India prepping up to witness game-changing technologies for Smart, Connected Enterprise

June 10, 2020 2:05 pm

Industry conglomerates conjointly agree to the technological upliftment of the Indian manufacturing sector, and discuss the transitional and practical challenges being faced by various players. They also analyse the technological interventions happening in the industry as it takes industrial manufacturing to world-class standards.

The Indian manufacturing scenario is transforming at a fast pace to match the international manufacturing sector by becoming more agile, flexible and interconnected through innovative manufacturing processes and technologies. The world is moving forward with the concept of smart factories and the Connected Enterprise by adopting automated technologies and slowly transitioning from conventional automation. Earlier, it was said that India is lacking behind in terms of technological progression. But today, with the acceptance and adoption of smart factories, India is able to streamline and scale the innovations to provide new age solutions for various industrial requirements.

Smart factory adoption by industry users
Talking about the adoption of smart factories, Niranjan R Manjrekar, General Manager – Operations, LVD Strippit India said that LVD far before realised the significance of integrated software for connected systems. He states, “Our products embrace Industry 4.0 by enabling our customers to transform into the factory for the future.”

Saravanan Panneer Selvam, General Manager, Grundfos India highlights that Grundfos has been a pioneer in innovating advanced pumps solutions in water technology and has always been working towards carving a bright future. Having smart factories for inventing innovations in sustainable and intelligent products has always been an integral part of its working strategy. He says, “We believe that efficiency and digital solutions like optimising customised robotic solutions for specific product requirements are the key factors of a smart factory.”

Gaurav Jalan, Founder, Packman Packaging Private Limited, talks about smart packaging with the inclusion of technologies like Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) codes that have been leveraged by them to move towards smart packaging by integrating codes through signals and having contactless communication with the package. “These technologies have enabled our customers to determine their shipment status on their fingertips. With the increasing concept of ‘smart’ in packaging, we are able to adopt sustainable manufacturing, create sustainable raw materials, and deliver sustainable packaging, as a step forward in the view of smart factory.”

Sagar Shah, Co-founder, SAHAS Softech LLP says that technology has enabled them to identify the bottlenecks in their processes. He elaborates, “Moreover, we as a company have always ensured on delivering the best products, and with the advent of latest technological innovations, we realised that perfection can be achieved with more precision through smart manufacturing processes. Not just the manufacturing processes, but we are also providing digital training to manage their daily work flow. Digital access and digital monitoring systems allow us to resurrect our previous mistakes and helps us reduce the errors and clear the backlogs of the team.”

Vishwanath V Kamath, Managing Director, Fronius India says, “Fronius decided to make welding in the new platform with completely modified hardware to adapt to Industry 4.0 in the year 2013. Today, we are ready with our Industry 4.0 solution to suit the customer ERP/MES system with proper interface tools and adoptability.”

Moving towards a Connected Enterprise with automated solutions
The Connected Enterprise is an opportunity for OEMs to improve their business models and their performance simultaneously, right from reducing the machine downtime to improve machine designs and monitoring capabilities. According to Selvam, Connected Enterprise is going to be the future of manufacturing and associated OEMs. He adds, “Industry 4.0 technologies have reinvented industries and enterprises by creating opportunities for innovative disruptions for enhanced products and processes.” These technologies have a positive impact on the business model of an OEM and can be used to reduce downtime, improve operational capabilities, and remote management facilities. In the long run, this also helps OEMs improve their cost efficiency of production.

Whereas, Manjrekar feels that automation has become an integral part of a smart factory. Manual interventions can increase the downtime of a machine and create uncertainties in the manufacturing processes and its efficiency. He says, “However, the recent crisis took us through the adoption of automation and other Industry 4.0 and connected systems that enable us to provide uninterrupted quality production.”

Jalan highlights that having a Connected Enterprise helped them create a virtual environment with real-time functions and create predictive analysis with a deeper insight for their businesses that gives them a competitive edge. Machine Learning, AI, robotics, big data, and automation together are a potential force when used in tandem by OEMs. These smart techniques allow them to use the cloud data to transform their businesses and become a driving force for strategic manufacturing decisions. OEMs need to thrive more to move further in becoming a Connected Enterprise.

According to Kamath, to adopt and implement the idea of a Connected Enterprise, it is important to have highly integrated automation systems. To be more specific, some of the Indian automotive companies have already implemented 80 percent of automation in their processes, whereas the other industries are yet to comply with this kind of automation owing to the cost complication towards its adoption. But soon these technologies will play a key role in reshaping the other sectors also.

Challenges in transitioning towards smart factories
The global industrial sector in the last few years has experienced a major change in the landscape, owing to the successive development of technologies and innovation in the manufacturing sector. The implementation of new manufacturing and management technologies required by the concept of smart factory, Industry 4.0, and Connected Enterprise is a concern for SMEs and MSMEs so as to remain competitive in the market. The new revolution brings together the physical and digital world under one roof through IoT, IIoT and other such technologies.

The primary challenge would be associated with the cost of updating or transitioning the factory, says Selvam. “Smart factories will be able to provide more value cost efficiently, in comparison to its traditional counterparts. The organisation must truly imbibe the forward-looking outlook associated with smart factories and try to instil this across all levels in the organisation.” This will further strengthen their belief in the vision of increasing the seamless nature of transition.

In Manjrekar’s view, decision making factors of the companies, in terms of investing in right technology and solution providers, remains to be a challenge. He explains, “I strongly feel that the right consultation and strong aspiration from MSMEs, particularly to move ahead with the concept of smart factories and Connected Enterprise, will change the whole manufacturing scenario in India and will help us to establish the perspective of being capable of ‘sustaining an advanced manufacturing environment’.”

Jalan characterises the primary challenges faced by the OEMs into four sections, which must be dealt with the OEMs so as to grow and transit: market evolution, service economy transfer, assisting the organisational model, and sustainable product generation and traceability.

Machine as a service must be the ultimate goal so as to increase the financial margins and to get closer to the buyer. It’s highly recommended to reap the benefits of the newer technologies like IoT and data science and allow the shift to the service economy, as the two are the critical pillars of the transition.

Moreover, considering the organisational model will also be a challenge. Lastly, the consumer demands are becoming more complex and they are moving from mass production to mass customisation in an efficient and ecological manner.

Shah finds cost as a major concern and one of the biggest challenges in India, especially the cost complication of newer technologies, as they are higher than the labour cost. This makes the companies sceptical towards adoption of these technologies. Kamath elucidates that adapting the smart factories in old machines a practical challenge, and also integrating the data of various machines into the MES/ERP system is difficult.

Upcoming technological progression in smart manufacturing in India
Industry 4.0 has set the tone for smart manufacturing. Companies will need to adapt their processes and use these technologies going forward to maintain their competitive edge. Such technologies are going to be pivotal in improving energy efficiency, productivity, quality standards and in reducing lead time with limited human error by managing data extensively.

According to Selvam, “The key element of being smart will also include the sustainable aspects of all the processes involved, right from raw material procurement to delivering the finished product. This way any organisation can contribute to its own future needs by reducing their energy requirement and using all the existing resources smartly. As companies move towards the future, it is important to remain agile and open to new technologies and innovations.”

Manjrekar, on the other hand, says, “LVD is very excited to see much technological advancement in the coming years in every product vertical. The changes will be in every aspect, right from being energy-efficient, high-performance and obviously in line with the smart factory platform, but to be more precise, automation will the key ingredient in every segment.”
Jalan suggests some of the technological advancements, especially in the Indian context, would be the following:

Data analytics: Data provides life into modern technologies, and it is a must to have real-time data to be fed into these technologies straight from artificial intelligence to augmented reality. Data analytics helps in organising and managing the data and making it actionable and ready for actual use. In Industry 4.0, data analytics is what fuels and is crucial at every stage, from ideation to prototyping, actual manufacturing/production to maintenance.

Cloud computing: Cloud computing facilities for every other data-relied technology make required data promptly available for use, irrespective of the area. With cloud computing, storage, access, and management of data across various locations become easy. Cloud environment allows data collaboration and exchange, which assists in effectively driving all the processes straight from supply chain to maintenance.

IoT: The Internet of Things or IoT is so important to Industry 4.0 that it is mostly used interchangeably and is also combined to be known as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Industry 4.0 makes large use of the Internet of Things or even Intranet of Things like robots, sensors, and simulation tools that together contribute to the creation of a smart factory. In a smart factory, various entities such as machines, systems, as well as humans communicate and coordinate seamlessly to coordinate and track the production progress along the supply line.
According to Shah’s interpretation, 3D printing will be the most important technological advancement for smart manufacturing. This technology will help the manufacturers to innovate in-house, reduce the time of innovation and also reduce the labour cost.

Kamath, on the other hand, predicts that in coming days, people can calculate the cost of manufacturing, maintenance, and product failures through smart technologies from the comfort of their desk. This will help them predict the production cost and help the industry to be more efficient and competitive in their field.
Final note

Smart factory integrates human capabilities and smart technologies and leverages acceleration of enhanced performances. On the onset of increasing inclination and companies adopting the smart factory and other concurrent technologies, recognising the significance of digital manufacturing, some of the Indian companies have already started shifting from the conventional automated technologies to the fully integrated automated, robotic and other Industry 4.0 technologies that can jointly leverage them to become a Connected Enterprise.

Efficiency and digital solutions like optimising customised robotic solutions for specific product requirements are the key factors of a smart factory.
Saravanan Panneer Selvam, General Manager, Grundfos India

OEMs need to thrive more to move further towards adopting newer and game-changer technologies so as to transform into a Connected Enterprise.
Gaurav Jalan, Founder, Packman Packaging Private Limited

With the advent of latest technologies, we realised that perfection can be achieved with more precision through smart manufacturing processes.
Sagar Shah, Co-founder, SAHAS Softech LLP

The concept of smart factories and Connected Enterprise will change the whole manufacturing scenario in India.
Niranjan R Manjrekar, General Manager – Operations, LVD Strippit India

Fronius decided to reinvent welding with completely modified hardware to adapt to Industry 4.0 in the year 2013, and today we are ready with our Industry 4.0 solution.
Vishwanath V Kamath, Managing Director, Fronius