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MICO to launch new products

Janaki Murali

BANGALORE, July 23

NEWS from SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) that the automobile industry has shown a 30 per cent growth in the passenger car segment and a slight improvement in the commercial vehicle sector in June could not have come at a better time fo r the Rs 1,650-crore MICO. The leading component maker has gone back to the seven-day working week, at both its Naganathapura and Bangalore plants, and is busying itself to launch several new products for an emission norm scenario of the future.

While a large percentage of MICO's business is concentrated in the commercial vehicle sector, it has already charted its future plans with the development of new products for passenger cars too. Main among them is Bosch's common rail system, an advanced fuel injection system, which will become essential in the future emission norms scenario. Parent company Bosch has been mass producing these high pressure fuel injection pumps for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in Western Europe.

Next on the anvil is the electronic control unit (ECU) for which MICO has already launched pilot projects with all its major customers, according to Mr Andreas Nobis, Managing Director of MICO. And while the Common rail system is the brain of the fuel i njection system, the ECU is the heart of the system, or the processing unit. MICO expects to help commercial vehicle makers to shift to electronically controlled systems from the mechanical systems.

Internal competition: MICO will continue to handle only diesel injection systems, even as Bosch will handle the gasoline business. ``We do some basic things together. We have the application centre in MICO here. Our colleagues from Bosch use this applica tion centre to make the applications for their gasoline systems. There is a certain competition within the group between diesel and gasoline and it is good I think. This internal competition creates new ideas,'' Mr Nobis said.

However, MICO spends only around two per cent of its turnover on R&D. ``This may look low, but Bosch spends more than seven per cent on R&D and we take their technology. We only do the applications here,'' Mr Nobis added.

The company has invested in its Jaipur plant for introduction of systems for Euro two emission norms. ``The next level of Euro three won't be a problem for us, as far as technology goes,'' Mr Nobis said.

New markets: Meanwhile, MICO has entered new markets with its spark plugs made at the Naganathapura plant. Developed together with Bosch, but made in India for small engines such as lawn-movers, MICO has made a headway with its spark plugs in the US. ``I t's a huge after-market business. Among the small engines alone, there is demand for 50 million spark plugs in a year,'' Mr Nobis said.

The company also sees a future for itself in the two-wheeler business. ``We see a chance of a growing market in the spark plug business in South-East Asia. In collaboration with our headquarters in Germany, it was decided that we enter these markets in S outh Asia, with these spark plugs for instance,'' Mr Nobis said.

In its power tool business, MICO will launch a marble cutter by the end of the year. ``The marble cutter will be a complete design of MICO,'' Mr Nobis added.