COMPANY PROFILE

HISTORY OF PRICOL

Premier Instruments & Controls Limited is primarily an Automobile Ancillary Unit with diversification in the recent years into Electronic Control Instruments, Precision Machine Tools, Panel and Sensor Instruments for Defense and Industrial Gauges. Its main line of business is manufacture of automotive instruments and allied accessories. The Company was established in 1972 and commenced commercial production in the year 1975 with an initial capacity of 4 lakh Nos. of Dashboard Instruments per annum at its Factory at Coimbatore. The Company registered consistent growth in the turnover over the years due to its dedicated personnel and commitment to quality and service. Continuous Research & Development work and multi-disciplinary Engineering Base have strengthened its capacity to cater to the changing needs of the end users within a reasonable time. The Company has set up an assembling unit at Gurgaon, Haryana, with an annual installed capacity of 5 lakh Nos. of Dashboard Instruments, to be of better service to OEM customers situated in the Northern Region. The commercial production at assembling unit at Gurgaon commenced in April, 1988. The Company increased its installed capacity from 4 lakh Nos.34.50 lakh Nos. of Dashboard Instruments per annum over the period emerged as the market leader having a market share of more than 50% of OEM's requirements in the domestic market, catering to the needs of almost all the vehicle manufacturers in the country, besides meeting more than 40% of the replacement market demand through the countrywide dealers network. The turnover of the Company increased from Rs.10 lacks during the year 1975, the year of commencement of commercial production, to Rs.1010 lacks in the year 1985 end to Rs.5914 lacks in the previous year ending 31st March 1994 The Company has made a small beginning in Export of its products with a turnover of Rs. 2.88 lacks in 1985. The Export turnover achieved during the last financial year ending 31st March 1994 - Rs.752 lacks. The Company is the first

among the few and only one in the automotive instrumentation field to obtain the coveted ISO 9001 Certificate in this country during the year 1985, the Company has entered into technical collaboration with M/s. NS International Ltd., U.SA. (a subsidiary of M/s. Nippon Seiko Co. Ltd., Japan) for up gradation of existing technology in the manufacture of Dashboard Instruments for two wheelers. The technology has been fully absorbed. During the year 1991-92, the Company has entered into technical collaboration with M/s. Nippondenso Co. Ltd. Japan for gradation of technology in the manufacture of four wheeler Instruments thereby improving upon its quality levels and manufacturing methods to keep pace with the international technological government in the instrumentation field. The technology has been fully absorbed. The products manufactured by the company caters to the needs of the established vehicle manufacturers like Maruti, TELCO, Either, DCM, Kinetic Honda, Hero Honda, Escorts, TVS Suzuki, Ashok Leyland, Mahindra and Mahindra, Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Tempo, Tafe, Premier Automobiles, Hindustan Motors, etc.

Recently, in Pricol Industries in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, a manager was killed in an outburst of workers anger. The Tamil Nadu government immediately lodged a conspiracy to murder case against Kumara swami, the national president of AICCTU, the trade union wing of CPI(ML)-Liberation, to which the Pricol workers belonged, although there is no evidence against Kumara swami, a labor lawyer at the Madras High Court. This is a way to intimidate labor organizers and destroy the non-CITU, non-AITUC left trade unions, which are building up organizations in individual factories all over the country. The documents below include a background of the Pricol incident, the press statement by AICCTU and an appeal (in Tamil) by AICCTU.

The unfortunate death of the Vice President of the Human Resources Development Department of Pricol Ltd is regrettable. Coming one year after the Graziano incident in Greater Noida in which the local head of an Italian firm had reportedly been beaten to death by sacked employees, it has evoked a lot of

passionate comments and demands from the corporate world. Even as workers are being arrested in large numbers and leaders are being framed, employers are demanding a ban on trade union struggles and sections of the corporate media are advocating labor reforms to give a completely free hand to employers. A single day s tragic incident is now being deliberately sought to be used to prejudice public opinion against the Pricol workers and suppress the truth of the nearly one thousand days of their united and determined struggle. Among other basic things, a key demand of Pricol workers has been for the recognition of their unions which enjoy the support of the overwhelming majority of workers while the management has been constantly pressurizing workers to withdraw from the road of struggle and sever ties with the Marxist-Leninist / Maoist leadership. In this long struggle of Pricol workers, the government of Tamil Nadu (TN) has repeatedly censured the Pricol management. The state government has issued three advices, passed one government order (GO) prohibiting the continuance of lockout, passed three GOs ordering references, passed two orders under section 10B of the Industrial Disputes Act (ID Act) 1947.

For the past two years in Coimbatore, workers of PRICOL, a leading auto components manufacturing factory supplying components to most leading auto majors, have been engaged in a protracted struggle against violation of labour laws by the management. Finally at the end of June 2009, they won a victory, forcing the Government to pass orders under Section 10 B of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947 against violations of labour laws, such as employment of apprentices and contract labour in direct production activities and denial of DA and wage increase as per settlements. Apprentices and Contract Labour are engaged in direct production contrary to law in almost all public and private sector units for decades. This is a rare occasion on which a Government has invoked its powers against such violations.

Two Years of Struggle

The PRICOL struggle is remarkable for the fact that permanent workers, ancillary unit workers, and contract labourers have joined a single union led by the AICCTU and launched a united battle; women workers have been at the forefront of the struggle; and the struggle is supported by other workers, law students, civil rights activists, and dalit organizations. The struggle has been waged against the management s policies of violating contract labour laws through sham Contract Labour and Satellite Vendor systems, victimisation of workers through closure of so-called Satellite Vendor units, termination of workers and denial of DA and wage increase as per the settlements, and transfer of leading Union activists through illegal transfers. The workers had been demanding that the government pass orders under Section 10B of the ID Act. Throughout 2007 and 2008, thousands of workers defied all attempts to divide and rule, braved all sorts of victimisation, and succeeded in making strikes lasting several months a popular issue for the wider society of Coimbatore beyond the factory. Throughout the management played every devious ploy possible, and tried in vain to alternately threaten and woo workers to desert the Union led by what it mischievously branded as a Maoist-Leninist leadership.

COMPANY PROFILE PRICOL

y y y y CUSTOMERS SUPPLIERS ENVIRONMENTS SHAREHOLDERS

CORPORATE VISION Strive for excellence in all we do through socially and environmentally acceptable means. CORPORATE MISSION We will have market leadership through customer delight. We will be a responsible corporate citizen and share the benefits with society. We will make our customers, employees, suppliers and shareholders feel proud of our association and want a long-term relationship with us. CORPORATE CORE VALUES Respect and concern for individuals Customers, Employees and Suppliers - Partners in the Value Chain Encourage innovation and improvement; accept noble failures Continuous learning QUALITY POLICY Pricol will provide value and satisfaction to customers on products and services. This will be achieved through:

Systematic training and motivation of employees Complying with customer requirements and applicable statutory/regulatory requirements Continually improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the Quality Management Systems TPM POLICY Establish an excellent Total Productive Manufacturing system with total involvement of all employees to achieve utilization of all resources. THE MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THE COMPANY

1. To carry on the business of manufacturers and dealers inSpeedometers, Pressure Gauges, Temperature Gauges, Ammeters, vacuumGauges, Fuel Gauges, Tank Units, Hour Meters, Taco Meters,Electronic Speedometers and Gauges, Speedometer Cables and other DashBoard Instruments, Industrial Gauges and Meters required for otherVehicles, automobiles, air-craft and any manufacturing industry

2.To carry on the business of Manufacturers, Importers, Exporters,Dealers in, Assemblers of, Hirers, Repairers, Cleaners, StoresWarehouses of all precision instruments and gauges including panelinstruments for automobiles, air-craft, cycle and other garageindustries, equipment s, tools and machinery of all descriptions andancillaries and components related to these items.

TIME LINE OF THE COMPANY

2001 The Coimbatore-based Premier Instruments and Controls Ltd. (Pricol) has launched disc brakes for two-wheelers 2002 Appoints Mr. Takeshige as the Nominee Director on the Board of theCompany. 2003 Company in collaboration with Directed Technologies, floats a newcompany Xenos Technologies Ltd to manufacture and market advancedversions of vehicle security systems in India -US based Directed Electronics Inc picks up the company to produceand market its newly developed two-wheeler security systems inIndia. 2005 Delist equity shares from the Coimbatore Stock Exchange Ltd (CSE) & Madras Stock Exchange Ltd (MSE). 2006 Pricol Limited has informed that Mr. T. K. Balaji has resigned fromthe Board of Directors of the Company with effect from October 31 2006. Further, in line with the retirement policy for the Directorsof the Company, Mr. E. K. Parthasarathy has retired from the Board ofDirectors of the Company with effect from October 31, 2006. 2007 Pricol Limited has appointed Dr.Kalyani Gandhi as an additionaldirector of the Company with effect from January 27,2007.Pricol Limited has appointed Mr. M.

Lakshminarayan as an additionaldirector of the Company with effect from May 29, 2007. 2009 Pricol Ltd has informed that the Board of Directors of the Companyat its meeting held on May 29, 2009, inter alia, has appointed MrVikram Mohan as an additional director of the Company with effectfrom May 29, 2009. - Pricol Ltd has informed BSE that Mr. G Soundararajan and Mr. KMurali Mohan has been appointed as Directors of the Company witheffect from July 31, 2009s .

Address of factories
Plant 1-132, ooty main road,pb;no 4209,perianaickenpalayam

Coimbatore-641020, India Plant 2-plot no; 34&35, sector-4, imt manesar, Gurgaon-122050, India Plant3-41558, chinnamathampalayam, bilchi village, Presscolonypost, Coimbatore-641019 Plant 4-survey no 1065&1066, pirangut village, Mulshi(taluka) Pune-412108, India Plant 5-plot no 11.sector 10, integrated industrial estate Pantnagar, Rudrapur-2631531, U.S.Nagar, Uttaranchal. y Plant 6-plot no 45,sesctor 11,integrated industrial estate,Rudrapur

CUSTOMERS

MOTORCYCLES ,THREE WHEELERS,SCOOTERS&ATVs

Bajaj Auto, India Beldeyama, Turkey Derbi Nacional, Spain Egyptian Light Transport, Egypt Hero Honda, India Honda, India Kinetic Engineering, India Kinetic Motors, India

Royal Enfield, India Suzuki, India Suzuki, Malaysia Suzuki, Philippines Suzuki, Thailand TVS Motors, India Harley-Davidson, USA Yamaha, Europe

CARs,SUVs&MUVs
Ford, India General Motors, India Hindustan Motors, India Honda Siel Cars, India Magyar Suzuki, Hungary Mahindra & Mahindra, India Mahindra Renault, India Maruti Udyog, India Saipa, Iran Tata Motors, India

Toyota Kirloskar Motors, India

TRUCKS AND BUSES Ashok Leyland, India Askam, Turkey BMC, TurkeyS Eicher Motors, India Force Motors, India Mahindra & Mahindra, India Oshkosh, USA Pierce, USA Swaraj Mazda, India Tata Motors, India

TRACTORS

AGCO, USA BEML, India Carraro, India CAT, India Doosan, Korea Eicher Tractors, India Escorts Claas, India

L&T CASE, India Mahindra & Mahindra, India Massey Ferguson, UK New Holland Tractors, India Punjab Tractors, India SAME Deutz Fahr, India SAME Deutz, Italy

Escorts Tractors, India Indo Farm Tractors, India International Tractors, India JCB, India JCB, UK John Deere, India John Deere, USA

Standard Tractors, India Tafe Motors & Tractors, India TATRA Udyog, India Telcon, India Terex Vectra, India Terex, UK Tractors & Farm Equipments, India

SINTERED COMPONENTS
Ashok Leyland, India GE Transport System, USA Godrej, India Lucas TVS, India Mico Bosch, India Rane, India Roots, India Technoplast, Germany Tecumseh, India TVS Motors, India Valeo, USA

AWARDS

2002  Toyota Kirloskar Motor  Certificate for Achieving Targets in the Category of Delivery 2002  Yamaha Motor  Best Vendor Award and Certificate for the Performance in Proprietary and Electricals

2002  Yamaha Motor  Award and Certificate for Overall Performance in VA/VE Caravan Activity 2002  Toyota Kirloskar Motor  Certificate for Achieving Targets in the Category of Cost 2002  Toyota Kirloskar Motor  Certificate for Achieving Targets in the Category of Delivery 2001  Honda Siel Cars  Supplier Award for Outstanding Performance in Delivery 2001  Yamaha Motor  Best Vendor Award and Certificate for the Overall Outstanding Performance

2000  Maruti Udyog  Vendor Award for VA / VE Performance 2000  Honda Siel Cars  Outstanding Performance Award 1991  Kinetic Honda Motors  Best Vendor Award 1990  Kinetic Honda Motors -Best Vendor Award 1990  Hero Honda Motors  Outstanding Quality Performance Award 1990  Hero Honda Motors  Outstanding Indigenization Performance Award

DEPARTMENTS VISITED
y MATERIALS DEPARTMENT y PURCHASE DEPARTMENT

y QUALITY ASSURANCE DEPARTMENT y PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT(603,604,607 MODULES) y CNC DEPARTMENT y SCMS DEPARTMENT y PLANT MAINTAINANCE DEPARTMENT y INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT y HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENT

MATERIALS DEPARTMENT

Store is where the inward good are kept safe before production. There are two sections of stores in PRICOL. 1. 2. Inward goods store (Receiving store) and. Main store.

Inward Goods Store (Receiving store)

Inward goods store accepts all the purchased materials-The goods that are received through courier is accepted and entered in register about the date, time, courier, provider etc. Then along with this note the items are send for inspecting by inward goods inspection (IGI). They inspect and check if there is any failure, shortage or excess of components than ordered. If any problem is noticed this is to be reported to the purchase department. All the passed components are marked with green stickers and again placed in inward goods store. Purchase department is notified about the passed components and they make arrangements for payments. The failed components are either replaced or repaired.Main Store

All the passed items from the IG store are coming to main store. The main functions of main store are: Receipt of material Proper storage Issue of material

All materials that are passed after the inspection of IGI department come to main store. In the main store the items are stored as per mentioned in its specification.

Each item is given a specific code number. This is called a BINTAG. This BINTAG is 13 digit code and that shows the item code, description and the location where the item is placed in store. This code is also entered in the computer LAN so that each department is able to know about the quantity of each item available in store. The shelf life of each items are calculated and is entered in computer system and is monitored periodically. Certain components are to be kept in a particular temperature, certain components need anti-static bags. The issue of items to different departments of PRICOL is done through stores department. Each department should raise a request mentioning the number of items required by them. The store provides them with the item if available and the balance item remaining in the store is recorded. If the balance item is less than re- order level the stores notify this is to planning and purchase department. If the issued items are returned from production due to some problem or non usage of components, this is notified by stores Return Note (SRN) these returned items are again send to inspection section for inspection and then passed items come to main store. For in house manufactured products like PCB a Delivery Ticket (DT) is issued signed by QA at PCB manufacturing section.

PURCHASE

The purchase department usually comes under the MATERIALS department. This section deals with the purchase of materials needed for the production and they are classified as: Production items Non- Production items Capital items The planning department gives a Purchase Requisition (PR) to the purchase department mentioning the number, specification etc of item required. The purchase department then calls for the quotations from the pre-approved vendors with due date. The vendors are identified by the Vendor Development Cell (VDC). The tenders received will be both in open and in sealed form. Once the tenders are received, these are forwarded to planning department for technical clearance. If rejected it will go to VDC for follow up. If the tenders are accepted, the purchase department goes for tabulation in order to finding out the lowest bidder L1. A purchase enquiry (PE) is raised and the L1 vendor is asked to produce some samples. Some vendors won t accept orders if the required number of item is less than a particular number. In the case of PRICOL has to order more quantity of items than actually required. In that case a store purchase committee checks if the additional procurement can be approved, if the lowest bidder L1 is not able to provide the required amount then the next lowest bidder L2 is chosen. Then the purchase department asks for the finance department about the money that can be allocated for the purchase. Finally purchase order is given. PRICOL uses different modes of payment, some vendors ask for advance payment. Purchase with higher amount is usually paid by Letter Of Credit (L/C), for small amount a Telegraphic Transfer (TT) is adopted. The other modes of payment are through Demand Draft (DD) and site draft on delivering of goods if the vendor accepted the purchase order they gives the acknowledgement of

order accepting the purchase order. This accepting order includes their bank account number, money transaction code etc After these the purchase department forwards the purchase documents to the finance department to invoke payment. Then the finance department makes arrangement with SBI (PRICOL s Banker) for money transfer to the connected bank of suppliers site. Then the supplier acknowledges the receipt of payment. Then the items are shipped from the suppliers site to PRICOL. Any over sea supplier usually supplies through PRICOLIs shipping office located at Chennai. The goods finally arrive at the Inward Goods Section (IGS).

INWARD GOODS SECTION (IGS) All the purchased goods from the supplier are directly goes to the IGS. These items has to be stored, checked, inspected and should be stored in main store. From the main store the items are issued for production. All these items are first stored in IGS; there these items are marked and kept in a particular position in the IGS. These items once arrive at the store is entered in the Manufacturing Management System (MMS) ERP package.

QUALITY ASSURANCE DEPARTMENT

QA- IGI: QA Inward Goods Inspection QA- IP: QA In-Process QA- AT: QA Acceptance Level Next comes the in process inspection section. In the assembly of exchanges we can find components sub assemblies which is a combination of different components but not the complete product and finished product i.e. the exchanges. The sub assemblies refer to various stages in the assembly line. The in process inspection refers to the checking of various sub assemblies. The in process inspection includes manual checking, electrical checking and computerized checking. So the in process inspection helps to find out the faults in the intermediate stages of assembly. Now there is a final inspection section where the finished product is subjected to various tests. Due to the stringent quality standards followed by PRICOL, DOT has given approval to certify the product by PRICOL itself. Apart from the above steps there are various other measures followed by the QA department to assure the quality of the products. They have a management review program where they consider the various quality standards and upgrade them if found necessary. Again they have a product quality committee (PQC) who conduct periodic meetings and take care of the co-ordination between the various section of checking and inspection. Another job of QA department is quality documentation and this was done by QAISO section. The various standards and procedures followed at each stage of quality assurance are documented properly as per the standards prescribed by IRQS and also they will conduct two internal audits and also prepare the audit schedule. And now this department gives more importance to continuous improvement and for this purpose they are using Quality Management System 2008 version and also provide regular updating. The reports prepared by the QA ISO will be submitted to the product quality committee in every 3 months. And if they found any problem it will be analyzed by the steering committee or management review committee.

Industrial Engineering Department:-

This department comes under the chief manager QA. The main aim of this department is to increase productivity. This is done by work study. Work study is done periodically as required. Work study is also done if any particular department is not satisfied with the present method of working or if they want to improve their efficiency. Work study is the study of each individual work. Under work study there is method study and time study. Method Study Sequence of method study 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Selection of job Data collection Examination Development Installation Follow up

The first step in method study is the selection of job that is to be improved. This is to find the real problem. Next is the data collection regarding the particular job? This is done using PERT chart and write ups. Then the detailed examination of the

particular identified job is done. This is done for finding out the real root cause of the problem. After identifying root cause a new method is identified by team work of members of industrial engineering department and the people who encounter the problem. A prototype of the new method is developed and is studied if it is feasible. If the prototype is accepted then the team goes with the installation of the newly developed method. After the installation and working this has to be follow up to maintain the correct working of this method always. The employees, management and trade unions should be given awareness about the same to avoid resistance to change.

Time Study

Time study is done in PRICOL for: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Cost analysis Production scheduling Labour calculation Incentives Machinery selection

Time study is done for the determination of cost for a product. The cost of the product depends on production time, material cost, overhead cost, profit, labor cost, etc. Another purpose for time projection is for plan scheduling. Time study also helps in determining the labor calculation ie number of laborers required for production. To determine the incentives to be given also is determined based on time study. Incentives are given to employees for motivating them to work efficiently. Time study also helps in selecting the efficient machine for the particular work.

Time study is done as: 1. 2. Production study Using stop watch

Production study is watching the time utilized for producing one unit. This type of study is done for work which takes more than 10s for completion stop watches are used for production work which takes less than 10s. Data collection during the time study are : 1. 2. Observed time Normal time or basic time

Industrial engineering department also provide forms design and control for different forms like inter office form, inward goods advice form etc. This is done as per the norms of ISO. This department also sees that all other department is following such ISO norms. There are also suggestions for the improvement. They process the suggestion by forwarding the same to the concerned department. If the suggestion is accepted by the department, it is forwarded to the suggestion committee. If the suggestion committee also approves this suggestion the one who gave that suggestion is rewarded. This department also generates the MIS (Management Information System) reports periodically. This includes details regarding labour utilization, machine utilization etc. Effective disposal of wastes/scraps are a big problem in many company also see that disposal is done efficiently.

PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT

It helps to ensures shorter lead time for development, flexibility for scaling up production and quicker response to dynamic market needs.Pricol s plant - 3 containing mainly production units. AUTOMOBILE INSTRUMENT CLUSTER (SPEEDOMETER) Technology/Process Description: Pricol commenced manufacturing operations in 1975 in the precision engineering field of Automotive Instruments. Today, Pricol is the market leader enjoying 53% of the Automotive Instruments market share. Its R&D Center provides strong support base towards new product development, improvement in the existing products, quality enhancement and technology up gradation to suit the products to changing needs and preferences of customers. Pricol consistently spends about 3% of its turnover on its R&D. Some processes and products which enhance Pricols Manufacturing process are listed below Computer Aided Designing: Pricol possesses state-of-the-art facilities of Computer Aided Design (CAD) with 55 Auto CAD stations, 1 SDRC and 10 Pro E CAD stations for 3D Modeling. Windchill: A web-enabled Collaborative Product Commerce (CPC) software (66 user license) is deployed to effectively practice concurrent Engineering resulting in reduction of product development lead time and right first time products. It also helps in Comprehensive Product Data Management (PDM).It helps in efficient Project Management and Control and engineering Change Management Prototyping: Company has an exclusive Prototyping Shop equipped with Stratasys Rapid Prototyping (RPT) Machine for accelerated product development.

Product Testing: The products under development are tested thoroughly for fit, function, safety, compliance to statutory and regulatory requirements.

A full-fledged sample making cell for fabricating the parts, tools and prototype samples to lessen the design-to-development cycle time The designs are verified and validated by intensive application of various techniques like FMEA, GD&T, DFA, DFM, DOE, etcs