Ashok Leyland joined with the Finnish group Alteams and inaugurated a new plant in Cheyyar, near Chennai, India, where some Italpresse machines (toggle and two platen) are producing castings for the automotive and the telecom industry
Ashley Alteams, a joint venture between Ashok Leyland - the second Indian manufacturer of industrial vehicles - and Alteams OY - the Finnish light cast metal components manufacturer - inaugurated a new plant in Cheyyar, near Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu state, 90 km away from Chennai.
The group Ashlok Leyland, established in 1948, manufactured 84.000 cars in its seven plants in 2007. Alteams was established in 1943 and is the bigger worldwide supplier of metal components for the telecommunication industry. Alteams OY belongs to the group Kuusakoski, a company owning plants in the Baltic Republics, Russia, Poland, China, Sweden and England, that is at the forefront of the metal and scrap re-cycling business, with an average global turnover of 1 billion Euro, a production of 2,5 millions tons of material, and a portfolio featuring raw material products, ferrous raw materials, recycled stainless steel products and non-ferrous and plastic products. Ashley Alteams bought four Italpresse two-platens machines, serie TF (toggle free): 2 machines with 800 tons closing force, one with 1350 tons closing force and one with 2000 tons closing force. These new machines joined the previous two Italpresse machines, with 750 and 1650 tons closing force but with the traditional toggle system.
Ashley Alteams is a pioneer in aluminium die casting including die design, manufacturing, selection of high-end fully automatic casting, CNC machining cells and testing facilities. In fact, the die casting machines are supported by 22 machines with numerical control for the mechanical machining.
The new unit will produce aluminium high pressure die casting components for the automotive and telecommunication sectors. The initial investment of 20 millions Euro, for an initial yearly productive capacity of 5000 tons, will be enhanced to 10.000 tons progressively, with a further investment of additional 30 millions Euro. The venture is expected to generate annual sales of 30 millions Euro, that will rise to 75 millions Euro in the next five years. Ashok Leyland’s customers are Knorr Bremse and Cummins in the automotive field, and Nokia, Siemens Networks and Ericsson in the telecommunication industry.
Mrs Suvi Linden, Finnish Minister for Communications, Mr Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin, Prime Minister of Tamil Nadu State, and Mr Veikko Kuusakoski, President of the Kuusakoski group, attended the inauguration of the new plant on the 20th January 2010. Ashley Alteams chairman R. Seshasayee said: “HDPC technology is increasingly finding favour with the automotive and telecom industries, due to its high quality, weight efficiency and scale economy of higher volumes,” adding: “There is a huge potential for exports which we shall start to tap in our second year of operation.” Petteri Wallden of Alteams said: “With a partner like Ashok Leyland, we are well-equipped to capitalise upon the opportunities offered by both the telecom and the automotive sectors in India.”
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