A Report on Induction Programme

S. Deepak Vishnu T.No: 294232

August 1, 2011 August 1 is often called as Corporate Day in TATA Motors language where the newly recruited engineers get the privilege to interact with the top management of the company. 73 Graduate Engineering Trainees of batch 44 (GET 44) were officially split into two groups as given in their respective offer letters. A group of 29 goes to Commercial Vehicle Business Unit (CVBU) for their training followed by posting. The rest of GETs of 43 come under Passenger Car Business Unit (PCBU) for the same. I, belonging to PCBU, was given a brief welcome speech by Mr. Jignesh Makwana, Senior HR and responsible for GET training programme. He was accompanied by Mr. Rajesh Naik and Mr. Dipak Throat. After the brief speech by our HR, the events of the day were initiated. We were given schedule of our 17 days Induction Programme and according to the schedule, the first day was planned to have a common video conference with fellow GETs from plants like Sanand, Lucknow, Pantnagar, Jamshedpur, CVBU and people from Mumbai. Video conference was planned to interact with the top management along with the other GETs from different parts of the country. Mr. Prabir Jha, Senior Vice President (Human Resources) started the proceedings by welcoming us to TATA Motors. He gave a mind-blowing speech stating the employee friendly practises of the company. Explaining the concept of GET and showcasing that all of them who are heading their respective department were once GET was astonishing information. Important facts such as TATA motors, Indias largest Automotive Company, also a Fortune 500 company, is recognised as the Most Valuable Brand and features among the top 15 Best Places to Work 2010. I would like to mention that Prabir and not Sir ( which he insisted) was calm and responsive to the questions asked from our side and returned them with the best possible answer. After an inspiring speech by Mr. Prabir Jha, we were given the opportunity to interact with Mr. P.M. Telang, MD, Operations in India. Information regarding future strategies and planning of the company were shared in a more understandable way. We had the opportunity to spend valuable time with our plant head (PCBU) Mr. V.K. Sinha. He provided valuable inputs regarding Passenger Car Sector and its market demands. He also explained the current status of TATA Motors passenger car sector. Mr. Girish Wagh, Head of the Passenger Car Unit stood as an example with his aspiring words and emphasized the importance of experience. He illustrated his life style where he proved the co-existence of both learning from the company and giving ones 100% to the company. We shared the conference room with GETs from Sanand plant which manufactures the trademark NANO.

INDUCTION PROGRAMME
TATA Group Heritage: By Mr. Madhukar Paranjape In short, Mr. Paranjape briefed the history of TATA starting from Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata to Ratan N. Tata or rather it is the history of Indias largest conglomerate. Visionary and aspiration of Jamsetji Tata were vividly portrayed with important dates and moments. His contribution to the country and its development proved the importance of never to give up. His follower, JRD Tata is a key person in the history of the TATA group. Some of his projects and proposals laid the foundation stone not only for our company but also to the other emerging industries. JRD Tata founded TATA Motors which was previously called Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company in the year 1945. The seminar ended with describing the works done by Mr. Ratan N. Tata, the current chairman of TATA Sons and chairman of TATA Motors. NANO, peoples car, was a dream car of him which was launched on 2008. Medical Benefit Schemes By Dr. R.B. Apte TATA Motors employee benefit scheme were explained in this session. A handbook was provided to all GETs containing information of all the doctors and hospitals in each and every location Safety Training and Knowledge By Mr. Amit Mayekar TATA Motors works on the principle of SQDCME which stands for Safety Quality Deliver Cost Moral and Environment. Safety is given the at most importance in the plant. We had the exposure to the Fire Triangle and the fire prevention activities and setups in and around the plant premises. Information regarding the presence of inflammable fuels like LPG and dissolved acetylene where provided and their location inside the plant. Lessons on how to tackle and manage yourself at the time of fire accidents were given. Use of Shelmets and safety goggles is advised and it is made absolutely mandatory in the shop floor. Inputs such as prevention from electrocution and protecting oneself from sharp objects with the help of safety shoes and safety gloves were provided. Ergonomics which is nothing but comfort in the worker environment is taken care by the safety department. It involves reduction noise from machines and providing ear plugs and ear muffs to the workers who

work with machines that produce high decibel noise. Concepts of HIRA (Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment) and hazard prevention were stressed to the GETs. Know Your Products, NPI By Mr. Harish Pande New Product Introduction is one of the departments which every GET would love to get in and work for its development. The session provided valuable details of the New product launches in the next financial year. Specifications of New Vehicles such as Magic Iris, Magic Zip, Prima, Ventura, Xenon CNG, Winger were shown to us. We also witnessed the current market share of both CVBU and PCBU and the trend of the market. 42 new products were launched in the financial year 2010-11. An important thought that every employee working in NPI should remember is : Right Product in the Right Market at the Right Time with the Right Quality at the Right Cost Key Activities in New Product Development Project Initiation Cross Functional Team (CFT) Formation and Engagement Project Classification Project Execution (Long time) Quality Function Deployment

Performance Management System (PMS) By Mr. Vijay Sawant PMS is reveals about the performance points each employee scores in a year thereby calculating his performance grade after a year. Session gave statistics and calculating methodology, getting inputs from the higher authorities of the employee, to decide his performance grade. Introduction and Overview of dies and castings By Mr. Avinash Khare and Team It was an introduction to the Production Engineering Department which takes care of the manufacturing and maintaining of the various dies used in press shop and other shops. They own a separate research centre not to forget the major support from Engineering Research Centre (ERC). An illustration on the manufacturing process behind the production of dies and profile geometry was given in a vivid presentation. It reveals that production

engineering is classified into three categories such as : Jigs and Fixtures, Foundry toolings and Sheet metal (Press tools). The presentation is followed by a factory visit to the production engineering department. Since it is a shop floor, shelmets were made compulsory. In the shop floor, we witnessed some of the worlds oldest Hydraulic Press Machines and various Profile Milling Machine. The orderly arrangement of various dies on the shop floor shows the discipline in and out of the shop. Introduction and Overview of Vehicle Aggregates By Mr. Yerunkar, Mr. Tapkir, Mr. Dharurkar, Mr. Kulkarni and Mr. S J Kutty Vehicle Aggregates session was predominantly dominated by discussions on various engines and vehicles manufactured by the company. It was an overloaded session with so much of information explained in a short span of time. A variety of light and heavy commercial vehicle were explained in detail which includes their engine, transmission and load carrying capacity. Similar to Production Engineering, we were taken a visit to Engine shop. An array of machines which can perform various machining operations were orderly placed with detail board containing specification and part manufactured by the machine written on it. During the visit, we had the opportunity to enter the assembly line of engine shop and witness various assembly operations and inspection along with testing of each engine. Introduction and Overview of Paint shop By: Mr. Jaydeep Desai The presentation on Paint shop which was followed by a visit to the shop was a great learning curve with many interesting subjects to discuss. The shop was semi-automated with complete conveyor system. Kuka robots were used extensively along with human support at certain intrinsic junctures. Various stages are Cleaning the BIW (Body in White), Pre-treatment, Phosphating, Cathode Electro Depositing (CED), Surfacer, Top coat that includes Base coat and Clear coat and finally the oven for drying the paints. CSR Activities Mr. S. Dhavale, Mr. B. Rane & Mr. Rohit Saroj CSR shows the various activities done by TATA Motors Limited to develop the villages around the city. It also involves women empowerment, wives and relatives of workers and developing a small scale industry for them. It revealed various monetary and educational reforms to the children of the companys employees. As a part of CSR activity, GET 44 were taken to a village developed and reformed by the company. In the village, the village representative explained the various reforms done by the company right from bringing and

facilitating drinking water to the transportation facility. An open invitation is given to the GETs to become a part of the CSR group. Changing Scenario in Automobile Industry By Mr. P. D. Bhende It was one of the best sessions of the induction programme which had all the spices necessary to attract the audiences. He explained the history behind the setting up of Passenger Car Business Unit (PCBU) in Pune. He also explained the draw backs of todays education system which doesnt teach the important lessons for a person to survive in an automobile company. The presentations show the struggles behind the launch of Indica, indias first indigenously designed and manufactured passenger car.

Overview of Materials, MPC & ICR By : Mr. Millind Gare, Mr. U.N. Dixit and Mr. Y.A. Joshi A session about Material Pricing, Vendor Development, Logistics, Forecasting etc. It also revealed the important vendors and the items purchased from them. Materials department help in estimating the base cost of the product to be manufactured in the plant. It also accounts to the maintenance of the inventory. We were also explained about the safety stock or buffer stock which comes in handy when there is a crisis with vendors or the logistics.

Overview of Finance & Tax Planning A presentation on various tax policies about our salary was explained in this session. It also helped to achieve tax benefits by showing us the way to utilise such benefits. This information indirectly helped to calculate the monthly salary and our package details. Finance is about investing your assets in either mutual funds or equity stocks. There were two sister concerns called TATA Mutual Funds and TATA Securities which helps the TATA employees to invest their assets in a much better and safer place which will return with a good amount of profit. Customer Support and Focus By Mr. Menon Project Panther GETs sent directly to the dealership and study the customer needs. The session explained the importance of understanding the customer necessity and

market demand. He also stated the significance of excellent service and support which has to be provided at the customer end. Overview of QA, Six Sigma By Mr Pravin Khollam, P.Y. Deo and Mr. Shubharajyoti Ghosai Quality is given at most importance in a company like TATA Motors which is aiming for World Class Quality (WCQ). All the techniques used to achieve quality assurance were illustrated in this session. Various quality tools and process control methodologies were explained. The companys initiatives to implement six sigma principles were briefly presented to us.

Quality Module
During the quality module, we were given rotations and moved from one shop to another shop per day. There were totally six shops which are Press Shop, Weld shop, Engine Shop, Transaxle Shop, Paint Shop and TCF (Assembly). Weld Shop The weld shop consists of three different lines which are named as Indica line, X1 line and LWB line. The Indica line is the first line setup in 1998 which takes the job of welding the BIW of Indica, Indigo and Marina. The capacity of the line is 250 per shift and it is 45% automated line. The line consist a various Kuka and Nachi robots which are nothing but the typical SCARA robots. There are 105 robots from robotic manufacturers like Nachi, Fanooc and ABB. The design of Indica car family was undertaken and completed by Idea, Italy. Welding fixtures and jigs were provided by the Production Engineering department. The number of Weld spots for each car is given below : 1. Indica 4200 2. Indigo 4300 3. Marina 4475 The second line is LWB Weld shop and it has 2 different models of Indigo CS and XL. It is an low cost line started in 2007 . The initial capcity was 15 BIW/shift with single model which was then enhanced to 75 BIW/ shift with 10% automation. It was designed and installed by EDAG. There are 4 robots of ABB make with 50 welding fixtures. There are a total of 186 and 4316 welding guns and spots respectively. The third line called the X1 line is the most automated line with 90% automation started in 2008. It has two different models in single line namely Vista and Manza. The capacity is about 850 units. It has 247 welding fixtures , 32 manual welding guns and the number of weld spots are

1. Vista 3687 2. Manza 3957 The Quality Assurance of the BIW is carried out in weld shop by the following stages. Body Accuracy which involves Fitment and Alignment Process Audit ABC Inspection Outgoing quality inspection

Engine Shop Here, we were given a brief introduction about Measurement System Analysis and the fact that dimension of an job can never been determined Tasks done in Engine shop : A lot of 50 cylinder heads were chosen from the production line and MSA analysis was conducted on them. The parameter chosen was thrust cap width which was considered to be a CTQCritical To Quality The gauge used was GO/NOGO Gauge This was measured by two persons in two trials When observed the final reading taken by us, the variation was too high as we lacked the skill of using the instrument We were told that skill in using an instrument comes with practice and experience The objective was to learn how measuring a parameter with the help of a gauge varied based on measurers skill

Transaxle Shop Introductions were given about the process carried out in transaxle shop. The main parts being produced in this shop was TA 65 and TA 65* gearboxes which are used in Indica and Vista respectively. We were taught about the quality audits held in transaxle shop with the help of the 7 quality tools like fishbone diagram , pareto analysis...etc

Tasks Carried out in Transaxle shop : We were to measure cp and cpk values for the 3rd gear bore grinding machine. Two parameters :- bore dia and cone top dia were to be measured with the help of bore air gauges.

Nominal values and tolerances were given for the parameters to be measured The unilateral tolerances was first converted into bilateral tolerances The values were tabulated and graph was plotted in MS Exel

The cp and cpk values were found to be in control for cone diameter and out of control for bore diameter Press Shop A presentation on the production process in press shop and defects occurring in it and its corrective actions were given to us. The defects occurring were: 1. Surface Defects a) Material Defects b) Process Defects 2. Dimensional Defects

The major surface defects that occurs in sheet metal forming are like crack, thinning, wrinkles folding dent....etc Tasks done in Press Shop We did the green room inspection test and fixture measurement test The green room inspection test was to make sure that the sheet metal formed has no defects like dent, crack, wrinkles, thinning etc., Green room was used because the colour green is in the middle of VIBGYOR and has a comparatively greater bandwidth The defects could be easily seen in green colour light The next test was inspection with fixtures to measure the gap and flush in the parts The parts were fixed to the fixtures and with the help of Vernier Calliper and level tester the measurement was made and a report was prepared Most of the values were found to be within the limit specified.

Paint shop A day in paint shop helped us to learn the variations in temperature and humidity which directly affects the paint quality. Also we witnessed various paint defects such as dust, Run down, Paint drop, Paint disturb, Paint spitting, Thin Paint and lint

Tasks done: The temperature and humidity of the Surfacer liner was first noted down with a time interval of 30 minutes per reading. The reading are plotted in a graph and found out that there is a great variation of temperature and humidity at the time of lunch and shift change. The temperature and humidity of the Top Coat line 1 and 2 was also noted with the time interval of 30 minutes per reading The readings are plotted in the graph and the same variation is noted. It was suggested that the workers are required to take care of temperature and humidity reading before painting the BIWs

TCF ( Assembly Line ) TCF is the shop where the final assembly takes place and quality assurance plays an important role. There is a QA group called Vehicle Certification Group which conducts the vehicles inspection. It has the following tests : 1. Shower tested water leakage Here the water shower at 2-3 bar pressure is sprayed on the vehicle to test if there is any leakage inside 2. 100% drive test All vehicles produced undergo drive test to make sure no noise or vibration occurs in any part of the body and the working of various facilities in the vehicle are checked 3. Brake test This is carried by driving the vehicles at 60kmph and applying 10kg pedal force and make sure that vehicle stops in 32 ft. 4. 100% inspection

Some of the commonly occurring defects are : Door link rattling Indica/Indigo Exhaust fouling to body Indica/Indigo Front fouling noise- vista w/s jet setting not ok Clutch pedal level low with respect to brake pedal

Conclusion: Induction Programme, though the name may sound little insignificant, but it is very much required to any new recruit to any company. The Induction Programme for GET 44, TATA motors was planned orderly and perfected. All the sessions were informative and interactive which made the participation in tact. Some the sessions by the Heads of the Department who were GETs themselves showed that GETs in TATA have a bright future.