Ushering in Innovation

With the objective of facilitating collaboration between the industry and academic institutions to address the issue of skill shortages, Indian Machine Tools Manufacturers’ Association (IMTMA) organized an Industry Institution Interactive Meet at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), Bengaluru on September 25, 2018.

IMTMA has always been in the forefront of forging a robust industry-academia bond to help address the problem of widening skills gap and create a strong pool of trained man-power. To ensure that its efforts are heading in the right direction, the association held an interactive meet that convened around 80 people from various institutions as well as the industry.

The day-long event commenced with a welcome address by PJ Mohanram, Senior Adviser, IMTMA. Other panelists in-cluded Dr S Devarajan, Senior Vice President, TVS Motors and Indradev Babu, Vice President, IMTMA.

Engineers to benefit from machine tool industry

Speaking on the importance of the machine tool industry in manufacturing, Babu highlighted the various growth opportunities that the industry offers. He stressed that when measured in terms of the size, machine tool industry may be a small constituent in manufacturing, it, however, plays a significant role in producing the machines required for the manufacturing to happen. The industry, therefore, throws open highly interesting opportunities for engineers, particularly for designing and creating products. The industry produces products with allied services support, whereas the institutions bring out educated youth. A proper alignment between the industry and academic institutions will surely pay rich dividends, he stated.

Babu said that he could feel the undercurrent of the mounting demand for machine tools at the recently concluded International Manufacturing Technology Show 2018 at Chicago. The exhibition created a record in terms of participation and there was a huge interest for machine tools.

Informing the audience on our country’s global standing, he stated that India is the sixth largest economy in the world and is expected to overtake the UK and occupy the fifth position in the global list of economic giants. He divulged statistics that manufacturing contributes to around 16.7 percent to India’s GDP. Machine tool consumption during 2017-18 was around '14,700 crore and around 50 percent of the machines were produced domestically. He added that by 2020, the production figures for machine tools is expected to touch around '12,600 crore.

The Auto industry, he said, was a major consumer of machine tools. While 40 percent of the machine tool consumption comes from this industry, industry machinery accounts for around 20 percent. Die and Mould industry accounts for around 10 percent and Defence, Railways and Power etc. account for around 5 percent. With the machine tool industry growing at around 20 percent year-on-year, the demand for precision parts and other accessories are expected to increase, he informed.

Dr Devarajan seconded Babu’s opinion on the significance of the machine tool industry and said that the industry possesses incredible design skills and the tools are price competitive. He added that if the industry can design good products for the Indian market then it has the ability to deliver them anywhere in the world. He further added that Indian economy is creating the right opportunities for this and we need to stay tuned. He elaborated on how learning and enhancing total employee involvement would result in QCD benefits of an organization.

Training is important

Mohanram made a brief presentation on IMTMA Technology Centers. IMTMA lays great emphasis on training the industry workforce through its training programs as well as imparting technology know-how on advanced developments through seminars and summits. Speaking on the relevance of the Centers, Mohanram said that IMTMA has set up model digital manufacturing units at its Centers and has recreated a model manufacturing shop where machines are interconnected. Students undergo training for the jobs that they would have to take up on shop floors when they join the industry. The training makes them industry ready.

V Anbu, Director General, IMTMA spoke on the current trends in Indian manufacturing and how can they be instrumental in realizing the Indian government’s vision of increasing the contribution of manufacturing from the current over 16 percent to 25 percent
by 2025.

More to deliberate overMore to deliberate over

The meet also featured interesting sessions from M Dharmananda, Manager – HRM, Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts, who made the attendees aware of the ‘Best Practices of Learning and Development’; Dr Prakash Tewari, Dean Academics, KLE Technological University, gave an account on ‘Faculty Development Initiatives’; and V Kumarasubramaniam, Senior General Manager – L&D, Tube Investments Group, divulged ways to ‘Enhance Effectiveness of a Training’.

The event concluded with a visit to IMTMA Productivity Institute and Design Institute and an interactive session with the faculty. The final panel discussion focused on examining the skills gap between the ones imparted by institutions and those needed in the industry. It led to an insight into the expectations of the industry from the new recruits and the significant role of IMTMA Technology Centers in analyzing and bridging the knowledge gap.

Machine tool consumption during 2017-18 was around '14,700 crore and around 50 percent of the machines were produced domestically. By 2020, the production figures for machine tools is expected to touch around '12,600 crore.