In the current market scenario, automotive manufacturers and their supply chain partners, are experiencing swings in market demand, that pose a special challenge for sustainable growth. Manufacturers envision a flexible setup that is cost competitive, yet capable of rapid multi model adjustments.

This strategy translates into 4 specific goals that manufacturing engineers, production engineers, shop floor staff and automation engineers can collectively pursue.

• Innovation for flexible manufacturing that can cater to changing model demands from the market & also should be easily adaptable to manufacture new models & variants.
• Innovation for sustainable process improvements based on real-time tracking & tracing to achieve manufacturing transparency & reduce waste in manufacturing.
• Innovation for sustainable Energy Efficiency and recycling, in manufacturing processes.
• Innovation for improving the Safety & Environment standards that motivates a new generation workforce.

Based on the innovation strengths of in-house teams, we receive small to mid-sized projects the Industry. This year the AIA team received nearly 40 cases which were evaluated, All leaders selected for felicitation will also be supported by AIA and its member companies in pursuing further experimentation and innovation.

Participants will return home:

• inspired with new ideas for optimizing their plant operations
• with ideas for potential upgrading of their equipment
• with a valuable network on a managerial level

Special Session - Sustaining Good Performance with Grassroot Innovation( At Seminar Area, Hall No. 3)

• 03:00 pm - 04:00 pm  : Theme address and Panel Discussion
• 04:00 pm - 05:15 pm  : Case discussions and facilitation
• 05:15 pm - 06:00 pm  : Felicitation and award of Innovation Trophy

In today’s competitive market, the company that stands out is the one which has been able to use technology in a creative and innovative way. This event was an effort, recognized how automotive middle-level management equivalent of plant managers and general managers created excellence through innovation in their plants.

In keeping with the overall theme of “Manufacturing Excellence”, on Day-2, this sub-event was aimed to celebrate the achievements and experience of plant managers using Automation creatively in their manufacturing processes.

This event had provided a forum where seasoned automotive specialists can engage in an exchange of ideas with each other; aknowledge sharing opportunity. Managers from across the automotive manufacturing spectrum have had the opportunity for their hard work and creative passion recognized and celebrated. Format- These managers had presented their experiences in Quality, Safety, Energy Efficiency, Environment Protection, Productivity and Value Improvement etc and illustrated with examples how they have creatively used Automation in true-life situations or have overcome some specific challenges with technical creativity enhancing plant performance and efficiency.

The cases were reviewed and judged by eminent jury members

Mr. Mukund V. Mavalankar
Director Technical
Bharat Forge Ltd

Mr. Dilip Sawhney
Regional Director, Rockwell Automation India Pvt. Ltd. 
Executive Council Member, Automation Industry Association

Mr. Sandeep Balooja
Group President Business Development, Anand Group
Chairman, ACMA - Western Region

Prof. Sudhir Agashe
Head - Dept. of Instrumentation & Control
College of Engineering, Pune

Dr. Mohan M. Godse
Vice President, Product Development - Casting
Endurance Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

About 100 attendees from the region’s major user groups - OEM, Tier 1 vendors, system integrators, and machine builders were there, making it a great place for networking, sharing ideas, celebrating success, building relationships and learning about developing initiatives. The program’s collaborative nature enabled the participants also to learn from one another. 

It aimed to create a motivating environment and built credibility and profile.

Participants returned home:

… inspired with new ideas for optimizing their plant operations

… with ideas for potential upgrading of their equipment

… with a valuable network on a managerial level

Awardees Receive

Boost your profile – The program is an excellent means of raising individual as well as company profiles. Awardees and winners receive widespread media coverage about their achievements.

Establish credibility – This is the chance to prove that you and your company are worthy of competing on the world stage.

A Thought Leadership Discussion was held on 17th May 2010, the concluding day of the Automotive Engineering Show at Chennai. The panel comprised Manish Ramakrishnan, Sr. Manager, Ashok Leyland, Satish Ansingkar, Vice President Sales, B&R Industrial Automation, Jitendrakumar Kataria, MD, Beckhoff Automation Pvt Ltd and Sudhir Bachloo, Sr. Manager Automotive (Business Development) Siemens Ltd. The discussion was moderated by Anup Wadhwa, Director, AIA.

Excerpts from the discussion:

Anup Wadhwa

The evolution of Automation technologies has gained considerable momentum over the last decade, giving rise to a host of new hardware and software features. Is India’s Automotive Industry at par with the developed world, in the deployment of Automation?

It seems both sides are not satisfied with the current gaps in the engagement process. Are we stuck with an entrenched practice or is there an alternate approach to look at?

Jitendrakumar Kataria

The adaptation in India is slower. There is fear about being able to deploy fast changing technologies. People training is yet to become a high priority, so the necessary ground work needs to be laid at the college level itself.

Manish Ramakrishnan

Real-time Factory Automation is yet to emerge as a full-blooded engineering discipline. There are a very large number of automation vendors coming to meet us; which is a good sign, but what they are selling is technology in isolation. We would like to see sales teams sit with us at the design level and show us exact deployment.

Satish Ansingkar

There are independent hardware suppliers, machine builders and integrators They respond to unconnected specifications and acceptance procedures. Very often the different entities within a supply chain operate completely independent of the main OEM while determining the specifications of Automation investment. We welcome more discussions on application needs before the commercial dialogue.

Manish Ramakrishnan

The wish list for us would be to maintain our assets in good shape for achieving High Line Throughput, Multiple Model Flexibility, Total Cost Reduction, Technology absorption and skill upgrade. If we can do all this we get to be very competitive. Better visualisation is useful. Safety integrated into controllers are very important. RFID applications are being used in axle and engine making lines for automated tool selections. But RFID based tracking in assembly operations is still under evaluation.

Sudhir Bachloo

Wireless and mobile HMIs are going to increasing operator convenience. And if genealogy is to be captured with read / write operations, or if tagged items have to pass through high temperature zones, RFID is increasingly becoming relevant.

The focus of the 1st International Automotive Engineering Show at Auto Cluster Exhibition was on enabling technologies for manufacturing. Mr JK Verma, who leads the Automotive interest group at AIA, summarised the possibilities for mutual partnership and shared insights on how companies across the globe are cutting Life Cycle costs,increasing Productivity, enhancing Functional Safety and ensuring complete Visualisation thru e-Manufacturing.

AIA member-companies showcased unique solutions at the 'Automation & Instrumentation India 2007 Exhibition' to facilitate process manufacturing and consumer industries in India become more globally competitive. The exhibition organized by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) at Pragati Maidan in the Capital, focused on asset management, information integration, quality control, regulatory and safety compliance among other related issues. AIA Director, Anup Wadhwa explored areas of cooperation with ACMA representatives.