Maruti Suzuki gearing up production lines to step up production

With Maruti Suzuki planning to step up production to over one million cars by March, India's largest car-maker is readying to gear up its production lines to meet the capacity challenges.

According to I V Rao, managing executive, engineering, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), this would be a major milestone for the company, which will also bring new challenges as some capacity constraints could be expected. He added that by adopting Japanese Kaizen production methods, the company hoped to bring about incremental gains in production at Gurgaon and Manesar plants.

Kaizen is a Japanese management methodology aimed at delivering constant improvements in productivity.

Speaking to mediapersons in Hyderabad at the launch of Eeco a 1200cc sporty looking family car yesterday, Rao said, the Manesar plant faced serious capacity constraints and the company was in the process of further streamlining operations. However, the company had no plans to add a third shift, he added.

He said MSIL was actively considering expansion and a decision was likely by next fiscal.

''The company accounts for 54 per cent market share and we will continue to bring in new products to retain our share,'' Rao said.