Established in 1990, ARB Bearings Limited is an ISO/IS 16949 - 2009 company run by professionals with over forty years of experience in the bearing industries. Within a short duration since inception, the company has carved a niche for itself in various segments ranging from automobiles to industrial machinery to household appliances. Mr G S Bhasin, AGM - Marketing, responded to the IPF Questionnaire about the company and its impressive progress since inception. Excerpts:

What are the products that you offer?

ARB Bearings manufactures a wide range of bearings, mainly for automotive applications, industrial and other applications; also universal joints (UJ cross) and grease.

Why should the customer opt for these?

With good quality at reasonable rates and a wide products range as our goal, the endeavour has always been to provide our customers the best quality product. In order to achieve a zero defect in our products, we have installed imported automatic grinding line equipped with auto gauging. We have in-house heat treatment facility with a capacity of 100 tonnes of material per month to give good quality products to our end users. As for the range, it is truly vast - we have over 1200 types of bearings in our product range.

How strong/effective is the after sales service?

Our second line team regular visits dealers, distributors and mechanics from time to time for better and effective sales services to the end users. The ARB Network is being spread over every district of India through our channel partners to ensure easy availability of ARB brand in each retail outlet and workshop.

What is the company's history?

The company was incorporated in 1990, and run by professionals with over forty years of experience in the bearing industries. Much of ARB's success as a bearing manufacturer is largely due to the passionate pursuit of quality at lower cost. With a tremendous focus on manufacturing quality bearings and restrains on cost, we are among India's prominent engineering companies. What was initially a private conglomerate is today a public limited company with an annual growth rate of 40%. Thanks to the network of distributors, dealers and OEMs countrywide, this growth rate has remained consistent over the years. Our customers include government departments including defence services, state transport undertakings, large corporates and other companies, besides exports, which also keep the wheels of the national economy running.

What are the company's achievements?

In a very short span of time, we have become a very premium brand name in the bearings industry. We are among the few TS certified companies in India, which is a great achievement for us. At present, we have four large plants engaged in production, with world class facilities. We have very huge network of distributors across India. GNA Dura Parts, HMT Tractors, Sonalika Tractors and other major tractor manufacturers already approve the ARB brand. Today we are a star one exporter, exporting our products to more than 30 country of the world like Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, UAE, etc.

Any breakthrough product launch that made a difference?

We have successfully launched our brand of all-purpose grease, and the UJ cross for Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland's commercial vehicles, which have been very well received.

How is the present business environment?

It is very positive and growing - the automobile industry is growing rapidly and the general engineering industry is not far behind.

What are the future plans?

We are planning to enter the lubricants market soon, and for that are planning a major investment within six months to modernise the plant. We will be expanding our global reach to Iran, Russia, Nigeria and other Afro-Asian and European countries. We are going to open two more manufacturing plants in the next couple of months. This is apart from the four large plants already in production, as mentioned earlier.

(ARB Bearings Limited, New Delhi. Tel: 011-25471274, 25471255, 25186300. Fax: 91-11-25475455, 25470126. Email: info@arb-bearings.com)