Introduction to Maruti Suzuki Ltd.

Introduction to Maruti Suzuki Ltd.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. is a leading manufacturer of four-wheeler in India. Born in 1983 with the mission to motorise India, Maruti was a joint venture between Government of India and Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan. It quickly grew into the largest compact car making company of India and remained so till 2004. The company started with Suzuki holding the minor stakes of the company while GoI holding the major stakes. As of present, GoI has disinvested its stakes in the company completely, and handed over the management of company to Suzuki Motor Corporation. Today, Maruti and its partners employ more than 75000 employees. Its manufacturing facilities are located at two locations, Gurgaon and Manesar, both south of New Delhi.

Maruti’s Green Philosophy

Maruti’s Green Philosophy stems from its use of “Three R’s”: Reduce, Recycle and Reuse policy in its plants, so that there is a minimal stress on natural resources. The company has launched a number of initiatives under its Three R’s umbrella to make the plants more efficient in terms of resource usage. It is also certified with ISO 14001:1996 for its Environment Management System programme and uses the principle of “Smaller, fewer lighter, shorter and neater” for its operations.

Maruti – Sustainable Operations through Internal Efficiency

Maruti in recent years, owing to several innovative measures like investing in green equipments, its employee-driven campaigns and Kaizens (shop floor improvements), has drastically reduced the consumption of power and water and the waste generation in its facilities. Company also credits this decrease in utility consumption to its adoption of “just-in-time” approach towards operations. Some of the facts and figures supporting Maruti’s claims are (figures available for year 2007):

• Total energy consumption per vehicle is down by 26 % over the last six years.

• Power Consumption has come down by 31 % over the last six years.

• Water Consumption per vehicle has dropped by 63% over the last six years.

• Landfill waste has come down by 67 % over the last six years.

• Carbon Dioxide emissions per vehicle (produced during manufacturing) are down by over 39% in last five years.

Maruti is not only working towards implementing environmental best practices in its facilities, but also takes active part working in collaboration with its suppliers to implement best practices in their facilities through its Environment Management System (EMS), bringing benefit to the entire value chain.

Initiatives Taken By Maruti

Initiatives taken by Maruti that helped the company bring down its utilities consumption and waste generation levels are listed below.