Tata Motors' Sanand facility in Gujarat has achieved 100 per cent capacity utilisation, the company announced in a statement. The plant, which was originally built for the production of the Tata Nano small car, has over the years expanded its manufacturing line with the Tata Tiago and Tigor models that have been popular sellers for the company. Tata announced that it has produced over 450,000 units at the Sanand facility since inception, which remains one of the fastest growing facilities for the car maker. With the Indian auto giant working on a new modular platform for its forthcoming vehicle range, Tata will distribute its production requirements between the Pune and Sanand plants in the future. The Sanand factory contributesn 60 per cent to the company's overall passenger vehicle production.
(Tata Tiago)
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Construction of the Sanand facility begun in 2008 after Tata decided to move the Nano's production from West Bengal. Manufacturing started in 2010 at the plant with the Nano, with the company working on WCQ Level 1 quality standards. Over the years, the Sanand plant primarily produced the Nano, followed by the Nano Twist in 2014 and was joined by the Tiago in 2016. The facility achieved WCQ Level 2 quality standards in April 2014.
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While the Nano couldn't rake in the numbers for the automaker, it was the Tiago that made the difference as its popular new small car. Tata produced the 100,000th unit of the Tiago in October 2017, while the Tata Tigor EV was introduced from the plant in December last year. In 2018, the Sanand plant has achieved WCQ Level 3 quality standards, while Tata managed to cross the two lakh production milestone with the Tiago and Tigor in June this year. The plant achieved its highest ever monthly production of 11,055 units in June as well.
(Tata Tigor)
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Spread over 1100 acres, the Sanand plant has played in an important role as part of Tata's Turnaround 2.0 strategy. The facility comes with a flexible assembly line that produces 21 variants and 150 combinations of the Nano, Tiago and Tigor. The plant also produces a host of engines including 1.2-litre Revotron petrol, 1.05-litre Revotorq diesel, 624 cc MPFI petrol, and 1.2-litre NGTC petrol. All engines are produced in manual and automatic transmission options.
The plant also produces the electric derivative of the Tigor are a dedicated shop, which are supplied to EESL, as part of the order. The plant currently uses about 190 robots with high levels of automation in the manufacturing process, while employing about 4500 personnel. The plant has been designed to accommodate additional vehicle production in the future and new models too.
