Products Engineering capabilities

Large SMC parts

Tata AutoComp manufactures composites which are an innovative replacement for conventional materials such as steel, aluminium and plastics for a wide range of automotive applications like class-A external body panels, structural parts and NVH parts. General advantages of composites are:

	Weight savings up to 25 per cent over sheet metal
	Cost savings in parts and tooling; up to 65 per cent over sheet metal in tooling
	Cost savings in overall programme through faster tooling and development time
	Cost and assembly time savings through superior part integration
	Corrosion / dent resistance
	Better acoustic behaviour through improved NVH properties
	Styling freedom

Current major products include:

	Bumpers for Man Truck and Tata LCV (Ace and Magic) and Winger
	Engine hoods for Tata's HCVs/ LCVs and Ashok Leyland's trucks
	Fender cum foot steps for Man Trucks
	Fenders for Tata's HCVs
	Panels for Tata's LCV (Winger model) and panels, engine hoods and fender cum foot steps for Man Trucks
	Fenders for Tata's HCVs
	Hoods and side panels for John Deere Tractors
	Front hood for New Holland Fiat Tractors
	Front mask and bottom cover for Punjab Tractors
	BMC for Visteon and Lumax (headlamp manufacturer)

All the new generation heavy commercial vehicles including Man Trucks and World Truck of Tata Motors have preferred SMC as solution for their external trim parts. We are also a potential supplier for all new entrants in HCV, like Volvo Trucks and Ashok Leyland Avia Programmes.

Sheet moulded composites (SMC)
SMC is a thermosetting polymer reinforced with fibre (usually glass fibre), manufactured in the form of a sheet. Suitable fillers are added to SMC at the compounding stage to obtain specific properties and the material can be specifically formulated for applications like class-A surfaces or high-temperature applications. An additional advantage of SMC is its suitability for online painting with sheet metal components due to a coefficient of thermal expansion that is very close to that of steel.

Bulk moulded composites (BMC): BMC, used to make small and intricate parts, is similar to SMC in its composition but instead of a sheet it is manufactured in dough form.

Long fibre thermoplastic (LFT): LFT is a thermoplastic polymer reinforced with fibre longer than 1mm (usually glass fibre longer than 20mm). It is a state-of-the-art material developed in Germany barely ten years ago by Menzolit Fibron GmbH, Tata AutoComp's technology partners, and Dieffenbacher. Tata AutoComp is working closely with Menzolit Fibron and Dieffenbacher to develop value-added applications of LFT in both class-A body panels and structural parts. LFT has the additional advantages of faster cycle times (less than 60s) and the ability to be recycled 100 per cent online for almost zero process wastage.

Engineering capabilities

A team of Tata AutoComp engineers trained at Menzolit-Fibron, Germany, offers a range of design and development capabilities, including:

	Concept design
	Product development and validation
	Rapid prototyping
	Tooling design and development

The company's software capabilities include CATIA V4, Nastran, Ansys. It also offers a facility for raw material development and formulation for a variety of customer needs.

Manufacturing facilities

The Tata AutoComp plant near Pune, India, ensures quality through conformance to standards such as QS 9000 and ISO 9001 and the use of techniques such as 5S, Kaizen and Kanban. It uses a wide range of equipment for the moulding of SMC, including:

	SMC compression moulding CNC hydraulic presses
	Computer controlled Schmidte and Heinzmann make SMC compounding machine
	BMC compounding machine
	Non-IBR steam generators
	Screw type air compressors

It also has modern testing equipment to assure the quality of the final product, including:

	Glass content / filler content testing
	Burning test to check fibre orientation / flow
	Air entrapment testing
	Thickening behaviour testing
	Specific gravity testing
	Moisture content testing
	Heat ageing
	Surface weight testing
	Paint adhesion testing

The presses are CNC-controlled and have 20-micron accuracy - JIS-1, and parallelism control class-A finish.

Manufacturing Unit: TACO Composites Limited