Page 35 - MMI-March-April-2022

World-class facilities
Forms and Gears has two state-
of-the-art factories at Guindy, in
the heart of Chennai, housing
one of the best-equipped private
tool room facilities in the coun-
try. The company exports fix-
tures to over 10 countries now.
It has recently added a large
number of Japanese Machining
Source: Forms and Gears Source: Forms and Gears phase 1 of a four-phase expan-
Centers and allied equipment in
sion plan.

“One of our strengths is our “At Forms and Gears, we have Smartfix 4.0
loyal, skilled, and experienced built fixtures that have helped In 2018, Forms and Gears
workforce, and we have people our clients foster innovation, launched ‘SmartFix 4.0’, which
whose fathers and grandfathers increase productivity and save is the world’s first-ever Indus-
worked with us. In this day and costs for five decades now. The
age, having three generations of award signifies the indispensable try 4.0 solution for Fixtures
employees working with one role of fixture building companies and Workholding. Industry 4.0 SmartFix
company is rare and is a on the modern-day shop floor. is commonly referred to as the 4.0 has
testament to the company Smart fixtures, in particular, have been jointly
and its culture.” the potential to catalyze the next fourth industrial revolution and
revolution in the digitalization is the ability of machines, devic- developed
Reji Varghese journey of manufacturers.” by Forms
Managing Director es, sensors, and people to con-
Forms and Gears Annu Varghese nect and communicate with each and Gears
Director of Special Projects other via the Internet of Things. and ASM
Forms and Gears Technolo-
company in 1993, and I have SmartFix 4.0 has been jointly gies and is
been in the Design and Engi- developed by Forms and Gears a Precision
neering division ever since. into new industries – with Forms and ASM Technologies and is Workholding
Forms and Gears’ design IP and and Gears joining our fold.” a Precision Workholding De- Device with
the skilled workforce is one of He adds, “Forms and Gears are vice with the ability to collect, the ability
the reasons why we have been pioneers in making workhold- transmit, and analyze data in a to collect,
in the business for 50 years.” ing devices. It is a company that useful format for the end-user. transmit,
“In fact, for around 47 of those is built on a strong design by an Developed for the first time in and analyze
50 years, we did not even have amazing team with a great expe- the world, it takes Workholding data in a
a sales department; not even rience. The impressive customer devices and Fixtures into the useful for-
mat for the
one person in sales. All sales list developed over the past fifty digital and cyberspace. end-user.
were by referrals and repeat years is a testament to the same. As the Fixture is in continuous
clients,” she adds. Their domain knowledge and contact with the component,
value engineering capabilities it is the ideal device to collect
Joint venture with have been leveraged to expand and analyze data at the compo-
ASM Technologies business from the Automobile nent level. Sensors to monitor
In 2018, a majority stake in Forms and Engineering industries to vibration, pressure, sequence
and Gears was acquired by ASM other verticals like Electronics of clamping, component pres-
Technologies, a publicly listed and Semiconductor. Addition- ence, etc are mounted on the
Engineering Services and Design ally, the foray into Industry 4.0 fixture. And sensors to moni-
company. It has 1,200 engineers with our very own SmartFix tor oil levels, oil contamination,
in Bangalore and there is now a 4.0, which is a product built and temperature are mounted
separate dedicated design team by the best in manufacturing, on the powerpack. The high
for Fixtures, Special Machines, hardware, software, and ana- volume of data collected from
etc. at Whitefield. lytics, places us at a desirable these sensors is continuously
Rabindra Srikantan, Managing vantage point. We look forward transmitted wirelessly to the
Director, ASM Technologies, to carrying this momentum to cloud where it is parsed and
says, “We, at ASM Technolo- expand to the western markets stored for analysis. The raw
gies, have seen both – promising by engaging with world leaders data is then analyzed using
growth as well as opportunities of these industries.” Data Analytics and Artificial

March-April 2022 | 35
www.mmindia.co.in