India-Japan : Untapping the Potential through Synergy
India and Japan have a history of mutually benefiting industrial collaborations. Recent developments in their engagement paint a brighter picture as the countries are recognising each other’s strengths and are leveraging them for their growth. In the machine tool sector, Japan has its expertise and know-how to offer to India, while India can reciprocate with its market size, technological concepts and skilled workforce.
The exchange between India and Japan that started centuries ago has sustained and kept gaining momentum due to stark complimentaries between the two Asian economies. Recent developments in the trade scenario have further strengthened their relation which still has a vast potential for growth.
Stronger bond
Japan is currently India’s third largest source of foreign direct investment. Investments from Japan have made a quantum leap during 2016-17, reaching $4.7 billion from $2.6 billion during 2015-16. Cumulative Japanese FDI in India is $25.67 billion between 2000 and 2017, which constitutes 8 percent of India’s overall FDI during this period.
The machine tool sector being the backbone of the manufacturing industry, its prowess determines the success of manufacturing. Hence, Japan being one of the leaders in the machine tool sector, holds immense potential for India in terms of expertise and know-how. India, on the other hand, is important to Japan due to its market size and human resources.
A perfect alliance
The Japan Machine Tool Builders’ Association (JMTBA) is an industrial collective dedicated to taking on scientific and technological challenges, and promoting Japanese machine tool industry globally. Yoji Ishimaru, President, JMTBA, said, “In India, advanced manufacturing industries such as automobile, aircraft and electronic devices have been developed. In the future, the demand for mass-production and production efficiency will be strengthened. We assume the need in India for technologies such as robot-based automation, processing that complies with large-scale work or complex shapes, and energy-saving that corresponds to environmental problem will increase. Japanese machine tool industry has advantage in all these fields.”
“India has the highest economic growth rate at present, and machine tool demand here is expected to continuously expand in the future. In recent years, the investment of Japanese machine tool manufacturers in India has increased remarkably.”
Yoji Ishimaru,
President,
Japan Machine Tool Builders’ Association (JMTBA)
“Japanese manufacturers and market are open to accept high quality advanced products and technologies. We hope to see more proposals from Indian manufacturers that suit Japanese market.”
Yutaka Nakau,
President,
Japan Forming Machinery Association (JFMA)
“Japanese companies are poised to supply IoT enabled machines to Indian users particularly in automotive sector that will change the demand likely to be posed to Indian suppliers.”
Vivek Nigam,
Business Head,
Machine Building Division Isgec Heavy Engineering Ltd
Trends in Japan
The machine tool industry is in a transformational phase, with new machines and technologies redefining the way production happens worldwide. “Optimizing the manufacturing processes and services by making full use of Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the focus,” shared Ishimaru, describing the machine tool scenario in Japan. Additive Manufacturing (AM), 3D printers, Automation / unmanned technology utilizing robots, Precision processing technology such as 5 axis machining centers and turning centers are among other trends. “Japanese machine tool manufacturers are actively working on the development of these new technologies and can provide high performance machines that respond to the development of Indian civil demand,” he added.
“Since IT industry has already developed in India, Japanese IoT and AI technologies that connect all the machines and industries will be easily accepted in the manufacturing sector in India, further contributing to improve efficiency. We believe that Japanese additive manufacturing technology will also be required in the development of Indian manufacturing industries in the future,” he emphasised.
Synergy at its best
Indian machine tool makers can learn a lot from their Japanese counterparts. “After the Second World War, the machine tool industry in Japan has greatly developed through the cooperation and collaboration of industry, academia and public sector. Japan has also developed world-leading high-performance machines and offers them to manufacturers worldwide. Japan can, in turn, benefit from adopting technology concepts from India,” Ishimaru conceded. “In India where IT software technology is highly developed, many engineers are working on the development of superb software. There is a vast possibility to incorporate Indian IT technology for Japanese machine tools,” he noted.
Tough competition
Japan, by keeping itself abreast of the global trends, has maintained its lead in machine tools. Out of the top 10 global machine tool vendors, five are from Japan. However, the manufacturers in Japan are receiving tough competition from China in terms of production. Hence, are developing technologically more advanced machine tools to withstand the competition.
MF-Tokyo 2017
Japan takes pride in producing state-of-the-art technologies in metal forming machinery that puts it in the world’s top two countries in development and production. Through industry fairs and exhibitions, the country disseminates its latest technologies of the metal forming industry to the world.
Metal Forming & Fabricating Fair Tokyo (MF-Tokyo) is one such specialised trade fair which attracts high-quality visitors and witnesses participation from many countries including India. Organised by the Japan Forming Machinery Association (JFMA) and the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun Ltd, the 5th edition of MF-Tokyo was held on July 12-15, 2017 at Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo.
Latest on the display
With the sub-theme of “Connecting to the Future and Beyond”, MF-Tokyo 2017 brought together metal forming machines, automated equipment, related equipment, processing technologies and service technologies. The fair attracted attendance of influential industrial professionals in the fields of press, sheet metal processing and forming from world over.
“IoT is the key emphasis in order to collect operational status of the machines and feedback with corrective actions, which leads to high productivity and high quality manufacturing,” informed Yutaka Nakau, President, JFMA. “Processing technologies of new materials (composite materials and high metal alloys, etc.) and interfacing machine operational status in production with analysis technologies will play important role in the future,” he elaborated.
From India, Isgec Heavy Engineering Ltd participated in the show. Speaking on its relevance, Vivek Nigam, the company’s Business Head, Machine Building Division, highlighted, “Our objective was to assess ourselves against the best in the world to become a global machine building company. MF-Tokyo provides the visibility one needs and the opportunity to get up close with the key decision-makers of Japanese MNCs around the world.”
“Today IoT and 4.0 is the thing which most manufacturers globally would follow. India, inherently known for a strong software base, is likely to lead the trend. Next most researched area is tribology involved inside the mechanical arrangements of metal forming machines,” he shared. Further he added, “A new concept of ‘Textured Bushings’ is introduced in which micro dimples are made on Bushings with Laser. It gives better lubrication oil retention, and the limits of bearing pressure capacity can be stretched far beyond the present limits.”
Author
Poonam Pednekar
Chief Copy Editor
Magic Wand Media Inc
poonam.pednekar@magicwandmedia.org
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