INTRODUCTION INDUSTRY PROFILE ABOUT BICYCLE A bicycle or bike is a pedal – driven land vehicle with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. First introduced in 19 th century Europe, bicycle evolved quickly into their familiar, current design. Numbering over 1000, 000,000 in the world today, bicycles provide the principal means of transportation in many regions and a popular form of recreational transport in others. To distinguish a bicycle from a motor cycle, it is also called a pushbike. The bicycle is one of the most notable of human invention. The basic shape and configuration of the frame, wheels, pedal,
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INTRODUCTION
INDUSTRY PROFILE
ABOUT BICYCLE
A bicycle or bike is a pedal – driven land vehicle with two
wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. First introduced in
19th century Europe, bicycle evolved quickly into their familiar,
current design. Numbering over 1000, 000,000 in the world today,
bicycles provide the principal means of transportation in many
regions and a popular form of recreational transport in others. To
distinguish a bicycle from a motor cycle, it is also called a
pushbike.
The bicycle is one of the most notable of human invention.
The basic shape and configuration of the frame, wheels, pedal,
saddle and handle bars has hardly changed since the first chain
driven model was developed around 1885, although, many
important detail improvements have been made since, especially in
recent years using modern materials and computer-aided design.
A marketable aspect of the bicycle is its widespread
adaptation in many different fields of human activity, e.g. as a
child’s toy in adult recreation and fitness, as a means of everyday
transport, in cycle-touring as a barks of cycle sport (branches: tack,
of road or MTB, downhill, cycle-cross, time tailing, road racing,
cycle speedway, cycle polo, BMX), and as a basis for static
gymnasium or home fitness versions.
A human being traveling on a bicycle at low to mediums
speeds of a around 10-15 mph (16-24kph), using only the energy
required to walk, in the most energy – efficient means of transport
generally available. Is day, which increases with the square of
speed, requires increasingly higher power outputs relative to speed.
A bicycle in which the rides lies in a prone position and which may
be covered in as aerodynamic faring to achieve very low air drag in
referred to as a recumbent bicycle or human powered vehicle.
The bicycle has affected history considerably in both the
cultural and industrial realness. In its early years, bicycle
construction drew on pre-existing technologies; in turn, to others,
newer areas. Beyond recreation and amputation, bicycles have been
adapted for use in many occupations, including the military,
policing, courier services, and sports. A recurrent theme in
bicycling has been the tension between bicyclists and derivers of
motor vehicles, each group arguing for its fair share of the world’s
roadways.
THE HISTORY OF BICYCLE INDUSTRY
THE STORY
No single time a person can be identified with the invention
of the bicycle. Its earliest know forebears were called velocipedes
and included many types of human- powered vehicles. One of
these, the scooter-like dandy horse of the French comet de sivrac,
dating to 1970, was long cited as the earliest bicycle. Most bicycle
historians now believe that these hobbyhorses with no steering
mechanisms probably never existed, but were made up by Louis
bawdry de saunier, a 19th – century French bicycle historians.
The most likely originator of the bicycle in German Baron
Karl von Drais, who rode his tenants. He patented his draisine, a
number of which still exist, including of the paleis let too museum
in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. These were pushbikes, powered by
the action of the rider’s feet pushing against the ground.
Scottish blacksmith Kirkpatrick Mac Million shakes creative
credit with von drais for adding a treadle drive mechanism, in 1840,
that enabled the rider to lift his feet off the ground while driving the
rear wheel. However, some reports describe Macmillan’s vehicle as
more of a “quadricycle”.
In the 1850s and 1860s, Frenchman Ernest Michhaux and his
pupil pierre lallement took bicycle design in a different direction,
placing pedals on an enlarged front wheel. There creation, which
came to be called the “Boneshaker”, featured a heavy steel fame on
which they mounted wooden wheels with iron tires. Lallement
emigrated to America, where he recorded a patent on his bicycle in
1866 in new haven, Connecticut.
James Starley further refined the Boneshaker in the 1870s.
He mounted the seat more squarely over the pedals, so that the rider
could push more firmly, and further enlarged the front wheel to
increases the potential for speed with tires of solid rubber, his
machine became known as the ordinary. British cyclists likened the
disparity in size of the two wheels to their win age, nicknaming it
the penny-farthing. The primitive bicycles of this generation were
difficulty to ride, and the high seat and poor weight distribution
made for dangerous falls.
The subsequent dwarf ordinary addressed some of these
faults, by adding gearing, reducing the front wheel diameter, and
setting the seat further back with no loss of speed. Having to both
pedal and steer via the front wheel remained a problem.
Staley’s nephew, J.K. Starley, J.H. Lawson, and Shergold
solved this problem by introducing the chain and producing rear-
wheel drive. These models were known as dwarf safeties, a safety
bicycles, for their lower seat height and better weight distribution.
Starley’s 1885s Rover is usually described as the first recognizably
modern bicycle. Soon as the seat tube was added, creating the
double triangle, diamond frame of the modern bike.
While the Starley design was much safer, the return to
smaller wheels made for a bumpy ride. The next innovations
increased comfort and ushered in the 1890s golden age of bicycles.
In 1885 Scotsman john Boyd Dunlop introduced the pneumatic tire,
which soon became universal. Shortly there often the rear free
wheel was developed, enabling the rider the coast without the
pedals spinning cut of control. This refinement led to the 1987
invention of coaster brakes. Derailleur gears and hand-operated;
cable-pull brakes were also developed during these years, but were
only slowly adopted by casual riders.
By the turn of the country, bicycling dubs flourished on both
sides of the Atlantic, and touring and racing were soon the range.
Successful early bicycle manufactures included Englishman
frank Bowdeb and German builder Ignaz schwinn. Bowden started
the Raleigh company in nothing ham in the 1890s and soon was
producing some 80,000 bicycles a year. Schwinn emigrated to the
united states. Where he founded his similarly successful company
in Chicago in 1895. Schwinn bicycles soon featured widened tires
and spring-cushioned, padded seats, sacrificing some efficiency for
increased comfort facilitated by connections between European
nations and their overseas colonies. European- style bicycles were
soon available worldwide.
By the mid. 20th century bicycles had become the primary
means of transportation for millions of people around the globe. In
many western countries the uses of bicycles traveled off a declined,
as motorized D became affordable and car- centered policies led to
an increasingly hostile road environment for bicycles. In North
America, bicycle sales declined markedly after 1905, to the point
where by the 1940s they had largely been relegated to the role of
childern’s toys. In the other part of the world however, such a
china, India and European countries such as Germany, Denmark,
and the Netherlands, the traditional utility bicycle remained a
mainstay of transportation, its design only gradually changing to
incorporated hand-operated brakes and internal hub gears allowing
up to seven speeds. In the Netherlands, such so- called granny bikes
have remained popular, and are again in production. Especially in
austere Dane they are often colorfully painted and or otherwise
decorated.
In North America, increasing consciousness of physical
fitness and environmental preservation spawned a renaissance of
bicycling in the late 1960s. Bicycle sales in the United States
boomed, largely in the form of the racing bicycles long used in such
events as the hugely popular Tour de France. Sales were also
helped by a number of technical innovation that were new to us
marked, including higher number of gears, while 10 speeds were
the rage in the 1970s, 12-speed designs were introduced in the
1980s and today most bikes features 18 or more speeds.
By the 1980s these newer designs had driven the three-speed
bicycle from the roads. In the late 1980s the mountain bike became
particularly popular, and in the 1990s something of a major fad.
This task-specific design led many American recreational cyclists
to demand a more comfortable and practical product. Manufactures
responded with the hybrid bicycle, which restored many of the
features long enjoyed by riders of the time tested European utility
bikes.
BICYCLE INDUSTRY IN INDIA
INDUSTRY SCENARIO
4 major manufactures- Hero, TICI, Atlas.
Industry capacity-119 Lakhs cycles p. a (as on 2003).
Industry capacity utilization-89 percent (as on 2003).
Industry penetration- 45 prcent (as on 2003).
Concentration of component supplies at
Ludhiana/Delhi.
Approx. 3500 deals across the country.
MAJOR PLAYERS (As on 2003)
Company Volume Market share
(Lac Nos.) %
Hero 53-85 45%
TII 28-83 24%
Atlas 28.30 24%
Others 7.68 6%
India is the second largest maker of bicycles in the world.
Around a million bicycles (valued at Rs. 1500 Crores) are produced
each year. Ludhiana has been the prime source of components fir
the cycle industry in India. Recently, vendor bases have come up in
other parts of the country there by diluting the geographical risk.
Cycles can be classified into two segments- standards and
specials. There are four major players- Hero cycles, TI cycles, Atlas
cycles and Avon cycles. With changing environment, the market for
standard for standard bicycles has become highly price sensitive
allowing small players take aggressive price postures. The special
category bicycle are more differentiated by design and find market
in kids, students and youth, for fitness and leisure.
The bicycle industry in India has witnessed a continues
downward tend in demand over the last three years. In 2004-2005,
there was 7 percent drop in volume over the previous year.
Increased urbanization, in proved public transport system, increased
affordably of motorized vehicles and limited road space for bicycles
(there in complete absence of “cycles only” lanes even in most
congested and polluted cities) are said to be some of the causes for
the down turn. However, the bicycle is still the first vehicle for
most children and there is growing use of bicycle as health and
leisure products.
COMPANY PROFILE
MURUGAPPA GROUP
The Murugappa group, headquartered in Chennai, India, is a
$1.5 billion conglomerate with interest in engineering, abrasives,
sanitary ware, fertilizers, finance, bio-products and plantations. It
has 29 companies under its umbrella; eight are listed and actively
handed on the national stock exchange and the Bombay stock
exchange. Together, they have over 28,000 employees.
The business has its origins in 1990, when Dew a bahadur
AM Murugappa chattier established a money-lending and banking
business in Burma (now Myanmar), which then spread to Malaysia,
Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Vietnam. A century down the line, it has
withstood enormous vicissitudes (including strategically moving its
assets bank to India and restarting from scratch in the 30’s before
the Japanese invasion in world war 2) to became one of the
country’s biggest industrial houses. The group turnover crossed the
$1 billion mark in 2003-04, with an impressive growth of 25% Rs.
42,060 million in 2002-03. The group clocked a 40 percent jump in
profit before tax over the previous year. Murugappa Group’s
consolidated turnover for 2004-05 crossed %1.44 billion. The group
achieved a growth of 20 percent over the previous year.
The group is a market leader in India across a spectrum of
products like sanitary ware, fertilizers, abrasive, automotive chains,
car doorframes and steel tubes. Neemzal, a neem - based organic
pesticide, is the country’s best known brands like BSA and
Hercules in bicycles, parry ware in sanitary ware, parry’s spiraling
and parry’s Beta carotene in nutraceuticals, ball master and Ajax in
abrasives, Gromor and paramfos in fertilizers, and many more come
from the Murugappa group.
Its companies have tie-up with Borg-warner of the USA,
wend of Germany. Morgan Crucibles of the U.K and Mitsui
Sumitomo insurance of Japan. It has registered 43 International
patents for its research and development innovation. The group has
grown consistently through its decisive and visionary response to
change times. Its pioneering efforts, steadfast commitment to
ethical business practices and it dogged pursuit of new arras to
extend its business acumen have brought in its wake several
prestigious national and international awards.
Social commitment has always been the cornerstone of the
group’s ethos and it has been at the forefront of eco-conservation,
public health, and education in the communities where its
companies operate, since 1957. It runs four schools, a polytechnic
college and four hospitals. Besides, the group runs a research and
development center for rural development the sir AMM Murugappa
Chettiar research center (MCRC), which has been a designing
simple, cost-effective technology for local artisans since 1977.
The Murugappa group has 29 companies active in the area of