Industry 4.0 : Heralding a New Era in Manufacturing

World over, across all industries, organizations are waking up to the fact that embracing digitalization and technology is imperative to their success. Aware that lack of digital competence can lead to their loss of competitive ranking, they are keen to stay updated with the latest technology scene.

Hence, with the view to address their need and disseminate information on advanced technologies among the Indian industry players, VDMA India organized the first international symposium “Industry 4.0 – the Future Concept of Manufacturing” in the cities of Bangalore and Pune.

The event focused on implementing Industry 4.0 in manufacturing sectors such as Automotive, Aerospace, Machine tools, Construction & Material Handling, Food Processing & Packaging, Heavy and Process Engineering. Around 250 delegates comprising industry veterans, policy makers, academia, research institutions, and media from both the cities participated at the symposium.

Industry 4.0 is the way

The Bangalore event was graced by the dignitaries including Chief Guest Margit Hellwig-Boette, Consul General, Federal Republic of Germany, Bangalore; Guest of Honor SR Mukherjee, Chief Executive Officer, TATA Advanced Materials Ltd; Dietmar Goericke, Managing Director, Forum Industrie 4.0, VDMA Frankfurt; and Rajesh Nath, Managing Director, VDMA India.

Industry 4.0, the fourth industrial revolution, has emerged as one of the most dynamic trends in the global manufacturing world, and forms an ideal platform for Indo-German collaboration as Germany leads in manufacturing innovations. Nath, in his welcome address, shed light on the various aspects of Indo-German bilateral relationship and how Industry 4.0 holds the potential to take it to the next level.

He emphasized on the importance of adapting Industry 4.0 to achieve the ambitious target of making India a global hub for manufacturing, design and innovation, and augmenting the share of manufacturing in the country’s GDP from the current 17 percent to 25 percent by 2022.

Since efforts are on to strengthen Germany’s leading role in the field of Industry 4.0, Hellwig-Boette spoke on the technology’s development in Germany. Goericke, in his brief presentation, highlighted VDMA’s endeavor of supporting the transformation of German mechanical engineering industry by closely coordinating with member companies, research bodies and academic institutions.

Audience at the Bangalore and Pune events.

Stressing similarly on the trend that can turn the manufacturing process upside down, Mukherjee pointed to its significance in the Indian Aerospace industry which currently holds immense potential.

A gathering of bellwethers

The Pune event also gathered visionaries including Chief Guest Andreas Jahn, Vice President – Manufacturing Engineering Planning, Volkswagen India Pvt Ltd; Guest of Honor Rashmi Urdhwareshe, Director, Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI); along with Goericke to put forth their views on Industry 4.0.

Jahn spoke on the application of Industry 4.0 in the Automotive industry and supported it with a case study of implementing it at Volkswagen India factory at Chakkan. Urdhwareshe made a presentation on the Industry 4.0 initiative by the Government of India and made the audience aware of the activities of the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI).

Technically speaking

For the technical sessions at both events, speakers from VDMA member companies such as Beckhoff Automation, EPLAN software, HARTING India, Pepperl + Fuchs, Pilz India, SAP India, Shaeffler Group and Zimmer GmbH put forth their take on the topic.

Ajey Phatak, Manager Marketing, Beckhoff Automation Pvt Ltd, made a presentation on ‘PC-based Control Technology - Foundation for Industry 4.0’. Umesh Pai B, Managing Director, EPLAN Software and Services Pvt Ltd underlined the importance of creating a digital twin for every product while implementing Industry 4.0 on the shop floor.

Industry experts at the dais.

With the aid of case studies, Girish Rao, Managing Director, HARTING India Pvt Ltd, listed the merits of embracing Industry 4.0 in their own production unit in Germany.

Similarly, Ravi Agarwal, Managing Director, Pepperl & Fuchs Factory Automation Pvt Ltd, elaborated on the benefits of automation in the manufacturing sector and how it can be the driving force for realizing the goal of making the country a preferred manufacturing destination for the global companies.

Pointing out to the challenges in implementing Industry 4.0, Sanjay Kulkarni, Managing Director, Pilz India Pvt Ltd, highlighted the data safety and security of the systems and the solutions offered by Pilz India.

Ekta Arora, Vice President, IoT and Digital Supply Chain, and Neeraj Athalye, Vice President – Innovation & Digital Business were the speakers from SAP India at Bangalore and Pune respectively. Both spoke on the various initiatives being undertaken for skilling and re-skilling of the workforce needed for the digital transformation.

The day-long symposium concluded with a B2B session, which offered a good net-working opportunity for both audience and the participating companies.

Source: VDMA India