IMTMA's 71st AGM

Bangalore, India – The 71^st Annual General Meeting of IMTMA held recently at Banagalore International Exhibition Centre, witnessed President PG Jadeja appraise the performance of the Indian Machine Tool industry in the last one year while drawing attention to the Association’s efforts instrumental in its progress.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr S Raghunath, Prof-Corporate Strategy and Policy Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM) oriented the audience on the topic “Preparing for Transformations in Manufacturing Industries - Electric Vehicles’ Impact on Machine Tool Industry” and Shailesh Sheth, Past President, IMTMA gave an insightful presentation on IMTMA’s Governance Policies. During the AGM, an announcement was made about P Ramadas, Managing Director, Ace Manufacturing Systems Ltd being the next IMTMA President-Elect and Indradev Babu, Managing Director, UCAM Pvt Ltd as the new Vice President, IMTMA.

Manufacturing sector bounces back

New Delhi, India – Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) Data has revealed that the manufacturing activities in the country bounced back to growth path in August after having contracted in July due to the confusion pre-GST (the Goods and Services Tax).

The Nikkei India Manufacturing PMI rose to 51.2 in August from 47.9 points in July. A reading above 50 on the index denotes expansion.

“August’s PMI results showed that manufacturers in India recovered quickly from the sharp slump that followed the introduction of the GST,” said Pollyanna De Lima, Principal Economist at IHS Markit and the author of the report.

This ray of hope came on the heels of the release of gross domestic product (GDP) data that indicated a three-year dip in economic growth at 5.7 percent in the first quarter of the current financial year.

NITI Aayog’s initiative to have mentors

New Delhi, India – The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) – the premier policy ‘Think Tank’ of the Government of India, providing both directional and policy inputs – has launched the Mentor India Campaign, a strategic nation building initiative to engage leaders who can guide and mentor students at more than 900 Atal Tinkering Labs, established across the country as a part of the Atal Innovation Mission.

Atal Tinkering Labs are dedicated workspaces where students from Class 6^th to Class 12^th learn innovation skills and develop ideas that will go on to transform India. The labs are powered to acquaint students with state-of-the-art equipment such as 3D printers, robotics & electronics development tools, Internet of things & sensors etc.

Adani, Saab collaborate for Aerodef

New Delhi, India – Swedish defence and security company Saab and Indian infrastructure conglomerate Adani Group have announced a partnership for defence manufacturing. The project would encompass design, development and production of Gripen jets for India in line with the Make in India initiative. It will combine the technical and product excellence of Saab, along with the industrial engineering, system integration and mega project execution capabilities of Adani with the intention to manufacture defence systems locally in India.

Gripen is a modern multi-role fighter aircraft featuring state-of-the-art technology, including advanced data links and sensors plus a unique extensive electronic warfare suite. Gripen can perform all air-to-air, air-to-surface and reconnaissance missions with the most modern range of weapons and systems.

Meet on Sunshine Sectors

Pune, India – Yamazaki Mazak India Pvt Ltd and Seco Tools India (P) Ltd recently organized ‘Innovation Days’, a joint seminar on enhancing competitiveness in Aerospace and Medical sectors. The event focused on topics including machining of trending materials in Aerospace and Medical industries; latest machining methods; component engineering solutions; digital solutions; and global competence centers. As part of the seminar, a live demonstration was held on the latest machining trends on Mazak machines at Mazak Technology Center, Pune. Also a visit to the state-of-the-art Seco manufacturing facility was lined up. A two-hour interactive session with international experts was scheduled to seek winning solutions for the various manufacturing challenges. A host of industry experts such as Tom Massey, Regional Asia Pacific Expert, Aerospace & Medical; Vipin Rajput, Regional Asia Pacific Expert, Aerospace and K S Chong, Senior Director, Solution Engineering spoke on the topics exhaustively. Massey has decades of machining background in the Aerospace sector and Rajput specializes in Metal cutting.

VDMA celebrates its 125^th anniversary

Cologne, Germany – With the aim to establish a network of contacts for the mechanical engineering sector, which was to communicate common interests with one voice, 29 machine factories in Cologne, Germany
laid the foundations for the VDMA in 1892. Today, it is the largest industrial association in Europe with around 3,200 member companies.

For the anniversary, the website www.mensch-maschine-fortschritt.de shows in German and English in the form of multimedia reports how important machine and plant engineering is for everyday life. Almost every product is produced by machines, from nano to giga, in all dimensions and application areas. Topics of
the reports are for example: energy supply, infrastructure and mobility, food supply and human-robot collaboration.

New PCD processing at EMO 2017

India – A new Neo laser roughing machine to preprocess polycrystalline diamond (PCD), cubic boron nitride (CBN) and other super-hard materials could be witnessed at this edition of Hannover. In conjunction with finishing the work piece on an Agathon grinding machine, companies will benefit from extremely short cycle times, low acquisition and production costs, as well as the technological advantages of industry 4.0 features.

Visitors can visit Agathon in Hall 11, Stall C62 in EMO Hannover.

HAL to supply 41 Advanced Light Helicopters

Bengaluru, India – Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has signed `6,100 crore contract for supplying
41 Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH)-40 to the Indian Army and one to the Indian Navy. The contract will be executed in 60 months and adds to the 32 ALH ordered by the Indian Navy (IN) and Indian Coast Guard (ICG) in March.

“The order reflects the trust on HAL’s capabilities and gives an impetus to ‘Make in India’ campaign. It reposes faith of Indian Defence forces in indigenous ALH which has been serving them with distinction for a long time,” said T Suvarna Raju, Chairman, Managing Director, HAL. The indigenously designed and developed chopper is a twin engine, multi-role, multi-mission new generation helicopter in the 5.5 tonne weight class.

Hyundai to manufacture Verna in India

Chennai, India – South Korean automobile giant Hyundai Motors has announced that it will be shifting its entire production of its mid-sized sedan Verna from South Korea to India.

The move is expected to boost the “Make in India” initiative. The manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur near Chennai will start supplying Verna to nearly all of Hyundai’s global markets from January 2018. YK Koo, Managing Director, Hyundai Motor India disclosed that they are targeting annual production of about 1.3 lakh units of the mid-size sedan in India in the next few years. The company also hopes to export 60 to 70 percent of those units. Its factory currently operates at 95-98 percent of capacity. It plans to manufacture around 50,000 units of Verna for the Indian market and another 80,000 units for global markets, including Latin America, Africa, Middle East and other Asian countries.

Schneider Electric India commissions 720 kWp solar plant

Vadodara, India – Schneider Electric India recently announced the commissioning of a 720 kWp capacity solar power project at its manufacturing facility in Vadodara, Gujarat. The solar project, built on a rooftop area of 6,000 sq mt, covers almost 45% of the total factory load and will produce over 1.05 million units of electricity per year which would help cut power costs by as much as 20-25% annually. Further, the company will be able to cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 1,018 tonne per year, which is equivalent to planting 50,000 trees.

The project demonstrates its commitment towards green manufacturing in India. This is the second solar project commissioned by Schneider Electric at its manufacturing facility in India.