HEADING TOWARDS TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS & GROWTH

As India progresses toward becoming a global manufacturing powerhouse, IMTEX FORMING 2024 & Tooltech 2024 stands as a crucial platform for industry players, offering a glimpse into the future of manufacturing technology and fostering collaborations for sustained growth. Read on to learn the anticipation and contributions of domestic and international participants, highlighting their expectations and observations on India's manufacturing growth.

Robust demand, increasing investments, policy support, and competitive advantage are all factors that are expected to propel Manufacturing sector output in the next fiscal. As per data from the Government of India, manufacturing exports registered the highest-ever annual exports of US $447 billion with around 6 percent growth during FY23, surpassing the US $422 billion recorded in FY22. It is encouraging to see India’s Manufacturing sector opening itself to new geographies and segments supported by growth in priority sectors. The various PLI schemes and initiatives like Digital India and Make in India are giving thrust to the electronics system and Manufacturing sector. All these positive developments are expected to yield results in 2024 and beyond and help the country’s sustained economic growth.

IMTEX FORMING crucial at this juncture

With all these developments that put us as a nation in a highly coveted position, it is important to have a platform that can help showcase our strengths in manufacturing and leverage the other favorable factors for the sector to grow and contribute to our holistic progress. Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association (IMTMA), through its upcoming IMTEX FORMING show, endeavors for such advancement.

Rajendra S Rajamane, President, IMTMA, highlights the show’s significance, “IMTEX FORMING attracts the entire metal forming machine tool fraternity from India and other parts of the world to offer various solutions to the huge domestic market in India and help them advance in their manufacturing activities.”

“Near net shape manufacturing is gaining prominence. Electric vehicles are increasingly being considered as a viable alternative, and metal forming and welding manufacturers are seeing a better growth curve. Also, the incremental spending on the manufacture of new railway coaches is providing new avenues for sheet metal business. Furthermore, laser-cutting machines are gaining popularity across industry segments with laser-based solutions increasing by over 50 percent in comparison to its previous editions,” he points out.

Jibak Dasgupta, Director General & CEO, IMTMA & Bangalore International Exhibition Centre, elaborates on the significance the trade fair holds for the partakers. “IMTEX FORMING 2024 promises to be bigger and better. It has grown by around 80 percent in size compared to its previous edition. It has many new segments to showcase for its visitors.”

The exhibition portfolio has enlarged with the entry of Weldexpo as a concurrent show, alongside Tooltech and Digital Manufacturing. Messe Stuttgart is organizing Moldex India and Fastnex as co-located shows. The Indian Institute of Welding is organizing an international congress during the exhibition days. Technology enthusiasts will have a lot to uncover with exhibitors unveiling the latest fiber laser machines, precision levelers, pick and place units, servo presses, machine production monitoring systems, 3D printing solutions, etc. Also, die-forging hammer technology, waterjet cutting technology, compact drive technology, reverse engineering solutions, friction welders, CNC press brakes and shears, metal scrap recycling, thermal cutting solutions, fiber laser cutting, and numerous other technologies will be on offer for machine tool user industries to adopt in their production process.

Industry representatives can connect with academia at the i2 Academia Pavilion to glance at the technologies developed by students at the institutional level, also engineering students can seek career growth opportunities by participating in the CONNECT program and Quiz contest.

International participation

IMTEX FORMING has carved a niche for itself in the manufacturing arena. The trade fair holds significant potential, drawing interest from various countries and international trade associations, leading to their substantial participation.

Japan Forming Machinery Association (JFMA), which is an industrial association for press-forming machinery, and Japan Machine Tool Builders’ Association (JMTBA), which is an association of metal cutting machine tool builders from Japan have been regular participants in IMTEX exhibitions. Seven JFMA member companies and 8 local subsidiaries of JFMA member companies are exhibiting at the upcoming IMTEX FORMING. “India has the world’s largest population and a large proportion of young people. The market is expected to grow in the Automotive and other Consumer Products industries, and JFMA members are paying significant attention to India,” notes Shigeo Morimoto, Group Manager, Japan Forming Machinery Association.

IMTMA has always participated in MF-TOKYO organized by JFMA in Japan. “We expect a great deal of promotion of each other’s industrial exhibitions. We also expect to promote the exchange of industrial machinery and production technology and the mutual understanding of the latest technological trends, which are important for the industrial circles of both countries,” he adds.

JMTBA, in this edition of IMTEX FORMING, is looking forward to fruitful encounters, shares Kazuo Yuhara, President, JMTBA. He acknowledges the fact that India is poised to develop as a manufacturing hub for the world. Indian Government’s ‘Make in India’ manufacturing promotion policy has significantly boosted this development, he adds. “High-quality capital investment is expected, including high-precision, high-productivity machine tools. At this year’s IMTEX, many types of equipment and machinery that can contribute to the growth of the Indian Manufacturing industry are being exhibited, and, we believe this will greatly contribute to uncovering latent demand for equipment,” he remarks.

Several JMTBA member companies are also exhibiting at IMTEX FORMING.

German Machine Tool Builders’ Association (VDW) has also been associated with IMTEX FORMING from the very beginning. According to Klaus-Peter Kuhnmünch, Manager General Affairs, VDW, “The division of IMTEX into metal cutting and metal forming was a good decision by IMTMA. After all, it is in line with the global trend towards establishing more and more different trade fairs within the production technology sector and thus addressing even more targeted, qualified trade visitors. The expo has established itself as India’s leading trade fair for forming technology/sheet metal working.”

“India has long been an important and large market for the German Machine Tool industry. IMTEX FORMING is an excellent platform for intensifying cooperation with the Indian industry and with our Indian customers, for selling machines and entering into cooperations. Against this background, VDW and German exhibitors are looking forward to IMTEX FORMING 2024 and to the professional dialogue with both, existing and new customers,” he adds. 

Doug Woods, President, AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology remarks that there is a strong desire to be at events like IMTEX FORMING to evaluate the latest advances in manufacturing production solutions, as well as to network and meet with industry leaders and peers to share ideas, learn about new techniques, and look for opportunities to partner or collaborate.

“Certainly, the sheer size of the Indian market and growth in related manufacturing technologies has created a lot of buzz in the marketplace and with interested investors looking to invest in the Indian market more directly.  The potential in a market with almost 1.4 billion people certainly attracts investors looking to expand into the Indian market, as well as to leverage opportunities with unique Indian manufacturing technology companies to expand business growth in other global markets,” he adds.

MSMEs deploying advanced technologies

Gradually, the Indian manufacturing landscape is changing with the deployment of technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, IoT, automation, etc, opines Rajamane.  “There’s still a challenge to find the right resources with the requisite skill sets for MSMEs to deploy these in their manufacturing setups. Cost-effective solutions are necessary to put them in place. Indian industries, specifically MSMEs, can move to the next level of growth when these technologies are developed indigenously in India on a large scale, and with the Government’s push for these to develop domestically the overall industrial landscape would change in the next decade,” he observes.

MSMEs have a significant presence in India’s manufacturing industry landscape, and IMTMA has always supported Indian manufacturing and machine tool MSMEs by providing them an opportunity at the IMTEX platform and other exhibitions nationally and internationally. “Over time this has helped onward growth for MSMEs as many of them got acquainted with the domestic and international markets. The buyer-seller meets held during IMTEX serve as an ideal medium for the MSMEs to establish links with international buyers. IMTEX FORMING has received support from the Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Industries (MSME) under the Procurement and Market Support (PMS) Scheme encouraging their participation in the exhibition,” states Dasgupta.

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

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