The CII Institute of Quality organized the National Business Excellence Conclave 2016 and KN Shenoy Oration as part of its 15th anniversary celebration in Chennai on May 9. Eminent speakers from different industry verticals emphasised the importance of quality in manufacturing and the urgent need for Indian manufacturing to adopt industry 4.0.
Delivering the KN Shenoy Oration, Mr. Sunil Mathur, Managing Director, Siemens India, said that manufacturing continues to evolve, and it has become much more complex as customers have become more demanding and discerning. “Today there are Indian manufacturers capable of competing on a global scale, but unfortunately for us there are too few. With 1.3 billion people, a workforce of around 500 million and a young intelligent population, India has it all. Yet, somehow, we are not seen as a country of manufacturers”.
According to him, India will grow only if its economic model is one of inclusion. Manufacturing is the one area that can do this. If manufacturing is moved out of the cities and into the towns it will revolutionize the economy of the country. Today manufacturing contributes around $300 billion to the Indian economy. The target is to increase its contribution to a trillion dollars by 2025.
As the world is moving towards industry 4.0, India will also have to fall in line with it if the ‘Make in India’ campaign has to succeed. This implies adoption of new technologies not only in manufacturing but right through supply chains. The entire supply chain of SMEs has to stay relevant and competitive. Manufacturing in India will only succeed if SMEs meet the challenge of stepping up to implement industry 4.0. Without reliable apprenticeship training system, children are today taught on technologies that are already outdated.
Mr. Kamal Bali, Managing Director, Volvo India Pvt. Ltd., elaborated on mega trends, which would shape the future – digitization, economic power shift from the West to the East, widening economic disparity and changing urbanization. These mega trends have brought into focus digitization and smart manufacturing. “We need digital technology to be more competitive and faster to market. This will build brand India. There is urgent need for pragmatic policy, adoption of best practices from successful countries, defining a vision for manufacturing and identifying champion industries in order to bring about a positive impact on the entire ecosystem,” he added.
In his special address on ‘Smart Factory – Delivering Next Generation of Manufacturing’, Mr. Anil Sikka, Master Expert & Partner, McKinsey & Co. Inc., spoke on industry 4.0, internet of things and digital manufacturing. Manufacturing companies are on the brink of disruption. Disruptive technologies are coming into manufacturing at a rapid pace. Just as the world is interconnected very soon we will have a scenario where machines in a manufacturing plant will be interconnected across geographies.
He listed the four factors that will transform an organization into a digital company.
* How we capture the huge amount of data generated by an organization.
* How you utilize and analyze the data to get a meaningful insights.
* How you bring about human and machine interactions.
* Robotics and 3D manufacturing
Over the years the cost of capturing and analyzing data has come down significantly and can be easily adopted in an organization, and the same applies to robotics and 3D manufacturing. Technologies like Google Glasses are widely catching on in manufacturing industry.
Mr. R. Mukundan, Chairman, CII Institute of Quality, and Managing Director, Tata Chemicals Ltd., said that quality must be a holistic approach for business excellence because it leads to improved customer demand, enhanced customer experience and lowering of cost. The key task is to create an organizational culture around quality. The stage is now set for smart manufacturing and smart factories of the 21st century. The latest manufacturing revelation will fundamentally change how products are invented, manufactured, shipped and sold and this will make zero emission, zero incident manufacturing possible.
In his opening address, Mr. N. Kumar, Former Chairman, CII Institute of Quality, Past President of CII, and Vice Chairman, Sanmar Group, termed the CII Institute of Quality as one of the finest centres for building competitiveness of Indian industry. The institute has always remained relevant and focused on building future-ready skills.
Today, the world is aware that by transforming quality culture and embedding the strategic quality mindset throughout an organization, companies can improve their performance and manage risks to address the challenges of the next decade. Quality today is less about engineering characteristics and more about change in management, he added.