Ola to use Siemens’ software to build highly robotised e-scooter plant in Tamil Nadu

Ola is to deploy Siemens’ Digital Enterprise software to construct its electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu. The announcement comes almost a month after Ola signed a MoU with the government of Tamil Nadu to invest nearly Rs 2,400 crore towards building its first facility in the state.

The factory will generate almost 10,000 jobs and with an initial capacity of 2 million units a year, it will be the largest scooter manufacturing facility in the world. It will serve as Ola’s global manufacturing hub catering to its customers in India as well as key markets across Europe, UK, Latin America and ANZ.

Ola says its factory will be built on Industry 4.0 principles and will be the most advanced manufacturing facility in the country. It will have almost 5,000 robots deployed across various functions. Ola will have access to Siemens’ integrated Digital Twin design and manufacturing solutions to digitalise and validate product and production ahead of actual operations.

The factory will be AI-Powered with Ola’s proprietary AI engine and tech stack deeply integrated into every aspect of the manufacturing process, continuously self-learning and optimising every aspect of the manufacturing process. This will provide unprecedented control, automation and quality to the entire operations, especially with Ola’s implementation of cyber-physical and advanced IoE systems.

The entire material handling at Ola’s factory will be fully automated for maximum efficiency, right from raw materials, to materials movement inside the factory, to storage, to the finished scooter rolling off the production lines and being loaded onto trucks.

According to Ola, “These advanced technology systems will seamlessly blend with Ola’s workforce to provide the perfect synergy of humans and machines working in tandem to build the most efficient production system and deliver the highest quality products.”

Bhavish Aggarwal, chairman and Group CEO, Ola, said, ‘‘Ola is delighted to partner with Siemens to build the most advanced manufacturing facility in the country. This will be our global hub and will set a benchmark in quality, scale and efficiency, demonstrating India’s capability to build world class cutting edge products. We look forward to bringing this factory online in the coming months and putting our products in the hands of customers.”

Sunil Mathur, MD and CEO, Siemens India, said, “Siemens is a global leader in Industry 4.0 and we are proud to contribute to Ola’s vision of creating a factory of the future using our automation and digitalization expertise to ensuring the highest levels of productivity and quality while enabling an agile and flexible production process.”