Tata Motors relies on control technology from Rockwell to meet quality and efficiency demand

Research shows that less than 2 per cent of Indian citizens own automo-biles, compared with 45 per cent in the United States, and the Indian population is three times the size of the United States. These two very simple statistics illustrate the huge potential for the automotive industry in India. Automobile ownership in India is on the rise and manufacturers are aggressively ramping up operations to meet the growing demand. Tata Motors hopes to lead the pack. Located in Pune, the company manufactures a range of passenger and commercial vehicles, including SUVs, small trucks and hatchbacks. In 1996, Tata set out to develop a completely indigenous car for the Indian population-the Indica. In order to produce the slated 150,000 Indicas per year, Tata Motors set out to build a new plant next to its existing facility in Pune. To accelerate the process and keep costs down, Tata Motors purchased an older automotive manufacturing facility in Australia and relocated the production machinery to India.

The purchase of the Australian plant gave Tata Motors a head start on the new facility, but it didn't provide everything. In order to meet its goals, Tata Motors needed to:

Upgrade the control system to handle production of 150,000 cars per year Retool and modify the production lines to meet the Indica specifications Equip the plant with the versatility to manufacture multiple variations of the hatchback model Complete the transition and bring the new plant online within 18 months.

Tata Motors relied on Rockwell Automation expertise in both Australia and India to help with the plant relocation and set up. From the beginning to end, the relocation, integration and start up of Tata Motors' new facility took approximately 17 months. The relocation and upgradation of its control technology helped the company meet its production goals of 150,000 cars per year. More importantly, the Indica hatchback entered the market with a quality standard and price point that the Indian population quickly embraced.

The challenge

Due to the success of the Indica and the new Pune facility, Tata Motors elected to produce a sedan and wagon in addition to its existing hatchback design, and needed the manufacturing flexibility to produce three different body styles in the same facility. In addition, the automaker needed to manufacture the cars to comply with both European and Indian standards. The different regulations, performance standards, and safety and emission requirements varied greatly among regions, making compliance particularly challenging. Moreover, the company needed to meet all of these requirements while boosting its production capacity.

The solution

Because of its previous success working with Rockwell Automation in setting up the new plant, Tata Motors again relied on Rockwell Automation industry expertise and Integrated Architecture control and information solutions to accomplish the required upgrades. From start to finish, adding the additional capacity and bringing it online took approximately two years.

The project began with installing the additional machinery needed to produce three different body styles. Because of the flexibility of the original control platform, very little hardware changes were required; Tata Motors was able to leverage its existing control system and network investment and improve it through software modifications.

The upgrade also involved adding more I/O, enhancing the functionality of its Allen-Bradley PanelView operator interfaces, integrating a barcode-based automatic identification system, modifying fixtures to accommodate the new body styles, and adding another 10 robots to the manufacturing line. Once the upgrades were made, Tata Motors saw an additional opportunity to increase production capacity through the addition of a mini weld-line. For its control platform, Tata Motors chose the Allen-Bradley ControlLogix programmable automation controller and PanelView Plus operator interfaces from Rockwell Automation, along with DeviceNet and EtherNet/IP networking standards. Using the Logix Control Platform, it allowed Tata Motors to easily scale from the existing Allen-Bradley PLC-5 controller, while leveraging existing control system investments, including integrating all of the existing I/O into the new equipment.

Results

The results of both upgrades far exceeded Tata Motors' expectations. The new models were a success and the company was able to meet both European and Indian automotive standards. Furthermore, productivity increased from 400 to 750 cars per day. Tata Motors has other ambitious plans for its plant. Ultimately, the company would like to migrate all of its controllers to the Logix platform and standardise on the EtherNet/IP network because of its worldwide acceptance. Furthermore, Tata Motors will leverage the Rockwell Automation Integrated Architecture to improve plant-wide information sharing for better decision-making. The relationship between Tata Motors and Rockwell Automation is a testament to the value of a strong supplier-customer partnership. As Tata Motors continues to grow, it can be sure that Rockwell Automation will be right by its side, providing the technology and expertise it needs to reach its goals.

(The results mentioned above are specific to Tata Motors' use of Rockwell Automation products in conjunction with other products. Specific results may vary for other customers.)