Lumax Group, a Gurugram-based leader of automotive lighting and gear shifter manufacturing, has lined up a capital expenditure (capex) plan of Rs 450 crore for FY22 and FY23, a senior official said.
The group has two listed companies -- Lumax Industries and Lumax Auto Technologies -- and multiple entities within these companies, including joint ventures that are engaged in manufacturing a variety of auto components.
Speaking to Moneycontrol, Deepak Jain, Chairman and Managing Director, Lumax Industries, said: “This fiscal and next, at the group level, our capex will be Rs 450 crore. Of this, about Rs 150 crore would be for building electronic competency and Rs 150 crore for brownfield capacity building. The rest would be dedicated to some joint ventures.”
Lumax operates 33 plants, which are controlled by 15 entities. They are engaged in lighting solutions, gear shifters, shift towers, two-wheeler chassis, intake systems, seat structures and mechanism, LED lighting, HVAC panels, electrical and electronic components, cables and wiring harness, telematics products and services, oxygen sensors and on-board antennas.
“"We are present in 33 locations. The group is ever evolving and there could be new plants opening, but we expect the numbers to be in the range of 30s,” Jain added.
Two-wheeler makers like Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto, and four-wheeler makers like Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, commercial vehicles makers like Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland and tractor manufacturers like Mahindra and TAFE are the group’s customers.
“The pandemic has stopped random capex, like building one plant after another, depending upon product lines. Things are now managed at the group level to manage the resources better,” Jain added.
The Lumax group is making efficient and prudent use of its manufacturing infrastructure in the light of the challenges brought by COVID-19. It is leveraging the manufacturing strength of group companies to enhance capacity planning.
“The concept of capacity planning and inventory management has taken a dynamic shift, post COVID-19, because of the high levels of volatility. We are a multi-product, multi-partner firm with so many facilities,” Jain added.
With several processes digitised because of the COVID-19 disruption, the group claims to have improved inventory management and enhanced transparency in day-to-day operations.
“Digitisation has helped in transparency and traceability across factories. We know there is a base capacity, and with all the fine-tuning, we are leveraging the group strength of Lumax and seeing whether we can use excess capacity or inventories within the company to become more agile,” Jain added.
