is to be in the top five markets for Scania globally,” declared Grundströmer.
Currently they are in the process of starting a Scania academy in India. “The academy will focus on intense training on becoming efficient for our drivers, salesmen, customers, etc. We will invest quite a sum in this. We are also offering a two year vocational training programme for the villagers who stay close to
this factory.”
According to Grundströmer, 70% of India’s GDP comes from cities today. By 2030 this figure will rise up to 85%. “There will be constant urbanisation. This is a classic Indian tale where the country wants to grow, have better living standards and in this journey our aim is to show the way forward. In Scania we have our own way of thinking. With our core values and principles, we get the results we want and apply it for the betterment of a city or country,” he concluded.