TCS Launches India’s First Lights-Out Factory Lab in Pune

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has launched the TCS Industrial Autonomy & Engineering Lab – Lights-Out Factory at its Sahyadri Park campus in Pune.

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TCS said the facility is India’s first lights-out factory lab and will demonstrate how autonomous technologies can help manufacturers automate and optimise production with minimal human intervention.

A lights-out factory is a manufacturing facility where autonomous systems can run production with limited human involvement. The Pune lab includes a fully robotic battery pack assembly line, which TCS said is India’s first lab setup to demonstrate the principles of lights-out manufacturing.

The facility brings together digital twins, robotics, industrial AI, factory control systems and real-time operational intelligence. The live production setup will allow manufacturers to simulate different production scenarios and prototype, validate and scale AI-first production systems before deploying them in operational environments.

Focus on Practical Manufacturing Applications

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The lab has been designed to address the challenge of moving from Industry 4.0, AI and robotics concepts to practical manufacturing operating models. It provides manufacturers with a controlled environment to test industrial use cases, assess their suitability and reduce deployment risks.

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The facility supports use cases across engineering, manufacturing and factory operations, including:

• Autonomous factory operations: AI-enabled production optimisation, predictive maintenance and quality inspection.
• Digital twins and simulation: Virtual models to test and validate factory scenarios before deployment.
• Vision AI and robotics: Machine perception, adaptive workflows and human-machine collaboration.
• Sensor-to-cloud intelligence: Connecting shop-floor data with edge and cloud platforms for real-time decision-making.
• Software-defined engineering: Using software, data and AI to continuously improve industrial systems.

Joakim Landholm, SVP Commercial & Operations Development, SKF, said the next phase of manufacturing will require smarter, more energy-efficient and reliable operations. He added that the TCS lab could help industries apply advanced automation and industrial AI to achieve measurable operational improvements.

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Sreenivasa Chakravarti, Global Head & Vice President of Industrial Autonomy and Engineering, TCS, said the facility demonstrates how the company’s Human + AI Service Autonomy Model can help enterprises move from digitally enabled operations towards increasingly autonomous production systems.

Expanding TCS’ Industrial Autonomy Work

The Pune facility is the latest addition to TCS’ Industrial Autonomy & Engineering innovation initiatives. Earlier this year, the company launched the TCS Industrial Autonomy & Engineering Lab Powered by NVIDIA in Bengaluru to work on Physical AI applications for industrial and mobility sectors.

With the new Pune lab, TCS is focusing on integrated approaches to engineering, manufacturing, and factory operations as manufacturers look to adopt AI and automation while managing increasing operational complexity.