[Safari_Beast]

I booked my Zdi on 15th July 2011 from TCS dealership NIT faridabad , for me as well they dont have any idea about when i will get my swift . I am waiting for till this month and see whats the scenario else i will get i20 crdi magna . But ankur FUN TO DRIVE factor of swift , you will not get in i20 . Only for this reason , i am waiting for a long time . I am totally frustrated , only reason which keeps me hanging on is GTO comments " if one really love to drive and needs fun factor then Swift ZDi is the only diesel hatchback which has performance , handling .

Originally Posted by ankurvirmani19

+1

I had booked Zdi on 20th Aug and was promised delivery around Oct end or 1st week of Nov, but now they don't even have any vague idea about delivery date.

I am truly considering to cancel my booking and go either for i20 Sports or Polo.

[svsantosh]

I had some observations over the last few weeks concerning what may have gone bad with MUL, and how things could have been avoided.

Please read on and reflect your thoughts on that.

---------------------

1) For WELL KNOWN Economic reasons, a Mother Plant - the actual assembly/body shop/paint - is surrounded by ancillary and component and drive train and panel and accessory makers - Logistics and lean supply chain, JIT concept.

2) From a GLOBAL view - (In Early days) car makers used to be in One MAJOR city in very few countries. Detroit, Suzuka, Nagasaki, Hamburg? etc... From there - Huge Ships used to carry the cars around the world then the demand boomed and Supply chain sense demanded car makers have a plant in almost every major country in the world - India and China becoming a big focus area...

3) Detroit - as a city - one of the biggest decline stories? in last 20~ years... Of course reasons are many.

4) From a COUNTRY View - car makers identify 1 place/belt/sector where they find cheap 'everything' and put all their eggs in one basket, right? NCR for MUL, South for Hyundai, Gujarat - new hub?

5) Why cant car makers diversify within a country (like what they did in a globalization POV)? Set up smaller plants across many places within 1 country - MITIGATE Their RISK?

--> Will the MUL (sad) Story bring forth a change in the way automobiles are manufactured in India?

--> Will we see same company having 3-5 plans across India in different states?

--> Something like above would not increase employment oppurtunities (at the outset) but once the economies across the states improve - may be spending power across all classes would also improve!!

--> Look at IT/BPO companies, the sure know how to spread across nearly all major states. Even places like Jaipur, Mysore, Coimbatore, Uttarakhand?, etc have back offices of many-a-IT/Call center...

--> At the outset, it looks like a dumb decision to have many plants across one country in the name of economies-of-scale/supply chain - but so did having a Merc/Hyundai/Ford/Chevy/BMW/TATRA/VOLVO/SKODA/etc (Outside their Mother Countries) sounded before 10 years...!!

[deetjohn]

Looks like Maruti may strike a deal with disgruntled workers soon.

I hope this leads to a long-term solution and the management and workers wouldn't go back to a stalemate again. This tussle has been going on for quite a while now and is not to anyone' benefit.

Maruti may strike a deal with disgruntled workers - The Economic Times

[nurni76]

The 14 day strike at MSIL finally ends. However, Maruti is to take back around 64 Permanent workers. Looks like a compromise solution finally.

source: NDTV 24X7

[ankurvirmani19]

Originally Posted by nurni76

The 14 day strike at MSIL finally ends. However, Maruti is to take back around 64 Permanent workers. Looks like a compromise solution finally.

source: NDTV 24X7

14-day strike at Maruti's Manesar plant ends

[EagleEye]

Hopefully the problem has been solved once and for all. But I still feel the company should have collected evidence against the workers who sabotaged the cars and taken action against them in a CRIMINAL court of law.

It is going to be a scary situation if striking workers across the country in any manufacturing firm get the idea of sabotaging products to make their point.

[andromeda]

Live: Maruti agreement with workers falls


Looks like Maruti is not out of the woods yet. Some articles off-late are giving different perspective after just interviewing Mr. Bhargava all these days.


Maruti strike: labour militancy or rising aspiration of working class?

An except from the above article says
"Maruti claims their HR practises are best in the industry but statistics tell a different story. Maruti’s Manesar plant produces six lakh cars while its capacity is five lakhs."

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by andromeda

Live: Maruti agreement with workers falls


Looks like Maruti is not out of the woods yet. Some articles off-late are giving different perspective after just interviewing Mr. Bhargava all these days.

Yes, fresh protest begins at Suzuki’s engine plant!

Source: Strike at Maruti ends but fresh protest begins at Suzuki

“Some of the issues at Suzuki Powertrain have not been discussed,” said one of the persons who was present in the meeting that ended at 4.30 am. “Even Suber Singh Yadav, who is the leader of Suzuki Powertrain Union, was not included in the meeting.”

Now it seems to be an ego problem of the SPIL union leaders. Somebody don't want the problem to be solved.

Earlier, when Nano plant's land issue raised, somebody slammed Maruti for being supportive to that agitation. Now, who supports the Maruti strikers? VW? Hyundai? Tata? Or mere trade union politics?

[manjot1912]

Oh c'mon now!! The workers at SPIL were at strike just to support the Manesar plant's workers. When did issues emerge amongst them? Now that the Manesar issue has been somewhat solved, what more do the SPIL workers want?




EDIT: Report from Times of India says -- "Workers at Suzuki Powertrain India Ltd (SPIL) and Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd (SMIPL) who had also gone on strike from October 7 in support of their colleagues at Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) have also agreed to call off their strike."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/b...w/10438357.cms

Here's another link - http://www.newsreporter.in/strikes-a...-and-smipl-end

[ampere]

Looks like the strike finally ends.

Strike at Maruti Suzuki ends; 1,200 workers to be reinstated - NDTV Profit

Production to start from tomorrow, as told by the management.

[MutantX]

hopefully yes. I have booked by Vxi - Sep 2nd and hope to get it early Nov. Let me wait and see the events unfold.

[nkg77]

Don't know whether it is the after effect of strike, there were no stock of diesel and air filter when my friend gave his SX4 Zdi for 20k service.

On a lighter note this was my best opportunity to get even with him since he always make fun of me since I drive a Punto.

[rajeev k]

It is nice that finally the strike has been withdrawn and production has started. Now there is solace to all those who have booked the swift.
But the episode was another bad chapter for Maruti.

[MCR]

Maruti Q2 profit falls 60%, new plant to come up in Gujarat - The Times of India

Maruti has seen an unprecedented decline in Q2 profits.This is because of the strike and unreasonably high waiting periods. The new Factory is planned in Gujarat.

[raju2512]

My thoughts are in bold

Originally Posted by svsantosh

I had some observations over the last few weeks concerning what may have gone bad with MUL, and how things could have been avoided.

Please read on and reflect your thoughts on that.

---------------------

1) For WELL KNOWN Economic reasons, a Mother Plant - the actual assembly/body shop/paint - is surrounded by ancillary and component and drive train and panel and accessory makers - Logistics and lean supply chain, JIT concept.

In fact many component manufacturers have satellite assembly units or warehouses near the OE plants. Many of the TVS group companies who have their main plant in Chennai have such plants near Delhi / Pune

2) From a GLOBAL view - (In Early days) car makers used to be in One MAJOR city in very few countries. Detroit, Suzuka, Nagasaki, Hamburg? etc... From there - Huge Ships used to carry the cars around the world then the demand boomed and Supply chain sense demanded car makers have a plant in almost every major country in the world - India and China becoming a big focus area...

Every country would like a product to be made in its soil. So duties/taxes are quite high for CBU imports. Hence the need for auto majors to locate plants in various potential markets

3) Detroit - as a city - one of the biggest decline stories? in last 20~ years... Of course reasons are many.

Blame it on both the parties - the arrogant management and the militant unions. It a classic case of Lose -Lose situation.

4) From a COUNTRY View - car makers identify 1 place/belt/sector where they find cheap 'everything' and put all their eggs in one basket, right? NCR for MUL, South for Hyundai, Gujarat - new hub?



5) Why cant car makers diversify within a country (like what they did in a globalization POV)? Set up smaller plants across many places within 1 country - MITIGATE Their RISK?

--> Will the MUL (sad) Story bring forth a change in the way automobiles are manufactured in India?

--> Will we see same company having 3-5 plans across India in different states?

--> Something like above would not increase employment oppurtunities (at the outset) but once the economies across the states improve - may be spending power across all classes would also improve!!

--> Look at IT/BPO companies, the sure know how to spread across nearly all major states. Even places like Jaipur, Mysore, Coimbatore, Uttarakhand?, etc have back offices of many-a-IT/Call center...

--> At the outset, it looks like a dumb decision to have many plants across one country in the name of economies-of-scale/supply chain - but so did having a Merc/Hyundai/Ford/Chevy/BMW/TATRA/VOLVO/SKODA/etc (Outside their Mother Countries) sounded before 10 years...!!


Volumes in India still don't warrant multiple manufacturing locations. Of course now Ford/Maruthi are looking in this direction. Logistics and demand from particular region are some of the factors in deciding the location.