[pankajparikh]

23rd August 2014 - One of the most productive day of my life. Why do I say that? Because, I measure productivity either by what value-add did I provide or what immense learning did I receive and coming from an ITES industry, I live and breathe technology and gadgets, never did I assume - my most productive day would be related to automobiles. Although, I always had the passion towards automobiles – overclocking them, mods, biking, stunts, etc. but when it came to making a career choice, I decided to purse my career with tech and never did I repent about not taking automobiles seriously until this day.

It all started with an email forwarded by my colleague about Tata motors ChallengeNext automobile quiz competition for corporates, approx. 11 quite tough auto questions with a time limit of 7 min.

I gave my best and was excited for a day or two, and later just forgot about it thinking, I may have lost it until the day I received an email from Tata Motors saying “Congratulations, you won the round and TATA will sponsor your complete visit to and from Hyderabad to Pune for the Pimpri plant visit. Flight tickets were sent and I was dead excited, also there was a second round which said the best slogan will receive a brand new TATA Zest car [delighted].

And then the journey started - Flight from Hyderabad was at 5:45 am, I could manage to sleep for a couple of hours considering my daily routine ends at around 1am, kind of used to sleeping at 4am. Was totally exhausted by the time I reached the Airport. Also, I knew there were 7 more people from Hyderabad in the same flight with me - considering the e-ticket email had all of them in the distribution list. These guys were from Google, Amazon and Wipro.

Reached Pimpri airport at 8:10am, was received by the Tata Motors customer experience team member who sent us to the Pimpri Plant. We were an hour late as our flight got delayed and by this time I also came to know that there were 8-10 corporate employees from IT companies across various states, short-listed to experience this tour too. List of all the companies whose employees were there in this tour:

• Microsoft
• Google
• Cisco
• IBM
• TCS
• Infosys
• HCL
• Ericsson

I did my research before reaching the Pimpri plant – and got to know some stats about it.

• 800 Acres wide-spread plant
• Totally sophisticated plant with capability to independently develop a vehicle right from design to development and final roll-out.
• Houses some of the most sophisticated technologies, which are world-class and India’s 1st.
• India's biggest engine development facility, with approx Rs 600cr being made, catering to all kinds of vehicles

And, we finally reached the TATA Motors plant - we were taken to the reception and were welcomed by the customer service team with Named Badges, TATA Zest Branded T-Shirts and a welcome note with day’s schedule. Here’s from where the whole journey started:

*Sorry but pictures were not authorized to be taken at most of the locations, as it was a privacy concern – considering most of the future cars were being tested inside the campus – I could understand. While, some pictures were authorized to be taken, published for your quick reference.



1st visit in the schedule was to the Design Studio:
a. Design Studio: One of the most secretive department at the plant and if you’ve got an access (incl. employees) you are either Ratan Tata or a Design team member. So we were privileged actually. We met Mr. Pankaj Jhunja (GM of Design at Tata Motors an ex-Dilip Chabaria design team member - An IIT Mumbai with specialization in Design) along with his team and Rajalakshmi Vijay [Head - Customer Experience] and her teams. Here’s where we witnessed, how the design team works when a product is supposed to be developed from the inception stage. Right from Sketches, Clay Models, Die-cast models, Infotainment design, technology, Interior car-trim color designing, 3D Modelling. We experienced how Zest was made right from its inceptions stage – how the initial 25 design models were rejected to get the one best design which we can see on-road today. How much of a hard-work went on attention to detail by the design – I was totally impressed. From here we were taken to the Anechoic Chamber.





b. Anechoic Chamber: Asia's first semi-anechoic chamber, provides accurate noise measurements of vehicles simulated under various speed and road load conditions, in order to study the Acoustic behavior of vehicles and identify noise sources. Here we saw how Zest was tested intensively to identify and eliminate any unnecessary noise at utmost precision. Inside the chamber, there are 4 inner shell walls and roof built with 18,800 acoustic glass wool wedges, these wedges are covered with jute material with rubber block under the floor to eliminate the reflection of sound, which enables simulation of roads eliminating any external sound reflections. Equipped with a chassis dynamometer, this chamber creates simulation of driving cycle conditions to see their effect on engine sound. This chamber was an art in it-self, a huge room which could house vehicles right from a Nano to a big Bus. The technology and expertise we witnessed was jaw-dropping. Post which, we were taken to the Environment Lab.

c. Environment Lab: India's only full vehicle climate test facility which can accommodate vehicles ranging from small cars to buses, where tests are conducted under diverse environmental conditions. This facility houses German/American testing equipment which are capable of simulating temperature conditions of -40 Degree Celsius to 55 Degree Celsius along with conditions such as solar, humidity, wind and road simulations. Also the interesting part was the testing was done not just to measure how the car reacts under such extreme conditions but its impact on the driver inside. Here we saw how the Zest underwent such extreme condition tests and came out with overwhelming grades. From here, we were taken to the Crash Test Lab.

d. Crash Test Lab: India's 1st vehicle crash test facility, capable of conducting all types of frontal, side and rear impact tests. Accredited by world safety organizations like TUV (Europe), ARAI (India). Here we saw how a car is crash tested, and what all sophisticated equipment’s were required to ensure every minor detail is caught like high-end cameras, powerful lighting systems and human replica dummies which I was shocked to hear costs a bomb to procure [~1 crore per dummy – equipped with various kinds of sensors]. Tata Zest has passed these high safety tests from every possible angle to ensure utmost customer safety – highly impressive. Next in line was a surprise, as they never mentioned it in the schedule: Testing Track

e. Testing Track: One of most exciting part of the day was being able to personally drive the Tata Zest – Revotron model on the test track. Testing track that we could drive on was an outer 1.2 kms long drive, smooth track with curves. The inner track was like for drifting, where only expert car testers could test the car for some real action testing. I could easily manage to take the Zest up-to 120 km/hr effortlessly and most exciting feature was its Sports mode – I was on the regular mode and on the fly changed it to Sports and instantly saw an adrenaline boost to the engine. While the expert sitting with me, gave me a re-test, this time he was driving and he showed me how the car managed to drop-dead stop from 80 km/hr to 0 in a fraction of less than 3 sec, highly impressive. Later, we saw an expert driver showing us how Zest was tested on the drifting inner track [I just gave it that name - drifting], where-in he showed us LIVE how the car managed to take 360 degree turns at constant speed without drifting away or going out of control and also evaluating the steering system - that was like Flawless execution, just loved it. When the whole testing got completed, we were given a session by the engine team – who showed us a replica of the Revotron engine and explained its unique features. I was already impressed. Now, from here - we were taken for an Assembly line tour.

f. Assembly Line Tour: This was my favorite – We watched the complete LIVE process of how a car is built right from the various shops it goes under the assembly line, looking at ~400 robots doing automated tasks with utmost precision, and on the other side – precision followed in processes which were supposed to be done manually and looking at the staff and their expertise – it was just inspiring. The manufacturing process here is based on TQM quality philosophy.

I should specially mention this – high respect to the employee who was with us, explaining us everything about the plant – was a genius, so well equipped with the vast knowledge that he had, yet so humble – my bad just couldn’t note down his name.

i. Press shop: State-of-the-art, press shop technology sourced from famous manufacturers like Erfurt, Schuler and Fago. Has capacity up-to 2000 ton, with ability to press challenging styling shapes. Equipped with automatic blank washing & oiling facility.

ii. Weld shop: This shop can easily handle up to 8 different models, and its equipment’s were developed by German builders. Makes 1900 bodies via 3 working shifts [Cycle time = 54-90 sec]

iii. Paint shop: As the name suggests this is the painting shop for the car body, from where it moves to the next shop.

iv.Trim line: This is where car is put on a conveyor belt and keep moving and various parts are installed like Glass, Wiring Harness, biddings, etc. From here we went to the Cube shop.

v. Cube Shop: At this shop, we came to know that for every car model developed by TATA, there is a replica of the entire car model as-is specified by various dept’s like Design and Engineering teams - created in pure aluminum to ensure if there is any issue, it can be checked on this model and see if the issue is with the car’s body or the OEM part. We watched the Zest in solid aluminum standing live in front of us. Mind-Blowing!

With that, the tour was completed and we were taken to the TATA Lake View guest house which was out of the plant premises on the other side of the road.

TATA Lake View Guest House was a sight in it-self, spread across a massive area surrounded by hundreds of trees and greenery with a lake inside. While the final session was at this place, we were greeted by the leadership team of Tata Zest with John O’Conner [Vehicle Line Director (Passenger Vehicles)], who gave us a brief overview about how the Zest was developed and what new changes will be incorporated right from the pre-customer sales experience to post. Followed by a Q&A session with us. Later, we were also shown a picture of a barren land – which was surprisingly the same place that we were at, was a shocker – it seems TATA’s have always thought about environment and nature while their pursue their business – so as a part of this principle, Mr Ratan Tata – took the barren land, planted hundreds of trees and today this sight is a beautiful green scenery in itself. I was highly inspired with this great gesture of philanthropy.



This was the end of the session and we were taken back to the airport. Overall if I am asked how was the experience? Here’s my take:

The most impressive part of the whole tour was, the whole concept to implement such an experience for end customers, to make them understand that TATA was not just good in developing commercial branded vehicles, they’ve been innovating per global standards when it comes to passenger segment cars too - their HORIZONEXT customer-focused strategy, provides the best customer experience from pre-sales to post via each of its pillars: DESIGNEXT, DRIVENEXT and CONNEXTNEXT.

I was totally impressed to see, the amount of R&D and spending that TATA went through to develop their new engine technology ‘Revotron’ and the Zest. Such high levels of precision followed to ensure the Zest is perfect from every possible way – marvelous. And the ultimate proof was our test-ride, I would strongly suggest anyone who’s about to buy a mid-segment sedan or even a hatchback – to drive the Zest before you go-ahead with any other car – you’ll be dead surprised with the way it performs.

Finally, I should admit this – was totally impressed to witness the expertise of the people who work at the TATA plant – every person I met right from the staff to the management, they were exceptionally talented and had the passion for what they were doing. Every employee, was so skilled and highly effective in communicating about the work they do – My Highest of respect to their talents. TATA, has the best talent with them – I foresee this company will always keep growing and will continue to produce some of the best engineering and designs the world has ever seen.

Now, that I know how the Zest was made and the kind of back-support provided by TATA - I am ready to put my bet on it. Ready to be Zestified!

Teams, who made this possible, here’s an inside scoop for you to know - this program is already a success – at the airport I could see people already talking to strangers about their TATA Zest experience and how impressed they were with the product, brand, engineering, customer service and technology.

My sincere thanks to all of the teams who worked so hard to make this experience, highly productive and delightful. Some of the names I could recollect:

Pankaj Jhunja [GM of Design]
Shilpi Baral [Divisional Manager, Sales & Marketing]
Reshma Harikumar [Manager - Complaints Managment (PVBU)]
Pratap Bose [Head of Design]
Siddharth Ananth [Manager - Customer Experience]
Rajalakshmi Vijay [Head - Customer Experience]
John O’Conner [Vehicle Line Director (Passenger Vehicles)]

Feels proud to say, TATA – a world class corporation in the Automobile sector is an Indian brand.



Mod Note: It is now imperative for you to upload pictures directly to the Team-BHP Server. Click here to view our pictorial help article on uploading pics.

Please submit images ONLY via the Team-BHP Attachment System.

[san2]

congrats Pankaj
you got the opportunity to test the car at the company test track, fulfilling the dreams of may BHPians
when we criticize anything, we tend to forget the effort & work put in by the companies in bringing out a product

by the way did you get any details or hints of future products ?

[pankajparikh]

Thanks, @san2 - Very well said
They ensured, they sanitized the whole place - taking all kinds of precautions to keep it away from our eyes. But I did catch a glimpse of some modified cars like Nano, Safari, most of which were covered and I was told that the cars that ply there - sometimes they won't even hit commercial production…While the TATA Bolt was roaming around in disguise - they said it should be out by year-end or Jan maybe.

[drmohitg]

Nice review of the facility. What beats me is that most such reviews always mention, in no small words, that the facility is top notch with really talented and qualified people in the right places and they do work for months before finalizing every small detail. Then how on earth do they manage to overlook basic small things in the final product such as uneven or sometimes glaringly large panel gaps, lack of something as basic as USB or AUX connectivity in an otherwise car costing lacs of Rupees, use of bad/cheap parts here and there and so on. One would tend to assume if they work so hard at the design stage itself then they would be working even harder in the production and final PDI stages. Really beats me!

And it is not a Tata specific thing but sort of present with all the car makers.

[pankajparikh]

@drmohitg very valid point that is what, I had been thinking while I was done with the plant visit and later many people along, had asked related questions..I'll share an example:
One of my friend along, had asked this question: TATA has this commercial car image and while it's trying to prove otherwise with better design, features, experience and all..why is it that, every TATA car has this Indica inspired look, which is evident always? And the answer by the Design team was with an example, they said: When Ratan Tata sits inside the design prototype of the car and being 6" in height, the first thing he recommends is - shouldn't there be more inches space above my head, when at back. So the design team said - no matter what design we take, due to features and other feasibility issues - the design at times goes completely different. So, I could just understand that everyone knows there are some really basic features, which could be incorporated but the dependencies and other issues make them get dropped. Like for example, take the case of rear wipers - most of the car manufacturers offer them only in their top-end models and from an end-user perspective, I would just say - com'on, rear wiper being such an inexpensive add on - what's the point making it available only in top end models!
So, finally in the complete car manufacturing cycle - there are n number of dependencies which ultimately make the car incorporate or drop some of the major/minor features. And in the end - the manufacturer who gets it all right and drops the least amount of features - wins the customer [ I mean most of the times] - Not sure, if I answered it precisely, but this is what I could comprehend from my experience.

[Bump-Stop]

Nice write up Pankaj. One question, apart from the boost to the engine, did the sports mode activate / deactivate any other feature in the car (for eg. suspension setup, steering feedback etc.). How did the handling feel at high speed? Was the suspension and steering positively feeding back to you or did it feel to vague with some body roll?

[greenhorn]

A very nice attempt at generating viral publicity. At least a few Bhpian's got something good out of it. There appears to be a strong correlation of these tours with TML product launches. Search in here, and you'll find them happening in 2007, 2013...

Everytime people go and get overwhelmed by the sparkly factory. I suppose there is no such thing as bad publicity.


Interesting to see someone in charge of complaints management. I hope they do something about it

[ortho_surgeon]

Lucky guy.

Its nice to now that Tata is finally going in the right direction.

I just hope they put the Storme also in this Anechoic chamber and sort out all the little noises.

[pankajparikh]

@Bump-Stop Thank you so much!

For the test-drive - we were driving the top-end Revotron (Petrol) Zest and while I changed it from Normal to Sports mode on the fly - could immediately feel the power boost other than which I don't think there were any other feature changes.

To be honest, I always felt Hyundai's steering system was top-notch in its class and only after I drove the Zest, I realized this was way too better [that's a huge compliment for TATA, as I never felt anything was better than Hyundai in Hatchback/Economy Sedan segment].

Zest's electric power assisted steering was butter smooth to handle, while at top speed it was steady - Hands on better than any TATA car ever made. From my perspective, suspension felt idle for Indian roads yet I can't elobrote more as I didn't test it on Indian road like conditions.

If I just remove the brand and name - I don't think anyone would ever guess this is a TATA car.

@greenhorn well said - One more aspect, which I think I had overlooked was - the overall experience provided by TATA was very transparent. It never felt like a marketing gimmick and they candidly said, we are doing this to ensure customers get to know that we are innovating and changing big-time. Also as the whole trip was fully sponsored, they never dodged any tough questions - they were very candid to answer questions right from design to after-sales service.

I just recollected an instance where one of us had asked "While Zest is a good product, but customers are really frustrated with the pre and post sales service by TATA Dealers - how are you taking care of that?" This was answered by the TATA management - who confirmed, they have been implementing these changes:

- Dealers have been asked to create some quick design changes in showrooms to ensure customers get a lively and new experience. Changes have been implemented across major dealers in India.

- Complaint management system is made highly effective and robust.

- To ensure transparency, TATA has been developing mobile app tracking system for cars which get into the authorized showroom for service. At every step, the car's real-time repairing status can be tracked from anywhere by the customer via his smartphone.

I think, as they have all the money in the world - it has become very easy for TATA to create a game changing experience in this segment, just by hiring the right people.

Mod Note: Please use the EDIT or MULTI-QUOTE buttons instead of typing one post after another on the SAME THREAD!

To know how to multi-quote, click here.

[sudev]

Excellent insight. Visit to such a large facility over powers and over loads us with inputs while at the same time lot more information gets absorbed. Looking forward to TATA getting a better image make over in the market place.

[Sawyer]

The Tata problem of build quality and reliability is not as much in design/engineering/assembly as it is in vendor supplied part quality. Till recent times, the emphasis on supplied parts has been on costs and functional performance. While this serves reasonably well for commercial vehicles, passenger car user expectations are very different.
Getting vendor quality elevated calls for significant and extended time Tata engineer involvement on vendor shop floors and Tata has done little of that in the past. And it isn't enough to just beat vendors on the head for price reductions, one needs to work with vendors on their shop floors to take costs out of their system, and then derive advantage from a reduced purchase price. Otherwise vendors will just cut corners to cope. That is the reason why Tata has to give a much longer warranty than the competition.
It isn't enough for Tata to be world class, their supply chain also needs to be so.
Perhaps that is changing, but until it does, the little glitches and fit and finish aspects of Tata cars will lag behind competition.
I suspect that the Nano is still the best in build quality and fit and finish for a bunch of reasons. Expectations are based on its price point, parts are simpler to make, and the number of vendor supplied parts are low to start with allowing for a lesser number of vendors to be worked with.
Even with all the will in the world, these things take time to change. Hopefully that will now exists, and with the staying power of TML, things will get where they need to be in time for them to turn things around.

[shashi63]

Pankaj,

Thanks for this post!

I have been a Tata Vehicle Owner now for nearly 7 years. First the Indica DLS Turbo and now the VX Manza. I have never actually been able to understand the kind of bashing people give to Tata. Maybe I have been lucky but luck over 7 years makes it too much of a lucky phase.. I have always been a strong Tata fan and your post just makes my respect and admiration for Tata grow. Let's all put this in persepctive and say that it's truly the only Indian Company to have gone ahead and done so much for India, socially , economically and also from a global persepective!

Cheers!

[avisidhu]

Great report, thanks for sharing.

One decent product and look how it has changed the entire perspective about the company: people are no longer unwilling to take the jump just because its a Tata, and no one thinking of waiting till the initial gremlins get sorted. Besides, more than the revtron, the first mover advantage of AMT plus diesel seems to be pulling those who might still have hesitated. Looks like a true game changer in every aspect for Tata.

They had a decent product range in Manza, Storme and Aria to begin with. Hopefully this should help boost sales across the board. Would be a unique case of 'halo effect' not coming from the most expensive model

Originally Posted by pankajparikh

...
To be honest, I always felt Hyundai's steering system was top-notch in its class...

huh?
Not sure if you are aware but Hyundai's steering is considered the sole fly in the ointment for otherwise capable products.

[pankajparikh]

Completely agree - I've found many forums where hyundai's steering wheel was a cause of concern..but just from my experience - I found them really responsive and steady at high speeds. Would really like to known about cars on Indian roads with the best steering tech (Hatchback/Sedan segment) just to have some hands-on exp..

[Carpainter]

Excellent post pankajparikh. Thanks for sharing. I sincerely hope that Zest will change Tata's fortune here in India.

In this regard don't you people think that tata now should produce old indigo only for the taxi segment? I also think that after the launch of Bolt hatchback they should discontinue the current Indica Vista and Manza to keep their current generation of cars at par with the competition. May be they should bring some new model to replace the Manza. A 'C' segment sedan may be.