Mahindra group plans aerospace, two-wheeler designing foray

The Mahindra group is planning to foray into aerospace and two-wheeler designing through its recently set-up design and development arm, Mahindra Engineering Services.

Mahindra Engineering Services, carved out of Mahindra's auto division in April 2003, has already done design work for the Japanese auto giant Honda and has designed non-critical components for a Detroit-based US car giant.

"We are looking at other areas where we can offer our design and development abilities. Aerospace and two-wheelers are two potential areas that we are studying," said Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and managing director of the Mahindra Group.

Mahindra Engineering Services is still on the lookout for an acquisition in the US which will bring it a front office, marketing channel and a large client base in that country.

The company has begun sourcing vehicles from various auto makers to help develop its internal capabilities and extend its designing services to new areas.

It works in various stages of product development like advanced surfacing and reverse engineering, CAD, CAE, rapid prototyping, tooling and parts.

Mahindra Engineering Services employees over 600 engineers in product design and development, in die shop and in parts manufacturing.

M&M is also working towards developing a new family of engines for its vehicles which will then be marketed through its auto component arm, revealed Anand Mahindra.

The company had recently announced its renewed interest in auto component business and formed a special business unit (SBU) under the guidance of Hemant Luthra, head of strategic planning at M&M. The company is aiming to become a 'multicomponent conglomerate' through this SBU.

The SBU consists of Mahindra Ugine Steel Company (MUSCO), which produces various categories of alloy steel, and Siroplast, which manufactures engineered composites such as sheet-moulding compounds and dough-moulding compounds.

SBU supplies material to major original equipment manufacturers such as Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Maruti Udyog and Bajaj Auto and exports to the US and European markets.

However, the SBU does not include Mahindra Sona, a joint venture between the Mahindra and Mahindra and the Sona group.