Innovation & R&D key to enhance India’s manufacturing capabilities: Kalpana Awasthi

NEW DELHI: Innovation and Research and development (R&D) have a vital role in enhancing India’s manufacturing capability and sharpening its competitiveness, according to Kalpana Awasthi, Director General, National productivity Council,

"A robust manufacturing sector of the future requires firms that are not only technologically sophisticated, but are also agile, adaptive and efficient," said Awasthi said while addressing Manufacturing Innovation Conclave 2017 athotel ITC Maurya, New Delhi, today.

"Today manufacturers, in alignment with profitable growth agenda, are adopting a two-pronged approach. They are working to extend and enhance their product lines while cutting costs via process innovation. Close linkages between the industry and research and academic centres is required for innovation in manufacturing to thrive," she added.

In his opening remarks, Kishore Jayaraman, Conclave Chairman, Manufacturing Innovation Conclave 2017 & President, India & South Asia, Rolls-Royce India said, “For India to pursue growth and sustainability in manufacturing it requires a strategic shift from cost-based competition to an approach based on value creation. This is where innovation plays a key role in enabling organisations to adapt to global competitive pressures, bring in disruptive technologies, add new customer expectations and reach out to an entirely new set of global competitors.”

This Conclave is a key platform to engage in meaningful dialogue that could help steer the future of the manufacturing sector in India towards growth and further global recognition,” he said.

Dr Gautam Shroff, Vice President & Chief Scientist Tata Consultancy Services said, “The ability to innovate again and again is critical to success. To add value to the innovation process, we need to stay ahead of the curve and keep an eye on trends in the marketplace. We need to nurture our own intellectual curiosity and keep a tab on what’s happening outside your market.”

Drew Johnson, Vice President, Engineering & Operations (Global), Aeris, USA, in his address mentioned that, “In order to realize the full value of smart and connected ‘Internet of Things’, we need to build ‘Smart Factories’ and be a part of the Data Lake Foundation that provides unit-level visibility across the value chain from the plant-floor to the end-customers. The ‘Make in India’ programme puts India at the center of this next level of innovation.”

Presenting the theme of the conference, Rajeev Singh, Senior Director, Deloitte India said that the rise of trends such as “Off-shoring to On-shoring” and “Mass Manufacturing to Mass Customization” had pushed traditional companies to transform rapidly and embrace a new technology-driven business model. “Robotics and automation are helping companies in this transformation. Mr Singh emphasized on innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, 3D printing, additive manufacturing etc. for ensuring a rapid innovation cycle for all the players in the domain.

Pradeep David, Head, India Operations, Universal Robotics A/S said, “Indian manufacturing companies in several sectors are targeting global markets and are becoming a force to reckon with. The government’s support to the sector by launching ‘Make in India’ program is providing the much-needed impetus to the industry."

"Industrialists in our country want to maximise the 'Make in India' initiative by establishing manufacturing facilities of international quality standards to cater to the Indian and global market effectively. For this, manufacturers need to invest more in terms of automation and the latest equipment and technologies. A new generation of “collaborative” robots can usher in an era of shepherding robots out of their cages and literally hand-in-hand with human workers who train them through physical demonstration," he added.

The conclave also had speakers from Boeing India, Panasonic, Siemens, PTC, Hughes, Godrej Aerospace and others and was well attended by more than 150 participants.