New Delhi – Automotive manufacturers are increasingly looking to achieve greater efficiency by lightweighting. And this is as true for regional specialist sectors as it is for the makers of global products. The Indian market for small commercial vehicles comprises of compact four-wheeled vehicles, but also many two- and three-wheeled vehicles. Two- and three-wheeled vehicles are also prevalent in India’s personal transportation market. Urethanes Technology International spoke with the polymers lead for global Tier One supplier, Varroc, during last month’s Auto Components show.
Aurangabad, Maharashtra-based Varroc Engineering has been working extensively on lightweighting by replacing large sheet metal parts with polymer components, and also by introducing lightweight micro-cellular polymers and composites in trims and other body parts.
As a Tier One supplier, Varroc manufacturers components for most two- and three-wheeler OEMs in India. The company has a manufacturing footprint for producing PU foam – for both seats and air filters – across a number of its sites across the country. It has a total of 15 production sites, and two R&D centres, across India. It produces PU foam for two- and three-wheelers at seven of these sites: Pune, Indore, Bengaluru, Chennai, Greater Noida, Pant Nagar, and its largest PU foam site at its corporate home of Aurangabad.
“We have the capability to manufacture more than 1.2 million two/three-wheeler PU foam based seat units per month sites,” said Vidyadhar Limaye, business head, polymers, Varroc Engineering.