Ashok Leyland's ISO 14001 Journey

The leading Indian manufacturer of Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles (M&HCV) Ashok Leyland Limited (ALL) was formed in 1948 as Ashok Motors Limited (AML). The company initially assembled cars and manufactured diesel engines and vehicle chassis at its Ennore plant in the state of Tamilnadu. In 1950, AML entered into an agreement with British Leyland¹ for assembling Leyland commercial vehicles through Land Rover Leyland International Holdings Limited (LRIHL). In 1954, British Leyland bought equity in AML. Subsequently AML's name was changed to Ashok Leyland Limited. From the same year, the company started using Leyland designs for its products. In 1966, ALL became the first company to introduce full air brakes in the country.

In 1982, another manufacturing plant was set up at Alwar (Rajasthan) for assembling a wide range of vehicles with an emphasis on passenger chassis. In 1987, a joint venture between the Hinduja Group² and IVECO Fiat SpA³ bought a controlling interest in LRIHL and consequently in ALL as well. In 1990, ALL acquired its Hyderabad-based (Andhra Pradesh) supplier of iron castings, Ductron Castings Ltd.⁴ During 1993-94, ALL received the ISO 9002 and ISO 9001 certifications. The company established its second plant at Hosur in 1994 for assembling of cargo vehicles. It also established a plant at Bhandara (Maharashtra) for manufacturing components such as gearboxes and axles. ALL employed around 14,000 people at its six manufacturing plants.