The six-poster road simulation laboratory of Ashok Leyland has received the 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.
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 conditions, vehicles that are in a non-driveable condition and prototypes. It reduces testing time by a factor of six on existing proving grounds, and vehicles can be tested on different road surfaces like torture tracks and a variety of 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 has had a long tradition of technological leadership, and in recent years investments in R&D; have been on the rise. The R&D; spend for 2007-08 was 2.3 per cent of turnover. The six-poster, along with a host of other very advanced facilities like the component test lab using electro hydraulic actuators, resides at the company’s state-of-the-art Technical Centre situated at Vellivoyalchavadi, on the outskirts of Chennai.
