According to Kaustubh Shukla, Chief Operating Officer - Industrial Products Group, Godrej & Boyce, "It is a fascinating evolution. Pursuit of Productivity has been a perpetual target for all manufacturers. Reducing waste and improving efficiency, repeatability, reliability, yield & safety all add to up to improving Productivity. Need for mass customisation is another trend that has influenced the way manufacturing has evolved. Smart Manufacturing enabled by technologies of sensing, processing and controlling have immensely changed the way we manufacture and this is only the beginning. With rapid changes and evolution of enabling technologies - AI and Machine Learning, the ‘Smartness' will only increase. Sectors engaged in mass manufacturing stand to gain the most and thus will be the early adapters."
Smart India
One of the major advantages of these technologies is they do not require heavy investments but needs accurate planning and vision. "A lot of improvements can be done as a complement to or with minor tweaks to the existing system. It is also great for the workforce as it provides a platform for up-skilling of older workers, archiving their expertise and leveraging the skills of millennial ones who are digital natives. It also provides a platform for both to collaborate and feed off each other'sstrengths. At a time when India is looking at enhancing quality and productivity - providing a structured approach and seamless shift transitions with defined skill matrix for each job and redefining energy efficiency, smart factories can be a great catalyst to fully realize the potential of programs like Make in India," said Vyas.
Speaking on the implementation of such technologies in India, Dr. Andreas Wolf, Joint Managing Director, Bosch Ltd., asserts, "In India we need standardized solutions, which are adaptable and have quick return on investment. The feasibility of such solutions depends on the nature of problems that they set out to improve. In a country like India, there are many challenges for manufacturing including productivity and quality mindset. Hence, smart automation methods like Process automation, Karakuri Kaizen (Japanese system used to handle materials using natural principles like gravitation force, centrifugal force, etc), Pick and place mechanisms, Vibratory feeders and conveyer systems, Co-bots (collaborative robots), Vision systems and Gantry mechanisms can be game-changers if implemented properly."
He further adds, "India has a high degree of connectivity so it is possible to connect shopfloor associates easily. The large SME base in the country is also open to new technological solutions. Bosch also plans to roll out solutions to our supplier base, thus making the entire value chain more productive. The Indian market offers a great space for smart manufacturing solutions with positive GDP growth and an increasing openness for businesses to operate in."
As per Shukla, "While there is a substantially large and growing demand due to domestic consumption, the growth of manufacturing will also call for focussing on exports. So India will have to rapidly evolve the maturity and sophistication of Manufacturing to be as good if not better than the rest of the world. Having said that, the deployment of such technologies is still in nascent stage and will grow over time. The Process Industry was the first to adopt Smart Manufacturing and we foresee that discreet manufacturing sectors that require mass production and mass customisation will be the next to adopt Smart Manufacturing Technologies."
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