1. Volvo Buses- Pioneers of quality and sustainability:
An Internship Report
Author: Aaditya Wahi
Mentor: Dr. V Nagaraj
Semester: 3
Date: 5th August 2016
Word count: 2500

2. Certificate of appreciation:
This is to show that Aaditya Wahi of Queen’s University Belfast has
completed a term of internship from Volvo India Pvt Ltd-Buses
Division.
This internship was completed under the Guidance of Dr V Nagaraj
with the assistance of Mr Prabhakar N.
____________ ____________ _____________
PrabhakarN Dr. V Nagaraj Steve Mathias
UD BusDivision UD BusDivision Human resources

3. Acknowledgement:
Firstly, I would like to Acknowledge Mr Akash Passey, Senior Vice President,
Business region International, Volvo Buses, for recommendation of work in this
branch. I would like to mention and thank Dr. V Nagaraj of UD Buses to guide
me during the process ofthe internship. A special mention to Mr Prabhakar N
for giving immense insight on the working of the machinery and the
significance of industrial ethics. I would also be obliged to acknowledge Mr
Steve Mathias for helping me out with certain formalities. I would like to
acknowledge Mr Mahendran for helping me by giving a lot of information on
the working of the engines in the buses. Another acknowledgement I would like
to make are Mr Arif and Mr Hari Babu for helping me understand how the
buses are used, the functionality of its parts and how the drivers of Volvo buses
are trained.

4. Introduction:
For a relatively moderate-sized company, Volvo has made substantial progress
in design and manufacturing technology. In some areas, it is at par with some
Japanese companies and ahead of some European and American rivals.
Established in Sweden in 1927, Volvo has today becomea truly global
company, with operations in over 20 countries, and nearly 90 per cent of its
revenue coming from international operations. Volvo India Private Limited was
established in 1998 as a fully-owned subsidiary of Volvo, Sweden. The
assembly and bodymanufacturing plant is located at Hoskote near Bangalore.
The first bus model launched was B7R in 2001. The unit has come leaps and
bounds ahead as they launched a new model called B7R low entry in 2009
which is a great success.
Volvo is well aware of the fact that design is a process just like typical
manufacturing processes. Like manufacturing processes, the design processes
must be studied, rearranged, analysed for their pacing operations and required
information, and redesigned for greater efficiency and higher quality output.

5. About the buses:
The buses are available in four different models which are B7R, B7RLE, B9R
and B11R. The models B7R, B9R and B11R are made for intercity travel
whereas the B7RLE is mainly used for city travel. These buses are economical,
environment friendly and have various other features. The buses comes with a
strong bodyframe and anti-corrosion treatment to withstand tough operational
conditions and offer higher durability. Its unique true bus chassis design makes
long distance travel much more comfortable. The all new driver controls
environment makes it driver-friendly for stress-free, long journeys. They come
with ergonomic seats that provide good comfort.
Volvo buses are fitted with an air suspensionwith two air bellows in the front
and four air-bellows in the rear. The system efficiently irons out irregularities of
the road and offers a high degree of ride comfort. Powerful headlights and high-
set brake lamps further reduce the risk of accidents.
The Volvo buses meet the EU’s Bus and CoachDirective, and the
Indian Superstructure Strength Directive requirements, which means the vehicle
has to withstand a rollover without the roof collapsing. The interior is soft and
free from protruding parts or sharp edges.
The Volvo buses are designed to be maintenance-friendly. Long oil change
intervals and maintenance-free prop shaft joints, half-shafts and rear wheel
bearings make for short and less frequent workshop visits. In addition, Volvo’s
multiplex electronics system functions as a preventive maintenance tool via the
diagnostic system. The electronics controlengine speed and power as required.
Volvo buses are not only the industry’s most reliable chassis but also one of the
market’s most fuel-efficient drivelines. This is the foundation for efficient,
economical transport as both operating costs and emissions are low. This is
what is meant when the phrase green efficiency is used. With Volvo the
customer can be green and efficient at the same time.

6. The Hoskote Plant:
The productionplant can be classified into 3 major manufacturing lines and 20
different work centres. They are as follows:
1) Component line which includes the Integrated chassis,
2) Chassis assemblywhich includes Panelling and finishing, Interior and
exterior assembly, Final assembly
3) Finishing line including paint shop, Wheel alignment, PDI- Pre Delivery
Inspection, Audit Bay, Shower testing, Quality Assurance (Green OK). A
storage unit and a protoshop is also available to test newer and more
advanced models of buses.

7. Component Line:
Materials such as sheet metal and tubes made of galvanised iron are used. They
are received from the supplier in different dimensions and stored.
Manufacturing processesare then performed on these metals to get the desired
shape and size of the component.
The manufacturing processes are as follows:
Tube buffing: The removal of rust from the GI tubes. Toolused is Dynabrade.
Tube cutting: Cutting at different angles laterally. Toolused is Behringer
GMBH.
Tube bending: This involves the bending of the tubes by applying pressure on
the tube either in a two dimensional form or three dimensional form. Tools used
are 2-d: CNC profile bending machine; and
3-d: Fly press.
Sheet shearing: The process ofcutting sheets along the vertical axis. Tools used
is the sheet shearing machine (Hindustan Hydraulics).
Drilling: The drill is used to bore holes into the tubes of standard depth. The
diameter of the holes can be changed. The tool used is a horizontal industrial
drill.
 Note that the above processes are manually operated.
Sheet bending: In this process sheet metal is bent about the thickness axis to
whichever required angle. This process is computerised.

8. Integrated Chassis:
The processedtubes and sheets are further work on to produceparts of the
chassis. The main process used to do so is MIG Welding. Metallic Inert Gas
welding (or MIG welding) is a process ofwelding using a mixture of Argon
gas, phosphorus and CarbonDioxide in the ratio of 3:1:16. A coil of soft iron
wire which is coated with copperis burnt and recast to form the welding film
material. Note that other forms of welding are not used as this process is
performed using inexpensive coil and is relatively easy to learn and operate.
The rear fitment and front fitment of the buses are welded together using sheet
metal and the tubes. The left side and right side structures of the buses are
welded using the tubes to form a jointed structure.

9. Chassis Assembly:
This part of the plant comprises of work centres numbered from 1 to 5. This
covers the following processes:
 Brackets attachment
 Valves attachment
 Tank assembly
 Compressorpipe assembly
 Pneumatic routing
 Front axle assembly
 Front tyre fitment
 Rear axle assembly
 Rear tyre fitment
 Engine docking
 Radiator assembly
 Cabin floor prep and welding
 Cross member alignment
 Rear protection beam welding
 Engine service lamp bracket welding
 Earthing bolt welding
 Chassis cross member trimming by plasma cutting
 A/C CompressorBracket Assembly and Welding
 Passenger foot step
 Gap filling by sealant
 Absorberbracket and front impact tube welding assembly
 Sealant application
 Side wall assembly by welding

10. Structure Painting:
 Pneumatic dustcleaning
 Oil cleaning
 Sanding
 Buffing
 Cleaning
 Luggage area- Silver
 Front and rear- Black
Panelling and fitment:
 Roofpanel preparation and primer application
 RoofLeft and Right hand side panel assembly
 Roofcentral panel assembly
 Roofpanel transfer
 Masking and sealant finishing of centre panel
 Side roof panel clamping and riveting
 Fuel tank installation and connection
 Electrical and pneumatic connection
 Left hand side panel assembly
 Right hand side panel assembly
 Mineral wool fitment
 Thermocol fitment
 Air intake hose fitment
 Roll forming
 Engine start
 Inverter cable laying and termination fuse harness
 Pneumatic system leak test
 Coolant oil fill
 Hooter wiring harness routing

11. Interior and exterior assembly:
WC- 8 and 9
 Fuse harness and main harness laying
 Front FRP (Fibre reinforced plastic) bonding and clamping
 Rear and front FRP setting and trimming
 Plywood setting
 Front bumper preparation
 Bumper fitment
 Rear bumper protection
 Aluminium finisher bonding
 Butyl tape application
 Driver cabin plywood fitment
 Partition wall plywood fitment
 Footstep, luggage area, tool box, saloon, gangway and rear bench
plywood fitment
 Rear engine hatch doorfitment
WC- 10:
 Bottom seat rail fitment
 Fuel tank covers fitment
 Primer application for Bitutex
 Bitutex application of one coat
 Engine mesh fitment
 Step beading in luggage
 Roofharness laying
 Rear view mirror wire harness laying and connections with hole making
 Wiper assembly installation
 Middle TV cable rooting

12. WC-11:
 Mobile charger wiring
 Dash board preparation and fitment
 Flap doorlock fitment and setting
 Flap dooralignment with rubber setting
 Bitutex application of two coats
 Glass fitting of left hand side and right hand side
 Roofhatch cut out and A/C cut outs
 Flap doors cable drilling
 Flap doors cable routing
 Engine service light and rear buzzer
WC-12, 13 and 14:
 Roofhatch fitment
 Document box door
 DVD player fixing and termination
 Door pneumatic installation
 Temperature sensorconnection
 Electric horn fitment
 Door top finisher fitment
 Inside sealant finishing
 Spare wheel bracket fitment
 Battery boxbus bar and doorfuse fitment
 Fog lamp harness rework
 Telematics controlbox unit fitment, GPS antenna wire routing and
telematics harness preparation
 Rear view mirror cable connection

13.  Emergency doormicro switch fitment and connection
 Amplifier fitment
 Door switch fitment
 Centre TV fitment
 Rear view camera and monitor fitment
 Box type speakers
Final Assembly:
WC- 15, 16 and 17
 Hand brake plate fitment
 Curtain holder fitment
 Rear glass curtain rail
 ECB tray fitment
 VIN plate fitment
 Saloon mirror
 Driver seat belt fitment
 All LED board fitments
 First aid kit fitment
 Fire extinguishers fitment
 Microphone fitment
 Rear gangway seat fitment
 A/C duct pad fitment
 Handle for 2nd and 3rd seat
 Sun visor fitment
 Middle and front camera fitment
 Rear 5 seats fitment

14. Paint shop:
WC 18 and 19:
The following is the process used here:
 Solvent wipe: Dupont 3608S
 Sanding with P180/220
 Solvent wipe: Dupont 3608S
 Masking and cleaning
 Putty 779R application, 1-3% with 762R hardener
 Drying 20-30 minutes
 Sanding with P80/180/320 on putty area
 Cleaning with 3920S
 Application of two coats with flash of 8-10 minutes P7 primer. Mix ratio
is 3:1:3.5. Total primer film thickness 40-60 microns
 Flash off 15-20 minutes
 Apply one dry coat, Imron 9100 topcoatmix 5:1:15%:5%. Film thickness
is 15 to 20 microns
 Flash off 5 minutes
 Apply one medium wet coat, Imron 9100 topcoatmix 5:1:15%:5%. Film
thickness is 30 to 40 microns
 Air dry for 8 hours or bake at 60 degrees for 30 minutes

15. Finishing line:
WC-20:
 Hooter fitment
 Flap doorlock and cover finisher
 Mud flap rubber fitment
 Front bumper reflector
 Number plate fitment
 Hatrack guard rail
 Rear dickey handle
 Tail lamps fitment
 Spare wheel mounting
 Electrical inspection
 Driver doorbottle holder
Wheelalignment:
Wheel alignment is a process that is done for each bus or individual chassis
after the vehicle has been completed in the finishing line. It ensures that certain
parameters for the wheels of the vehicle remain within the specified range for
optimal performance of the bus.
Wheel alignment is done to protect tires and suspension components from
wearing out unevenly or prematurely. In addition it also helps improving the
efficiency of the bus during operation.
In addition to fuel efficiency, braking distance and ride quality are also affected
by wheel alignment.

16. GreenOK:
In this part of the plant an inspection takes place where the bus is taken under
observation for errors that could be made while assembling the bus. If any part
of the bus is below the set standard, it is replaced or fixed. This is an essential
procedureundertaken to provide excellent quality of products to the customers.
ShowerTesting:
In this part of the plant the buses are tested if they are leakage proof. Liquids are
sprayed at the buses and if there is a leakage it is sent back to the line to get it
fixed.
Storage Unit:
There are areas that have been suitably designed to store the parts used in the
assembly of the Volvo buses. A primary storage unit is installed in the between
the finishing line and the chassis assembly.
The 5S methodology:
5S is the name of a workplace organisation method that uses a list of five
Japanese words: Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu and Shitsuke. The list describes
how to organise a workplace for efficiency and effectiveness by identifying and
storing the items used, maintaining the area and items and sustaining the new
order. The decision making process usually comes from a dialogue about
standardisation, which builds understanding among employees on how they
should do the work. This methodology was used throughout the assembly plant.

17. Bus working tutorial:
I undertook a short term tutorial coursein the working of buses. I was taught
about electronic architecture in buses.
Electronic architecture:
 EECU- Engine Electronic Controlunit
 TECU- Transmission Electronic Control unit
 EBS- Electronic brake system
 IECU- Instrument Electronic Control unit
 VECU- Vehicle Electronic Control unit
 ECS- Electronic controlled suspension
 LCM- Light control module
 RECU- Retarder Electronic Control unit
 BBM- Body builder module
 GECU- Gear Electronic Control unit
Transfer Links:
 J1989- Fastline and controllink
 J1708- Slow link, information link and diagnostic link
Learning:
There were many areas where I was exposed to new technology and machines
that were used at the plant. I used theoretical knowledge in a very practical
form. Also a lot of new concepts were learnt such as 5S methodology and The
Kaizen methodology. Getting first-hand knowledge and experience in the
industry gave me immense exposure to the professional workings of a company.

18. Conclusion:
If a customer chooses a Volvo, then they’ve got themselves a secure deal. Not
just becausethe bus itself meets high standards concerning quality and
availability, but because the customer also gains access to a comprehensive
network of service workshops, an efficient system for parts supply, round-the
clock assistance, financing, driver training and much more. Volvo Buses offers
not just vehicles but also a range of facilities within servicing and financing that
allow the customer to tailor a transport solution that is perfectly suited to their
operation. The aim is to give the customer higher vehicle uptime, putting the
customer in full controlof their total costs and generate greater security in their
operation. The range of services offered may vary between different markets.