INDIA

100 DAYS LATER

HOW THEY

DRIVE IN INDIA

TOMÁŠ

ŠOPOR

PSI/1 – PI PROJ. SMALL, COMPACT,

MIDSIZE + PI SERVICE

WHILE IN SOME COUNTRIES THEY DRIVE ON

THE RIGHT, IN INDIA THEY DRIVE ON THE LEFT,

THOUGH IN PRACTICE OFTEN IN THE MIDDLE

1

HOW DOES A SPECIALIST

BECOME A PI INDIA 2.0 PROJECT

COORDINATOR?

STORY OF

WATER

CARMAKER HELPS IN INDIA WITH

CONCRETE PROJECTS

Š

E

uropean tourists agree that Indians are incredibly agreeable, friendly, peaceful and calm people with a

rich history and a promising future. From

the point of view of the automotive industry,

India is a very attractive market with enormous growth potential. In the eyes of Europeans, however, it also has chaotic traffic.

Drivers frequently ignore traffic lanes and do

not always pay attention to red lights. Motorway traffic may be blocked by a colossal elephant plodding slowly into oncoming traffic.

A lorry may unexpectedly swerve onto the

carriageway from a side street right in front

of you. A short way further, a herd of cattle

crosses the motorway, heading for pasture

on the other side. Or drivers make their vehicles fly over puddles because, not knowing

how deep they are, they prefer to step on the

gas. Car developers have to reckon with this

unconventional style of driving.

Traffic Availability

The locals’ driving style and skills are affected above all by the state of the road network. The Indian government has been

struggling with its density for several years.

For the most part, motorways and express

roads, which cannot be compared to their

European counterparts, only connect major cities, and it is not possible to drive on

them at speeds common in Europe. Road

development is carried out on the basis of

the National Highways Development Project

(NHDP). According to this project, 14,303

km of so-called national roads should be

converted into four to six-lane motorways.

However, the construction of express roads,

which permit speeds in excess of 100 km/h,

is facing delays in India. A special programme is dedicated to the construction of

roads in rural areas where there are either

no roads at all, or where they lack paved

surfaces. Some regions are difficult to access, and as a result the majority of major

cities suffer from traffic jams.

Slightly Different Traffic

For drivers accustomed to European standards of road traffic, driving in the conditions

described above can be exhausting. This is

likely why local car owners hire chauffeurs

to drive them around and look after their

cars. In the gridlocked streets, traffic typically crawls along at walking pace in first

gear without the drivers stepping on the

gas, which burdens the entire drivetrain.

Cars are basically only coasting. Horns are

also frequently used. In India, horns blare

out constantly. If drivers sound their horn

twice in quick succession, this means that

they want to overtake you. One long blast

of the horn means that you have to pay attention – to whatever it may be. A European horn can endure similar stress testing for two weeks. In fact, in just one day

in Mumbai, you would sound your horn as

much as in one year in the Czech Republic

or in Germany. It may be just for this reason

that Audi has developed a much stronger horn especially for the Indian market.

KODA AUTO India (SAIPL) is giving back in regions in India, where

it is also operating in the area of social

and ecological development. It is running its activities in cooperation with local and national non-profit organisations

and is helping to solve problems in health

care, education, safety, poverty, sustainable welfare, hygiene and the environment.

According to recent studies by the

BBC, the demand for water in India will

be twice as high as its availability by

2030. That means hundreds of millions

of the country’s residents will suffer from

a severe lack of water. Consequently, India’s GDP is bound to drop by 6 percent,

according to the expert report. The shortage will be particularly hard on the food

industry, which uses about 80 percent of

the country’s water. The report also warns

that up to 21 cities will lose sources of

surface drinking water by 2020. In some

countries, this is already happening, especially during the summer. The carmaker has tackled the issue by taking action.

In August 2018, in the town of Warzadi,

which has 6,000 inhabitants and is located 10km from the Aurangabad plant,

it helped to address the critical situation

with water. The riverbed of the Lahukee

River, which runs through the town, was

expanded and the basin was cleaned. As

a result, the company provided 97.2 million litres of water for the residents. RED

20

11

18

3

WELLS IN

THE HEAD

WATER OF THE

LAHUKEE RIVER

WELLS IN THE

DOWNSTREAM

AREA

WELL DRILLS

METRES IS

THE AVERAGE

INCREASE IN THE

UNDERGROUND

WATER LEVEL

It all went really fast. In August, my boss

came with the offer of a new position, and

after briefly considering it, I accepted the

proposal. I think in my case the key was

the combination of two factors: previous

experience with new projects and foreign

language competence.

2

WHAT IS YOUR SPECIFIC

RESPONSIBILITY?

3

HOW DID YOU PREPARE FOR THE

NEW POSITION?

In 2021, four new ŠKODA and VW models

will start production in India, all of them

built on the MQB-A0-IN platform. Their

equipment will be more extensive, which

will make processes in all operation halls

more laborious, from Body Shop to Assembly. My task is to ensure that we discover

and evaluate the increase in labour and, in

cooperation with Production Planning, ensure the highest possible work efficiency.

The importance of cooperating with large

numbers of people, on both the Czech and

the Indian side, especially with colleagues

from Production Planning and Industrial

Engineering, is what makes the task hard.

The most important preparation was my

previous work at the carmaker. It started

with the Trainee programme, which was

a lesson in flexibility in a nutshell. During the year I passed through several departments and completed a foreign assignment in Wolfsburg, focusing on my target

position in the PSI team. After returning, I

started working as a new project specialist. These days, I make use of all the experience I have gained and of the network of

colleagues I have by developing them further in the INDIA 2.0 project.

4

COORDINATING A PROJECT THAT

IS AMONG THE CARMAKER’S KEY

GOALS MUST BE DAUNTING. DID IT

TAKE A LOT OF COURAGE TO ACCEPT

THE CHALLENGE?

When considering the offer I took it as a

natural progression within ŠKODA AUTO.

I knew I would use my English skills and

learn about a new culture. Naturally, I feel

a certain responsibility, but that is the case

with all my new projects.

5

HOW HAVE THE PAST 100 DAYS

BEEN?

I’ve connected well with my colleagues in

Pune. Early on in the project, it was clear

how demanding the new model production would be and how much more staff we

would have to hire. All in all, there’s a lot of

work ahead of us. RED

ŠTĚPÁN VORLÍČEK

OCTOBER 2018 ŠKODA MOBIL 11