Hero Motocorp to restart two wheeler production in India

Hero MotoCorp is rapidly gearing up to commence operations, as per the guidelines stipulated by the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. The operations are set to resume after a period of almost 43 days, when the company halted operations across its manufacturing facilities and made WFH mandatory for all its offices from March 22, 2020.

The decision by Hero MotoCorp 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. As part of its plans, the company says it will commence operations in a graded manner at three of its manufacturing plants – Gurgaon and Dharuhera (both in Haryana), Haridwar (Uttarakhand) and additionally the Global Parts Center (GPC) at Neemrana in Rajasthan. These manufacturing plants reopen from today and production at these facilities will commence from Wednesday.

The two-wheeler maker says that keeping employee well-being and safety at the core of restarting operations, a formal restart manual has been prepared and shared with all employees through email and webinars and its adherence has been made mandatory until full normalcy is restored.

The company’s restart manual says that 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) till further notice.

Hero MotoCorp’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. In addition, the OEM’s R&D facility – the Centre of Innovation and Technology (CIT) – has also received the necessary permission to reopen and will resume functioning soon.

Few key guidelines of the restart manual for 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 shields, digital attendance through the Hero App, regular sanitisation of personal items and 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 sanitisation of all workplaces regularly, sanitisation 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, and pregnant women.

Hero MotoCorp says that with the easing of restrictions in several parts of the country, most of the its extensive customer touchpoints, including dealerships, workshops and the secondary network, are expected to open gradually from today onwards. 

The business restart manual has also been shared with all the dealer partners and they will restart operations as per government guidelines, after obtaining the necessary permissions from the local authorities.