Lumax Cornaglia Manufacturing unit Check out – At the rear of the Scenes
Lumax Cornaglia Vehicle Systems Non-public Restricted expanded their producing facility and they invited us to have a look at what goes on inside
Tale: Charan Karthik
Lumax Vehicle Technologies Minimal. The identify rings a bell, does it not? Indeed, a single of the major producers of lighting factors in automobiles. Lumax Car Systems Ltd (LATL) entered into a 50:50 joint enterprise with Cornaglia s.p.a., Italy, in 2007 to form Lumax Cornaglia Vehicle Systems (LCAT) and they not too long ago expanded their producing facility at Chakan, near Pune. The new facility is unfold more than an place of 2.5 lakh square ft and it also residences a 7,000-sq. foot study and advancement laboratory.
The facility is equipped with modern-day equipment for manufacturing air filtration systems, snorkels, and several blow-moulded items these kinds of as AdBlue tanks and degassing tanks. They have also ventured into and carried out the manufacturing of plastic gasoline-tanks for commercial vehicles. LCAT have entered the rotational moulding section with devices for manufacturing plastic gas-tanks, fenders, roofs, and mud-guards.
As we entered the premises, we were being welcomed by Vikas Marwah, CEO, and division heads who accompanied him to explain what we would be carrying out these days although answering a few of our inquiries. Immediately after introductions, we were being joined by Pier Antonio Cornaglia, Director, LCAT, on get in touch with the place he defined how the company was formed and the journey planned in the future. Cornaglia was founded in 1916 and they commenced with steel stamping and bit by bit proceeded toward exhaust systems for automobiles. The Torino-centered firm is at this time valued at €340 million (Rs 3,050 crore) and has around 1,500 staff. Of the 3 study and improvement centres, the second biggest a person is in India with Lumax as their partner while their largest is in Torino.
At existing LCAT cater to quite a few shoppers, together with Tata Motors, Škoda Automobile Volkswagen India, Toyota India and Indonesia, Mahindra, Stellantis, and MG Motor India. LCAT is a vital player with their new plant now equipped with a thorough array of plastic moulding technologies, as mentioned previously, that consist of injection moulding, 2D and 3D blow moulding, and rotational moulding (roto-moulding), a uncomplicated but successful technological know-how that permits a variety of customization while making distinctive components in lower volumes.
Initial, we were being taken on a quick tour about their investigation and development facility where by we witnessed air intake methods for cars remaining analyzed. Involving a handful of processes for testing stress, leakage, and durability, to title a couple, we saw how the traditional air duct was unique from the filthy facet air duct developed with porous product. The latter was lighter in weight, more compact in terms of footprint, and produced a toned down sounds although the air was channelled as a result of it, all that will advantage the vehicle’s overall performance. They have also appear up with a instead innovative way of generating an air ingestion module that fits both of those the petrol-and a diesel-run vehicle of a selected producer.
Moving round the spacious manufacturing unit premises, we had been shown all over all the processes, getting to know how injection moulding, blow moulding, and rotational moulding ended up completed and we also acquired to witness to start with-hand how all of these do the job. In layman’s terms, the 3D blow moulding equipment has a very hot piece of plastic blob being dropped by an automatic device into a 3D chamber of specific dimension, which then compresses and blows the blob into the demanded condition, which, in switch after a couple of seconds, offers out a modest item via a conveyor belt. That is the basic system in which air intakes are produced. Afterwards, the surplus material that juts out from the sides is thoroughly examined and cut off for a sleek finish. Multiple quality checks afterwards, the pieces are packed and transported to the authentic products producers (OEM) or companies who need them.
In the output of fuel and urea tanks (AdBlue), LCAT have also come up with a way whereby they merge each the tanks into a person with just a partition in in between. This saves excess weight, house, and involves lesser products for output. It is crucial for these kinds of innovations to come into vogue as they will have a optimistic effects on the automotive sector in all facets, from production to precise use.
Soon after feasting our eyes on these gigantic equipment, we ended up at the finish of the manufacturing line the place air-filters were being currently being made. Slim information of the filter had been being organized in purchase and set into the plastic housing that kinds the perimeter of the filter. The done item was then segregated and set into packing containers which ended up ready to be delivered off to the customers.
In a distinct setting up in the very same facility was the roto-moulding device. It was so huge in sizing that it re-described our notion about machines. Climbing up to the machine’s starter/handle panel took a handful of methods and it appeared like the time travel machine from the movie Avenger’s Endgame. The Reinhardt machine is capable of creating eight gasoline-tanks in 23 minutes, a process that is both equally speedy and facilitates a great deal of customization.
The interesting-seeking rotational moulding equipment
In a brief dialogue with Vikas Marwah, he explained how the complete method for the soiled aspect air duct starting from progress to mass production, with almost everything in involving regarded, took them practically 24 months. We also asked him if the firm only creates reported elements (air intakes) for engines produced in our country or also for engines that have been exported from other international locations. He explained that it depended on what the consumer (OEM) demanded and what they could present to them from their ability. The expense of setting up a roto-moulding machine in India is virtually Rs 10 crore, he stated, adding that only a handful of companies have this established-up.
Pier Antonio Cornaglia, Director, LCAT
Vikas Marwah, CEO, LATL
The Lumax Cornaglia Vehicle Technologies manufacturing facility pay a visit to proved to be insightful and, as the title implies, offered us an edifying glimpse at what goes on at the rear of the shutter.
