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