Ashok Leyland Employees’ Journal • Dec 2005

engineering
design &
automoti ve
Emerging trends...
infotronics
 engineering
design &
Emerging Trends in the Indian
Cover story

automotive Automotive Industry

WITH ITS SKILL-INTENSIVE engineering

infotronics
capability and matured IT services
capability, India is on the verge of
tremendous growth opportunities in
engineering design services and
automotive infotronics – two emerging
fields in the Indian auto scene,
according to experts at the recently
concluded SAEINDIA's International
Mobility Engineering Congress and
Exposition 2005 held in Chennai.
"India cannot stop with just being
the shop floor of the world but must
take the next step to develop technology
solutions and create a wealth of
intellectual property. After gaining
global attention in manufacturing, India
can emerge as a major source of design
skills for the world", said R Seshasayee,
Chairman, Steering Committee of the
Congress, at the inaugural function.
V Krishnamurthy, Chairman, National
2 Manufacturing Competitiveness Council,
said the automotive sector's focus on
'hardware' would soon change with
electronics playing a prominent role in Already, the commissioning of the At the inaugural: (from standards and recommended practices
modern vehicles. In this segment too National Automotive Testing and R&D left) Marcel Lejeune, that make vehicles safer and more
CEO&VP, Siemens VDO
India could dominate as it does in Infrastructure Project (NATRIP) and the Automotive AG, durable.
Germany; Dr R
information technology. establishment of Centres of Excellence Mahadevan, President, At the Congress in Chennai, around
Union Minister for Information with industry-academia partnerships are SAE India; Dr V 50 Indian and International companies
Krishnamurthy,
Technology, Dayanidhi Maran, in his driving the auto sector's potential Chairman -National participated; 62 technical papers were
Manufacturing
inaugural address said that in the field growth possibilities. Competitiveness presented - five such from Ashok
of automotive infotronics, "an Ashok Leyland plays a leadership Council; Dayanidhi Leyland. Dr Aravind Bharadwaj, Head-
Maran, Union Minister
opportunity to be a global player role in CAR and other initiatives for IT and Advanced Engineering and Chairman -
Communication; Ted
beckons us, and we must respond with undertaken by SIAM and SAEINDIA. Robertson, President, Organising Committee and K N
enthusiasm". He further elaborated Into its Centenary year, the Society SAE International; Dr Krishnamurthy, Chairman - Exposition
Aravind S Bharadwaj,
that the Core-group on Automotive for Automotive Engineers (SAE) is a Chairman - Organising Committee had lead roles in organizing
Committee.
Research (CAR) recently finalized the worldwide information resource for all the event, with Ashok Leyland being
medium technology roadmap and those involved in design and an event sponsor. "The papers
accordingly, electronic controls would manufacturing of vehicles and presented by Ashok Leyland were all a
The paper presenters
be developed for (1) the vehicle itself components, including passenger cars, from Ashok result of team work. PD, IT,
- powertrain and other vehicle trucks, farm and construction Leyland:(from left) K Manufacturing and Advanced
Hariharan, L Yaamini
subsystems (2) interactions that the equipment, airplanes and spacecraft. Devi, M K Mahesh, Engineering got together as mini-CFTs
Ashfaque Ahmed and
vehicle will have with its surroundings SAE members participate in the for this well-appreciated effort", says
Shankar Venkat.
and other vehicles - telematics for development of globally harmonized Dr Bharadwaj.
safety and efficiency (3) the overall
system software, which will be called
intelligent transportation networks.

Ashley News / December 2005

 engineering
design &
Design and Engineering Services for the Automotive Industry:

Cover Story
DESIGN ENGINEERING services can
probably qualify as the next major wave,
after IT. The trend has already been
initiated by multinationals opening up
R&D centres in India. Another instance automotive
India opportunities
will have 250 R&D/Design centres in industry to establish itself as a source

infotronics
of tapping the (less costly) intellectual the next two years. Outsourcing of de- for product development.
potential available in the country. sign to India by car manufacturers has The advantages are:
Some of the reasons for the also boosted sales of related design 1. Sharing of a common pool of
growth of this domain are: engineering software. knowledge
1. Lack of time for the major OEMs 2. Benefit of choice among prod-
to train new engineers and develop The Genesis uct development teams, according
new products within specific period the requirements of the company
Tougher competition and shorter time-
of time 3. Shorter time for product devel-
to-market have pushed the automobile
2. Cost targets imposed on exist- Design industry to rely on external intelligence
opment
ing companies by new, aggressive engineering and expertise especially in the area of
4. Avoiding reinvention
players services product development. As mentioned,
5. Quality products - since most of
3. Risk of experimenting new de- can prob- the design service providers follow
the dependence is not due to lack of
sign and technology in-house ably qualify global standards
competence, but due to the growing
4. Time and money required for in- as the next global trend of high quality standards,
house development major lack of enough time and resources. This
Challenges
Whatever the reason, the design wave, after trend will essentially give the freedom A major challenge the design service
engineering services industry has al- companies face is to fully satisfy the
IT. for OEMs to choose between product
ready laid its roots firm. Last year, a development teams to fulfill the expectations of their customers. Ergo-
very high proportion of industrial de- company's requirement. Besides, if in- nomics and styling without compromis-
sign work for automakers was done by telligence is built within, this may help ing on the performance and cost of the
Indian suppliers, quotes NASSCOM, the
Indian software services trade group.
Within five years, India's contract in-
reduce the component industry's reliance
on foreign companies for know-how.
Initially, the main service offered
product, would become natural expec-
tations of manufacturers. Further, im-
provements in CAD/CAM/CAE have only
3
dustrial engineering revenue is expected was to convert 2D drawings to 3D mod- multiplied expectations.
to grow from around $300 million now els. The development of CAD/CAM pack- Besides, being in the learning
to $10 billion. Predictions are India ages was leveraged by this emerging phase, the design providers may some-
times fail to meet customer demand
and hence lose credibility. Sometimes,
KNOWLEDGE ON WHEELS ing". The project involves a mobile
laboratory - to be built on an Ashok
service companies may fail to realize
that customer demands are unrealis-
Leyland Stag chassis - that would
tic, if they fail to foresee practical dif-
reach out to the future generation in
ficulties.
an attempt at providing them an
On the other hand, engineering ser-
introduction on automotive engineer-
vice companies hosted by auto manu-
ing as a career.
facturers themselves have an advan-
The mobile 'classroom' will be
tage as they get the support of inter-
equipped with working models of
nal resources - a definite value add for
power plant, transmission, steering
customers.
system, braking system, auto electron-
Countering these challenges are
ics, fuel injection, emission control
the massive potential of competent
system, apart from information panels
Designed by: Yashaswi R Kashyap, human resources and our ability for cost
that describe the future of automotive
Sr Dev Engineer, FVDP Buses A unique joint venture between Ashok effective new product development
technology. Two volunteer professors
Leyland, IIT and SAEINDIA, the within a very short period. The day of
from IIT Madras will travel in the bus,
'Knowledge on Wheels' project is traveling in a well known branded car
explain working mechanisms and
designed to motivate school students designed and developed by 'unknown'
answer queries. SAEINDIA will maintain
"to understand and appreciate the engineering services is not too far.
the bus and co-ordinate with schools.
exciting world of Mobility Engineer- - K Hariharan, Senior Engineer,
Advanced Engineering

Ashley News / December 2005

 engineering
design &
Cover story

automotive
infotronics
Ashley Design and Engineering Services

Engineering
innovative solutions
WITH INDIA MOVING up the ladder from decades. Highly qualified and trained
business process outsourcing to manpower coupled with access to
knowledge product outsourcing, Ashok state-of-the-art facilities which include
Leyland has channelised its undoubted CAD systems, analysis software,
capabilities in engineering and product manufacturing and prototyping
development, by forming an 'engineering facilities and high-end testing
and design services' division. What infrastructure ensures quality and on-
makes Ashley Design and Engineering time delivery of engineering solutions.
Services (ADES) unique is the breadth A formidable talent pool, state-
of services offered: literally, from of-the-art facilities and processes in
concept to the final product, taking care a QS 9000 environment, hence a
of everything in between. uniquely broad menu of services - these
ADES will be brand neutral, offering are strengths ADES can leverage as it
services to automotive and non- enters what is estimated to be a US $
automotive customers in India and abroad. 300 million business currently.
ADES leverages on the extensive
experience and expertise of Ashok Design
Leyland in engineering and product Design capabilities include conversion
development functions, built over from 2D to 3D for carrying out CAE

Ashley News / December 2005

 engineering
design &

Cover Story
Testing
ADES has access to extensive test fa-

automotive
cilities - laboratory testing, testing on
tracks and testing on roads.
ADES can carry out all kinds of per-
formance and durability tests, engine
tests, data acquisition and analysis,

infotronics
failure simulation and analysis, Experi-
mental stress analysis and any kind of
specialized tests as per customer's re-
quirement.

Homologation
ADES undertakes homologation and
work and packaging studies to find out certification of components, aggregates,
interference, motion and collision engines and vehicles to meet various
checks. The modeling of components national and international standards.
and systems also helps in ergonomic
studies, BOM and manufacturing Allied Services
checks. Digital mock up studies and
virtual prototyping, along with ADES can provide services like metal-
tolerance studies, can be carried out lurgical engineering analysis, quality
for any kind of CAD platform. The other assurance checks, rapid prototyping and
activities include Product Data technical literatures (service manuals,
Management and Product Life Cycle parts catalogues, etc).
Management - towards improving the
overall performance and efficiency.

Virtual Analysis and

Verification
5
With most of the products made
available in the virtual mode, it is
possible with appropriate software to
carry out virtual analysis and verification
in order to reduce 'time-to-market'.
ADES has expertise in performing
Advanced Engineering analysis like
multi-body analysis, non-linear analysis,
fatigue and fracture analysis, crash
simulation, metal forming simulation,
NVH, CFD etc. using best-in-class
software like CFX, ANSYS, LMS etc.
through Finite Element Method.

Prototyping
ADES has capabilities to produce
prototypes of forged components, cast
components, sheet metal components,
welded components and rolled
components through cost-effective
routes. ADES is also capable of building
prototypes of aggregates like gearbox,
rear axle, auxiliary gearbox and also
complete vehicles and engines.

Ashley News / December 2005