“Quality is not difficult to attain, but quality consistency is hard to achieve. So if you need consistent quality, volume and productivity, you have to switch to Automation,” said Mr. Ramakant Joshi in his keynote address at the CII Conference on ‘Automation for Profitability’ held at Hotel Residency Towers, Coimbatore on 22nd July.
“Automation also reduces fatigue and helps the workforce to be more productive. In order to make automation achieve the desired goals, it is imperative that the buyer is equally knowledgeable and is fully involved, rather than leaving things entirely to the seller and his capabilities. At the buyer’s end, people at all levels should also be trained to assimilate the new technologies and the processes involved,” remarked Mr. Joshi.
Mr. P. Ravichandran, President, Danfoss Industries was the Chief Guest on the occasion. In his address, he dealt with the after-effects of digitalization. He said that the mega trends in the domain are disrupting the world. Larger companies are fast disappearing and smaller ones are growing bigger in no time. The use of IOT technology and software are eating into every business including the kirana stores. In industries like food processing, automation is helping in close control of parameters, enabling traceability of the processes & products and also bringing down the costs. Automation is also bringing productivity, safety and sustainability through conservation of energy, water and other scare resources.” He said the industry should have the capacity and ability to deploy automation. Small and medium size companies must focus on knowledge and skill development so as to be able to embrace the sweeping changes.
Earlier, Ms. Nethra J.S. Kumar, Chairperson, CII Coimbatore Zone & CMD, Lakshmi Electrical Control Systems Ltd. delivered the welcome address and Mr. Arjun Prakash, Event Chairman & Co-Convener- Manufacturing Panel, CII Coimbatore Zone & Director-Effica Automation Ltd. delivered the theme address.
The Conference discussed as many as 16 well researched papers under four Technical Sessions viz. Automation for Higher Productivity & Flexibility; Quality in Automation; Materials Handling; and Advanced Technology in Automation. The eminent speakers represented well-known automation companies like Beckhoff, Rockwell, Festo, Hirotec, Ace Manufacturing, Lucid Imaging, Karma Innovations, Pricol, Bastion Solutions, ABB, Gudel, Arkkays National Engineering, Robert Bosch, Siemens and Fanuc India. Dr. B. Vinod, Member-Steering Committee and Head, Robotics & Automation, PSG College of Technology summed up the proceedings.
Nearly 160 delegates from the manufacturing sector from across the country attended, took part in the day-long deliberations and derived benefit.
The Conference was organized by CII with a view to addressing the twin challenges of adopting new technologies for manufacturing firms: big investment and scarcity of skilled manpower to handle automation.
– P.K. Balasubbramaniian
