Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., the largest passenger vehicle-maker in the South Asian country, is working with its parts suppliers to expand their training facilities to over 400 locations by 2020 to enhance the quality of supplied auto components.
Each facility — dubbed a dojo, or place of training — replicates shop-floor working conditions and trains new employees for work at manufacturing plants, the subsidiary of Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp. said.
"To meet the ever-evolving customer expectations, ensuring quality at the vendor end is critical," said A.K. Tomer, executive director (corporate planning) of Maruti Suzuki. "To help achieve this, Maruti Suzuki has institutionalized the dojo concept at our partners."
Over 90 training centers, which can also be used to improve the skills of the existing workforce, are currently operational at the facilities of tier-one partners.
"Our suppliers in India cater to about 80 percent of the company's component requirements, making it important for us to help them manufacture quality products for us," a company official said.
Maruti Suzuki reported its highest-ever annual domestic sales of 1,643,467 vehicles in the year to last March, seizing a 50 percent market share in the passenger car segment in India, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, an industry body.