The Rane Group is one of the leading Auto component manufacturers in India with a group turnover of Rs. 4300 crores per annum. The Group comprises of a holding company and 5 manufacturing companies producing safety and critical auto components. The products manufactured are Manual Steering & Suspension Systems, Engine Valves, Valve Guides, Tappets, Brake Linings, Disc Pads, Clutch Facings, Composi
te Brake Blocks, Sintered Brake Pads, Power Steering Systems, Seat Belt Systems, Air Bags, Steering Columns, Large Engine Valves for Automotive & Defence Applications and Light Metal Casting Products. The Group serves various industry segments – Passenger Cars, Multi Utility Vehicles, Light Commercial Vehicles, Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicles, Farm Tractors, Three Wheelers, Two Wheelers and Stationary Engines. Many of its products are also exported to leading Vehicle and Engine manufacturers across the world. Five of the Rane group companies have won the coveted Deming Prize and three companies have won the Deming Grand Prize. Rane History
The Rane Group is one of the best-recognised industrial houses of India today. Beginning as a dealer for automobile, trucks and auto-parts in Madras in the 1920s, the Group has grown from strength to strength, reaching the premier status that it now enjoys. How the Group managed the transition in the various scenarios that the Indian economy presented, forms the thread of this story. In the pre-Independence era, when trading was more the norm, Rane was a name, albeit a small one, in the business of automobile and truck dealership. There too, the company had to survive challenges such as the Great Depression and the Second World War. Post 1947, India adopted a socialistic pattern of society where the private sector was considered to be of secondary importance as compared to the Government-sponsored behemoths. But at the same time, there was a thrust given to the setting up of enterprises that were into production as opposed to trading. It was in this environment that Rane, became truly a Group, taking up the manufacturing of various automobile components. The constituent companies created a market for themselves in India and abroad, even while they battled issues such as labour problems, the licence-quota system and overwhelming Governmental control. Rane, realising that quality would hold the key in the new markets that were opening up, embraced a whole host of initiatives leading up to the adaption of TQM as its credo. The success of the TQM effort, which culminated in the Deming award for several constituent units, saw Rane becoming a global name in the field of automotive components. It is on the platform of TQM that the Group continues to build. This is a chronicle of success, that holds many a lesson for several upcoming organisations and entrepreneurs of today.
