Able Design Engineering Services Pvt. Ltd. is India’s leading independent bus and coach design engineering company. It started operations in 2004 (in the UK) and currently has more than 50 employees. The company, which has its campus at Aryabhatta Tech Park, Navanagar, eight 8 km from the city of Hubballi in Karnataka, deals with bus and coach body, cabin engineering, comfort (NVH), safety engineering design solutions, reverse engineering solutions, industrial design, and product design, development and engineering. It also has expertise in CAD, CAM and CAE solutions.
Able Design helps OEMs and suppliers in the global automotive industry to accelerate product development cycle, enhance cost-effectiveness, and utilise resources optimally. It is the only dedicated and leading bus design house in India and is a centre of excellence for bus body and cabin engineering and also safety and comfort engineering.
Able provides end-to-end solutions related to ideation, design engineering, 3d solid and assembly modeling, design validation by means of hand calculations and FEA, drafting and detailing, prototyping, testing and certification of bus, coach, ambulance, truck cabin, load bodies, etc. It has the capability to design and develop single decker, double-decker, monocoque and integral coach, hybrid and electric buses and also provides value-added services like plant layout design, consultancy on joint ventures and market survey.
Able Design has quality maintenance as its first priority while making sure that processes and documentation are in place, and check lists and best practices towards modelling, and drafting are an integral part of quality maintenance.
Mr. Jagadish Hiremath, who has been associated with the bus industry since 2000, is the current Managing Director at Able Design. His first engagement was with Plaxton of the UK, following which he moved to Transbus International, which is now called Alexander Dennis, UK. He successfully executed projects there involving FRP components design, structural design and engineering, closures, exterior panelling for single-decker, double-decker and hybrid buses.
Realizing the potential of the mass transport segment in India, Mr. Hiremath moved back to India and set up Able Design Engineering Services Pvt. Ltd., Centre of excellence for Body and Cabin Engineering and Safety and Comfort Engineering at Hubballi in 2005. In just a decade, Able Design has carved a niche in the country’s bus Industry, establishing itself as a leading design house for OEMs and bus body builders.
In an exclusive interview to MOTORINDIA, Mr. Hiremath says: “I had a tough time for the first 5 years, as I went around meeting all bus body builders and creating awareness about technology, benefits of design, engineering, standardization, safety, comfort, certification, etc. However, the situation is a lot different now, with the Indian bus industry graduating to the next level, embracing technology and its benefits.”
Able Design has its 50-member staff at the office, for which land has been allocated by the local government. Mr. Hiremath has plans to convert this facility into a world-class centre for bus body and cabin engineering with all necessary infrastructure in the coming years.
Today, Able Design is working for customers across India, from Punjab to Tamil Nadu and from Gujarat to Assam, and has successfully completed more than 20 projects, with more than 11 projects in hand.
Able Design is a solution partner for Siemens Industry Software Pvt. Ltd., for sales and aftersales support of CAD, CAM and CAE Software like Solid edge, Fe Map, Nx Nastran, Nx Cam, Team Centre, etc. Solid Edge is leading CAD software used by bus body builders worldwide.
Approach procedure and scope distribution
Able Design works closely with designers and engineers in offering technical and consultative services. Cross function teams with appropriate skill sets and tools are being integrated quickly and seamlessly with the client’s design and development teams.
The company engineers and designers have been part of the global automotive industry, including commercial vehicle, utility vehicle, leisure vehicle and offroad vehicle industry. The company’s approach procedure includes enquiry, study of input, escalation of solutions as a team, presentation to client, customer feedback and arriving at a final solution. Its scope distribution includes bus chassis, layout, aggregates, mountings, frames, suspension system, FEA, assembly of brought out parts, optimization and homologation. The scope also includes bus and coach industrial design, ultra and semi-low floor design, structure – floor, LHS, RHS, Roof, etc., Panels – interior, exterior, FRP, NVH, FEA – ROPS / FOPS, prototyping and testing.
Able Design has a talented team of engineers focussed on providing bus, coach and cabin engineering solutions in the means of basic lay-outs to incorporate the aggregates, frame and structural solutions, valid and justified aggregates mountings, interior and exterior aesthetics of bus and coach, front and rear fascia, ergonomics and safety engineering, ROPS and FOPS testing assistance, and assistance in testing as per ARAI / CIRT / CAT approval.
Bus body certification
Able Design plays an important role in creating awareness about Bus Code AIS 052, by facilitating companies to successfully implement the Bus Code, acting as a bridge between the certifying agencies like CIRT / ARAI and body builders.
The company verifies the Bus Code AIS 052 implementation to Type I (City Buses), Type II (Intercity Buses), Type III (Luxury Buses), Type IV (School Buses) under the Bus Code AIS 063) which lays down the special requirements for school buses over and above those laid for buses in “AIS : 052 – Code of practice for Bus Body Design and Approval”.
In order to analyze the bus structure for assessing the occupant’s safety as per the regulatory practices of AIS – 031 / D4, the company carries out Pendulum Impact Analysis and Roll-over Analysis. The primary objective of the Pendulum Impact Analysis simulation is to study the pendulum impact of the bus structure under an impact with energy of 30 KJ (Kilo Joule). The overall aim here is to create general awareness and thereby acquire knowledge to minimize the incidence and the resulting cost of injuries caused in bus and coach accidents.
Roll-over analysis deals with the analysis of the bus structure to simulate a roll-over event. Ideally no structural member shall intrude into the survival space defined as per the regulation. The members shall absorb sufficient energy during a roll-over event so as to protect the passengers. Hence, the roll-over study is carried out to check if any member of the bus structure is intruding into the defined survival space.
Both the Pendulum Impact Analysis and Roll-over Analysis are important utilities used by Able Design to verify and analyze the bus structure prior to bus body certification approval by ARAI / CIRT / CAT.
Contribution to transport sector
Able Design has a major contribution to the Indian transport sector, which includes design engineering services for bus body builders, creating awareness about the AIS 052 Bus Code, facilitating companies to successfully implement the Bus Code, acting as a bridge between the certifying agency and the body builders.
The company also facilitates introduction of new designs and concepts for driver’s cabin for excavators, facilitating other companies for ROPS / FOPS certification. It also provides patented design and development of foldable load body cover.
The design firm forecasts a bright future for the Indian transport sector by reaching out to more bus body builders and facilitating in speedy implementation of the Bus Code. It also plans to facilitate goods transportation or truck code implementation to truck / load body manufacturers as and when it is implemented.
Able Design plans to innovate, design and develop products that meet the challenges in the Indian transport industry, like innovative way of designing buses that run on crowded city roads and market places, reliable emergency doors, etc.
The company has futuristic plans to extend safety and comfort engineering domain expertise to rail, waterways and other mode of mass transport segments.
“There is huge potential and plenty of opportunities for innovation, design and engineering. We believe there is a lot to be learnt from Europe where the governments and companies have pioneered many innovations and ideas in mass transportation, and localizing those innovations for India can also facilitate speedy implementation of efficient and safe transport of passengers and goods in the country”, adds Mr. Hiremath.
He felt encouraged to note that most of the bus body builders in India have whole-heartedly welcomed the Bus Code and have proactively worked in successfully implementing the same. “Indian bus body builders are successfully marching ahead in terms of design, standardization, safety and comfort, which will eventually lead them to be globally competitive”, signs off the MD.