India’s strength in IT and expertise in manufacturing must come together for the adoption of digital technologies, says V Anbu.

 

As the seventh-largest economy in the world, India is one of the few bright spots in the world economy. The country aspires to become a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25 with manufacturing sector alone contributing $1 trillion besides aiming to increase manufacturing contribution to GDP from the current 16 percent to 25 percent by 2025. In order to reach this goal, we need to adopt new-age solutions and technologies across the entire spectrum of manufacturing activities. Optimised resource utilisation, digitally connected and automated shop floor, real-time production asset tracking, data capture from machines, devices and processes, analytics, cloud computing, and changing traditional business processes are the transformational needs essential for achieving accelerated growth and competitiveness in manufacturing.

 

Smart or digital manufacturing, often synonymous with Industry 4.0, which first came to light in Hannover Messe fair in 2011, is spawning a global revolution in manufacturing. Industry 4.0 is an evolutionary development wherein humans, machines and processes are all linked through the Internet of Things (IoT). Technology, product/process management, and human resource are the three main dimensions for implementing smart manufacturing. Implementation of Industry 4.0 is mostly a top-down approach. Passion, zeal, and commitment are essential for top management especially for brownfield implementation. Industries have started implementing energy management, subsystem monitoring, and OEE partially at shopfloor level. Supply chain management and customer relationship management is happening moderately in phases in industries as they perceive this as easy to implement and beneficial! Industry 4.0 product and solution providers should focus on developing easily deployable, packaged products – building blocks and local solutions which are of open source and adaptable to legacy systems in shopfloor as well. 

 

To remain competitive locally and globally, it is binding on the part of industries, specifically SMEs’ to adopt digital technologies and solutions in phases. Adaptation by SMEs which constitute around 80 percent of the total number of industries which are stuck with legacy machines needs capital investment, technical support, and hand-holding. Connecting heterogeneous machines, systems, and devices seamlessly in shopfloor and interoperability is another daunting technical task for I4.0 implementation. The SMEs need to be supported through creating awareness, hand-holding, training and favourable policies for the success of implementing Industry 4.0 in manufacturing. 

 

Department of Heavy Industry, Government of India has initiated creating four centers of Industry 4.0 having a unique identity for spreading awareness and branding under SAMARTH Udyog Bharat 4.0. These centers would have resource sharing, common platform of Industry 4.0 and network each other’s resources so that the utilisation of resources is maximised. 

 

Skilling, upskilling and reskilling of the labour force is crucial for meeting the requirements and supplementing smart manufacturing implementation in industries. Industries need to train and equip their existing workforce in new-age technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT, cloud computing, data analytics, and so on to adopt, implement and reap the benefits of Industry 4.0.  

 

For adopting digital technologies, India’s strength in information technology and expertise in manufacturing should come together creating products and solutions for local needs of the industries. India has a huge domestic market and large manpower with diverse skill-sets, English speaking technocrats, researchers and engineers, which is a plus. Government policies are seen as industry-friendly and enable ease of doing business. To conclude, the Indian manufacturing sector can reposition itself with smart manufacturing and make their mark on the global map.

 

V Anbu is the Director General & CEO of IMTMA (Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association) and UFI President elected for 2020-2021.