Enhancing Competitiveness

Manufacturing companies are constantly on the lookout for practices and processes that can help them reduce operational costs, upgrade the quality of their products, and increase productivity. IMTMA has made its mission to advocate for the cause of productivity in the Indian Manufacturing industry and provide it with a platform where the stakeholders can come together and learn from the companies that have deployed breakthrough practices that have resulted in significant improvements in productivity and competitiveness.

National Productivity Summit, organized annually, brings together industry experts, decision-makers, researchers, academia, customers, and suppliers of production equipment. The program highlights optimal manufacturing processes through informative keynotes, live case study presentations, and plant visits.

Enriching experiences

The latest edition witnessed the participation of over 275 delegates from 95 companies across a diverse cross-section of the Manufacturing industry. The participants included CEOs, top management executives, senior executives, and practicing engineers from diverse industries such as Automotive, Auto Components, Die & Mould, Consumer Durables, Machine Tool, Tool Rooms, Aerospace, General Engineering, and other discrete Manufacturing industries.

Pre-summit plant visits were organized to Ashok Leyland, TVS Motor Company, SEG Automotive, Continental Automotive Components, Indo-MIM, and Tractor and Farm Equipment (TAFE), which provided a unique opportunity to witness some of the best productivity improvement projects being translated into action.

Addressing the audience during the inaugural session of the Summit, Ravi Raghavan, President, IMTMA, said that NPS brings out why companies should embrace integrated approaches to increase manufacturing productivity and how to prepare people, processes, and technology as part of the journey toward productivity excellence. He elaborated, “Many of our shopfloors are evolving at an exponential rate across the entire value chain, from machine tool manufacturers to organizations that employ machine tools and other manufacturing processes. In most manufacturing businesses that have accepted technology as a productivity enhancer, we are also seeing a lot of convergence between non-manufacturing and manufacturing processes, which is sort of a conversion between information technology (IT) systems and operational technology (OT).”

The event proved to be an excellent opportunity to hear from industry professionals on many aspects of boosting competitiveness in the Manufacturing industry. Dr Gopichand Katragadda, Founder & CEO, Myelin Foundry, was the Guest of Honor and delivered the inaugural keynote presentation on ‘AI and Industrial IoT: The Last Mile’.

Appreciating IMTMA Mega Events’ NPS 2022, he remarked that one of the event’s key objectives is to learn from one another. One of the essential components is visiting factories and witnessing the operations in action. He added, “The chance to learn from the case studies of MNCs like Bosch to Indian companies like TVS is highly critical. The keynote presentations will take the discussions to a higher level of abstraction. You can take that abstraction down to your shopfloor and apply it to your specific needs.”

Besides the inaugural keynote address, this edition featured two keynote presentations:

Dr S Devarajan, Senior Vice President, TVS Motor Company Ltd, spoke on ‘Paradigm shifts in manufacturing and supply chain in lieu of technological Developments’ and MS Shankar, President, Future Mobility (Innovation & Technology), Anand Group, spoke on ‘Productivity - Innovating Sustainably’.

Dr Devarajan emphasized the need for sharing information and best practices, as well as visibility in terms of factory visitation and implementations, to keep manufacturing at the forefront. According to him, India needs to be more competitive. The country is completely capable of implementing best practices in manufacturing, which are supported by three areas. “First, the government is supporting PLI and logistics, which will come in a large way in a combination of all the multi-modal areas and is involved in the investment in machine tools and other industries, offering the appropriate time for technology adoption,” he explained. “Second, India is a country with a large number of clients with extremely specialized requirements, and each order is unique, posing large product requirements due to volume. Finally, ‘service’, because customers increasingly choose it over products, which India can take up much faster.”

Shankar said, “The revolution of Metallic 3D Printing in the sphere of vehicle manufacture has arrived. We have grown as a manufacturing economy as a result of a pool or team of machine manufacturers, manufacturing engineers, and large and small entrepreneurs.” He added that ‘a product or service is a function of opportunity’ and emphasized that consumer needs are determined by a set of experiences rather than specifications. The sector must make a quantum leap to megatrends and advances in digitalization, as well as the creation of a ‘system’. He also made the audience ponder on questions such as: ‘Are we competitive by eliminating waste in materials, resources, and efforts? Are we ahead of the competition?’ before concluding his speech.

Sharing ways to amp up productivity

Over 85 case studies were received for the Productivity Championship Awards 2022, of which 13 were shortlisted for the finals for their outstanding contribution to raising manufacturing productivity. Over the two days of the Summit, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Bangalore; Bosch, Bangalore; Hero MotorCorp, Haridwar; Hero MotorCorp, Alwar; Hitachi Astemo, Bangalore; Kasturi Foundry, Kolhapur; Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd, Kolhapur; Larsen & Toubro, Kanchipuram; Mahindra & Mahindra, Kandivali; and Tata Motors, Pune, presented their case studies and offered an in-depth and multi-faceted understanding of the approaches they embraced to accomplish their business goals.

The summit also featured case study presentations from three SMEs: Associated Plasmatron, J.P.F. Metacast Pvt Ltd, and Mekhos Technology Services Pvt Ltd. The companies, in presenting their case studies, contested for IMTMA-ACE Micromatic Productivity Championship Awards 2022 with cash awards worth `10 Lakh.

Case Studies in a nutshell

Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), Bangalore case study focused on how the defence major entered the field of manufacturing ICU ventilators for the first time and took up the challenge to manufacture 30,000 ICU ventilators in a record time of 90 days, against all unprecedented odds during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd, Kolhapur, team presented a case study on how the company enhanced its capacity and improved the productivity of existing machine lines through resource optimization. Theory of Constraints (ToC) was used to identify machining lines with lesser utilization and redesign the flow, eliminating multiple machines, mass balancing, and innovative fixturing to double-per-person output with reduced inventory and rejections.

Bosch, Bangalore, team explained how they met customer demands through the manufacturing of CBx (Common-Rail Beng) pumps aided by emerging technologies and digital solutions, resulting in substantial savings and a 30 percent productivity increase.

Larsen & Toubro, Kanchipuram, enhanced productivity through digital transformations in L&T’s heavy engineering shop, eliminating paperwork in a project-based environment. The case study presented a digitalization approach that included the use of AI, VR, RFID, and IoT in the areas of fabrication and galvanizing.

Kasturi Foundry, Kolhapur, brought in productivity and quality improvement in Rear Axle Housing and Case for Front Axle (E68) machining line. It enhanced it in 2 value streams using robots in core painting and machining areas. This has enabled breakthrough benefits in cost, manpower, and electricity.

Hitachi Astemo, Bangalore team explained they improved productivity in a pressure regulator line through systematic and detailed process analysis, capacity study, loss identification, and measures, addressing bottleneck operations impacting PQCD (Productivity, Quality, Cost, Delivery) parameters.

Hero MotoCorp, Alwar, used TPM in a warehouse environment for enhancing productivity and reducing ‘Mean Time To Preventive Maintenance (MTTPM). The company used customized IoT devices in a ‘Conditional Based Monitoring’ (CBM) network linked to warehouse management through ‘Automatic Storage & Retrieval System’ at its global parts center.

Hero MotoCorp, Haridwar, presented a case study modeled on the TPM, KK Pillar, using the traditional ECRS (Eliminate, Combine, Rearrange, and Simplify) method in its machine lines by setting a challenging target of 25 percent cycle time reduction using line balancing, casting improvement, and advanced tooling in a systematic way.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Kandivali, implemented the ‘Single piece flow’ concept at its legacy plant with space optimization and adopted an innovative approach in merging testing lines. The company, while manufacturing its Bolero vehicle, uses the time-tested concept of lean and rearranges the standard practices for productivity improvement.

Tata Motors, Pune, leveraged the market opportunity by scaling up the Nexon EV production. The evolution from a proto-shop to a mass production environment using conventional approaches has resulted in capturing huge market share and achieving breakthrough benefits.

J.P.F. Metacast, Belgavi, presented an insight into productivity enhancement through machining 28 families of parts involving the foundry and machining process in a short time span.

Mekhos Technology Services, Bangalore, explained how they enabled a global OEM to cut down complexity and costs, and set up change times in manufacturing cabin latch assembly of vehicles through the innovative design of fixtures, resulting in breakthrough productivity at the customer’s facility.

Associated Plasmatron, Thane, enhanced productivity and reduced material consumption during HVOF (High Velocity Oxy-Fuel) coating of small parts with the help of a multi-spindle rotator system.

Acknowledging talent

This edition’s winners of the IMTMA-ACE Micromatic Productivity Championship Awards 2022 were chosen by the esteemed jury, which comprised Dr N Ravichandran, Chief Mentor, UCAL Fuel Systems Ltd; MC Ramakrishnan; and CV Subrahmanyam. The Guest of Honor for the Award Function was Tabrez Ahmed, General Manager, TKAP, who conferred awards to the winners at the Awards Presentation ceremony.

During an ongoing session, Ravichandran emphasized the following Cs: One must know one’s Country, know their Customers and Competitors, be ready for Challenges, Change, take Charge, Conceptualize the change, most importantly Communicate, Carry out the change, Coordinate, and Control. All this will eventually lead to Cost reduction and Customer satisfaction.

Bharat Electronics Ltd bagged the first prize of `3,00,000 for their case study presentation on ‘Manufacturing of 30,000 ICU Ventilators in 90 days’. Tata Motors, Pune, stood second for their case study presentation on ‘Progressive increase of EV capacity through Productivity Improvement and Innovation’ and won a cash prize of `2,00,000. The third prize of `1,00,000 went to Hero Motocor, Alwar, for their case study presentation on ‘MTTPM reduction through Digitalization of PM activities in ASRS system by implementing IOT-based CBM monitoring system’.

Mekhos Technologies, Bangalore, was conferred with the SME Productivity Championship Award 2022 for their case study presentation on ‘Productivity Improvement in Cabin Latch Unit Assembly & Testing Line’.

The Jury Commendation Award (Special Award) was given to Mahindra & Mahindra, Kandivali – Large & Medium Category, for their case study presentation on ‘The Key to Boosting Efficiency – ‘Single piece flow’, a lean manufacturing method to improve efficiency by increasing productivity, reducing waste, and enhancing quality, and to Associated Plasmatron, Thane, for their case study presentation on ‘To enhance productivity and reduce material consumption during HVOF (High Velocity Oxy-Fuel) coating of small parts with the help of a multi-spindle rotator system’.

Speaking of the summit, Prem Kumar, Senior Deputy General Manager, Bharat Electronics Ltd, said, “It is a very good platform for exchanging ideas, networking with people, and showcasing our capability. This kind of productivity summit is a must. The knowledge sessions make for terrific learning.”

Sharing his experience at NPS 2022 as excellent, Rajeev Saxena, General Manager, Hero MotoCorp, Alwar, stated, “We went through various presentations and inputs given by Dr N Ravichandran, which was really great. Now we have a lot of ideas regarding the improvements that can be done on the shop floors. The main takeaway from this event is that we generally talk about the productivity of the operators. Now we are working towards the productivity of the staff, which will really enhance the value of our entire ecosystem.”

Source: IMTMA

Poonam Pednekar
Chief Copy Editor
Magic Wand Media Inc
poonam.pednekar@magicwandmedia.in 

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