Nitin Tawhare

Currently working as a project manager (L3), transaxle design and development, onsite at TATA Motors Engg. Research Center.

• 21 years of professional experience in the automotive industry achieved through various roles during my technical journey.
• Responsible for people and SOW delivery management of passenger cars.
• Manage a team of nine members to support the accomplishment of various NPI, CPI, VAVE, and design maintenance of passenger car transaxles, such as Tiago, Tigor, Nexon, Harrier, and Safari.
• Responsible for the deliverable, competency development, and performance management of the team.
• Coaching the team on the basics of the Gearbox shift system.

Major Projects Handled:

1) Transaxle - 6-speed for Nexon (260 NM and 170 NM).

2) Transaxle - 5-speed for X451 (200 NM)

3) Transaxle - 5-speed for Zest and Bolt (140 NM)

4) Transaxle – 6-speed twin lay shaft for Harrier.

Transaxle shift quality improvement contribution:

• Designed new brass-threaded synchro cones with offset chamfers for double-bump reduction.
• Fine-pitch synchro cones with design optimization for shift quality improvements.
• Simulation of transaxle GSQA with a new synchro cone design in MATLAB.
• Input shaft brake for reverse gear smooth shifting.
• Shift tower design optimization in finger and counter mass for shift quality in MATLAB.
• Further improvements were made in the shift tower for play and counter mass optimization through physical trials.
• Rev synchro design for TA65 and TA6300.
• Synchro shift quality target set for the twin lay shaft gearbox for the Harrier.
• Designed a new synchro for the twin lay shaft gearbox (350 NM).
• Welded shifter fork and shaft for PV transaxles.

Transaxle NVH reduction contribution:

• Reduced backlash.
• Reduced axial floats.
• Reduced synchro clearances with peripheral parts.
• Order analysis, gear profile, and lead graph study for NVH reduction.

Difficulties Handled:

During the Development Phase,

• Synchro cone failure due to torsional vibration.
• G.S.L. Vibration & Jerk
• Driveshaft oil seal leakage.
• Gear failure.
• Rev gear engagement is hard.
• Differential gear failure.
• Rev synchro (S3) & dual cone failure.
• Soft brass synchro failure.
• Connected synchro cone failure.
• Participated in DFMEA and 8D’s for effective problem-solving.

Field complaints:

• Resolved the issue of the 2nd gear synchro shudder in TA65.
• Resolved the issue of circlip breakage.
• Resolved the issue of synchro burning.
• Resolved the issue of differential bearing failure.
• Resolved the issue of differential spider failure.
• Analyzed and resolved the issue of gear slippage with CFT.
• Resolved the issue of GSL jerk observed during tip-in, tip-out.
• Resolved the issue of gear shift blockage.
• Resolved the issue of shifter breakage failure.
• Prepared QC stories and 8D reports for the above issues.
• Supported the manufacturing line by reducing line fallout due to the shift system and NVH issues.
• Hands-on experience in DFSS (Design for Six Sigma).
• Worked on various cost reduction and weight reduction ideas.
• Benchmarking of competitors, transaxles, shift systems, and peripheral parts.
• Tolerance stacks up for the Transaxle internal/external shift system and gear train.
• Transaxle layout study.