THE TATA NANO MAKES HISTORY USING DIGITAL MANUFACTURING,\

On January 10, 2008, Indias Tata Motors unveiled its Nano car. It was a historic
moment, ecause the Nano was the chea!est auto ever made at that time, with a !rice
ta" around #$%2&00. The Nano 'oined (ords Model T as a car within the reach o)
millions o) !eo!le who !reviously could not a))ord one.
Tata Motors started its Nano !ro'ect in 200*, when a team was char"ed with creatin" a
car that would cost no more than aout #$%2&00 without com!romisin" on sa)ety,
aesthetics, or value to the customer. It was a +erculean tas,. Tata met the challen"e y
usin" di"ital manu)acturin" systems to dramatically shorten the time re-uired to desi"n
the new !roduct and rin" it to mar,et. The aility to develo! and !roduce new !roducts
with many di))erent variations within a short time s!an is a ,ey com!etitive advanta"e in
the automotive industry.
#ntil a )ew years a"o, it would have een im!ossile to desi"n and !roduce the Nano at
this !rice. Tata Motors had outdated manu)acturin" !rocesses. Manual e))ort was
re-uired to create and maintain !rocesses, !lants, and !roduct desi"n, resultin" in
lon"er lead times to choose the a!!ro!riate tools )or an o!eration. The com!any had to
create !ro"rams manually )or assemly line roots, a !rocess that was error.!rone and
time.consumin". $uch delays have a numer o) ne"ative conse-uences/ 0ata used to
!lan a vehicle ecame useless over time, and the com!any was unale to easily chan"e
its !roduct mi1, roll out a new !roduct on an e1istin" !roduction line, or schedule the
assemly o) two di))erent !roducts on the same line.
2ll that chan"ed in July 200& when Tata Motors switched to di"ital manu)acturin" usin"
0assualt $ystems 0i"ital 3nter!rise 4ean Manu)acturin" Interactive 2!!lication
5034MI26. 0i"ital manu)acturin" automates !rocesses in !roduct desi"n and !roduction
en"ineerin" !lannin", enalin" Tata to !lan manu)acturin" !rocesses, desi"n !lant
layouts, and then simulate the re!ercussions o) those !lans, includin" the im!act o)
manu)acturin" techni-ues and chan"es o) !roducts on e1istin" !roduction lines. It
!rovides data to Tatas $27 enter!rise resource !lannin" system, which costs out a
!roduct, an assemly or a su.assemly. 0i"ital manu)acturin" also simulates the
movements o) !eo!le wor,in" on the sho! )loor so that the !lanners can desi"n more
e))icient wor, !rocesses. 8om!anies usin" di"ital manu)acturin" can model !roducts and
o!erations and ma,e chan"es to them on com!uter. This cuts down on the use o)
e1!ensive !hysical !rototy!es, which must e reuilt each time a desi"n chan"es.
2ccordin" to T.N. #mamaheshwaran, who headed Tata Motors di"ital manu)acturin"
!ro"ram, 9:e cant ima"ine what would ta,e !lace at a new !lant i) did not have 0M tool.
Two years e)ore the )irst stone o) a !lant laid, we already start wor,in" on it. :e dont
even ,now where the site will e, ut we ,now what it will ta,e to ma,e ;&0 cars a day.<
2s a result o) ado!tin" di"ital manu)acturin" ,Tata motors has reduced time.to.
mar,et )or new !assen"er cars y at least si1 months. The com!any can now ra!idly
identi)y areas o) 9wor, overload< and constraints while -uic,ly ada!tin" assemly lines
To accommodate multi!le automoile variations. The aility to simulate )acilities and
!roesses has reduced the cost o) !hysical rewor,. Manu)acturin". 2nd )acilites !lannin"
now ta,e *0 !ercent less time, with a 20 !ercent reduction in the cost o) the
manu)acturin" !lannin" !rocess end.to.endhas een reduced y over &0!ercent
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