COVID-19: Indian auto industry playing it safe

The Indian automobile industry was going through a prolonged slowdown even before the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus situation has only made things worse for the sector.

But as manufacturing slowly gains momentum, companies are putting in all efforts to ensure that the risk of the coronavirus spread is kept to the minimum. They are strictly abiding by government guidelines and more to ensure safety.

Naveen Soni, Senior Vice-president, Sales and Service, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said: “As a responsible corporate, TKM places highest priority to the safety and wellbeing of our employees and other stakeholders and will continue working in concurrence with the State (Karnataka) and Central Government’s directives.

“Keeping in mind the challenges brought about along with the pandemic, we have developed certain crucial changes in guidelines for enhanced safe operations in all areas of work. Hence, operations at our plant will resume in a phased manner, most importantly keeping in mind the needs of social distancing and sanitisation,” he informed, adding that spare parts supply was a priority.

“This global pandemic calls for us to be aware of the limitations of the new normal and accordingly device processes at workplace ensuring safety and wellbeing of all the stakeholders involved. Given the current situation, we have put together a set of renewed guidelines to create a safe and hygienic work environment,” he added.

TKM will also follow the usual safety measures like usage of face masks, thermal scanning for everyone and usage of sanitisers, among others.

“We have come up with similar guidelines for our dealerships. It further charts out directives for the Toyota dealer network shedding light on the safety protocols for the respective facilities and staff along with recommendations for customer interface during sales and after sales services,” Soni added.

Apart from safety measures at their plants, Maruti Suzuki is putting in a lot of effort to make things are safe for the customer and staff. Maruti Suzuki has a set of detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for its network of over 3800 service centres across 1914 cities.

Kenichi Ayukawa, Managing Director and CEO, Maruti Suzuki India, said, “Maruti Suzuki is committed to taking every possible effort to ensure the safety of customers visiting the service centres. With social distancing as the new normal, we encourage our customers to avail convenience and safety of doorstep services such as ‘Service on Wheels’ and ‘Pick and Drop’. With these service initiatives customers need not step out of their homes for car servicing.

“The workshop employees have been trained and equipped to make service processes contactless, requiring no paperwork, with focus on hygiene, safety and remote monitoring facilities,” he added.

Maruti Suzuki also said that the workshop staff have been trained on new guidelines on safety and hygiene measures for the safety of customers and themselves. The company is also taking things online like online booking on the website and Maruti care app, remote capturing of customer demanded repairs, online approval of job card, e-invoicing, web-based capturing of customer post service feedback will happen through mobile, while insisting digital mode of payment.

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India has issued a comprehensive Operations Resumption manual in addition to the applicable Central and state government guidelines. HMSI said that this is applicable to Honda’s manufacturing plants, its suppliers, logistic partners, dealerships and service centres across India.

The company is following temperature screening, non-biometric entry and exit, mandatory face masks, regular sanitisation and disinfection of common surfaces and vehicles carrying materials, work from home for pregnant ladies, no movement of individuals from hotspot zones, ample availability of hand wash/ sanitiser, usage and disposal of PPEs, strict social distancing measures across Honda offices (markings on production line, partitions to maintain social distancing), revised SOP for quality checks, among others.

Kia Motors India is also leaving no stone unturned to ensure safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company said that a comprehensive regimen of safety measures has been put in place at its production facility in Anantapur (Andhra Pradesh). And right now, the plant is operating a single shift.

Kookhyun Shim, Managing Director & CEO, Kia Motors India, said: “As we resume production and bring processes back on track, we have introduced a comprehensive safety protocol to ensure a safe environment at our Anantapur plant. These are unprecedented conditions and we are committed to adapting to the new norms of the world while we work towards normalcy.”

The company said that they are taking measures like physical distancing, sanitisation, wearing masks at all times, regular temperature checks, a medical check-up before entering the plant premises, disinfecting common computers, biometric systems, spraying disinfectants in all common areas, among other measures.