Innovating At Full Throttle

Eicher Motors Limited (EML) is the owner of the iconic Royal Enfield brand, the oldest motorcycle brand in continuous production since 1901. The cult motorcycle brand has product development centres at Leicestershire, UK and Chennai, India where an expert technical team conceptualises next-generation motorcycles. These are supported by three manufacturing facilities around Chennai. 

Royal Enfield has a 96 per cent market share in India’s mid-size motorcycles segments. Through its apparel segment, the company has been making protective riding gear, casual wear and riding accessories. 

EML also has modern product development centres through a joint venture with VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) with Sweden’s AB Volvo. As one of the India’s leading manufacturers of trucks, buses, engines and engineering components, VECV has been driving modernisation in commercial transportation in India and the developing world. In India, VECV has a strong market share in the light and medium duty CV segment. With R&D investment being about 9.5 per cent of net profits, Eicher has a fairly strong focus on innovation. The company is in the process of developing an electric vehicle version of their products. Providing a big push to their renewable energy sourcing, Eicher has commissioned a 999 KWp onsite renewable energy plant at the Oragadam facility.

The company has zero water discharge from their factories. It has also incorporated closed loop water management systems in operations. Moreover, total groundwater consumption and water intensity saw a significant decline this year. This was a big step up from their performance in the period of FY16 to FY19 when the water intensity was high. 

Siddharth Lall, MD, EML says, “This year we focused on building initiatives to strengthen our resolve towards sustainability and improving performance standards. We are making sure that we continue to remain water positive and have also facilitated groundwater replenishment and renovation of traditional water bodies near our facilities. In addition, to ensure more green cover, we have planted over 1000 trees around our manufacturing locations.” 

Highlighting the green supply chains, EIL has stated in the FY20 annual report: “Across our supply chain, we have made a concerted effort to imbibe green logistics. In addition to focusing on local supply and reducing our upstream transportation emissions, we have gradually enhanced the share of parts that are received in green packaging. We have (also) ramped up the share of green logistics, with 94 per cent of parts arriving at our facilities in green packaging in FY 19.” 

Here are some facts about EML. Out of the 16376 permanent employees, 3078 were women and 99 were people with disabilities. It was heartening to see that the gender pay gap (0.95 to 1) is very low, regardless of the job category.