The 10th edition of WIN INDIA had a good response in terms of visitors, buyers, exhibitors, delegates and key dignitaries.

For Mumbai, the month of December began with leading players of the world of engineering and technology gathered at the MMRDA Grounds at the city’s new business district, the Bandra-Kurla Complex. The occasion was the inauguration of the 10th edition of WIN INDIA, India’s leading trade fair for manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, factory automation and heavy engineering. WIN INDIA, consisting of three trade fairs – CeMAT INDIA, Industrial Automation INDIA (IA India) and Motion Drive & Automation India (MDA India) – was jointly organised by Hannover Milano Fairs India Pvt Ltd, the Department of Heavy Industry, Government of India; and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).

The show was inaugurated by Shri Subhash Desai, Industries Minister, Government of Maharashtra. Among those present on the occasion were Girish Shankar, Secretary, Department of Heavy Industry; Marc Siemering, Sr Vice President, Deutsche Messe AG; Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI; and Mehul Lanvers Shah, Managing Director, Hannover Milano Fairs India.

“The government has created a framework and eco-system for the industry to operate on global scale,’ said Girish Shankar, Secretary, Department of Heavy Industry. “The national manufacturing policy aims to provide 100 million jobs, out of which 25% new jobs will be hi-tech and the remaining 75% will be medium tech. Currently 80% of the present jobs are low tech and in the capital goods sector alone, we have the challenge of training an additional 5 million into medium and hi-tech skill sets. For this we have set up the Capital Goods Skill Development Council which provides the framework and skill standards for these jobs. Under the new capital goods scheme, we are going to set up 5 mega skill training centres in the 5 regions of the country which will provide the necessary knowledge content. The Council enlists and certifies training institutions which are being proposed on an entrepreneurship model, and in some cases DHI will also provide grants to create training capacities. This should create the framework to substantially share the load to train 5 million workers in the next 5 years,” he added.

“We are proud to present the 10th edition of WIN INDIA and are happy to see a great response in terms of visitors, buyers, exhibitors, delegates and key dignitaries. The first day saw an overwhelming footfall which has surpassed our expectations at the much anticipated Intralogistics Conference and the Automation Training Zone,” said Mehul Lanvers Shah, Managing Director, Hannover Milano Fairs India.

Together the three specialised trade show under the WIN INDIA banner not only presented the latest trends and developments in their respective domains, but also offered glimpses of Industry 4.0, and the direction the industry is moving to for the future. The three trade fairs brought together internationally renowned exhibitors, manufacturers, industry stakeholders, policy makers, and the end users. With ‘Integrated Industry – Get new technology first’ as the theme of the show, visitors had the benefit of not only looking at products on display but also feel and experience them, with live demonstrations and machines in action and robots in motion.

Some of the top exhibitors at the three trade fairs included Jungheinrich Lift Truck India Pvt Ltd, Nash Robotics & Automation Private Limited, Su-Mech Storage Systems Pvt Ltd, Grey Orange Robotics, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Pvt Ltd, Larsen & Toubro Ltd, FESTO India Pvt Ltd, Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd, Mahindra Logistics, etc. The trade fairs also saw participation from 10 countries like Germany, China, Italy, India, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, UAE and USA.

The key highlights of the WIN India show included a FICCI-DHI CEO Roundtable on “Automation and Job Creation”; an Intralogistics Conference comprising of a keynote on Smart, Connected, Agile – Strategic Impact of Intralogistics 4.0, a panel discussion on Supply Chain in Digital World and a special address on ‘How ASEAN & China will shape our Supply Chain’.

Other events organised during the show included a 2nd edition of the Automatic Training Zone, which was organised in association of the Automatic Industry Association and a CEO Conclave which was organised by the Fluid Power Society of India.

ASAPP Info Global Media, publisher of Industrial Products Finder organised an awards ceremony felicitating companies for product excellence and growth (report elsewhere in this edition) on the first day of the show.

However, the venue of the exhibition left a lot to be desired and many exhibitors were not at all happy with the temporary halls erected for the show. The floor creaked and felt shaky under the foot. The absence of spacious and easily accessible toilets – there were cramped, temporary structures that were not easy to access – was a sore point. That is something the government of Maharashtra and its various trade associations should also be concerned about. Mumbai needs a modern state-of-the-art permanent exhibition centre befitting its status of the commercial capital of the country. With only one reasonably manageable venue which is booked years in advance with a myriad events, Mumbai really has no venue fit for an international event of even a modest scale.

“We are happy with our participation in the show as several visitors from different industry sectors walked into our booth. The organisers are helpful and attentive to our needs so that makes our participation comfortable and at home,” said Bharat Kewalramani, Technical Director, NASH Robotics & Automation Pvt Ltd. A first time exhibitor at this series of events promoted by Hannover Milano Fairs India, Kewalramani decided to participate in the CeMAT section in spite of the company’s specialisation in welding automation. When asked for the logic, he explained that welding automation today literally means the welding equipment moving around the factory floor which means a lot of material handling equipment. So ever a period of time, the company has acquired expertise in material handling as well – synergy in motion, indeed.

Sameer T Pednekar, Managing Director, Camozzi India Pvt Ltd, said, “We are a regular participant in the show and have always been visited by potential customers. For us the location or the venue of the show does not matter – be it Delhi, Noida or Mumbai as we are known for our brand and value. People come to visit us in any show and it has not much to do with the exhibition. However, our participation in the show does help to reconnect with old customers and meet new ones.”

“We are very happy with the kind of response we have received in the show. Our booth is flooded with people with serious business enquiries. We are very hopeful of generating a fair amount of business from our participation in the show,” said R Panneer Selvam, Deputy General Manager, Technical Sales, Eppinger Tooling Asia Pvt Ltd. The Coimbatore based company is a subsidiary of Eppinger, Germany and one of its only two manufacturing plants worldwide, the first being in its home country. Today, Eppinger develops and manufactures special precision gear boxes grouped into several application-specific design series, for example, bevel, hypoid, planetary and cycloidal gearboxes, applying identical manufacturing methods at both plants.

“We are a South Korean company established in India for the past 8 years and plan to further strengthen our base in the country by opening our offices in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Our experience has been good in the show. Many people from our industry visited us and made serious enquiries. The exhibition helped us meet potential customers and understand the market requirements better,” said Yunje Cho, Overseas Manager, Sunil Precision India Pvt Ltd.

But not everyone was happy. “The show is a disappointment for us. People visiting this exhibition do not know about our products. The show is not relevant for our industry,” said Rossina Zhang, Foreign Trade Department Manager, Changzhou Galaxy Century Micro-electronics Co Ltd, China.

The organisers, Hannover Milano Fairs India Pvt Ltd, is a subsidiary of the two of the largest trade fair companies from Europe, Deutsche Messe AG, Germany and Fiera Milano S.p.A, Italy.

The next edition of WIN INDIA is scheduled for February 22-24, 2018 at Bombay Convention & Exhibition Centre, Goregaon, Mumbai.