Quote:
Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl Dear BD,
Why do you always wait for comments before elaborating or tell someone to PM you to answer a query or guide them in totality? Why not lay it all out on the forum for one and all to read? If you explain at first, then negative comments won't come na? |
Dear Tejas - the reason I do it is very simple. When people first ask, there is an additional involvement from them. Then when I tell, they will understand properly what is explained, otherwise it just becomes another post. Believe you me, with this method, chances of misunderstanding are greatly reduced. I use this logic in my daily working also.
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Dear all - I am explaining the details on development of Thar CRDe canopy assembly. We follow a strict code of conduct in the product development process. First, the FIT (Functional Image Target) for this part was defined. It is obvious that I cannot share the actual FIT details but this exercise very clearly defined a need that "we must go to the correct vendor". In correct language, this is known as "Strategic Sourcing". Once the vendor was in place, we conveyed the FIT targets to him and worked with his engineers to deliver the product meeting the required FIT. Some salient features of the canopy are as follows:
1. The color of the canopy should be black. The body colors are chosen to match the canopy. Silver / black looks cool, rocky biege / black looks classique, black / black looks mean and timeless / cherry and black looks good.
2. The canopy must give a "cloth" feel / drape and not a plasticky appearance / feel. The cloth drape must be smooth and clean. It must not give a feel that any other Indian canopy made in India up to now gives and what an average Indian customer is used to. My personal brief to the engineers was that it must drape like a "Pleatless Comfort Feel Raymond Trouser". When you look at yourself in the mirror, you must "feel nice and confident".
2. The area above the front seat occupants must convey the feeling that one is not sitting in a soft top vehicle. Therefore, you see the black part above the front seats. This part must be non-intruding to the eyes, simple to manufacture and must be cost effective.
3. The canopy must not make undue flapping noise. Therefore, you see 80 mm long 3 nos velcro straps attaching the part above the front seats. Two velcros are located backwards and one velcro is located forwards, to take care of the whipping forces generated above the roof when the vehicle moves at the high speeds that it is capable of.
4. As the vehicle is a 7 seater, it must actually seat 7 people. Therefore, the rear must be vertical and not sloping downwards. The rear bow is located in the body by dimples provided at correct location in the "Z" axis. The height defining dimension was chosen after a lot of CAE iterations.
5. The canopy above the rear seats must be draped around an adequate support. This takes the form of three sheet metal parts which radius perfectly to give the "timeless look with built in functionality". The canopy cloth must project 4 mm above the side supports to minimize wrinkle formation. This is a compound dimension generated on full assembly only. It cannot be seen on individual parts.
6. In order to provide adequate support, strength and presence, we decided to divide the long length of the canopy along the longitudinal axis into three sectors. Therefore, there are two 10 mm diameter rods which locate on the side rails and drape the canopy in three distinct sectors, which prevents flapping and noise. The slight protrusions are intended and not ncidental.
6. The canopy is longitudinally and transversely supported by eight numbers of velcro straps extending from back to front and folded from front to back, therefore, arflow through the vehicle presses them into shape all the time. There is an X axis defined support running along the entire rear length of the canopy to provide strength to the cloth in this segment. This is manufactured in a special assembly process.
6. The rear opening zipper must be capable of being operated with one hand only. Therefore, it is placed exactly next to rear the support pipe, so that it does not buckle.
7. After the zipper is closed, it must not take the full wind force. Therefore, adequately long velcros are provided below the zippers to protect them.
8. The flap on the rear zipper cover and above the rear window must not open outwards. Therefore, velcros are provided at these locations to keep them in place.
9. The canopy is supported on the rear of the Targa Band and on the rear side panels by channels of adequate strength. These are capable of taking wind force at 140 kmph. The channels are equipped with Z axis oriented slots to allow the customer to carry out fine adjustments in the field. These supports are hidden by the canopy cloth itself, which is further supported by plastic shields to maintain the straight lines.
10. There is no corelation provided between the canopy and the tail gate / spare wheel mounting bracket. This is to provide ease of tail gate operation even when the canopy is closed.
11. It is possible to provide an internal metallic shield within the top of the canopy. The design is protected for the same.
So guys, this was just a very small window view of what we do in "Vehicle Development" / Product Engineering". It is our job to conceptualize, design, develop, prototype, test, validate, manufacture and sell a product to you. If this is what goes on behind the scenes to make one part available to you, I hope you will now appreciate the time, effort and energy that has gone into making the full Thar CRDe vehicle. I have not shared any classified information. This is what the vehicle will speak to you if you talk to it. The core competence required here is very simple.
It is PRODUCT CLARITY. Your comments are welcome.
Best regards,
Behram Dhabhar