Ashley News / February 2005

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ON APRIL 1, 2005, when 11 Indian citieswill become Bharat Stage 3 compliant, Indiawould have compressed the BS 1 to BS 3transition in five years, compared to the eightyears Europe took for equivalent Euro norms.

Note here also the fact that the standardsIndia is adhering to in a few months is whatwas in vogue in Europe just 15 months ago!

These exacting standards call for a moreflexible fuel injection process in the engine.Particularly NOx (Oxides of Nitrogen) reductionover BS 2 (28.5%) necessitates significantlyadditional ‘retardation’ (holding on) of the‘start’ of the injection process. However,‘retardation’ would also mean a decrease infuel consumption and even an increase inparticulate matter count. Since the mechanical

fuel injection system is limited by a fixed ‘Startof Injection’ for all modes, taking the exampleof the Euro norm implementing countries, anelectronic system – with the freedom to select‘start of injection’ for different modes and afaster response to changes in operatingvariables is introduced.

Leading the ClimbAhead of the April 2005 deadline, Ashok Leylandhas developed and validated the BS 3conforming engines. The Ashok Leyland BS 3engines use a simple electronic managementsystem: as soon as the accelerator is actuated,this electronic sensor triggers off the fuelinjection process, resulting in optimized injectionof fuel in terms of timing and quantity of fuelinjected. The required gms/kwh is achieved,without affecting fuel consumption.

The upgradation from BS 2 to BS 3 isalso achieved with minimum number of newcomponents. The user-friendly features of theBS2 engines are retained and there are noadditional after-treatment devices.

The operation of prototype vehicles fittedwith the BS 3 engines in both city and longroute applications have only validated thereliability of the EDC system, while alsoyielding fuel consumption on par with BS 2vehicles. Also, the amount of particulatematter emitted by one BS 3 engine isequivalent to that of three BS 1 engines.

Greener engines with no loss in fuelefficiency, in other words.

Ashok Leylandindigenously developsBS 3 engines forCommercial Vehicles

BS 3 norms met ahead of April 2005 deadline

g/kwh

Euro 1 BS 1 Euro 2 BS 2 Euro 3 BS 3 Euro 4 BS 41992 2000 1995 2001 2000 2005 2004 2010

NOx 8.00 8.00 7.00 7.00 <5.00 5.00 <3.00 3.50

CO 4.50 4.50 4.00 4.00 2.5 2.10 1.00 1.50

HC 1.10 1.10 1.10 1.10 0.7 0.66 0.5 0.46

PM 0.360 0.360 0.150 0.150 0.100 0.100 0.100 0.020

Bharat Stage norms: Tightening emissions

Euro Norms

BS Norms

Ashley News / February 2005

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ASHOK LEYLAND HAS bagged an order for 644buses to be supplied to BEST under the MumbaiUrban Transport Programme (MUTP). This followsa tripartite agreement between BEST, Govern-ment of Maharashtra and the World Bank forproviding eco-friendly, passenger-friendly busesfor the city of Mumbai, with World Bank fundingand against international tender.

R Seshasayee, MD-Ashok Leyland, pointedout that the order constituted the biggestever in the country for fully built buses. “Weare also proud of Ashok Leyland’s unbrokenrecord of bagging all World Bank fundedorders for buses in India, against globalcompetition through global tenders since1978”, he added.

With the reduced floor height of 860 mm,as against the normal 1050 mm, the buseswill offer two-step entry, with the first stepat 360 mm from the ground. Air suspensionat the rear and rubber-ended suspension atthe front will mean greater passenger com-

644

Ashish Chemburkar, Chairman- BES&T Committee and R Seshasayee, Managing Director -Ashok Leyland, exchange the papers at BEST Bhavan, in the presence of (extreme left)S S Kshatriya, General Manager – BEST and (extreme right) Sunil Ganacharya,Member - BES&T Committee.

semi-low-floor buses

fort. The front seats will have safety beltsfor passenger protection during sudden brak-ing. Improved ventilation in driver’s cabin,storage space for crutches and route indica-tor at rear are some additional features. Adistinct body design and colour combinationwill make these buses easily identifiable.

“These buses are a significant improve-ment over the current BEST buses. They willbe more eco-friendly, more passenger friendlyand provide greater passenger comfort,”pointed out S S Kshatriya, GM-BEST. He alsorevealed that passengers carried per day inthe current fleet of 3,300 buses – nearly allof them from Ashok Leyland - have increasedfrom 42 lakhs to 48 lakhs in the last oneyear. The proposed addition to the fleet wouldgreatly enhance BEST’s ability to cope withincrease in passengers. As per agreed deliv-ery schedules, 450 buses will be supplied byDecember 2005 and the balance quantity byMarch 2006.

to Mumbai’s BEST

This is the biggestever order in the

country for fully builtbuses. We are also

proud of AshokLeyland’s unbrokenrecord of baggingall World Bank

funded orders forbuses in India, against

global competitionthrough global

tenders since 1978.

“

”R Seshasayee

Ashley News / February 2005

Ashley News / February 2005

The Ennore unit supplied over 30,000 food packets almost for a week afterthe tragedy. A permanent drinking water arrangement has been providedjust outside the premises in aid of nearby villagers. Some of the employeesare personally involved in helping and counseling victims’ families.

Sathish Kumar’shands stilltremble. Thisfisherman,residing in one ofthe hamlets nearthe Ennore Unit,has to mustersome strengtheven to narratewhat happened onthe morning ofDecember 26,2004. “I wasgoing about mydaily routine,when suddenly agush of water hitme against a walland I drowned.Only later did Irealize that thewater had actuallyrisen from the sea.By God’s grace, I

“When the waves changed character…”

have left themcompletely shakenand their livespermanentlyaltered.

To imagine thatthe waves hadchased everythingon the way toreach the EastLand gate of ourEnnore Unit, 300meters from thecoast, shouldexplain themagnitude of thetragedy. Nearly300 villagers fromthe nearby hamletstook refuge in thefactory premises.Employees recallheart-rendingscenes of parentsfranticallysearching for

missing kids, of helpless families with all theirbelongings washed away.

The Company buses and ambulances were

am still alive” …his voice breaks.

In the Pacificislands, where the‘tsunami’ is aknown anddreaded naturalphenomenon,there exists asaying: “You areunlucky if you don’tsee a tsunami inyour life time. Youare even moreunlucky, if you seeone”.

Nearly 5,000villagers residingin the hamletsalong the NorthernCoastline ofChennai are amongthose who had aclose brush withNature’sincomprehensiblefury. Loss of nearand dear ones,decimated homesand the thought ofa hazy tomorrow

Bydeclaringanoptionalholiday,the foodandsnacksprepared

for theemployeesweregiven tothosedisplaced.A batchofemployeevolunteersgot intoaction.

M Jaya-chandran,one oftherescueteammembers,recalls:“It was

like wartimeexperiencefor us.Likesomeonehadgiven ustheopportunityto savelives.”

Amongthosesaved is75-year-oldKanniammawhogesturesthankfully,holdingtight thetowel usedby theteam torescue herfrom therisingwaters.“May Godbless you”,she says,the suddentragedynotunderminingher beliefin Faith.

pressed intoservice to rescueand treat theinjured.

The medicalteam attendedto wounds,fractures andbreathingproblems.“When we heardthat people weresuffering electric

shocks, we alerted theElectricity Board to stoppower supply”, informsDr M Kumaravel of theMedical Centre.

We lost S Koteswara Rao(30) of Ennore to thewaves, while he wastravelling on theRoyapuram Beach roadon the fateful morning.He is survived by hiswife K Nageswari andfour kids.Our deepest condolencesto the family.

Ashley News / February 2005

The Company is also support-ing many NGOs by providinglogistical support. Ashok Leylandtrucks bearing relief materialworth nearly Rs 500,000 reachedNagapattinam immediately afterthe tragedy, where through‘Project Hope’, undertaken by theIndia Heritage Research Founda-tion (IHRF) and spearheaded byactor Vivek Oberoi, distributionwas done amongthe affectedfamilies.

The Company isalso working withthe Confederationof Indian Industry(CII) for long-termsolutions likefishing equipment and communitycenters to the fishermen commu-nities in the Nagapattinam andCuddalore districts.

Employees ofCab Panel PressShop havecontributedRs 8,459 in aidof rehabilitationwork beingcarried out by‘UdavumKarangal’, aChennai-basedNGO.

Lanka Ashok Leyland,Ashok Leyland’s associatecompany in Sri Lanka, is

actively involved in providingrelief operations in theaffected localities. The

Company has also donatedtwo special vehicles whichwere handed over to the

President of Sri Lanka, MsChandrika Kumaratunga, to

assist in relief work.

Employees of Ashok Leyland’sassociate company, AutomotiveCoaches and ComponentsLimited (ACCL) contributed theirone day’s salary amounting toRs 102, 500 to the ChiefMinister’s Relief Fund.J N Amrolia, Director-ACCL,S N Balasubramanian, GM-Finance and Company Secretary,ACCL and E Rajendran, VP-ACCLEmployees’ Union handed overthe cheque to the Chief Minister.

Employees of the Ductron Castings Unit havecontributed Rs 100, 000 to the Red Cross Societytowards relief operations. A cheque was handed overto the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, Sushil KumarShinde by the DCU team comprising of L Y Sundar – GM,V M Chary - SM(P&A) and Union bearers, M L KanthaReddy - President, K Dayakar Reddy -General Secretaryand S Sahodar Reddy - Working President

On behalf ofAshok Leyland, a

cheque forRs 11,300,000 was

presented to theChief Minister’s

Relief Fund towardsrelief operations.

ChairmanR J Shahaney(centre) and

Managing Director R Seshasayee(left) met with Chief Minister

J Jayalalithaa to personally express

their sympathies for the victims of thetragedy and assure long-term support for

relief operations.

At Hosur II, employeescontributed a day’s salary (anda month’s snacks) towards reliefoperations. An employee teameven visited Nagapattinam, oneof the worst affected coastaldistricts of Tamilnadu, withrelief material and loads of helpto the local NGOs. Unionrepresentative N Purushothaman- General Secretary, P Murugan -Joint Secretary andK Gururaghavendra - Treasurerhanded over a cheque forRs 102,000 to the ChiefMinister’s Relief Fund.

Ashley News / February 2005

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Ashok Leyland’s low floor buses for KSRTCgearbox and integral power steering aresome of the driver-friendly features. Thesebuses are powered by the fuel-efficient Hseries turbo charged engines which conformto BS II emission standards and have a goodpower-to-weight ratio. The body has beenbuilt by IRIZAR-TVS, Ashok Leyland’s associ-ate company, on the popular Panther chassis.The 42 seats are provided in two rows, withample space between seats.

Council in the presence of Narain Dutt Tiwari,the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Thedonation also coincided with the CentenaryCelebrations of late Smt Jamuna P Hinduja,wife of late Shri P D Hinduja, Founder ofthe Hinduja Group.

Built on the popular Comet chassis, therefuse compactor is a true demonstrationof the Company’s customer-centric productphilosophy. At 10 tons capacity, the

During the launch at Haridwar (first row from L to R): Shri G P Hinduja; Shri Ashok Hinduja;Shri S P Hinduja; R K Chaddha, SM-Sales, RO(N); Swami Satya Mitranandji; Justice VijayBahuguna, Deputy Chairman-Planning Board, Government of Uttaranchal; BrahmachariSatpalji-President, Haridwar Nagar Paalika, Government of Uttaranchal; Shri Nav Prabath-Minister of Urban Development and Forests, Government of Uttaranchal and (partiallyvisible) Shri P P Hinduja

A MODERN REFUSEcompactor vehicle wasdonated to the HaridwarMunicipal Council byAshok Leyland at afunction organised by theCouncil to ring in 2005.The keys of the vehiclewere handed over to the

compactor can carry four times more garbagethan an open garbage truck, translating tomanifold saving in operating cost and time.The specially designed bin-lifter system is

ASHOK LEYLAND RECENTLY supplied threelow-floor buses to the Kerala State RoadTransport Corporation (KSRTC). At a functionheld in Trivandrum, the feature-rich buseswere received by officials of KSRTC in thepresence of State Chief Minister OommenChandy.

Launching the buses, the Chief Ministerannounced that the KSRTC would introduce150 ‘Ananthapuri Fast’ buses in the state

capital within three months beginning March2005.

At 635mm, the low floor allows a two-step entry, leading to quick and easy board-ing and alighting. Air-suspension at frontand rear offers constant platform height andgood ride comfort. The engines are mountedat the rear, which reduces heat, vibrationand noise in the passenger saloon.Hydraulically actuated clutch, synchromesh

Chief Minister of KeralaOommen Chandy launches thebus. With him (from R to L)are: P K Vasudevan, ex-ChiefMinister, N Shakthan,Transport Minister,D Vijayakumar, MLA & behindhim is K P Somarajan, MD,KSRTC

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capable of handling even closed bins withan automatic lid opening mechanism. Thecompaction cycle is automatic, reducing cycletime.

Ashok Leyland’s giftto Haridwar Municipality

Ashley News / February 2005

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At the 44th Association of Business Commu-nicators of India (ABCI) Awards, Ashley Newswon three awards – including the first prizefor the editorial titled ‘Wheels for Dreams’ inthe 3/2003 issue.

The same issue won two Certificates ofCommendation for ‘Magazine Design’ and‘Headlines’.

‘INNOVATORS’ - a cross-functional team from Ennorewon the second prize at theCII 9th State levelconvention on employeeinvolvement in continuousimprovement implementa-tion. Their project was onthe improvements made onthe Ashok Leyland engine.

Ashley Newswins ThreeABCI AwardsFirst prize for‘Think About It’

IN 2004, THE various communitydevelopment activities that the EnnoreUnit took up covered almost all thevillages in and around Ennore. Inassociation with local NGOs, Unit HRconducted medical camps – dental,eye-screening, cardiological,gynecologic, diabetic – that benefitedsome 3000 people, including primaryschool students. During eye-screeningcamps, patients were given freemedicines and spectacles. Cataractpatients were operated upon free ofcharge. Dental camps provided freescaling, extraction and filling.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 2004, Ashok Leyland exported 328 vehicles to Sri Lanka - the highestsingle shipment ever made by the Company, forming bulk of the 491 medium duty vehiclesshipped from India that day, on board the vessel, Amber Arrow.

The vessel was in high seas, nearingColombo when the Tsunami struck

Record 328 vehicles for Sri Lanka

Help, all-round the year

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the Sri Lankancoast onDecember 26,2004, causingtense momentsto our Exportsteam. However,the consignmentreached thedestinationsafely.

B M Udayashankar, PD-Ennore, gives awaya pair of spectacles at a camp.

Besides these, regular blood donation camps are a routine feature at the Unit.

M Priya Rao of Corporate Communicationsreceives the Certificate of Commendation