Conquering the Summit

The highest performing companies have certain practices deployed that qualify them better from the rest. To identify their approaches and aid the others in applying the same for significant performance effects, the Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association (IMTMA) has organized the 11^th edition of National Productivity Summit on August 04–05, 2017 at Hyatt Regency, Pune. Save the dates.

With the aim to build a sustainable competitive advantage, companies are constantly striving for means to increase their growth, reduce cost of operations, and enhance productivity. They are persistently on a lookout for a highly structured approach to managing innovation, while at the same time, not losing out on time to reach the markets. Although technological advancement, blurring the boundaries between the physical and
digital manufacturing worlds, has become a key facilitator in this pursuit, challenges in the Indian manufacturing industry exist by and large. 4

Through this summit, IMTMA has thus taken on the role of a torchbearer to address the issues the industry faces in regard to productivity and competitiveness.

Girish Shankar, Secretary, Department of Heavy Industry, Governemnt of India will grace the event as the Chief Guest. Prasan Firodia, Managing Director, Force Motors and Shishir Joshipura, Managing Director, SKF India will be the Guests of Honour.

The summit in a nutshell

The National Productivity Summit through Keynotes, Case Study Presentations and Plant Visits, showcases the practices deemed best in the world of manufacturing.

The event brings forth reasons why manufacturers should embrace integrated approaches for optimizing manufacturing productivity, and suggests ways for preparing their people, processes and technology as part of this journey of productivity excellence.

Plant visits for enhanced learning

The summit has lined up plant tours to high-performing companies as part of its agenda. Observing and assessing their plant processes up close give a thorough understanding of the company’s performance potential, and aid in applying their proven shopfloor practices to one’s own plant.

Hence, three assessment tours have been planned prior to the summit on Aug 3, 2017:

Tour A to Spicer India and Bosch Chassis Systems India;

Tour B to Cummins India and Tata Cummins;

Tour C to Mahle Behr India and Concentric Pumps.

Learning from their expertise

Through the plant visits participants will have an excellent opportunity to learn manufacturing processes that go into making Cummins India’s mid high horsepower engines for off-highway applications or Tata Cummins’ mid-range engines for on-highway applications. Bosch Chassis Systems’ braking system components and vehicle safety systems for the automotive industry and Spicer. India’s axles, driveshafts and drivetrain products will be easier to comprehend after the tour to these companies. Mahle Behr India’s expertise lies in making automotive air conditioning and engine cooling systems, while Concentric Pumps is into advanced technology oil pumps, water pumps, fuel pumps and hydraulic systems. The tours will provide clarity as to why and how the companies are leading in innovation and sustainability.

Keynotes that will motivate

As part of the summit, industry leaders will be sharing their expertise and experiences. Sunil Kaul, Group President, Excellence in Manufacturing, Innovation and Technology, ANAND Automotive, will reveal the “Quality Culture at ANAND - Leader Led Transformation for Zero Defect”.

Dattatreya Gaur, Vice President and Business Unit Head, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions, will enlighten on the “Relevance of Smart Manufacturing in the Indian Context”.

Ravi Damodaran, President, Technology & Strategy, Varroc Engineering, will be presenting his take on the “Challenges in Manufacturing Productivity - The Way Forward”.

Challenges and solutions

Challenges are rife in the manufacturing world. What is not so common is the ideal way to deal with them. Successful companies are ahead in the race due to their innovative approaches to finding ways out of problems. The event aims to highlight them through their case study presentations. To name a few: Bajaj Auto, Akurdi, will share its innovatively developed Garnet Shot Blasting setup in place of a purchased steel shot blasting machine for welded sheet frame. The result of which is a 92 percent drop in its inventories and 100 percent increase in productivity besides lower capital and process costs.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Kandivali, will make aware of its almost impossible feat of converting an existing Hot Core box to Cold box process to make shell cores without stopping production for a single day.

Mahle Behr India, Pune, will demonstrate how 100 percent line balancing can be achieved in an assembly line. Titan Company, Hosur, will elaborate on how the use of innovative progressive die design resulted into four different watch components from a single die, with 90 degree indexing of die and use of two parallel strip feeds.

May the best one win

Awards are the best way not just to recognise one’s excellence, but also to acknowledge one’s abilities, the struggle one goes through and the commitment needed before making it to the top slot. The summit through the IMTMA - ACE MICROMATIC Productivity Championship Awards 2017 will reward outstanding efforts from the shortlisted case studies of companies that have excelled in achieving superior performance. Cash prizes worth `10 lakh will be presented to the winners.

A not-to-be-missed affair

The event makes an ideal platform to learn from the industry experts as they shed light on the practices they execute in their presentations and case studies. Plant visits provide an exposure to the shop floor practices of the renowned companies in the industry, while the interactive sessions and networking help exchange new ideas and concepts that will usher in a fresh perspective.

Hence, CEOs, top management executives, senior executives, engineers, R&D specialists and industry consultants from manufacturing industries from Automotive, Auto components, Consumer durables, Machine tool, Tool rooms, Aerospace, Defence, Railway units, PSUs, General engineering  and other discrete manufacturing industries should participate in the event and make the most of the takeaways.

 Author

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

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