In my previous blog on the Automotive Scenario in the country, we looked at what started with small steps in the 80’s slowly meant reducing the gap between global and Indian vehicles in terms of technology and numbers. The Industry worked with the Government agencies and laid down the path through successive Automotive Mission Plans for its growth.
NOW —
The Automotive Mission Plan II for 2016-26 was well on target initially on most counts until the Industry started feeling the onset of recession for multiple reasons in 2019. Uncertainty was predominantly felt on account of gearing up for Euro-VI norms and recovering their development costs over the uncertain volumes. The situation was further being threatened by pressure for the launch of EVs. The general state of cost-effective-readiness for the EVs themselves and associated infrastructure required for charging, maintenance and disposal was quite low and admittedly with a lot of confusion. With this, the country along with the rest of the world saw the pandemic of COVID-2019. While it may be termed being prematurely optimistic, let us just say that we will see a reasonable socio-medical solution to this and limit ourselves to technical and business challenges for the Automotive sector. With COVID-19 the adjustments would certainly mean a new timeline for the milestones but the nature or definition of the milestone may not change. The new normal life in social, technological and industrial settings needs to consider the current scenario in totality.
What to Expect in the wake of Events thus far- The AMP-II already plans for higher volumes, more exports and more electronics, and digitalization in the Industry on the way to Industry 4.0. The initiatives are on way or likely to be in the following areas considering other challenges thrown in alongside of what was known in 2015-16 when it was drafted
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ELV (End of Life of Vehicles) regulations extended to all vehicle types
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Mandatory rather than voluntary recall
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Higher business owing to re-location/better share globally
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Emission norms related localization
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EV vehicles related development suitable for the region, cost and technology
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Vehicle types being sought by the market changing its composition due to Socio-Economic factors
Focus area for the Industry– For most of us the challenge would be how to move or upgrade to the next level of doing our business/automation and address all the regulatory and situational changes expected and taking place. The OEMs have taken up many exercises for their vendors to be fit & lean for the Technology- cost expectations. Those attending the Vendor conferences and meetings by OEMs will know the drift well.
One of the improvement exercises has been to advocate and improve the #product liability coverage through and through the last link in the supply chain as the product recalls getting mandatory. The organizations exporting always faced the need to cover the product liability more than for the local market but this is changing fast.
If we look at the #product recall data published by SIAM, as an initiative for voluntary recall (Ref. Regulation – Gazette Notification G.S.R.595 (E) dated June 13, 2016) since 2012 for Product Safety related failures, we observe that Total vehicles recalled from 2012- 2019 – 32.5 L.
If we look at the reasons given in this data, we can draw these takeaways for thinking and actions
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For the Recall related to design the domain is with the design responsible and is beyond the scope for others; hence excluded from this discussion.
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The second most prevalent reason for Recall relates to the “process”.
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Reasons can be anywhere in the whole loop: OEM- Tier I – II – III.
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The vehicle types being posted in the recall data are predominantly PV-SUV segments and higher end of the spectrum.
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Presently, with coverage of only safety related effects, the number is high. If all performance and aesthetics related market expectations are to be addressed as is the trend worldwide we would be looking at enormous numbers.
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If we are applying the principle uniformly for all problems – not safety related alone and all vehicles; we need to wake up and re-look at our systems and processes.
Value Proposition for a new solution and its evolution – As someone who has worked in the circuit of quality I see the need to think of a system so that the persons “in it” can be assured totally.
There are no areas in the complete loop OEM + all the Supplier in Tiers I-III which are free of issues/problems; so the system must be a ready solution adaptable by all.
Over the years the Quality system and manufacturing technology has adopted global and local solutions, improved the products and processes; however, we have excellence in pockets pulled down by weak processes and systems elsewhere. This means we need to re-look at our systems, processes and technology critically to identify all the weak links.
The solution needs to be applicable to OEM- Tier 1,2,3 seamlessly and give a single version of the truth. It will be adopted by the users if the changes in the existing set-up are practically zero or minimal.
The solution Product Recall and Liability can be improved/assured by Digital Traceability.
The Solution (MVP presented in Nov 2019 in ACMA Technology Summit & implementation at initial customers ongoing ) will be outlined in my next blog.
Alka Pande.
Automotive Industry Solutions Advisor at Sapours
40+ years in Engineering , Development and Quality functions in Tier 1 organizations in the Auto Industry. Last 5 years contributed for setting the framework for skilling in ASDC.
