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PRODUCTION PROCESS OF ASHOK LEYLAND

ABSTRACT:

Theme of the paper is to deal with the production process and operation involved in
the commercial vehicle manufacturing company ASHOK LEYLAND. At the end of
reading you get the idea regarding the manufacturing or production process,
operations, supply chain management undertaking in the respected vehicle
manufacturing company.

PRODUCTION PROCESS IN ASHOK LEYLAND

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INTRODUCTION:
Ashok Leyland is a commercial vehicle
manufacturing company based in Chennai, India. Founded in
1948, the company is one of India's leading manufacturers of
commercial vehicles, such as trucks and buses, as well as
emergency and military vehicles. Operating six plants, Ashok
Leyland also makes spare parts and engines for industrial and
marine applications. It sells about 60,000 vehicles and about
7,000 engines annually. It is the second largest commercial
vehicle company in India in the medium and heavy commercial
vehicle (M&HCV) segment. With passenger transportation
options ranging from 19 seaters to 80 seaters, Ashok Leyland is a
market leader in the bus segment .The company claims to carry
over 60 million passengers a day, more people than the entire
Indian rail network. In the trucks segment Ashok Leyland
primarily concentrates on the 16 ton to 25 ton range of trucks.
However Ashok Leyland has presence in the entire truck range
starting from 7.5 tons to 49 tons. The joint venture announced
with Nissan Motors of Japan would improve its presence in the
Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) segment (<7.5 tons).

In 1968, production of the Leyland Titan ceased in

Britain, but was restarted by Ashok Leyland in India. The Titan
PD3 chassis was modified, and a five speed heavy duty constant-
mesh gearbox utilized, together with the Ashok Leyland version
of the O.680 engine. The Ashok Leyland Titan was very
successful, and continued in production for many years.

PRODUCTION PROCESS IN ASHOK LEYLAND

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ACHEIVEMENT’S OF ASHOK LEYLAND:-

1966 Introduce full air brakes.
1967 Launched double-decker bus.
1968 Offered power steering in commercial vehicles.
1979 Introduced multi-axle trucks.
1980 Introduced the international concept of integral bus with air
suspension.

1982 Introduced vestibule bus.

1992 Won self-certification status for defense supplies.
1993 Received ISO 9002.
1997 India's first CNG powered bus joined the BEST fleet.
2001 Received ISO 14001 certification for all manufacturing units.
2001 Launched hybrid electric vehicle.

MANUFACTURING PLANTS OF ASHOK

LEYLAND:
Ashok Leyland has seven manufacturing plants:
1) Ennore
2) Hosur: Unit 1
3) Hosur: Unit 2
4) Hosur: Unit 2A
5) Alwar
6) Bhandara

PRODUCTION PROCESS IN ASHOK LEYLAND

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7) Pantnagar
Ashok Leyland products.

1:-Buses

Leaders in the Indian bus market, offering unique models such as

CNG, Double Decker and Vestibule bus.

2:-Trucks:-

Pioneers in multi axle trucks and tractor-trailers.

3:- Engines:-

Diesel engines for Industrial, Genset and Marine applications, in

collaboration with technology leaders.

PRODUCTION PROCESS IN ASHOK LEYLAND

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4:- Defense & Special: -

Largest provider of logistic vehicles to the Indian army.

PRODUCTION PROCESS IN ASHOK LEYLAND

 Mission
Achieving Customer Delight
Excellence in technology and engineering
Continuous Improvement and Learning
Teamwork, training, transparency, people - based management and
internal customer satisfaction.
Protection of working environment that promotes safety and health
of our employees.

Vision
To become Customers’ first choice, by focusing
organizational energy on understanding and delivering on their
need for state-of-the-art technology, cost and quality benchmarks,
and overall relationship, which they expect from a world class
supplier.

USERS OF ASHOK LEYLAND PRODUCTS:

INDUSTRIAL USER: Industrial user includes transporter, Logistics Company, coal an
mining industry and other industries etc.

PUBLIC USER: Public user includes individual or passenger transport.

GOVERNMENT USER: Government user includes state and central transport like DTC
UPSRTC and other.
DEFENSE USER: Defense user includes Indian army trucks, tanks and transpo
 buses.

PROCESS FLOW CHART OF ASHOK LEYLAND

purchase of raw material

components machined

rough milling drilling finish washing boring end milling assembly of

milling bearing caps

fixing of assembly of fitting of compressor fitting of fitting of belt

flywheel housing oil pump steiner fitting oil coolant

finish products
CRANKSHAFT: - CRANKSHAFT is attached with a gear and is
fixed to the bottom of the cylinder block by bearing caps.

CAMSHAFT: - CAMSHAFT is attached with a timing gear and is

fixed in the required space provided in the cylinder block.0

INPUT AND OUTPUT PROCESS

INPUTS:-

 Collecting information about the parts of truck and buses, which Ashok
Leyland is going to produce.
 Production system of Ashok Leyland.
 Production Strategy of Ashok Leyland (Strategy for HCV and LCV is
different.)

PROCESS PLANNING:-

 Ashok Leyland selects the process for production.

 Study of new product which Ashok Leyland is going to produce and
study of process.
 Study of Machinery, which is used to produce the product.
 Ashok Leyland do lot of research for their production process.

OUTPUTS:-

 Final product is prepared(Product is with new technology)

 Hybrid features of new product.
*Hybrid engine.
*Hybrid model.
*Hybrid technology.
 OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT

 Ashok Leyland is trying to improve efficiency and

production quality, reduce costs and increase customer
satisfaction.
 Among the means company is adopting just-in-time
inventories system.
Strategic Sourcing: Strategic sourcing recognizes that people,
including innovative suppliers, are a valuable part of an
organization and focuses on reducing waste or non-value-added
costs.
Technology Upgradation: The Company has a strong focus on
technology upgradation in order to meet the growing demand for
newer & better models.
 The technology upgradation initiative the Company expects
to produce more fuel efficient vehicles with robust designs
which are globally best in their class.
World-class Technology: To offer world-class technology that
is relevant and affordable to the Indian customer is the philosophy
that drives R&D at Ashok Leyland.
Value to the Customer: The immediate R&D priorities are to
pro-actively address safety and environmental issues, harness and
adopt technologies that provide value to the customer in an
atmosphere enabling creativity and innovation.
Test Tracks: but Company R&D is not confined within walls. It
extends to the test tracks as well. Rigorous tests are carried out
under stringent simulated conditions that replicate the most
treacherous landscapes.
Innovations: Ashok Leyland product development successes
have come from a keen sense of anticipation and attentiveness. The
company initiated research into alternative fuels well before
legislative debate had even begun in the country.
Best practices: The new lines, apart from being state-of-the-art
in terms of machines and tools, also incorporate many global
industry best practices. The automated coolant management system
significantly reduces coolant consumption.
The Manufacturing Execution System (MES) allows for online
monitoring of all operational parameters such as breakdowns, tool
change and power consumption - both current status and history.
Automation: New benchmarks have been set in automation to
minimize activities that cause human fatigue or pose hazards and
achieve speed. Gantry Systems are used for axle-beam, axle arm,
camshafts and crankshafts lines. Robots are used for ‘handling’ hot
axle arms and axle beams.
Compact and versatile: A significant addition to capacities,
the new lines are extremely versatile. “Transformation training
becomes crucial in such movement of men from accustomed work
situations to a whole new set-up”.
 PRODUCT SUPPLY CHAIN
It has been found that the automobile giant Ashok Leyland ltd,
chennai has got one of the very successful supplier development
program as part of its world-class supply chain management.

Manufacturer Dealer
Customer

CMD identifies the vendors, rates the vendors based on feedback

received from Supplier Quality Assurance Cell, sends drawings /
specifications, calls for quotes with detailed break-up of operation-
wise costs, and negotiates the price at which the parts will be
supplied.

Ashok Leyland considers its vendors as partners in progress and

believes in establishing mutually beneficial relationships. Ashok
Leyland provides necessary technical assistance in the form of
Project and Production Engineering, to maintain quality levels. In
addition, where required, Ashok Leyland also helps vendors
financially.
 DRAWBACK:
As Ashok Leyland is giving it’s best to its customer but then also
there are some drawbacks:-
 The domestic sales of the company are not up to the
mark.
 Ashok Leyland has not got a foothold in the luxury
trucks segment in its domestic market.
 Ashok Leyland have low cost advantage over its
competitors, once the competitors find out the low cost
production methodology then there will no
competitive advantage.
 CNG buses of Ashok Leyland are also not playing
well on the roads, some or other break down creating
problem for them.
 Some of the automobile company is going to launch
HMV to give competition to Ashok Leyland and till
now Ashok Leyland not got any alternative to
comptite with it.
 FEATURES OF THE COMPANY:

As we know through this project that Ashok Leyland is also one of

the leading automobile manufacturers in the world and it also came
to know that:-

Provide World class technology:-

To offer world-class technology that is relevant and affordable to
the Indian customer is the philosophy that drives R&D at Ashok
Leyland. Over the years, this philosophy has been translated time
and again into products that seamlessly integrate international
technology with local needs. "The role of R&D is central in
fulfilling the company-wide commitment to total customer
satisfaction" states Mr. R. Seshasayee, Managing Director, and
adds that the increased infrastructural and financial support
expresses the company's determination to become self-reliant in
R&D.

Provide Value to the customer:-

The immediate R&D priorities are to pro-actively address safety
and environmental issues, harness and adopt technologies that
provide value to the customer in an atmosphere enabling creativity
and innovation. Powering those who "engineer tomorrows" with an
enabling infrastructure has been top priority for the company.

Keep innovating there product:-

Ashok Leyland product development successes have come from a
keen sense of anticipation and attentiveness. The company initiated
research into alternative fuels well before legislative debate had
even begun in the country. The result was the implementation of
CNG technology ahead of the rest promising a breath of fresh air
for polluted cities.

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