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MRF CSF analysis Page 1
Indian Tyre Industry A study of CSF’s for MRF in the OEM division
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By: Deepali Naniwal – 13/5
Sushant Sehra – 45/5
Saurabh Sinha 38/5
MRF CSF analysis Page 2
Tyre Industry background
The origin of the Indian Tyre Industry dates back to 1926 when Dunlop Rubber
Limited set up the first tyre company in West Bengal. MRF followed suit in 1946.
Since then, the Indian tyre industry has grown rapidly.
Auto and Transportation industry and tyre industry go hand in hand as the two are
interdependent.. With an extensive road network of 3.2 million km, roads meet
significant chunk of the demand of transportations of goods and men..
The Indian tyre industry produces the complete range of tyres required by the Indian
automotive industry, except for aero tyres and some specialised tyres. Domestic
manufacturers produce tyres for trucks, buses, passenger cars, jeeps, light trucks,
tractors (front, rear and trailer), animal drawn vehicles, scooters, motorcycles,
mopeds, bicycles and off-the-road vehicles and special defence vehicles.
The demand from the OEM or vehicle manufacturers segment is a derived one and
directly correlated to the level of automotive production. The OEMs demand varies
significantly across categories from between 8% for truck and bus tyres to over 50%
for some other segments like, jeeps and mopeds.
Some of the major players in the Indian tyre industry are MRF, Ceat, JK Industries,
Apollo Tyres, Bridgestone India, Goodyear India, Falcon Tyres and TVS Srichakra.
The tyre industry in India is fairly concentrated, with the sample of eight companies
accounting for 82% of production in FY2002. Besides, not all companies have a
diversified product portfolio.
Apart from being capital intensive, the tyre industry is highly raw material intensive.
Any change in the prices of raw materials affects the profitability of tyre companies.
The raw materials used in the manufacture of tyres are rubber and petroleum
derivatives like nylon tyre cord, carbon black, styrene butadiene rubber and poly
butadiene rubber. The most important raw material is rubber-natural and synthetic.
Natural rubber (NR), with 29% weight age in the cost of raw materials used by tyre
industry, is the highest cost item. Annual consumption of NR by tyre industry is 3.50
lakh tonnes, valued at Rs. 14 billion. Over 85% of NR consumed' by the industry is
procured domestically. 15% is imported.
The level of economic activity, performance of domestic automotive industry, and the
faring of the transport sector directly influence the performance of the tyre industry in
India. With the replacement segment dominating the overall tyre demand in India,
the industry remains inherently vulnerable to economic cycles.
According to the top credit rating agency research, the tyre industry in India expected
to grow at CAGR of 10% till FY14. Current tyre radicalization in India stands at 9%
MRF CSF analysis Page 3
compared to a world average of 65%. Domestic tyre industry has witnessed a
remarkable recovery in FY10, after a slowdown in FY09.
Financial Year 2009-2010 (Snapshot)
Turnover Rs. 25,000 Crores
Production (Tonnage) 13.50 lakh M.T.
Production – All Categories (Qty.) 971 Lakh
Tyre Export from India (Value) : Rs. 3625 crores
Number of tyre companies: 36
Industry Concentration 10 Large tyre companies account for over 95% of
total tyre production.
Radialisation
(as a % of total tyre production)
Passenger Car tyres: 98%
Light Commercial Vehicles: 18%
Heavy Vehicles ( Truck & Bus ): 12%
External Enviornment
Tyre Industry Delicenced since 1987
Exports Freely allowed
Imports Freely allowed.
Import Policy for Used / Retreaded tyres: Restricted from April, 2006
Scope We have primarily focused on the new tyre industry for the OEM’s or original
equipment manufacturers which are auto mobile companies. The retreading industry
and replacement industry are out of scope of this study, although we do believe that
because the significant demand from the replacement market, it has an impact on
the critical success factors of the organizations.
The tyre company chosen for Critical Success Factor analysis is MRF or Madras
Rubber Factory and the products in focus are the passenger car and motorcycle
tyres for the vehicle manufactures.
Methodology We have used Porter’s 5 forces framework to analyse attractiveness for tyre industry
in OEM market. Analysis pertaining to major dimensions in tyre industry is done and
then a score in 0 to 5 range is given, with 5 being the highest in terms of overall
attractiveness
MRF CSF analysis Page 4
. The tyre company chosen for Critical Success Factor analysis is MRF and its role in
serving OEM market is looked in details. We have identified required systems and
looked at the current systems to improve Information Systems usage in MRF.
Industry Analysis
MRF CSF analysis Page 5
Porter five forces Analysis of the Tyre Industry in the OEM market.
1. Threat of New Entrants
The threat on New entrants impacts the overall profitability and the structure of the
company. Especially the activities configuration is determined based on the
perceived threats.
Dimension: Supply Side economies of scale:
The supply side economies of scale can be defined as benefits accrued by working
on a larger production scale. If the benefits are large then this will prevent new
entrants as the current manufactures will be operating on a large scale and to
compete with them a large capital would need to be invested and greater risk would
have to be taken.
In our assessment there are only few advantages of large scale production that a
producer of tyres in India can enjoy for Supplying to OEM market. The reasons for
this assessment are following
The Share of the largest player in the industry is 21% and that of smaller
player is around 7%. There are 40 odd producers of tyres in India. Thus we
can see that largest players can’t nudge out smaller players because of scale
advantage.
The average plant size has a capacity of 1.5 million tyres while the industry
demand is 70 million tyres. This implies that no major scale benefit is
associated with building large capacity.
If there would have been significant advantage in building scale then the
Industry would have seen major consolidation among the players, but
historically the industry has been immune to any merger or acquisition.
The major cost for running the tyre manufacturing costs comes from raw
material which is rubber, and there is no significant operation efficiency in
terms of cost that can be achieved by producing on a large scale.
Thus based on the above observations about the industry it is clear that the industry
doesn’t enjoy any significant economies of scale, and that makes it easier for the
new entrant to enter in the market.
Score on this dimension: 2 out of 5
Dimension Demand-side benefits of scale
The demand-side benefits of scale can be defined as the benefits accrued to auto
makers if the suppliers of tyres are operating on a large scale and thus supplying to
different customers. The higher the benefit the more difficult is for the new entrant to
join as it would be very difficult for them to incentivise the auto makers to break from
the network and try new products.
MRF CSF analysis Page 6
There are no significant demand side benefits of scale. The customers or the OEM
get into contracts with numerous tyre makers to fulfil the demand. Most of the OEM
manufactures are not in alliance with each other and production facilities are not
concentrated in a particular region. The rationale why we think there are no demand
side benefits of scale are as follows.
There is no “Network” effect visible in the OEM market, that is one Auto maker
benefiting because other has ordered same tyre from same company. There
is no service or production benefit associated with having same tyre across
auto industry.
No alliance, formal or informal associated with the auto industry; every
manufacture orders its own set of tyres and maintains its own service centres.
An auto manufactures has multiple vendors for its tyre requirements.
Thus based on the above observations it is clear that there is hardly any benefit
associated from customer point of view that suppliers be producing on a massive
scale.
Score on this dimension: 1 out of 5
Dimension: Customer switching cost
Customer switching costs are the transactions costs associated with changing one
vendor of tyres with the other. The higher the switching costs for the customers or
the OEM lesser they will be inclined to switch to a new entrant
In our view there are few switching costs for the automakers and rationale behind is
based on the following observations.
The product is standardised, the industry works on the evolved technical
specifications. Thus once making a switch the automakers don’t have to worry
about changing the design or process of manufacturing of their product to
accommodate the product of the new tyre maker.
There is lock-in visible of a automaker with a tyre company. There is only one
automaker which purchases from a single tyre manufacturer rest all have
multiple vendors serving their needs.
Based on the above observations it is clear that the OEM don’t incur much switching
costs. Although there is evidence to suggest that they get into long term contracts
with the tyre vendors, but the terms of the trade will be more tilted towards the
automaker as the switching cost for the automakers are very low.
Score on this dimension: 2 out of 5
Dimension: Product differentiation
MRF CSF analysis Page 7
Product differentiation can be defined as the notion that there are differences that
exist between products. The higher the differentiation more difficult it is for the new
entrant to carve his own niche.
Tyre industry has come up with different type of tyres like radial and tubeless and
most of the end consumers consider these tyre categories different from the classical
tyres. But still we believe that the differentiation is low based on the following
rationale
The technical specifications for different product categories are standardised.
Although radial and tubeless tyre can charge a premium on being different
from tyres it is impossible to distinguish between one radial of MRF with radial
of JK tyre.
Automakers don’t advertise the tyres of manufacturer they are using.
Although cars having tubeless tyres are advertised as having a certain type of
tyre but the manufacture is not advertised.
Most of auto makers specify different sizes for the tyres but beyond size there
is no major feature difference that is demanded.
Thus based on the above observation it is clear that there is no major product
differentiation apart from the difference in certain type of tyres and that too is
restricted to only car tyres.
Score on this dimension: 2 out of 5
Dimension: Brand Equity
We will measure the brand equity with respect to the importance to the car
manufacturer. The higher the brand equity higher is the barrier for new entrant as it
takes time to build the brand equity.
There are numerous tyre manufacturer and they spend part of their budget to
promote their brand. But the importance of the brand equity to a OEM is limited as is
based on the following rationale.
There is limited customer pull demand for a tyre manufacturer from the
customers of the automakers. This absence of pull demand gives freedom to
the automakers to go beyond a brand and look for the best deal.
Automakers don’t advertise Brand of the tyres they are using. Which means
there is no brand equity that can be built up in the OEM’s
MRF CSF analysis Page 8
Thus based on the above observation it is clear that there is no major brand equity.
Auto makers might loose some customers for using unbranded tyres but they don’t
gain any customers for using a certain type of brand.
Score on this dimension: 2 out of 5
Dimension: Capital requirements
Capital requirements are a major deterrent for the new competitors. A new tyre plant
with a capacity of 1.5 million can be built around for 800 million rupees. Per say this
number looks large but compared to return in the industry and breakeven point this
not a major investment and as the variables costs are almost immediately
recoverable. Hence the capital requirements for this industry are not very large.
Score on this dimension: 2 out of 5
Dimension: Access to new technology
If a industry has proprietary technology it makes it difficult for the new entrant to
imitate the technology and build similar products. Of late Indian tyre manufactures
have started spending 2 to 5 percent for their earnings towards R&D and tyres based
on the technologies have come into prominence for example Radial and tubeless
tyres. It is also driven by the specialized cars and their requirements for better safety
and performance from the tyres. But the technology tie-ups are possible and do exist
in the industry, hence the difficulty to access to the technology is marked as
Moderate.
Score on this dimension: 3 out of 5
Dimension: Access to Raw materials
The availability and the ownership of raw materials is a crucial consideration for any
new entrant. There are two major raw materials in the manufacture of the tyres
Natural Rubber
Petro Products.
Both the products are commodities and freely traded in the market. Hence there is
no difficulty is accessing the product from the market. Additionally these products are
also available in the international markets which make imports also possible in case
large scale decline in local production. All this makes it easier for the new entrant to
enter the market and start producing using the raw materials.
MRF CSF analysis Page 9
Score on this dimension: 2 out of 5
Dimension: Access to other production inputs like location
Location can be another factor that can deter the new competitors. As per industry
structure there is no significant advantage of locating the manufacturing location to a
particular location. Locating it close to the OEM’s or Natural rubber plantations might
help to decrease in the lead times of distribution or procurement but it doesn’t add
any significant benefit as both the auto plants and rubber locations are spread in
various parts of India.
Score on this dimension: 2 out of 5
Dimension: Prevalence of learning from experience
There is no evidence to prove or contradict that firms in tyre industry have any
advantage of learning from experience. Hence this dimension is not rated.
Dimension: Access to distribution channels.
Ability of the firms to market their products across distribution channels is one of the
major factors that new competitors consider. Distribution channels not just lower the
risk by distributing it they also define the reach of a product. In case of product
market combination this report is considering there is only one distribution channel
that is the OEM.
The distribution is based on the long term contracts hence it is very difficult for the
new entrant to access this single channel of the sales.
Score on this dimension: 4 out of 5
Dimension: Protection from government policy relating to entry of new players
in the industry
External environment and regulation creates the barriers for the new entrants by
ways of policies of quota or taxation. As per current laws and regulation there is no
restriction for a manufacturer in India to produce tyres but the imports are
MRF CSF analysis Page 10
discouraged by ways of higher excise duties especially for the tyres for 2/3 wheeler
segment.
Score on this dimension: 2.5 out of 5
Overall average score of attractiveness in terms of threat from the new supplier is
2.23 out of 5. This means that the industry faces threat of entry of new entrants in
case the overall margin in the industry is high.
2. Power of suppliers
Power of suppliers is the leverage enjoyed by the suppliers of the raw materials or
services to the manufactures of the tyre industry. The amount of leverage impacts
not just the procurement processes but also the operations and the sales potential.
Dimension: Concentration of supplier industries
The concentration of the suppliers industries which we will measure with relation to
the number of tyre manufacturer measures the bargaining power of the suppliers
with respect to the manufacturer.
The two raw materials used in the manufacture of tyres are
Rubber: It is traded in the markets and easily available. Rubber is highly
commoditized product and there are no large producers of the same.
Petro-products There are few suppliers of petro products in India as this is an
imported product under government regulation. And most of the petro
companies are large in size.
Hence we can assume that there is an moderate concentration of the suppliers.
Score on this dimension: 3 out of 5
Dimension: Switching costs for the industry in changing suppliers
The ability of the tire manufactures to change their suppliers determines the
processes that affect the procurement and the input costs. The raw materials are
mainly commodities as described above and are highly standardized, but there may
MRF CSF analysis Page 11
exist some long term contracts for the procurement from certain suppliers and some
location specific suppliers. Hence the switching costs are moderate to low to switch
the suppliers.
Score on this dimension: 3.5 out of 5
Dimension: Differentiation in products/ services offered by suppliers
There is different type of rubbers, and rubber is recognized by the quality sometimes.
There is no differentiation in the petro products which is another input in the tyre
manufacture. Overall we can assume that there is moderate to low product
differentiation in the products offered by the suppliers.
Score on this dimension: 3.5 out of 5
Dimension: Differentiation in products/ services offered by suppliers
As indicated above there are different type of rubbers few of them are listed below
The quality and specification of the rubber impacts the specification and the quality
of the tyre manufactured.
Score on this dimension: 2 out of 5
Dimension: Contribution of suppliers' inputs to the cost of industry's output
ACRYLIC RUBBER BUTADIENE RUBBER
BUTYL RUBBER CHLOROBUTYL
CHLORINATED POLYETHYLENE CHLOROSULPHONATED POLYETHYLENE
EPICHLORHYDRIN ETHYLENE ACRYLIC
ETHYLENE PROPYLENE RUBBER FLUOROELASTOMERS
HYDROGENATED NITRILE RUBBER ISOPRENE RUBBER
NATURAL RUBBER NITRILE RUBBER
PERFLUORO ELASTOMERS POLYCHLOROPRENE
POLYNORBORNENE RUBBER POLYSULPHIDE RUBBER
POLYURETHANE RUBBER SILICONE (and FLUOROSILICONE) RUBBER
STYRENE BUTADIENE RUBBER TETRA-FLOUROETHYLENE/PROPYLENE
MRF CSF analysis Page 12
As per the data available between 2000 and 2005 the two inputs to the tyre
manufacture constitute around 60% of the costs of the manufactured tyres. The data
is consistent across various companies of various sizes.
Score on this dimension: 2 out of 5
Dimension: Availability of substitute inputs for the industry
There are very few substitutes available of the rubber and petro products that are
used in the manufacture of the tyres. Because of lack or credible alternatives the
power of suppliers is high in the industry.
Score on this dimension: 2 out of 5
Dimension: Suppliers' threat of forward integration
Out of two type of suppliers the rubber manufactures because of fragmentation don’t
have enough financial capital to do forward integration although 50% of the rubber
produced in India is used by the tyre industry. Petro-product based companies have
huge financial capitals but usage of their products in tyre industry constitute very little
to their overall sales. Hence there is little threat for forward integration by the
suppliers of tyre industry.
Score on this dimension: 4 out of 5
Dimension: Industry's threat of backward integration
The tyre industry is highly unlikely to go for backward integration as the capital
requirements to buy petro-products manufacturing units are extremely high and the
rubber production is fragmented in small holdings and regulated by the government
hence tyre industry doesn’t pose much threat to it’s suppliers.
Score on this dimension: 2 out of 5
Dimension: Dependence of suppliers' industries on the industry (for revenue/
profitability)
As indicated above the tyre industry is the minor customer or consumer for the petro-
products but it consumes 50% of the rubber production hence the dependence of the
suppliers on the tyre industry can be attributed as moderate to high.
MRF CSF analysis Page 13
Score on this dimension: 3 out of 5
Overall attractiveness average score for the Power of supplier force of porter is 2.78.
Which means that power of suppliers is high and they are in position of strength
compared to the tyre industry
3. Power of Customers
The leverage enjoyed by the customers of tyre industry determines how much to
focus the attention to the external environment. For the current analysis we consider
auto manufacturers as the customers of the tyre industry and they are categorized
by their large size and mass production of their production.
Dimension: Concentration of customer industries
There are few number of buyers compared to the number of tyre manufacturers and
the OEM market is dominated by the big players with large financial clout. There is
data available which shows the margins while selling tyres to auto manufactures is
very low.
Score on this dimension: 2 out of 5
Dimension: Switching costs for customers to move to another firm in the
industry
The markets work on long term contracts hence there might be some switching costs
in changing the vendors but due to lack of product differentiation between the firms
then penalty to switch is not too high.
Score on this dimension: 2 out of 5
Dimension: Customers' threat of backward integration
Auto makers have high financial capital to perform backward integration but tyres
have little contribution to the overall cost of their final product, sometimes even less
2%. Hence the threat of backward integration is low by an auto manufacturer. Also
historically worldwide there has been no such instance of backward integration
Score on this dimension: 4 out of 5
MRF CSF analysis Page 14
Dimension: Proportion of customers' purchase from the industry out of their
total cost
Tyres are not a major cost driver for the auto makers as indicated above they can
cost up to 2% of the total costs. Hence there is less intensive for the automakers to
drive hard bargains.
Score on this dimension: 4 out of 5
Dimension: Pressure on customers to cut costs (due to profitability/ cash flow
situation)
Indian auto industry is going through fierce competition and there is extreme
pressure on the margins and this is leading them to further squeeze the margins on
the tyre industry.
Score on this dimension: 1 out of 5
Dimension: Contribution of industry's supplies to the quality of customers'
output/ consumption
Contribution is likely only for the innovative tyre products like tubeless tyres or radial
tyres but beyond that there is no significant contribution to boost the quality of the
final product.
Score on this dimension: 2 out of 5.
Dimension: Impact/ criticality of industry's supplies to the overall performance
of the customers' business
Although no car can be delivered without the tyres there are other more critical
inputs for the auto makers like engine, body etc. hence the criticality for the auto
makers is comparatively low.
Score on this dimension: 2 out of 5.
Over all the average attractiveness score for this Porter force is 2.50. That means
that the customers have a big sway on the margins of the tyre industry.
MRF CSF analysis Page 15
4. Threat of substitutes
There are no close substitutes of the tyres available for the auto makers. Hence in
all the dimensions the attractiveness score are high.
Dimension Score Rationale
Availability of close substitutes of the industry's product/ service to its customers
4 No substitute available
Switching cost for the customer in using one of the substitutes
NA
Substitute's price-value characteristics compared to price-value of industry's product/ service
NA
Profitability of firms in the industry(s) offering substitutes
NA
5. Rivalry among Competitors in the Industry
Dimension Score Rationale
Differentiation in products/ services offered by the industry to its customers
3 As indicated above there is little differentiation except in case of radial tyres and tubeless tyres
Switching costs for customers to move to another firm in the industry
2 As indicated above because of low differentiation and standardization of the product switching costs are low
Fixed cost (as proportion of total cost) for the players in the industry
3.5 Assembly-line production can be adjusted to demand. Main fixed costs are from plant & eqpt.
Capacity addition can be done by players in the industry in small numbers or large numbers
3.5 The capacity addition can be done in small numbers this is indicated by the large number of players, around 40 thus Small capacity additions feasible if it builds on existing production lines.
Shelf-life of products offered by the industry
4 Tyres have large shelf life hence the firms can afford to keep them in the inventory and don’t face the pressure of selling them because they will rot away.
Concentration of players in the industry 4 Top 4 players enjoy 75% share therefore high concentration.
Industry growth rate 3 Moderate growth (4-6%
MRF CSF analysis Page 16
historically and projected).
Capacity utilisation in the industry Don't know
Proportion of assets used by players in the industry that cannot be deployed in other industries
2 Highly specific assets (very few types of equipment like mixers may find alternate application, rest is tyre specific).
Government policy on exit by players 1 Indian labour law restricts the winding up of public firms under the companies law thus it makes it difficult for players to exit (eg., Dunlop Chennai unit).
6. Summary of analysis
As per our rating of various dimensions the following is the summary or the average
result
Competitive Forces Attractiveness Score (1 to 5)
Weightage Weighted Scores
1. Threat of New Entrants 2.23
20% 0.45
2. Power of Suppliers 2.78
20% 0.56
3. Power of Customers 2.50
20% 0.50
4. Threat of Substitutes 5.00
10% 0.50
5. Rivalry Among Competitors in the Industry
2.89
30% 0.87
OVERALL ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE INDUSTRY
3.08
2.87
.
The attractiveness of the tyre industry is marginally above average. More qualitative
analysis yields the following results.
There are no substitutes of tyre and the industry will grow with the growth in
the auto industry.
Major costs are associated with raw materials, and they are major cost
drivers. The investments compared to returns are not very high.
There is good competition between the firms as product is not differentiated
and switching costs for customers and suppliers is very low.
There is always a threat for new entrant but limited threat that customers or
suppliers will indulge in backward or forward integration.
MRF CSF analysis Page 17
The tyre industry works on a tight margins because of the high customer and
supplier power.
There is little or no Brand equity hence the terms or trade are not built on the
brand reputation
Critical Success factors for MRF.
Company Background Madras Rubber Factory, popularly known as MRF, is one of the major tyre manufacturing companies in India. It is located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. MRF is mainly involved in making vehicle tyres. It is India's largest tyre manufacturing company and has a sizable presence in the world market. Currently is it exporting to more than 65 countries around the world. MRF Tyres has signed an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) alliance with Siel, Honda Motors and Hindustan Motors in 1998. It has tie ups with Maruti udyog as well. The company tied up with Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Co. of USA, a subsidiary of the French Tyre giant Michelin, which held 9.8 per cent stake in the company.
Company Strategy
Considering the structure of the industry it is difficult to follow 100% pure generic
strategies.
Cost Leadership: The major cost of the tyre industry comes from the input
materials. On which it doesn’t have much leverage. Also it has been indicated
that the economies of scale are absent in the industry which could have
driven the costs down. Thus any one pursuing the strategy has a limited room
as the major costs are common for all the companies in the industry.
Product Differentiation Strategy: The branding of the tyre to OEM doesn’t
matter and within product there are only few features that can distinguish it
from others and any innovation in the product can be easily imitated due to
easy availability of the technology Hence pure product differentiation strategy
hasn’t work in the industry.
Having ruled out pure generic strategies for OEM market the success of the MRF
depends less on its value chain and more on the value chain of the OEM. To
evolve the critical success factors for MRF one has to look at the value chain of
the customers, and the successful firms in the industry will have to follow strategy
similar to one mentioned below.
MRF CSF analysis Page 18
“Have a differentiated business delivery model that is
responsive and adaptive to the needs of the value chain of the
auto maker and yet delivers the tyres at a low cost “
7. Analyzing OEM Needs
To find out the critical success factors for a tyre company we need to answer
the following questions for the customer or the OEM of the MRF.
1. What is the crucial demand of OEM with respect to its tyre supplier?
Most of the auto companies face variable demand for its products. Sometimes the
demand is seasonal like in the case of Diwali or sometimes it is dependent on the
Macro Economic variables like fuel prices and state of economy. The lead time to
assess the changing demand is very low for the auto manufacturers hence they don’t
have clear visibility of the future. Considering the state of the demand the automaker
will want that production schedule of the supplier be tolerant to changes in the
production schedule of the OEM.
2. How important is the lead time?
Tyres are the necessary components for the auto companies but are not the
cost drivers. Auto companies won’t want the delivery to be held up because of a low
cost component hence if there is no reliable supplier then they will have to build up
the inventory of the goods. This will put pressure on already existing margins in the
auto industry. Hence if they can find a supplier with punctual delivery and low lead
time they will prefer to do business with him.
3. How important is the cost of input?
When auto industry is facing sudden high demand the lead time is more crucial than
the cost but in normal day to day business because there is no product differentiation
and customers have high bargaining power they tend to go for the cheapest deal.
Product innovation is vital but not crucial to the automaker but if a new breakthrough
product like tubeless tyre can be delivered at a low cost and fetch a premium to the
automaker then the willingness to adopt the new product is high.
MRF CSF analysis Page 19
8. Building Critical Success Factors for MRF
Based on the above analysis of OEM requirements we can derive following success
factors for MRF. These are firm specific success factors but also applicable to the
industry.
1. Estimate the future demand of the OEM as fast as possible.
The demand of the tyres by OEM is completely a pull demand. No amount of
marketing has created a push demand in this segment. As it has been mentioned
earlier, the OEM has a variable demand, to be able to estimate the variations early
will give the industry an enormous competitive advantage and time to adjust to the
changing market.
2. Demonstrate flexibility in production based on the variable demand of the OEM
without incurring extra costs.
As the demand is variable, the ability of MRF to remain sensitive to OEM demand
and flexible in its production plan will differentiate it with respect to the competition. If
MRF or any tyre company can absorb the costs of the changing production
schedules, inventory pileup etc by showing agility in the scale of production and
distribution then the customers will be far more inclined towards it.
3. Maintain low lead time of delivery and ensure the orders are always met.
The operational efficiency and punctual delivery will ensure that the there is no
breakdown in the OEM assembly line. This will reduce the burden of OEM to
maintain the too much inventory of tyres.
4. Build strong relations with auto manufacturers and suppliers so that longer term
contracts can be signed.
The ability of the MRF to manage customer and suppliers relationships, like offering
Discounts on providing accurate demand or faster order processing and invoice
settlement will make MRF preferred partner and this will enhance the prospect of
getting long term contracts which are crucial to providing stability to the operations.
5. Maintain good working capital to accommodate variations in demand from the
OEM.
MRF CSF analysis Page 20
As we had seen in the porter’s 5 forces analysis the power of suppliers and
customers is high compared to the power of MRF to negotiate. This means that MRF
is always on the wrong side of credit terms in respect to the customers and
suppliers. Hence it is imperative for it to maintain good working capital to ensure that
the cash flow is at optimum level.
9. Required information Systems
Based on the above 5 critical success factors MRF would require different
information systems. The list is provided below.
1. Estimate the future demand of the OEM as fast as possible.
Required information system
Demand Forecast system: A system that has a tie up with the OEM forecast
and real time data so that it can seamlessly predict the variant mix and
aggregate demand. This system shall give time leeway to MRF to expand the
capacity or reduce inventory and production. Ideally this system should be
integrated with the auto manufacturer information system to get real time data
and accurate forecast.
2. Demonstrate flexibility in production based on the variable demand of the OEM
without incurring extra costs.
Required information system
A centralized resource planning software: A information system that can
adjust and optimize the production and sales based on the information from
the environment like from Demand forecast system or it can optimize the
operation based on the information generated from within like inventory or
machine break down is needed to achieve the critical success factor.
3. Maintain low lead time of delivery and ensure the orders are always met.
Required information system
Integrated inventory and transport system: A system in which the
inventory of finished goods can be used to service the demand from the
inventory and track the transport to the delivery is required to achieve the
critical success factor.
4. Build strong relations with auto manufacturers and suppliers so that longer term
contracts can be signed.
Required information system
Customer relationship management and Supplier relationship
management: To maintain and grow the customer and supplier relationships
MRF needs to reward them with discounts when possible, reduce the order
management time, generate accurate billing as per order and contract,
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process and verify invoices quickly maintain the customer and supplier data
and preferences and generate accurate information for them when required.
5. Maintain good working capital to accommodate variations in demand from the
OEM.
Required information system
A Financial and Inventory accounting software: A financial and inventory
accounting software that can record any internal or external transaction
information, process the relevant information by distributing it under relevant
headers or accounts and performing accurate settlement of financial
transaction is needed to meet the above objective.
10. Existing information systems at MRF
MRF has installation of ERP or enterprise resource planning from SAP. Within SAP it
has following modules implemented.
Financials and Controlling (FICO)
Sales & Distribution (SD)
Materials Management (MM),
Production Planning (PP)
Plant Maintenance (PM)
Human Resources (HR)
Net Weaver Business Intelligence
Most of the information gathered is aligned with the financial data using the FICO
module. The top management has now clear idea about the activities that impact the
financials and due to central information processing due to ERP the visibility of the
decision maker on the activities inside the system are very high.
11. Assessment of existing Information Systems
MRF chose SAP for Automotive solutions to support efforts to drive operational excellence across its global organization. Following a detailed evaluation process, MRF opted to replace existing applications from Oracle in favour of SAP’s leading ERP solutions, based on the SAP Net Weaver platform. With global operations manufacturing and distributing tyres to more than 75 countries, MRF was faced with the need to improve visibility throughout its entire value chain from raw materials to
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finished-goods partners in order to better plan for and adapt to fluctuations in global supply and demand. With SAP, MRF was able to integrate data between logistics and finance, eliminating redundant work and saving time and operational costs but there were certain issues due to some handicaps in SAP’s reports in Country India Version, which called for applying new service packages often. One of the issues which we see with standard SAP application is that MRF has missed on some firm specific processes. For instance, the entire production facilities of MRF are concentrated in south of India and their top 3 buyers are in north of India. At any instance, when an order is received, it should go through customized algorithms focused on least lead time and minimum cost. A smaller lead time can help MRF differentiate its services in the market and can help them charge higher margins. The current cost focussed modules on logistics would be suboptimal for MRF.
Many customized solutions are to be developed for using specific features of SAP, which means increase in costs for hiring consultants for such jobs. However we believe an apt networked Supply network planning software can help MRF beat competition hands down. They should customize the distribution part of the supply chain in order to suite the requirements of the buyers.
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On the other hand, we see that there is a potential for backward integration as well. The prime cost of tyre manufacturing is rubber. Currently MRF does not has an SRM solution in place. The company can utilize the existing modules of SRM in SAP to integrate the supplier network. This can further improve the lead time to delivery for the company. Michigan Tyres has successfully tried vendor managed inventory in Germany. MRF should try to set up VMI with its prime suppliers. This could give the company a competitive edge in terms of speed and certainty of delivery and cost.
12. Conclusion
MRF currently has inside out approach to IT strategy. Their current IT philosophy
seems to be geared towards control of processes in organization and being cost
focussed. While this central control has led to significant cost benefits as the
information flows very fast decision maker from inside the organization and he can
adjust his strategy accordingly.
Although this approach has yielded benefits, our view is that they should also look
for outside in approach where the outside information flows seamlessly to the
decision maker and inside information flows out seamlessly to external stakeholders
including buyers and suppliers. This will help MRF to not just manage the production
but also the supply chain.