Ashok Leyland wins nabl accreditation

The Chennai-based Ashok Leyland’s Six-Poster Road Simulation Laboratory has received NABL accreditation for mechanical testing in line with ISO / IEC 17025, an international standard. The accreditation, valid worldwide, acknowledges both Quality Management (covered by the TS 16949 certification) and Technical Competence. NABL, under the Department of Science and Technology, provides third party accreditations to laboratories in various fields.

The six-poster, the only one of its kind in the country, can test multi-axle vehicles of up to 60 tonne Gross Vehicle Weight both in loaded and unladen condition, vehicles that are in a non-driveable condition and prototypes. It reduces testing time by a factor of six on existing proving grounds. Vehicles can be tested on a wide variety of road surfaces like torture tracks and different road profiles like highways, mines and ghat sections.

The six-poster is equipped to replicate all conceivable road surfaces from anywhere in the world. Test conditions can be repeated and the testing process is not dependent on the elements.

Ashok Leyland's investments in R& D have been on the rise in recent years. The R&D spend for 2007-08 was 2.3 percent of turnover. The six-poster along with a host of other very advanced facilities like the Component Test Lab using Electro Hydraulic actuators, is housed at the company’s state-of-the-art Technical Centre situated at Vellivoyalchavadi, near Chennai.