Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters, is rapidly gearing up to commence operations, as per the guidelines stipulated by the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. The decision by the Company comes in the wake of the relaxations put in place by the government on the countrywide lockdown and the necessary permissions granted by the local authorities.
To begin with, Hero MotoCorp is commencing operations in a graded manner at three of its manufacturing plants – Gurugram and Dharuhera (both in Haryana), Haridwar (Uttarakhand) and additionally the Global Parts Center (GPC) at Neemrana in Rajasthan. These manufacturing plants are scheduled to reopen from Monday, May 4 and production at these facilities is slated to commence from Wednesday, May 6.
Also Read: Driving in Lockdown 3.0 in a Red zone: Follow these guidelines to stay out of trouble
How Will The Company Start Operations?
Adhering to the guidelines suggested by the Home Ministry, only the essential staff will come to work at all the other facilities and corporate offices, observing social distancing and all prescribed safety measures. The remaining employees across all locations in India will continue to Work from Home (WFH) until further notice.
The Company’s other manufacturing plants have also obtained the necessary permissions to reopen and these will commence operations after most of the supply chain partners of the Company get the permissions to operate. The Company’s R&D facility – the Centre of Innovation and Technology (CIT) – has also received the necessary permission to reopen and will resume functioning soon. Keeping employee wellbeing and safety at the core of restarting operations, a formal restart manual has been prepared and shared with all employees via email & webinars and its adherence has been made mandatory until full normalcy is restored.
Few of the key guidelines of the restart manual prepared by the company for its employees include –
- Mandatory self-declaration of good health before joining and daily updates through Aarogya Setu and Hero App wherever applicable
- Wearing of face-masks, face shield, digital attendance through Hero App, regular sanitization of personal items, work-stations and maintaining social distancing
- No domestic or international travel, no celebratory or business gatherings
- No visitors allowed to visit Company premises, neither are employees allowed to visit vendor or dealer premises
- Thorough sanitization of all workplaces regularly, sanitization of buses, shuttles and other official vehicles after each trip
- Mandatory WFH for :
- Employees above the age of 60
- Any employee with critical medical conditions
- Pregnant women
Hero MotoCorp had proactively halted all operations across its manufacturing facilities and made WFH mandatory for all its offices from March 22, 2020. With the easing of restrictions in several parts of the country, most of the Company’s extensive customer touch-points, including dealerships, workshops and the secondary network, are expected to open gradually from today onwards.
On the business front, for the month of April 2020, Hero MotoCorp’s domestic sales stood at zero as there were no vehicles manufactured and dispatched to dealers. During this time, Hero MotoCorp – along with other Hero Group companies – has been engaged in a host of social welfare work, setting aside a corpus of Rs. 100 crores for the relief efforts towards COVID-19, including a contribution of Rs 50 crores to the PM-Cares fund.