Maruti Swift, Dzire & Baleno engine production halted due to a wild leopard

A leopard has been on the prowl in the Maruti Suzuki factory at Manesar. The feline is said to have entered Suzuki Powertrain –  the engine manufacturing unit of Maruti sometime at 4 AM in the early hours today. It was caught on CCTV camera. Presently efforts are on to rescue the animal and set it free in a forest. But so far, forest department officials have not been able to catch the leopard. Due to this, production at the factory has been affected. The 1.3 liter diesel engine of cars like the Swift, Dzire and Baleno is produced here.

The morning shift has been suspended. There were no production workers in the factory when the animal entered. Only security officials and the transport department staff were present. Officials are trying to use the CCTV footage to trace the route of the animal and rescue it. Maruti is yet to comment on the same. The DCP of Manesar, Ashok Bakshi, has issued a statement regarding this issue.

Police rushed to the spot as soon as we received the information. The premises was immediately evacuated and we have sealed the area. Rescue operation is on and over 100 cops have been deployed at the spot.Teams of the forest department, police and wildlife have been called to catch the leopard. We have cordoned off the plant and a search operation is on to catch the animal. However, we are yet to trace it

Every hour of production loss at a car factory causes crores of loss. Maruti uses the Japanese way of production, known as Just-in-Time or JIT. This method of production means that supply of parts and production are linked closely.

Even a minute of delay in the factory operation leads to major disruption in production schedule. We estimate that Maruti has lost at least 500 engines’ worth production due to the Leopard. The Manesar factory produces a lot of best selling models for Maruti.

Via TheHindu