The National Automotive Testing and R AND D Infrastructure Project is pushing initiatives to enable the component sector to benefit from new technologies.
The National Automotive Testing and R AND D Infrastructure Project (NATRiP) is working on a lightweighting project for which it is gearing up its testing centres at seven locations. It will work closely with the Automotive Components Manufacturers Association (ACMA) and the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SlAM) and has recently signed an MoU with Fraunhofer Institutes of Germany.
Rajesh Singh, CEO and project director, NATRip, told Autocar Professional that the lightweighting project is one of the largest and most significant initiatives in the automotive sector. It represents, he added, a coming together of the government of India, several State governments and the domestic auto sector to create a state-of the-art testing, validation and R AND D infrastructure. The project aims at creating core global competencies and facilitating seamless integration of the industry with the global auto sector.
Set up as part of Automotive Mission Plan 2016 with an objective to support the Indian automotive industry, its objectives are to achieve an estimated turnover of $145 billion, accounting for 10 percent of GDP and creating jobs for 25 million people.
To support this objective, NATRiP is setting up centres at seven locations -Ahmednagar, Chennai, Indore, Manesar, Pune, Silchar and Rae Bareilly. Besides, there will be nine Centres of Excellence (CoE) that will each focus on different aspects of the vehicle. For instance, ICAT will have two centres for component development and an NVH- noise, vibration and harshness - testing laboratory.
The CoE for component development will be a onestop shop for products from concept till validation. Though some of the component manufacturers have capabilities to develop new products and components, many products do not see the light of the day due to lack of testing and validation facilities.
The CoE will help component manufacturers to develop lightweight components along with OEMs with the support of Fraunhofer. This will help the component manufacturers to support vehicle manufacturers efforts to enhance fuel efficiency while also containing emissions.
Typically, research on new product development will start in labs attached to one of the CoEs and work with Fraunhofer for technological support.
All our labs will have exclusive areas for customer workshops. The entry and exit points will be separate for each customer for security reasons, Singh said.
Besides, NATRiP will also encourage pre-competitive research, which will focus on development of technologies on generic matters that do not pertain to any particular component manufacturer. Only when the technology developed is ready for commercialisation, will it be made available for others for a royalty fee, he said. The pre-competitive research will encourage the industry to get into developmental research.
Moreover, the laboratories will help the users estimate the benefits of the new technology as it will have equipment to fully support the research. For instance, the powertrain laboratory will have equipment to assess the benefits of components manufactured using new materials against the conventional ones. And the proving grounds will help assess the complete vehicle in various conditions.
Asked if NATRiP will facilitate research on raw materials, Singh said facilities are being developed at Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) in Pune. Besides, ARAI has a facility that makes forgings and also works on alternate materials. However, research on alternate material will not be confined to ARAI as all the CoEs have been enabled to take up these projects. Under NATRip, we wish to create an umbrella organisation with all the capabilities that can be used in a complementary manner to give customers a one-stop shop solution, he said. The choice of materials taken up for research will be market -driven; as of now some composite materials are used by global OEMs in their high-end cars.
NATRiP will also partner technical institutions and universities in India and abroad to strengthen its research capabilities. Singh is confident that in three to five years, there will be something to show in lightweight projects in India.