The stalemate between the management and workers at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s Manesar plant has prompted the company to consider partially moving production of its best-selling car, the new Swift, to the Gurgaon facility.
Sources close to the development said MSIL was considering transporting components from the weld shop at Manesar to assemble the Swift partly in Gurgaon. A senior executive said, “The company is considering shifting production of Swift partly to Gurgaon because of the shortage in manpower at the Manesar unit.” A spokesperson at MSIL confirmed the development, but declined to specify a time frame by when the changes would be implemented.
MSIL has received 90,000 bookings for the new car that was launched on August 17. The new Swift was originally planned to be produced at the Manesar unit. MSIL, in fact, stalled production for a month in July to increase the capacity to manufacture 17,000-18,000 units of the new Swift, from the earlier monthly average of 12,000 units.
However, production has come to a near standstill since the fresh face-off with workers on August 29. MSIL produced 435 cars last week, against a target of 8,400 units. Dealers fear the glitch in production would stretch the waiting period for the new Swift to as much as eight months.
This may result in cancellations of bookings for the car, according to them.
Meanwhile, MSIL rolled out 225 cars from the Manesar unit today.
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It hired another 20 technicians, taking the total workforce available at the facility to 870. This includes the 90 engineers deputed from the Gurgaon plant and around 290 supervisors.
The executive said, “The two plants at Manesar (A and B) are integrated. The products made at the weld shop at the second plant are being sent for assembly at the first plant. Since the second plant is highly automated, with the same man hours, the output there would be 30-40 per cent higher. It would help us to ramp up production amid a shortage in manpower.”
Between Wednesday and Monday, 635 cars were rolled out from the facility.
The second plant, set up at an investment of Rs 1,700 crore, is being commissioned a month ahead of the schedule.
No negotiations have taken place between workers and the management so far. Production at the Manesar plant has been affected since last Monday after the company demanded that workers sign a ‘good conduct bond’ before entering the factory’s premises. The management has alleged the quality and the quantity of cars being produced has been deteriorating since the 1,600 workers called off their 13-day strike in mid-June demanding a separate union. So far, 40-odd permanent workers had signed the bond, the spokesperson said.
Over 49 workers have been suspended and dismissed on charges of sabotaging cars manufactured at the unit. The company suffered an estimated production loss of 2,400 units, worth Rs 80 crore, till August 30.