Industry Visit to Madras Engineering Industries

- Anubhav Chauhan, DM262013, PGDM 24-26

1. Key processes or operations observed during the visit:

- Our visit was to the MEI which is one of the biggest industrial plants in the
southern region especially pertaining to the manufacturing, assembly and testing
of the automotive parts – especially the Manual, Automatic and Self Adjusted
Slack Adjustors.
- We were given an informative PPT about the operations, roles and
responsibilities carried about by the MEI; the different kinds of R&D operations,
their clients, their different plants and the trial processes they go through.
- We were given a tour through 3 levels in the plant by a guided staff who gave
detailed explanations regarding the Input/Output machines, their assembly,
manufacture and the build and a lot of the rigorous testing they do to ensure the
best quality of the product.

2. New knowledge or skills gained from the visit:

- Being a CS engineer, I had never been exposed to the automobile and the
manufacturing industry. This was my first exposure to the field and an opportunity
to converse directly with the supervisors and the workers who actually work on
the ground.
- I learnt what all different requirements there are for different vehicles – cars, 2
wheelers, trucks etc. and what kinds of parts are required to be made for them.
- Exposure to their R&D department and state of the art rigorous testing.

3. Visit enhancing the knowledge of the industry:

- I got to know about the requirements of the different companies such as Tata
Motors Limited, Ashok Leyland, Mahindra & Mahindra Group, etc – what all
parts they require and in what volume and how different companies collaborate
with the manufactures, suppliers and the distributors.
- Opportunity to know more about the sourcing, automation and the actual
manufacturing process through various different stages of the supply chain .
- Different kinds of patents, the R&D process and the stress testing that industries
carry out to ensure the highest of standards for the very sensitive parts that operate
in these vehicles.
4. Summary of the visit and key takeaways:
Firstly, I would like to thank my institute GLIM and MEI for allowing us to travel
as a group and observe the industry plant. It helped us in multiple ways – from
bonding as a collective group to being informed about some truly valuable
insights about the automobile industry. We were able to talk the people who
actually carry out the process day in, day out over a long session and appreciate
the expertise, technicalities and the nitty-gritty stuff that goes into creating a
fantastic product for some of the biggest names in the automobile industry.