Evading automation, no longer an option

January 11, 2019 2:40 pm

As manufacturing in India evolves and grows, there is an imminent need for it to become more competitive, especially in terms of productivity, profitability and sustainability. Manufacturing in India is at inception point as domestic manufacturing will rise due to initiatives like “Make in India”. Furthermore, Indian Government has also pushed to increase the share of manufacturing to 25 per cent of GDP by 2025 from current 16 per cent and by 2025 India’s manufacturing will grow to a $1 trillion dollar sector.

To complement the growth in manufacturing, it is imperative that Indian manufacturing units adopt developments in Industry 4.0 technologies such as automation including: robotics, Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and control solutions to become globally competitive and digitally transform their operations to enhance productivity, reduce costs and manage the evolving business cycles.

To understand and address the real-time application and benefits of automation, Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association (IMTMA) organised a “Symposium on Appropriate Automation in Indian Context”. The symposium featured technical presentations, case studies, interactive panel discussions with industry experts as well as plant visits to observe how automation delivers business gains for manufacturing units. The symposium was attended by over 250 delegates from 80 companies.

The symposium was inaugurated by Dattatri Salagame, Vice President & Head of Digital Business, Robert Bosch Engineering & Business Solutions. In his key note address, Salgame gave an overview of automation in the Indian context and said, “The enterprises today are seeing an unprecedented rate of change – where the work is changing, the worker is changing and the economy is changing. This unprecedented change, driven by digital technologies, is redefining the new era of opportunities. India, with its unique stronghold on soft skills, software and hardware infrastructure is poised to win this game. The future of manufacturing is Industry 4.0 technologies such as automation that have multi-fold benefits with minimal investments.”

Speaking at the inauguration, P. Ramadas, President, IMTMA said, “As the manufacturing landscape in India evolves it will be utilising automation and other Industry 4.0 technologies, making manufacturing more intelligent than before. At IMTMA, our role is to support our ecosystem and the manufacturing industry as it grows by catalysing technology developments and opening up new opportunities and symposiums like this offer us the perfect platform to bring new technology developments to manufacturing industry.”

Concluding the session V. Anbu, Director General & CEO, IMTMA said, “To further support the government’s manufacturing ambition, manufacturing industry needs to move towards a gradual use of automation to reap benefit of Industry 4.0 technologies and raise the standard of manufacturing in India by making it more competitive and sustainable globally.”