Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organized the Industrial Automation Summit: “Managing Today Operational Challenges and Being Ready for Tomorrow’s Growth” on 4th December 2015 at The Crowne Plaza, Gurgaon. The focus of Summit was on Innovation and Quality driven manufacturing. Three Faculty members Ms. Amninder Kaur (ECE), Mr. Chandra Shekhar, (EEE deptt.) and Mr. Rajesh Mattoo (ME deptt.) from Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon attended the summit.

The participants at the summit included domestic and international automation and robotics professionals and experts from the field of Industrial Automation community, leading companies in the field of Automation, Robotics, Technology & Service Providers, Auto and Auto Components manufacturers along with other stakeholders.

Mr Rajiv Gandhi, the Conference Chairman and Executive Director , Maruti Suzuki India Ltd inaugurated the summit and delivered the welcome speech. He said that with India’s emergence as a ‘Global Manufacturing Hub’, Economic reforms and various policy initiatives have made India one of the fastest-growing economies in the world today. The manufacturing sector has played a significant role in the growth of the Indian economy, contributing nearly 15% to the country’s GDP over the last few years. Mr Ajay Shankar, Chairman, Expert Committee on Regulatory Affairs, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion was the guest of honour at the event. The keynote addresses of the summit were delivered by Mr Makoto Yokoyama, Director & Division Manager – Factory Automation & Industrial Division Mitsubishi Electric India Pvt Ltd. He said that India is one of the most promising destinations for investment today. He also added that the Government too seems to be more passionate towards industrial growth with the recent “Make in India” campaign.” Industrial automation will play an important role for efficient planning of Industrial growth in India.

The Summit covered the following main topics:

1. Enhance Manufacturing capacity

2. Factory automation

3. Technological Advancements

4. New scientific innovations

5. Research and Development

6. Scalable and sustainable technologies

7. Achieving manufacturing excellence

Mr Ashwani Dubey, Managing Director & CEO, Comau India Pvt Ltd threw light upon the key issues in the sector pertaining to the very high attrition rates and lack of competent and non-availability of skilled manpower. He also focused on the measuring tool ie. Intelligent Quotient to analyse the demographic dividend. His suggestions to the industry was to define competency and have a structured program to bridge the competency gap with Skill Development, Quality and Intelligent Quotient.

Mr Ramesh C Jain, Past Chairman, CII Haryana State Council & Former Group Vice Chairman, Eicher Group stressed on the term Industry 4.0 or the fourth industrial revolution which involves Data exchange, Cyber fiscal norms, internet of things. He said the key part of a manufacturing strategy is the definition of whether products will continue to be produced at the traditional manufacturing sites, or if the cost advantages make it beneficial to set up manufacturing in geographic areas with a lower cost base. Automation has had a notable impact in a wide range of highly visible industries beyond manufacturing. Telecom sector is one such example. Even medical processes are carried out at much greater speed and accuracy by automated systems. All these factors clearly indicate the need for creating focused platform for deliberations on the issues in various sectors including the users & suppliers.

Dr Chandan Chowdhury, Managing Director, Dassault Systems gave a very interesting presentation and stressed upon the fact that Collaboration, Integration of the process of production with Green and sustainability is the key criteria for Robust Growth in Industrial Automation. He also shared various projects his company has been undertaking in the past few years and how people are now talking about transformation enabled by technology. In the automobile sector the consumer wants smart, safe and connected cars. He said that as the cost of making a defect in the physical world is very high and companies can actually create a digital twin before the final product. Launch the product in 3 D.

The summit included THREE panel discussions:

Session I : Automation & Manufacturing Strategies for High-Volume Production.

It was discussed that manufacturing strategy can be defined as a set of coordinated objectives applied to manufacturing functions and aimed at securing sustainable advantage over competitors. The Issues that were addressed included Manufacturing capacity, production facilities, technology advances, vertical integration, quality, production planning/materials control, organization and personnel. It came out from the discussion that the strategic approach must be combined with a pragmatic approach to continuous improvement at an operational level to ensure competitiveness in global markets

Session –II : Emerging Technologies on Industrial Robotics and Manufacturing Automation.

This session highlighted on the research and development of enabling technologies and practical applications on industrial robotics and manufacturing automation. With high motivation to promote industrial robotics to solve real world problems, this opportunity can be used to get together experts from industry in the proposed session to discuss how to use advance technologies in industrial automation. The session tried to present some of the most recent research results achieved by researchers working in the areas of industrial robotics and manufacturing automation and enhance the opportunity for university-industry cooperation..

Session-III : Building Smart, Scalable & Sustainable Manufacturing.

The Session focused on the importance of technology and industrial automation in enhancing productivity and sustainability of the Organization. Encouraging the development of scalable, clean manufacturing process technologies addresses the critical national needs of Manufacturing and Sustainability.

The sessions witnessed speakers from various organizations namely

1. Omron Automation Pvt Ltd.,

2. ATS Conveyors India Pvt Ltd,

3. Stratasys India,

4. SCHUNK Intec India Private Limited,

5. Precision Automation & Robotics India Ltd (Pari),

6. Fanuc India Pvt Ltd,

7. Maini Precision Products Pvt Ltd,

8. Siemens Industry Software (India) Pvt Ltd,

9. Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd,

10. Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Private Limited.

The workshop ended with valedictory function where Mr Gautam Maini gave the vote of thanks.

The participants gained immense knowledge from the discussions of the participating Experts and leading companies from Manufacturing Sector across the country.