Genesis of the “Automotive Homologation 4.0” Framework for India

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">The term Industry 4.0 is well known in contemporary automotive landscape. It encompasses a smart integrated framework of IIoT (Internet of Things) and industrial automation with machine learning, artificial intelligence and big data analytics to arrive at optimal solutions to running the processes in a streamlined, efficient and effective manner. Industry 4.0 has assumed critical significance in the contemporary era of people working from remote locations to operate processes in order to build products, thereby ensuring business continuity. Consequently, it follows that if industry 4.0 is applied to automotive homologation activity, it will lead to a standardized evaluation, consistent fidelity of testing, accurate judgement of the product under test with regards to its certification, and most importantly, timed delivery to release in the market. The author hereby elucidates a unified Industry 4.0 Framework for Automotive homologation in India which is the need of the hour. This framework consists of five elements. The first is use of IIoT to ensure optimal use and maintenance of the homologation machinery. The next is use of industrial automation to drive the testing in a streamlined manner and make it consistent. Further, machine learning can be deployed to calibrate the learning of the various variables and parameters. Next, artificial intelligence can be deployed to arrive at the best practices of efficient and effective use of the machines. Finally, big data analytics can facilitate insight into the outcome of the test and establish correlation between the output homologation criteria with respect to the test setup parameters. An example is showcased for expounding this methodology in the context of Indian Homologation scenario. The example showcases the tremendous benefits that can be reaped by this framework in terms of efficient machine utilization, empowering and enriching operator knowledge, making the processes streamlined and productive and lending high confidence to the product certification activity, thus holistically overhauling the entire homologation program in a revolutionary manner, much to the benefit of all stakeholders involved therein.</div></div>