NEW PEAKS AT SONALIKA

One of the largest tractor plant is in Hoshiyarpur, Punjab. Sumesh Soman visited the Sonalika Tractors shopfloor to get a sense of the new manufacturing advancements and operational peaks.

- Sumesh Soman

Sonalika brand of International Tractors Ltd. (ITL) in the month of October 2022 clocked a delivery of 20,000 tractors which was its highest-ever wholesale dispatch. It also marked 16 per cent sales growth on a Y-O-Y basis compared to a seven per cent growth in Total Industry Volume (TIV) for the same period. Raman Mittal, Joint Managing Director, Sonalika Group, said, “We feel very proud to have attained yet another milestone last October with our ever-highest deliveries of 20,000 that helped us register a 16 per cent billing growth more than double the established seven per cent industry growth.” “Such a performance is extraordinary for us as we planned for a target and we achieved it 100 per cent. Every team member across verticals put their best foot forward for an extraordinary drive until the very last day,” he expressed. The plant that the company has in Hoshiyarpur is instrumental in achieving such benchmarks on a recurring basis.

At the 125-acre plant, the shopfloor account for 14 acres alone. The visit to the shopfloor helped ascertained the scale of operations. It is capable of producing 750 tractors on a daily basis. That translates to pushing out one tractor every two minutes in a three-shift cycle if one were to take into consideration an eight-hour production shift. That amounts to 22,500 tractors monthly and an estimated 2.7-3 lakh tractors annually. Inaugurated in 2017 at the hands of Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh, Mittal drew attention to the scale of operations and has brought in much cheer in the crucial, last festive season. “Our strategies and business realignment initiatives have resulted in a magnificent festive season for us in FY23. We shall continue to launch new exciting products that will exponentially increase farmer productivity and income for years to come.”