Celebrating Engineering Innovations
The 8th VDMA Mechanical Engineering Summit offered optimism in the face of challenges the Indian industry currently encounters and reflected on the concrete steps being taken to revive it.
The Summit, that convened 250 VDMA members, commenced with a welcome address from Rajesh Nath, Managing Director, VDMA India who spoke on the various domestic and global issues that have made the year 2019 eventful so far. The ones closer home included the slump in the automotive sector in India. According to Nath, this is the ideal time to consolidate and have an optimistic view. He pointed out to the positive steps being by the Government of India to boost investment and growth that will eventually help the country to come out of the current situation.
The Guest of Honour Vinay Kumar Katyal, Director, Bangalore Complex, Bharat Electronics Ltd, cleared the air around Public Sector undertakings in India, which are misconceived as loss making ventures, by disclosing Bharat Electronics’ turnover of `11,000 crore in 2018. The fundamental reason for success, he said, is its transition from a manufacturing organization to a technological solution provider.
India in Comfortable Place
Margit Hellwig-Böette, Consul General, Consulate General, the Federal Republic of Germany, Bangalore, gave a special address on Innovation, Digital Workplace and Start-ups. She mentioned that the speed of innovation is slowing down globally because of the trade war between the US and China and there is a lookout for a motivated young workforce. In this regard, India is in a comfortable position, she noted.
Ulrich Ackermann, Managing Director, Foreign Trade Division, VDMA Frankfurt, spoke on the challenges of global trade that are to affect the international flow of money, information, products and services.
Positives Galore
A knowledge paper on ‘Automotive Industry - Impact due to Electro Mobility’ was released by BDB India Pvt Ltd. The study included certain interesting inputs with regard to Electric Mobility: the prices of battery have almost come down by 70 percent, rent sharing has started getting preferences, and also the subsidy announced by the Government on EV buying would have a positive impact. According to this report the public transport, two-wheeler and three-wheeler segment are expected to be quicker in adapting to EVs in India.
Debabrata Sinha, Chief Financial Officer & VP, Rittal India, shared his experience on anti-profiteering in the engineering industry and informed that the anti-profiteering framework under the goods and services tax (GST) has been extended by another two years.
MR Subramanya, Vice President, Siemens Technology and Services Pvt Ltd, elaborated on the importance of Industrial Automation. Shankar G Rao, General Manager & Head, and Anuradha Preet, Strategic Consultant, Robert Bosch Engineering Pvt Ltd, provided an insight into the role played by employees and their effective re-skilling in the successful realization of industry 4.0 throughout the organization.
Dr Eric Maiser, Head, VDMA Competence Centre Future Business, in his presentation focused on the technologies trending in the year 2030 and the key activities being carried out by the VDMA Start-up Machine in coaching start-ups that build their businesses with futuristic technologies at the core.
A panel discussion on ‘India Marching towards a $5 Trillion Economy – Role of Manufacturing’, moderated by Nath, rounded off the Summit.
The ‘Energy Efficient and Conservation Award’ was conferred to KSB Pumps in the large category, and Vulkan Technologies Pvt Ltd in the small & medium category. The ‘Work Condition and Work Safety Award’ was offered to Sartorius Stedim India Pvt Ltd in the large category and the winner in the small & medium category was SMS India Pvt Ltd.
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