'Looking To Clock $18 Billion, Achieve 40% ROCE By 2020'
Motherson Sumi Systems, established in 1986, is the flagship company of Samvardhana Motherson Group (SMG) and is a leading automotive mirror and wiring harness manufacturer for passenger cars.
In an emailed interaction with BW Businessworld, Vivek Chaand Sehgal, Chairman and co-founder of the Group stated that MSSL will be able to achieve revenues of $18 billion along with 40 per cent return on capital employed (ROCE) by 2020.
What are the company’s key achievements over the years? Which one would you consider the biggest achievement?
The trust which our customers and all other stakeholders have reposed in us is our biggest achievement. This is being reflected in the growth of the company since its establishment. From being a single product manufacturer in India, today we have presence in 33 countries, all with the support of our customers. As a testimony to customer trust, we are continuously winning new orders and awards from them. We have received orders worth Euro 4.0 billion during FY17 with a total order book of Euro 12.0 billion in SMRPBV alone. We have also received numerous top supplier awards from our customers in this year too.
What are the key parameters that you look for while making an acquisition?
We have done our acquisitions at the behest of our customers. We have delivered on our promises and turned around the assets which we acquired and gave solutions to the customers by improving upon QCDDMSES parameters. We don’t acquire assets to shift them for labour arbitrage but create solutions so that the teams in those countries can improve upon and deliver value to the customer and thus expand its operations.
Is the company planning to take over Bosch's starter motor arm? If yes, for how much and when is the timeline for the same?
We do not comment on market speculations.
Would you consider going beyond automotive? Are there any new product lines that you are working on?
We have clear focus on our 2020 targets and it’s based on automotive business. We are a ‘NOT YET’ company and our vision is to be a globally preferred solutions provider so our future product lines will depend upon the solution requirements of our customers.
As there is a growing buzz on hybrids and electrics, how are you gearing yourself up accordingly?
Most of our products are powertrain agnostic. All our cockpits, door trims, bumper systems or mirrors don’t change with the change in powertrain. Having said that, all our verticals work very closely with customers’ engineering teams and are fully prepared to meet all their expectations for the future.
How far have you been successful in adopting the 3CX philosophy? Will that be for a lifetime?
If you look back at all our 5 year plans starting from the 90’s you will see how we have increased the size of the pie and improved diversification in terms of customer base. In the 2020 plan we have further enhanced the diversification in terms of customer base, product and country. This is going to continue.
What is the company's vision for 2020? When does it intend to be among the top 10 auto component makers in the world?
For MSSL, our vision 2020 is to achieve revenues of $18 billion along with 40 per cent ROCE.
This is in addition to targeting 3CX15 (no country, customer or component should be more than 15 per cent of our total turnover) and 40 per cent of consolidated profit as dividend. We do not aim for global ranking; we believe rankings are a byproduct of the good work.
