Sona Group beginning as a small company in ealier

times now sona group comprises company each of which are in joint venture partnership and technical and financial collaboration with global leaders in their specialist areas.The sona group comprises 5 operating and 2 service organisations.

Sona is driving upon its strengths of its joints venture

 Sona Koyo Steering Systems Ltd. With a market share of 50% is the largest manufacturer of steering gears in india and a leading supplier of hydraulic power steering systems, manual rack and pinion steering systems, collapsible, tilt and rigid steering coloumns for passenger vans. In addition to this company also includes real axle assemblies and propeller shafts. The company plants are located at Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu, Gurgaon Haryana. Sona Steering Systems incorporated in 1984, commenced business in 1985, as a key supplier to maruti udyog ltd. The company proposes to expand the capacity of manual steering gears to 1050000 units per annum and power steering capacity to 295000 units per annum.

Sona koyo the flagship company of the Sona group is currently the largest manufacturer of steering systems for the passenger car and utility vehicles market in India, with a Market share of 45%. Its collaborator and partner Koyo Seiko Company limited, Japan, is the market leader in Japan and has recently announced a merger with Toyota Machine Works, making it number one steering systems manufacturer in the world. The company also has a technological collaboration with Ando Corporation, Korea. The Deming Award, the worlds most coveted Honour for excellence in Total Quality Management was awarded to Sona Koyo on 11th November 2003 Sona koyo steering system ltd. is a technique and financial joint venture company of koyo Seiko Company, Japanthe global technology leader in steering systems. The company is the largest manufacturer of steering gears in India and is the leading supplier of Hydraulic power steering system Manual rack and pinion steering system

Maruti-Suzuki Honda-Seil GM(India) Ford(India) Honda Motors Eicher-Mitsubuishi Punjab Tractors International Tractors Bajaj Tempo Toyota(India) HM-Mitsublshi Tata Motors Mahindra &Mahindra Swaraj Mazda Fiat Ashok Leyland

Koyo Seiko (Japan, US) Lemforder (Germany) Mistibuishi Materials Arvin-Meritor Continental (US) Maval Manufacturing EZGO JCB Excavators Ltd.

TMA Case New Holland

 SKSSL has a total of four plants, each of which manufactures different products. Plant I manufactures RPS Assemblies, rigid columns collapsible columns and tilt steering assembly. Apart from the assemblies themselves, the various in-house parts like Rack, Pinion, Case gear etc. that are used in the manufacturing of these assemblies are made in Plant I. Apart from this, various other brought out parts (BOP) are used such as Bellow, Rack cover, Rack housing etc.

Plant II is slightly bigger and manufactures a larger number of items than Plant I. The most important of the products manufactured here are the RBS Assemblies for various models, Propeller Shaft Assemblies and Axle Assemblies. In addition to these assemblies, the sector shaft assemblies that are used in the RBS Assemblies, the Slide Yoke and Flange Yoke Assemblies that are used in the Propeller Shaft Assemblies.

 Differential Assemblies that are used in the Axle Assemblies are also made in this plant. Various in-house products like the sector shaft, worm-shaft, bevel gear, spider and ball-nut are made in Plant II.

Plant III is also known as the Power Steering Plant and it started in 1998. The plant makes Power Steering Assemblies and has just an assembly line currently.

Quenching: This plant in SKSSL has three Sealed Quench

Tempering: It is the process of heating the components to

Process
1)Pinion Soft 2) Pinion Hard 3) Rack Bar 4) Case Gear 5) RPS Assembly 6) Universal Joint a) Manual b) Automatic 7) Collapsible Column Assembly

Process
Ball Nut Soft Line & Hard line Worm Shaft Soft Line

Sector Shaft Soft Line & Hard Line RBS Housing RBS Assembly Bevel Gears o Manual and Automatic 7. Axle Assembly.

Process
Cylinder Tube Machining Rack Bar for Power Steering Case gear for Power Steering RPS Power Steering Assembly

 This lab is located in Plant II. The lab is operational all the time and testing of various components is done here periodically to make sure that the quality of the products is of utmost quality. The various tests carried out in the lab are: Bellow Durability Test: To check for cracks, abrasions and breakage in the bellow while operating under very hot or very cold conditions. Column Durability Testing: Here input is a rectangular waveform given from the handle side of the column. Steering Column Impact Testing: In this test, a body block is attached to a linear actuator and through this system; a thrust is given to the steering column. Sufficient thrust is given to cause breakage of the column.

TESTING FACILITIES 2

Coloumn and tilt lock endurance testing Forward wear test - r&p Endurance testing- actuator Fatigue test- Propeller Shaft Performance test bench Column durability test Column torsional durability of forward input Universal joint articulating angle test arrangement Column steering lock endurance testing. Linear actuator.

Steering Column:
The steering column consists of the main steering shaft, which transmits the steering wheel rotation to the steering gear, and the column tube that fixes the steering main shaft to body. The top end of the steering main shaft is tapered and serrated, and a nut fits the steering wheel to it. The bottom end of the steering main shaft is connected to the steering gear, generally by way of a universal joint to minimize the transmission of road shock from the steering gear to the steering wheel.

 Steering Gear:
The gears in the steering gears in the steering gear assembly not only steer the front wheels but, at the same time they act as reduction gears, reducing steering wheel turning effort by increasing the output torque. The reduction ratio is called the steering gear ratio and is normally between 18 and 20:1. A larger ratio reduces the steering effort but makes it necessary to turn the steering wheel more when going around a curve.

There are various types of steering gear systems, but the rack-and-pinion type (RPS) and the recirculating-ball type (RBS) are most commonly used on current vehicles. SONA KOYO STEERING SYSTEMS LIMITED (SKSSL) produces both types of steering systems.

Re-Circulating ball screw type:

Purpose of High Volume Production Trial (it is called HVPT hereafter) is to communicate the Product Quality Planning and Control Plan requirements as well as defining the procedure for conducting a High Volume Production Trial (HVPT) and to judge whether or not the mass production can be started for the line. This shall be conducted before Start of Production (SOP) for smoother launch of the new product.

. Implementation of HVPT:
The Role of Leader for HVPT He must get together all people concerned, operators, and supervisors, others who concerned and must explain important points for HVPT. Give a signal for starting and finishing time for HVPT The Role of Time Keeper To keep record of the time and happenings those are observed during HVPT.

Sona Steering is committed to safety and health of employees and others who may be affected by its operations. We believe that the safe work practices lead to better business performance, motivated workforce and higher productivity.

We shall create safety culture by:-

Integrating safety and health mattering all other activities.

Ensuring compliance with all applicable legislative requirements.

Empowering employees to ensure safety in their respective workplaces.

 Promoting safety and health awareness amongst the employees and suppliers.

To satisfy the customer.

To meet customers requirements all the time.

To implement quality policy all the time.

To involve all the employees in overall development of company.

Quality check at all stages.

 The management of the company has chalked out a plan known as Vision 2011. Salient features of the plan are as follows: Vision 2011 looks ahead to maintain No. 1 position in the long run. The present contribution of exports to the total turnover is a mere 2%. The company plans to increase it to as high as 45% of the total turnover by the year 2012. From being a Rs. 250 crores company presently, the management wants to make it a Rs. 2000 crores by the end of the year 2014.