Chennai is India’s automobile capital. Royal Enfield, Daimler (Mercedes-Benz and Bharat Benz), Stellantis, and Schwing Stetter manufacture here. FANUC brings Japanese precision robotics. IIT Madras Research Park incubates startups at the intersection of AI and manufacturing. CII convenes 20+ leaders from Renault Nissan, TVS, Bosch, MG Motors, TCS, Aptiv, Electra EV, and Lucas TVS.
For Parul University engineering students, visiting all 10 institutions meant seeing the complete chain: from the robot that assembles a car to the CEO who decides what the car should mean.
The tour operates within Parul University’s Practical Learning Tour programme (146 tours, 19 cities, 280 companies). NAAC A++ (CGPA 3.55). 250+ technology labs. 2,200+ recruiters.
Automobile Manufacturing and Leadership
Royal Enfield (B. Govindarajan, CEO)
Royal Enfield was meant for wars. When the CEO joined, the company was struggling. He and his team built something different from what others were doing: they wanted to stand out. He came from an underprivileged background and worked at various organisations before Royal Enfield. His frameworks: choose one field and excel in it, go to the market to understand customers, build community, never fake anything.
“We have nothing to lose and everything to gain in the world. If I look in the same direction as everyone else, I will not be doing anything different.”
Daimler Mercedes-Benz (Abhinav Srivastava, CIO)
The mindset at Mercedes: best or nothing. The minus-1 plus-5 meeting: discuss what was done yesterday and what comes next. People with AI can replace people without AI, but AI cannot replace people.
“Success builds ego but failure builds character. Failure teaches like no one else. Please deliberately fail once in your life.”
Schwing Stetter (Sunil Dixit, President Operations + team)
Concrete construction equipment manufacturing. Products: boom pump, NGMS, TSR, concrete pump, mixture truck, batching plant. The full journey from storage to fabricated product: shot blast engine, plasma cutting (fed through programming), rolling, press brake, coaster rolling, drilling. Subassembly and main assembly. Students walked the shop floor and assembly plant.
“We make what the countries demand. Countries demand what we make. If we take from society, we have to return back to society.”
Robotics and Technology
FANUC (Anandam and Abhishek)
FANUC has been doing AI for 10 to 15 years before it came into recognition. Highest rate of robotics globally. SCARA Robot for selective, complex, and precise tasks. CRX collaborative robot operated by students. Difference between robots and cobots. FANUC AI analyses data, checks errors, backflow, and optimises. Head here to know how you can grow your career after 12th by choosing globally-revered Robotics & Engineering Courses of Parul University. Be industry-ready before you grab your degree.
“Why have robots been imposed on our automation process? To improve cycle time, safety, and precision. Robots work 365 days.”
IIT Madras Research Park (Rajagopal Subramaniam, CTO IITMRP)
Startup incubation ecosystem. Solinas: robotics and digitisation of assets, a pothole-cleaning robot trained on AI. Centre of Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing Technology. Machine tools: VNG Muray, Cosmos, Pidle Unit, manufactured across India supporting Atma Nirbhar Bharat. Fully automated machines for precision and efficiency. Kite platform for podcasts, hackathons, internships. Masters and PhD students working on R and D.
“Research Centre is that one place where people with different thinking come together and bring innovation. Develop technology rather than take it from others.”
Industry and Innovation
CII International Auto Tech Conference (20+ Speakers)
Speakers included Debashis Neogi (Former MD, Renault Nissan Technology India), Natarajan Srinivasan (President, TVS Mobility), Rajeev Kumar BR (VP Mobility, Bosch), Rakesh Kher (CEO Aftermarket, Uno Minda), P Ravichandran (President, Danfoss), Arun Sampath (TCS, SDV and eVTOL), Vikash Chaudhary (CEO, Hackers Era), and leaders from Tessolve, Aptiv, Electra EV, and Lucas TVS.
“Electrification is not good to have, it is a must have. India is in the right position to lead this transformation globally.”
Stellantis (Murli B Subramaniam, Regional Head Technology)
The gap between university education and industry expectations. RASIK chart. Customer-centric project development. Communication skills and psychology. Atma Nirbhar Bharat starts with Atma Vishwas then transforms to Atma Shakti. APJ Abdul Kalam< FAIL is the First Attempt In Learning.
HCL Tech (Srinivasan Tothatrhi, SVP)
100 to 1000 hours to become a genius in any subject. Good project managers go into failed projects and grow them. The difference between a winner and a loser: the winner tries more and fails more. The winning percentage is only 4 to 6 percent. Make mistakes in the first three years of your career. If you’re equally passionate about IT & how the software development industry works, enrol into Parul University’s B.Tech CSE.
“You have to romance your subject. You have to be ready to sacrifice everything for your goal. Never be afraid to fail.”
Ocean Technology and Deep Sea
NIOT (Mr Sudarsan, Scientific Officer)
National Institute of Ocean Technology’s Matsya 6000 deep sea submersible. Samudrayan to be launched in 2026 & Tsunami prediction systems. The National Data Buoy Programme covered topics such as ocean observation, deployment of buoy systems, and predictive capability for coastal disasters. Moorud system for sensor conductivity and OTEC Desalination for experimental facility. Earth has a floating axis as some places on earth have no gravity.
“We cannot prevent the tsunami, but we can predict it. Use lost resources of the ocean to serve the people around.”
Automotive Media
India Motors (T Murli, Associate Editor)
How the automobile industry has come a full circle. India jumped from 4 to 6 in fuel power trials in under 1000 days. EV debate: environment and efficiency. Sensors, electrical and electronic architecture, zonal computing, SDV, RDE.
PU Programme Exploration: B.Tech Mechanical, Robotics, and Automobile
This tour serves students across Parul University’s Faculty of Engineering and Technology: B.Tech Mechanical Engineering, B.Tech Robotics (students operated FANUC CRX collaborative robot and walked Schwing Stetter’s assembly plant), B.Tech Automobile Engineering, B.Tech Mechatronics, and B.Tech AI and ML. The faculty offers 250+ technology labs, NEP 2020-aligned programmes, and practical learning tours for real-time industry exposure. Students searching for Parul University B.Tech mechanical review, Parul University robotics review, Parul University automobile engineering review, or is B.Tech mechanical engineering worth it should note: students from these programmes met the Royal Enfield CEO, Mercedes-Benz CIO, operated FANUC robots, walked Schwing Stetter’s fabrication shop, and attended the CII International Auto Tech Conference with 20+ industry leaders.
FAQ
What institutions did Parul University students visit on the automobile and robotics tour?
10 institutions: Royal Enfield (CEO), Daimler Mercedes-Benz (CIO), FANUC (robotics, CNC, cobots), IIT Madras Research Park (CTO, startup incubation, AI robot), Schwing Stetter (President Operations, assembly plant), Stellantis (Regional Head Technology), CII International Auto Tech Conference (20+ speakers from Renault Nissan, TVS, Bosch, MG Motors, TCS, Aptiv, Electra EV), NIOT (Matsya 6000, tsunami, ocean mining), HCL Tech (SVP), and India Motors (EV, automotive media).