MUMBAI: One recent afternoon at Ford Motor Co’s plant in Sanand, Gujarat, a team of workers gathered around a bunch of vehicles assembled as soldiers would for a military parade. They worked with monk-like concentration, taking care to fill the tiniest of gaps while fixing door panels to fenders.They were quick too, completing the welding of an entire car in just 84 seconds. But for all the thuds and clanks they made, they were not sweating, they were not covered with grease and soot, nor were their arms dappled with burns — the signature signs of workers at automobile plants.That’s because the team at work at the Sanand plant were not human. They were robots . The Ford Sanand plant actually has 453 robots in the shop floor, with up to 90 per cent of the work automated.Robots have begun to take over an array of functions from humans at car plants in India . Volkswagen India has 123 robots at its Pune plant while Hyundai Motor India, the subsidiary of the Korean carmaker, has 400 robots at its factory in Chennai. The entire body shop, most of the paint shop and parts of the final assembly line in these plants are now automated.Robots are performing functions ranging from welding to foundry operations to laser applications.Indian automobile makers pale in comparison, but companies such as Maruti Suzuki , Royal Enfield, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors have increased the levels of automation in its newer plants, especially in the body shop.In many ways, the rise of the robots in automobile manufacturing was inevitable.As cars become more sophisticated, manufacturing is becoming more complex. The quality and safety standards too have turned more stringent. Consumers have become far more discerning, conscious about safety, demanding on features, but unwilling to compromise on prices.“The challenge that manufacturers face is to provide competitively priced products that are universal in terms of safety and quality, yet suitably differentiated to meet the needs of consumers specific to a region,” says Stephen Sudhakar, vicepresident – HR & GS, Hyundai Motor India.To keep up, automakers had no choice but go for automation. “Sharp styling, and usage of new materials for crash and safety requirements are fuelling the demand for automation,” says Anil Sinha, vice-president, manufacturing operations, passenger vehicle business unit, Tata Motors.Some of the functions simply can’t be performed by humans. The body materials of cars are getting lighter by the day, which means operations like welding require greater precision to improve the stability of the car at high speeds. In the case of a car body shell, welding at certain points is extremely difficult for humans to reach into.“It is humanly not possible to be accurate in this in-line measurement process,” says Heinz Etzmuss, head of manufacturing, engineering and planning, VW India. The solution is to turn to robot arms, which mounted on high resolution cameras, take pictures at various angles and complete the task.There is also the matter of safety. Functions like roof laser welding are hazardous for humans. Robots also help carmakers to reduce wastage and save costs. “In the sealant application area, only the right amount of material gets used because of automation. We saw a 50 per cent reduction in material consumption when we replaced the underbody sealer application from human labour to automation,” says Etzmuss of VW India.Recently, Hyundai India automated functions such as sealer applications, oil application, pre-paint cleaning operations and loading of body panels. A programmed robot ensures a spanking clean car through accuracy and repeatability. By getting rid of humans in paint areas, the plant saves money by reducing the need for climate and air current control.“Automation is directly related to quality and cost as robots ensure uniform application of sealant and oil, thus reducing avoidable wastage, resulting in direct cost saving of 10-20 per cent,” says Sudhakar of Hyundai. Robots also don’t suffer from monotony of the job, he says.Companies like Tata Motors are embracing automation because of ergonomic challenges. The company employs seven spot welding robots at its framing stations in the Pune and Sanand plants, which ensure stability, repeatability and safety, according to Sinha. The company plans to extend automation — the low-cost variety — to other critical production functions, he says.Robots also bring scale to manufacturing facilities, a necessity with automobile companies in India also catering to a number of overseas markets. Ford, Volkswagen, Hyundai as well as Nissan India also export vehicles to countries in Asia as well as Africa and some parts of Europe. With scale comes the requirement to run at faster line speeds, says Kel Kearns, manager of Ford India’s plant in Sanand.Indeed, producing different variants for different markets at the same time with limited production runs is hard. “Carmakers are under pressure to cut the time for product life cycles and the same time ensure quality, reliability and productivity,” says Abdul Majeed, partner, Price Waterhouse.Even so, robots are yet to fully take over manufacturing at automobile factories. In assembly, where a finish team fills a vehicle with a combination of parts and features, few areas are automated. “The assembly shop is largely manual, with automation accounting for only 10 per cent of the total operations because jobs involving quality checks and visual inspection are best performed by people,” says Sudhakar of Hyundai.Kearns of Ford says human interface is reliable, adaptive and adds the element of craftsmanship to any finished product. Even if plants are robotised, companies will still need to increase technical skills of people, he says.That could explain why the share of robots in the total workforce in Indian automobile factories is still minuscule (see Machine Vs Man).Another reason is that carmakers are also wary of opposition from trade unions. Workers are certain to view robots in car plants as a threat to their jobs, though companies seemed to have allayed any such fears so far.“In India, unions are not yet really aware about the rapid automation happening in the automotive industry ,” says Majeed of PwC. That could change once the automation level picks up, he says.Still, despite the many benefits, companies will not be in a hurry to replace labour simply because robots are costly. A robot does the work of three technical workers, but it typically costs between $3,00,000 and $4,00,000.In other words, automation is 10 times more expensive than manual labour, according to Kearns.“Besides low labour costs in India, the maintenance of robots requires highly skilled workforce which adds to the costs,” says Etzmuss.Rakesh Batra, partner, E&Y, says car plants in India will continue to be big employers even if they ramp up automation. “You cannot do away with manual labour in India.”In this aspect, India is radically different from other automobile markets. Globally, plants become more and more automated because of high labour costs. That doesn’t mean automation in Indian car factories will be snailike. Globally, automobile companies have considerably increased investments in industrial robots.About 98,900 new robots, 43 per cent more than in 2013, were installed in 2014. Between 2010 and 2014, robot sales to the automotive industry increased by 27 per cent on average per year.Carmakers in India will be tempted by this growing trend, but in the context of the realities of the Indian market , they would simultaneously upgrade the skills and competencies of its human workers along with automation.