TVS Motor

Coordinates	12°58′0″N77°34′0″N
Name	TVS Motor Company
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Type	Public , )}}

| genre = | fate = | predecessor = | successor = | foundation = 1978 | founder = Venu Srinivasan | defunct = | location_city = Chennai | location_country = India | location = | locations = | area_served = | key_people = Venu Srinivasan, Chairman K N Radhakrishnan, President & CEO S G Murali, CFO H S Goindi, President Marketing Harne Vinay Chandrakant, President NPI R Anandakrishnan, VP Business Planning BLP Simha, President Director, PT.TVS Indonesia | industry = Automobiles | products = Motorcycles, Scooters, Mopeds, Three-Wheelers | services = | revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | aum = | assets = | equity = | owner = | num_employees = | parent = TVS Group | divisions = | subsid = PT TVS Motor, Indonesia | homepage = TVSMotor.in | footnotes = | intl = }}

TVS Motor Company (, ) is the third largest two-wheeler manufacturer in India and is among the world's top ten. It is the flagship company of the parent TVS Group employing over 40,000 people with an estimated 15 million customers. It manufactures motorcycles, scooters, mopeds and auto rickshaws. It is India's only two-wheeler company to have won the Deming Prize awarded for commitment to quality control, received in 2002.

History

The Legacy of TV Sundaram Iyengar

TVS Motor traces its origins back to the entrepreneurial spirit of Trichur Venkagaruswamy Sundaram Iyengar who gave up lucrative careers in the Indian Railways and in banking to set up his own business. He began with Madurai's first bus service in 1912 and founded T.V.Sundaram Iyengar and Sons Limited, a company that consolidated its presence in the transportation business with a large fleet of trucks and buses under the name of Southern Roadways Limited. When he died in 1955 his sons took the company ahead with several forays in the automobile sector, including finance, insurance, manufacture of two-wheelers, tyres and components. The group has managed to run 33 companies that account for a combined turnover of nearly $3 billion.

The Early Years

Sundaram Clayton, then the flagship company, was founded in 1962 in collaboration with Clayton Dewandre Holdings, United Kingdom. It manufactured brakes, exhausts, compressors and various other automotive parts. The company set up a plant at Hosur in 1978 to manufacture mopeds as part of a new division. A technical collaboration with the Japanese auto giant resulted in the joint-venture Ind Suzuki Limited in 1982 between Sundaram Clayton Ltd and Suzuki Motor Corporation. Commercial production of motorcycles began in 1984.

The TVS Suzuki Relationship

TVS and Suzuki shared a 19 year long relationship that was aimed at technology transfer to enable design and manufacture of two-wheelers specifically for the Indian market. Rechristened TVS-Suzuki, the company brought out several models such as the Suzuki Samurai, Suzuki Shogun and Suzuki Fiero. Differences in opinion on how to run the join venture eventually led to the partners going their separate ways in 2001 with the company being renamed TVS Motor, relinquishing rights to use the Suzuki name. There was also a 30 month moratorium period during which Suzuki promised not to enter the Indian market with competing two-wheelers. The company also got over a period of labour unrest that required Chairman Venu Srinivasan to take tough measures to resurrect a company that was in a state of turmoil. He would go on to invest in new technology, nurture in-house design, and implement Toyota-style quality programs.

Rise to Present Prominence

Over the years TVS Motor has grown to be the largest in the group, both in terms of size and turnover, with four state of the art manufacturing plants in Hosur, Mysore and Nalagarh in India and Karawang in Indonesia. TVS Motor is credited with many innovations in the Indian automobile industry, notable among them being the introduction of India's first two-seater moped, the TVS 50cc. The company became the leader in its category of sub 100 cc mopeds, having sold 7 million units. It also introduced the TVS Scooty, which is India's second largest brand in the scooterette segment. The TVS Jive launched in November 2009 became India's first clutch-free motorbike aimed at a stress-free rider experience while the unisex scooter Wego is targeted at urban couples, featuring body-balance technology for easier handling.

Awards

TVS Motor won the Deming Application Prize in 2002, becoming the first and only Indian two-wheeler company to win the award given to companies that do outstanding work in the field of Quality Management. It is considered to be one of the world's most prestigious quality awards. The same year, the work done for the TVS Victor motorcycle won TVS Motor the National Award for successful commercialization of indigenous technology from the Technology Development Board, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India. In 2004, TVS Scooty Pep won the 'Outstanding Design Excellence Award' from BusinessWorld magazine and the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. The effective implementation of Total Productivity Maintenance practices won TVS Motor the TPM Excellence Award given by the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance in 2008.

TVS Motor has won several management awards, notable among them being the Emerging Corporate Giant in the Private Sector awarded by The Economic Times and the Harvard Business School Association of India. Business Today magazine awarded TVS Motor the Best Managed Company and the Most Investor Friendly Company awards. Its advertising practices won it the Good Advertising award by Auto India Best Brand Awards 2009. Company Chairman Venu Srinivasan is a recipient of several awards for corporate excellence such as the Star of Asia Award by Bloomberg BusinessWeek The University of Warwick, United Kingdom gave him an honorary Doctorate of Science degree while the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian distinctions.

Innovative implementation of Information Technology has won TVS Motor the Ace Award for Most Innovative NetWeaver Implementation in 2007 awarded by technology major SAP AG and the Team Tech 2007 Award of Excellence for Integrated use of Computer-aided engineering Technologies. TVS was ranked 54th in The Brand Trust Report published by Trust Research Advisory.

External links

References

Category:Automotive companies of India Category:Motor vehicle manufacturers of India Category:Motorcycle manufacturers of India Category:Companies established in 1978 Category:Companies based in Chennai Category:Scooter manufacturers