Manufacturing

Established in 1945, the Jamshedpur unit was the Company's first unit and is spread over an area of 822 acres. It consists of four major divisions - Truck Factory, Engine Factory, Cab & Cowl Factories. The divestments in March 2000 hived off the Axle and Engine plants into independent subsidiaries viz. TML Drivelines Limited, respectively.

The Truck Division boasts of two assembly lines. The main assembly line, measuring 180 m in length has 20 work stations with a vehicle rolling out every 8 minutes. The other line is dedicated to special purpose vehicles and for meeting the requirements of the Indian Army. The uniqueness of the Factory lies in its possession of

• Advanced facilities for manufacturing long members comprising of a set-up of 5000 Tones Hydraulic press line, cut-to-length line for strip preparation purchased from M/s Kohler of Germany and a Camber Correction line.
• Facility for hot forming of axle halves with a 3000 tonnes press and heating furnace.
• Flexibility in manufacturing frames with an off line Proto-typing facility.

The Cab & Cowl Factory is equipped with state-of-art facilities like Centralized Paint Shop and automated painting set up, Robot painting, BIW Fabrication of day & sleeper cabs for trucks, Articulates (Tractor/ Trailer), BIW Fabrication of Cowls for buses, and other miscellaneous applications.

The fully equipped Foundry, that the unit is supported by, supplies high-grade SG Iron castings for automobile components and excavators, and is rated as one of the cleaner, better and highly automated foundries in the world. It has an annual capacity of 42,000 MT of Good castings and makes, both, Gey and SG cast Iron casting. It manufactures all critical automobile castings e.g. Cylinder Block, Cylinder Head etc. It has a sophisticated Kunkel Wagner High Pressure Moulding line of a rated production capacity of 90 moulds/ hour. This is supported by a sand cooler and sand mixer from Kunkel Wagner. Its melting shop has Medium Frequency Induction Furnaces for melting and Channel Furnaces for holding. The pouring is done by a Channel Press Pour coupled with a Steam Inoculation Dispenser. The core shop has a state-of-the-art Cold Box Machine, making four cores per minute. It has elaborate sand and metallurgical laboratories. In 1993 the foundry was ISO 9002 certified by the Bureau Veritas Quality International, which was later followed by the more stringent QS 9000 certification from the BVQI in the year 2000. Currently it is certified as TS: 16949 by BVC.

The Engine Factory is responsible for the in-house manufacture of Tata 697/497 Naturally Aspirated and Turbo Charged engines, and the 6B series engines manufactured at Tata Cummins.

As one of the most modern forging set-ups in the Country, the Forge Division is equipped with a semi-automated forging line with 40,000 mkg Beche Hammer and state-of-the-art presses from Kurimoto of Japan. It produces critical forgings like crankshafts, front axle beams and steering parts for the automobile plant. The new forging line, installed in April 1984, has the capacity to forge front axle beams at 90 sec per piece and crankshafts at 120 sec per piece. Mechanical presses help produce a variety of heavy forgings. The sophisticated FIDIA digit 165 CC Graphite Milling Machine links shop floor machines to the design workstation. The Forge has been certified as ISO 9002 and QS 9000 by the BVQI.

TML Drivelines Limited., a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors, is currently the market leader in medium and heavy commercial vehicles axles in India with an installed capacity of over two lakh axles per annum. The Company's product range includes Front Steer axles- both live and normal, Rear Drive axles and dummy/ trailer axles. It is currently the sole suppliers of M&HCV axles to the Jamshedpur and Lucknow plants of Tata Motors.

TML Drivelines Limited has state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities for making all major Axles components such as Front Axle Beam, Stub Axles, Front & Rear Wheel Hubs, Differential, Axle Gears (Crown Wheel, Pinion, Bevel Gear & Shaft Gear), Banjo Axle Beam, Swivel Heads, Constant Velocity Shafts etc. For being in the forefront of cutting edge technology, TML Drivelines Limited has proven skills in manufacturing axles from component level to assembly & testing. As a TS 16949 company, TML Drivelines Limited encourages and continuously supports its vendor base to upgrade their Quality Management System to TS 16949.

TML Drivelines Limited was established on 13th March 2000 as a major subsidiary of Tata Motors by taking over operations of Tata Motors' erstwhile Gearbox Division. It is a leading manufacturer of automotive transmissions, components and engineering applications for a wide range of medium and heavy commercial vehicles. The Company has a capacity of producing 94,000 gearboxes per year which is being enhanced to a capacity of 120,000 Gearboxes per year. It provides products and services of superior quality, matching with the current economic and business trends in medium and heavy commercial vehicle markets. The Quality System of TML Drivelines Limited is certified under ISO/ TS-16949. In the environmental and safety front, it was ISO 14001 certified in 2004 and OHSAAS-18001 certified in 1999.

While making technological advancements, the social responsibilities are also taken up seriously. Tata Motors, Jamshedpur, plays an active role in serving rural communities surrounding its Works through various community centres. While striving to create a culture for self-help amongst the local populace, it has made significant progress in community and social forestry, sustainable development of wastelands, road construction, rural health and education, development of rural industries, water supply and family planning. A signatory to the UN Global Pact, it also takes various initiatives in human rights protection, labour standards, environmental issues, modern effluent treatment facilities, sanitation drives, soil and water conservation programmes, tree plantation drives, etc.

The Pune unit is spread over two geographical regions- Pimpri (800 acres) and Chinchwad (130 acres). It was established in 1966 and has a Production Engineering Division, which has one of the most versatile tool making facilities in the Indian sub-continent. It houses a Vehicle manufacturing complex which is one of the most integrated automotive manufacturing centres in the Country producing a large variety of individual items and aggregates. It is engaged in the design and manufacture of sophisticated press tools, jigs, fixtures, gauges, metal pattern and special tools, as well as models for the development of new ranges of automobile products. Its capabilities have enabled Tata Motors to introduce new products and improve existing ones without resorting to imports of dies or fixtures.

Over the years, this division has developed expertise in design and manufacture of automated dies, fixtures and welding equipment. Its large design group is fully conversant with state-of-the-art CAD facilities and manufacturing facilities comprising of light and heavy CNC machine shops, jigs boring room, plastic template shop, wood pattern and model pattern shop, five axis precision machine tools and laser control machines. To cope with such a diverse range, four assembly lines have been established, one each for MCVs and HCVs, LCVs, Utility vehicles and one for Passenger Vehicles (Indica and Indigo).

The Passenger Vehicle Division in 'K' block executes the entire process of car manufacture over five shops - the engine shop, the transmission shop, press and body shops, paint shop and the trim and final assembly shop. The shops are fully automated ensuring that there is minimal chance for error in the manufacturing processes.

After the car is completely assembled, it goes through several checks like wheel alignment, sideslip test, brake test, shower test, and a short test run before it is ready for dispatch. All systems such as materials management, maintenance and other activities are computerized, enabling smooth operations and minimum inventory needs.

The Electronics Division is engaged in the production of a wide variety of Machine Tool Controllers, PLCs, Test rig instrumentation, Servomotors, Proximity Switches. In addition, it has developed a number of components such as flashers, horns, timers that are used in Tata Motors' vehicles.

Industry experts rate the fully automated Foundries at Chinchwad and Maval among the best, worldwide. The Iron Foundry at Chinchwad produced 37,000 Tons of high precision castings in 2006-07 while the Iron Foundry at Maval produced 14000 Tons of spheroidal Iron castings in 2006-07. These include Cylinder Blocks, Cylinder Heads, Gear Box Housing, etc. To dispense with the need for outsourcing, an Aluminium Foundry with an annual capacity of 3,300 tonnes has been established.

Tata Motors Lucknow is one of the youngest production facilities among all the Tata Motors locations and was established in 1992 to meet the demand for Commercial Vehicles in the Indian market. The state-of-the-art plant is strongly backed by an Engineering Research Centre and Service set-up to support with latest technology and cater to the complexities of automobile manufacturing. Fully Built Vehicle business, which is one of the fast growing areas of our business, is also established in Lucknow.

Our plant, rolls out commercial vehicles and is specialised in the designing and manufacturing of a range of modern buses which includes Low-floor, Ultra Low-floor, CNG & RE Buses.

The Lucknow facility also specialises in manufacturing HCBS (High capacity Bus System) buses.

In light of Company’s aggressive growth plans, we are currently in expansion phase and production at Lucknow would grow many-fold in near future. The expansion shall be in the areas of painting, welding, vehicle assembly & testing and utility services, driven by latest technology. To achieve these plans we invite people who have good Technical Knowledge, seek Challenging Opportunities and have a Drive for Engineering Excellence to come and partner us in our journey.

The Company has set up a plant for its mini-truck Ace and the passenger carrier Magic (based on the Ace platform) at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand. The plant began commercial production in August 2007. This is the company's fourth plant, after Jamshedpur (commercial vehicles), Pune (commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles) and Lucknow (commercial vehicles). The plant is spread over 953 acres, of which 337 acres is occupied by the vendor park.

State-of-the-art facilities include weld shops, paint shops, engine and gear box shops and assembly lines. The Company has invested over Rs.1000 crores in the plant. Vendors for the vehicle have made additional investments to set up their plants in the vendor park adjoining the plant. The operation has generated about 7500 direct and indirect jobs in the plant, among vendors and service providers in the area.

Tata Motors' plant for the Tata Nano at Sanand, in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat, marks the culmination of the Company’s goal of making the Tata Nano available to hundreds of thousands of families, desirous of the car a safe, affordable and environmental friendly mode of transport. The capacity of the plant, to begin with, will be 250,000 cars per year to be achieved in phases, and with some balancing is expandable up to 350,000 cars per year. Provision for further capacity expansion has also been incorporated in this location.

Built in a record time of 14 months starting November 2008, the integrated facility comprises Tata Motors’ own plant, spread over 725 acres, and an adjacent vendor park, spread over 375 acres, to house key component manufacturers for the Tata Nano.

In line with latest world-class manufacturing practices, the Tata Nano plant has been equipped with state-of-the-art equipment. They include sophisticated robotics and high speed production lines. Conscious of the critical need of environment protection, the plant has energy-efficient motors, variable frequency drives, and systems to measure and monitor carbon levels. These are supplemented with extensive tree plantation, sustainable water sourcing through water harvesting and ground water recharging and harnessing solar energy for illumination.