[aakash1412]

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[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by gauravanekar

Thanks for the report. Highly informative thread.

1. I think shower test is carried out not only for trucks but for cars also, maybe that process was not shown.

Yes, if you manage to zoom in to the picture of the rolling road test (last pic of post #4) you can see the shower test in the background. That area was not part of the tour.

2. Following JIT is challenging in a truck / commercial plant compared to PV plant.

Yes, it's definitely challenging. Trucks come in different axel configs, load ratings, drive-away chassis etc.

3. Was there any information given out regarding plant capacity and current operating volume?

Current volumes across all lines (PV and CV) is ~14,000 per month. I do not know the exact figures of total capacity.

4. Was any information given as to how information flows within various division of manufacturing plant? like order number, spec sheet etc for the particular vehicle. How well do they leverage IT for information management? Ultimately JIT is as good as their information management is.

If you refer to the slides in the post #1, you can get a better idea of all the stages involved in the manufacturing line. Information flow is also along the same lines. The have their own proprietary software for handling the IT side of it. One area where this is used (which I saw extensively) is preparing the kitting trolleys for the vehicles. The technicians prepare trolleys as per the production plan and there is no delays / disruptions of any sort. This leads me to believe that they have a solid backend IT system doing its work.

5. Are cars & trucks made to order in their plants or is it based on sales forecast?

I would say its based on sales forecast in most cases.

6. In car manufacturing do they follow batch production process or do they not?

In the S-Block, they make both XUV500 and KUV100. We saw both of these on the line one after the other. There were also cars of mixed colours and different trims at any given time. Generally there is one line for particular vehicle, so batch system is ruled out going by the type of vehicles seen.

7. I could see TPM board in one of the picture, TPM is Total productive Maintenance, wherein each employee engages in continuous improvement processes which shall improve quality, productivity and safety performance of the plant. TPM when implemented in the right spirit shall give out great results.

One of the initiatives is constant training. There is a continuous training for staff going on so that everyone follows the best practices. Friendly competitions for boasting rights like no. of faults, rectifications etc. between different lines also take place.

Originally Posted by Thermodynamics

One last question, how long does it take from start to end to build a typical car i.e. from sheet metal to completion before it enters logistics.

Will get back to you on this. I have asked Mahindra to answer this.

[MaxTorque]

Originally Posted by gauravanekar

3. Was there any information given out regarding plant capacity and current operating volume?

I think some of their shops are running on full capacity and some are 50-60 % capacity.

Originally Posted by gauravanekar

4. Was any information given as to how information flows within various division of manufacturing plant? like order number, spec sheet etc for the particular vehicle. How well do they leverage IT for information management?

The overall manufacturing is well integrated with IT systems. As soon as production is triggered in Body shop, the body shell will get a build sheet which records all necessary data for finishing that product. This build sheet is attached to the body and also a bar code will be generated and stored with skid/pallet on which that product travel. Similar sequence happens in engine and transmission shop as well. The engine and body will get married in assembly shop. There are hundreds of scanning points to determine the present stage of the product, which will help to estimate time the time required for production.

Originally Posted by gauravanekar

5. Are cars & trucks made to order in their plants or is it based on sales forecast?

It is a combination, the supply chain planning happens based on the forecast, but some products like XUV, TUV, Alturas etc are manufactured based on the actual orders.

Originally Posted by gauravanekar

6. In car manufacturing do they follow batch production process or do they not?

Most of the products have individual shops/lines for body manufacturing. In paint shop and assembly shop there is no batch production. XUV and KUV share same line, similarly TUV, Genio, Alturas share same set up. The paint shop is common for all passenger car models. There is no batch production, as per the production sequence manufacturing will happen.