Automotive component manufacturing companies eyeing aluminium forging business

Top automotive component manufacturing companies are reportedly entering the aluminium forging business to start making triple clamps and active clamps used for the manufacture of inverted front forks. The potential is to reach INR 125 crore within three years after the start of supplies. The news came after Anurag Jain, managing director of Endurance Technologies, said on Saturday, August 17.

According to Mr. Jain, venturing into this new business will give Endurance an opportunity to grow aluminium forging proprietary to other two-wheeler and four-wheeler aluminium forging requirements, including electric vehicles. He believes that this will help the company increase its profit margins.

By and large auto component analysts think that the trend of transitioning to aluminium forging business is coming up. Aluminium forging is a manufacturing process where the metal is pressed and pounded with pressure to produce lightweight, high strength components.

“This is a very new trend, as in everyone wants to lighten their vehicles, and optimally lighten them so that the emission norms are under control, because the regulations has become very stringent,” said Shashank Kanodia, analyst, ICICI securities.

Other automotive component majors like Bharat Forge is also focused on boosting light-weight technology. According to a report, Bharat Forge is investing INR 200 crore capex for the light-weighting technology centre at Nellore and forming a joint venture company with Refu Electronic for manufacturing electric components.

“You had seen transition happening from steel forging to aluminium die-casting and now it’s changing from aluminium die-casting to aluminium forging. Aluminium forging is of course very new to India and it hasn’t seen many material players so far, but the transition is happening now even at a premium vehicle levels” said Jinesh Gandhi, Head of Research, Motilal Oswal.