Delphi’s India tech centre practices frugal engineering

April 17: Global component major Delphi’s Technical Centre India (TCI)’s focus on frugal engineering has paid dividends in the form of a low-cost common rail system. The system that has seen 100 percent in-house development includes an ECU that is imported from Delphi’s plant in Singapore. Speaking to Autocar Professional, G Nambi Ganesh, director, TCI, is quick to add that Delphi can produce even the ECU in India, making this a truly indigenous system, if only there were enough volumes. As of now, Mahindra & Mahindra uses the system in its Bolero.

Delphi’s electronics facility in Chennai can manufacture the ECUs, “but volumes aren’t enough to warrant a need to invest domestically,” Ganesh says.

The brain behind the low-cost system is the Delphi’s TCI in Bangalore. “Everything is miniaturised,” says Ganesh. “The ECU we use for this is around half the cost and size of the ECU we use for the common-rail system,” he adds. The low-cost unit has been specially designed for emerging markets like India and China. The engineering work, software system development and validation were taken care of by TCI.

“Only the ECU comes from our plant in Singapore,” Ganesh adds. With around 80 percent of the work for the low-cost pump done domestically, “there isn’t much the bright minds here can’t do,” Ganesh signs off confidently.

KARTHIK H