Nano Effect

Call it the Nano effect! The ultra-affordable “people’s car” might have launched India as a hotbed of ideas.

For instance, Godrej & Boyce is developing a Rs 2,500 refrigerator for Dharavi slum dwellers. Then Chennai-based Brakes India has found out a way to convert slag into construction material. Similarly, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of digital & analog offset plates, TechNova Imaging Systems, has invented a digital plate that can cut down the cost of commercial printing by almost 90%.

And, the list just doesn’t end there! Surinder Kapur, CMD of India’s largest manufacturer and supplier of steering systems, Sona Koyo Steering Systems, cites his own example. “We have managed to develop an indigenous steering system for off-highway vehicles for the US market at half the cost of what other international manufacturers quoted. We plan to use a similar approach to create an ultra-low cost steering system for the Nano as well.” Mr Kapur believes that innovation is contagious.

India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki’s latest ‘one component, one gram’ drive seems to have taken a leaf out of the same book. The $3.7-billion vehicle manufacturer, along with its suppliers, has worked out a strategy to reduce one gram of weight per each component of a car. The mission to subtract 2.6 kg from a car would translate into a minimum annual saving of Rs 10-crore for the company, and better performance and fuel efficiency for the customer who would be driving a lighter vehicle.

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