Tatas roll out cars out of acquired Ford India plant in Gujarat
Chennai: Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd (TPEM), a subsidiary of Tata Motors Ltd, on Friday said it rolled out the first Tata badged car from its new plant in Gujarat's Sanand1.
The plant was acquired from Ford India last year.
"Witnessing the first car roll out of the new TPEM facility in Sanand is a proud moment for us. We have successfully retooled the factory in the shortest span of 12 months, taking it to new level to accommodate a wide range of existing products and future new models to come," Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd & TPEM Managing Director Shailesh Chandra said.
According to Chandra, the new facility will have a manufacturing capacity of 300,000 units per annum, scalable to 420,000 units per annum.
The new facility spread across 460 acres, will be Tata Motors’ second plant in Gujarat to manufacture internal combustion engine (ICE and electric vehicle (EV) models.
Post acquisition from Ford India, the plant underwent major retooling and upgrades like: new dies for stamping critical skin panels.
Modification of all lines with additional robots, new grippers and fixtures have been added in the weld shop while the paint shop saw modifications in handling systems, external robot programming, internal robotic painting and waxing set up.
Similarly the vehicle assembly shop underwent modifications of handling systems and end of line system.
The plant currently has more than 1,000 employees (includes staff and technicians) and will create 1,000 additional jobs in the next 3 to 4 months in the region, in line with the production ramp up plans, a statement said.
Ford India had sold its Gujarat facility to TPEM for Rs 725.70 crore.
The plant in Sanand includes the entire land and buildings, the vehicle manufacturing plant, along with its machinery and equipment, and transfer of all eligible employees of Ford India's vehicle manufacturing operations.
Ford India is operating its powertrain manufacturing facility by leasing back the land and buildings of the powertrain manufacturing plant from TPEM.