Change is the only constant in life. The automotive industry, like every other sphere of business, is going through a period of significant transition. A number of changes are being worked out with respect to customer expectations, regulations governing safety and environmental protection, and continual competitiveness in terms of cost. These changes cannot be brought to pass unless the company systematically drives its processes ahead through a high level of product and process innovation.

"Tata Motors has a long history of investment in R&D," states Dr V. Sumantran, executive director, passenger car business unit and Engineering Research Centre (ERC), Tata Motors. It is a statement that has been corroborated by a very large number of business successes.

Most of these innovations have been, over the years, incorporated into automobiles, ensuring driver and passenger safety and convenience while driving. "The facilities in our ERC have been repeatedly identified as benchmarks for the Indian industry," Dr Sumantran asserts.

The design of the Tata Indica, India’s first indigenous car, is an accomplishment that has established the country’s position in an elite group of countries that have proved their capability in designing, developing and manufacturing a world-class car. Tata Motors has made significant new investments in new facilities to support its product-development needs. It has hired new talent and instituted new methods such as computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacture and computer-aided engineering to help it in its research endeavours.

Today ERC takes pride in having in its service more than 900 scientists and engineers, besides a host of unique facilities, including the only crash test facility and 'hemi-anechoic noise and vibration test chamber in Asia, outside Japan or Korea. It also has to its credit other technologies such as the advanced emission measurement systems and a digital prototyping laboratory.

Some of the other technologies that are part of Tata Motors’ arsenal are those that offer improved electronic controls for engine systems, aimed at improving emission standards, and other vehicle drive-train and chassis systems, besides fuel efficiency. 

The work on safety engineering also occupies a large part of the R&D focus. The company is currently working on equipping the vehicles of the future with technologies for improved communication, navigation and entertainment. The use of all these technologies will go a long way towards ensuring the quality of all the vehicles that roll out of the company’s plants.

Automobile companies everywhere now pride themselves on offering products that score high on criteria like quality, reliability, and availability of features and specifications. The only way in which companies can set themselves apart from the competition is by spending more time and energy on innovative products. Consistent attention to research pays high dividends to a company in the long run. 

In the absence of a strong and active R&D department, an automobile company aspiring to be in the league of globally competitive companies will find itself lagging far behind. Besides, the growing number of regulations in the field of auto safety demands that a company invest highly in research.

Dr Sumantran believes that the auto industry in India, consisting of two-wheelers, passenger cars and commercial vehicles, has acquitted itself remarkably in this regard."The two-wheeler industry showcases this focus with extremely competitive products that are gaining recognition in the economy segment around the world," he says. "At Tata Motors, too, we have ourselves gained recognition for our recent products. Many of the obstacles the company faced two decades ago in acquiring technology have been substantially reduced through tier-1 suppliers and through access to specialist consultants."

Tata Motors has achieved much progress in terms of accessing advanced systems and technologies and using them to equip their products with various conveniences and features. The resultant advances have enabled the company to meet the highly stringent performance specifications that are expected from any world-class manufacturer of cars.

Dr Sumantran reveals a little-known fact. "This year Tata Motors will export to Europe Indicas equipped with sophisticated safety systems, including side-airbags and antilock braking systems. In addition, these cars will also be equipped with the latest Euro-III emission compliant petrol and diesel engines. Likewise, the Tata Safari will also incorporate these features when it is exported to Europe this year."

The design and development of so many new features and specifications requires the company to protect its intellectual property rights. Dr Sumantran says, "This year several new patent applications have been processed. More importantly, our engineers and scientists have been encouraged to think more carefully and strategically about intellectual property." He is honest enough to admit that they have made fewer patent applications than he would have liked, but the company and its people are clearly striving to achieve more.

The road ahead will require Tata Motors to take some crucial decisions. The company will have to learn a number of lessons from the environment, the competition, the expectations of consumers, current and upcoming regulations, and the evolution of technology. These lessons will then have to be ploughed into research that will help design and improve the vehicle of the future.

Dr Sumantran believes a roadmap will go a long way towards making the process of research easier. "A roadmap that charts a systematic cadence of development and projects allows us to pace the development of needed skills and technologies. Admittedly, some of these projects are intended to serve long-term objectives and, through their stages of development, may lead to results that prove that technology to be unfeasible or uneconomical. Modern management of R&D uses measures such as harvest ratio to evaluate the efficacy of their R&D investment and with this we are able to prioritise work in the needed areas and encourage innovation."

Whatever the outcome, the company has shown its willingness to take risks and to drive itself aggressively ahead. There is no doubt that Tata Motors will be at the forefront of the changes that will be evident in the automobile industry of the future.

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