Guru Ram Dass (GRD) Body Builders doesn’t need an introduction as it is a well-known name in the luxury bus coach building sector in the country.
Started by Mr Jagdish Kukreja in 1982, a first-generation entrepreneur for manufacturing small bus body building facility at Nangloi, the company commenced with just 10 employees and a 200 sq. yard shed having a capacity to build two buses per month, and this humble beginning soon grew on its strength of quantity as well as the quality.
The company has a vast experience and a young team, with Mr Mayank Kukreja as CEO, and Mr Puran Chand project Head, a combination that has helped them to adapt the industry changes swiftly.
Within a short span of time, demand started pouring in, and the business grew from strength to strength. By dint of hard work and perseverance, the Kukreja senior managed to ramp up its production fivefold.
Currently the company comprises a big team of professionals, employed directly and indirectly, at the Sonipat unit. Mr. Mayank Kukreja talked to Bus Coach India magazine about his further strategies and future plan in 2023.
Categories of buses
We have a main plant at Sonipat in Haryana. Its current product range covers bodybuilding of school buses, ordinary buses, semi-luxury buses and luxury buses. We have tied up with OEMs, and with them we have been growing constantly. We can have two separate lines – one for tour operators and the other for OEMs.
Capacity of bus manufacturing annually
We are manufacturing 500 to 550 buses in our plant in a year, which includes semi-luxury buses and mini buses. Now, we are manufacturing one bus in a day and around 45 vehicles in a month. In our Sonipat plant, we are looking to build around 2-3 buses in a day and around 1000 buses in a year.
We will launch more models per year on a quarterly or half-yearly basis. Further we have been continuously producing and fabricating buses and coaches that are functionally and mechanically superior. The bodies, we fabricate are widely acclaimed for their good finishing, robust construction, corrosion-resistance and many other features.
Quality of buses
We are operated from a sprawling state of the art factory equipped with complete range of the machines for cutting, bending, welding & grinding operations apart from an in-house paint shop and Shower Testing. A team of about 200 highly skilled and experienced workforce is employed at GRD.
We have planning to launch a luxury bus on an animal name. We already have our G-Dolfino model bus, which looks like Dolphin. We have delivered more than 200 “G-Dolphino” built on Bharat Benz 12 m chassis to various customers across India. We have more models other than G-Dolphino, viz., G-Storke, G-sharp and G-Sara. Serving the dynamically changing demand of the consumers, GRD is also developing buses, keeping in line with European norms. Currently we are working in one shift, GRD is sourcing chassis from the customers who buy the chassis from OEMs and give it to them for body building. GRD then develops tools and fixtures along with value engineering that also takes place in case the customer is looking for lesser price products.
Challenges in the market
We have faced many challenges in providing good quality of materials to the customers. With our new plant coming in, it would help us to improve the present condition and come out with proper and good products.
Luxury and other buses
Luxury buses currently comprise 35 percent of volumes at GRD and nearly half of the volumes are still lead by school and staff buses. However the demand for high end luxury travel is growing. We have different customers with their different demands and for us designing every product as per the customer demand is important, but safety is of paramount importance. Be it any design, customer comfort and safety are crucial to stay in business. We are largely inspired from the wildlife birds and animals. The team at GRD is giving distinct appearance to its buses rather than copying designs from the western world. Working in a professionally stimulating environment in the new premises, a team of four individuals undertakes the designing of a bus from the scratch.
Double decker food bus
We have designed our special double decker food bus which can be seen in different places in Delhi’s metro stations. Everything we have designed according to demands by the customers. The concept of food bus was demand by our customer. The bus is totally look new restaurant inside a double-decker bus. This London style double-decker bus dining looks attractive from outside and seems like it is setting a benchmark for every other cafe out there. The owner of the Food Bus of India understands the burgeoning demand and changing consumers’ living styles and preferences towards a new lifestyle, so therefore after a planning of almost 12 long months, they are here with India’s first dine in food bus. Food bus of India has quirky interiors and offers a great variety of Delhi’s delicious street food under one roof. Everything we have designed like lighting, seating, A/C, interior of the bus. Even we have built Chassis according to the demand.