Tata Cummins: Ushering in a New Emission Standard

Description

Tata Cummins Limited (TCL), a leading manufacturer of diesel engines in India, faced a variety of challenges in meeting the October 2010 deadline for new automobile emissions standards. These standards are identified as Bharat Stage (BS) standards ranging from BS I to BS V. The subject of this case — the BS III standard — was introduced in 2005 for just 11 cities across India and then made mandatory for the entire country by October of 2010. At that time, the BS IV standard had already been implemented in a few large cities and it was this standard that was expected to exist nationwide by 2017. Reflecting on their successful experience with the transition to the 2010 automobile emissions standards, the vice-president of TCL hoped to make this next transition a smooth one by identifying the issues that the company would face in the near future.

Learning Objective

The case can be used at the end of an operations management course or an operations strategy course and works well as an in-class group exercise followed by a facilitated class discussion.The case analysis provides: ·An understanding of the complexities involved in the implementation of emission standards in diesel engines. ·The key issues to be considered while implementing a new standard. ·The importance of factoring in the role of standards in the formulation of an operations strategy. ·The stakeholders involved in the entire standard-setting process.

Keywords

Bharat Stage Emission standards engine manufacture India