Forging Ties for Bigger Prospects

Common complaint that one hears from employers is that “our graduates are not industry-ready.” But this scenario is definitely changing. Recently, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) and Micromatic Grinding Technologies (MGT) Ghaziabad jointly developed advanced grinding machine technology. The project was supported by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India. Starting with the company’s best present product, applying a thorough scientific approach to the subject, IITM has helped the company develop a substantially improved grinding machine with superior accuracy and productivity.

A remarkable aspect of the project, which took around four years for completion, was the close and continuous interaction between IITM faculty, technical and project staff and scholars with technical staff of the company at every stage of design, manufacturing, assembly, integration and testing. Prof N Ramesh Babu, V Balaraman Institute Chair, Manufacturing Engineering Section, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IITM highlighted, “Tapping the high precision machine tool market by indigenous machine tool manufacturers mandates the incorporation of technological advancements, which would enable them to build next generation high precision grinding machine tools.” P Mohanram, Senior Advisor - Technology, Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association (IMTMA), added, “The whole program was driven by a Project Review and Monitoring Committee (PRMC) constituted by the Office of the PSA, which had renowned academic and industry members on it. This project also received guidance and mentoring through all phases from Dr K Subramanian of the Science Based Technology, Innovation and Management Solutions (STIMS) Institute, USA – a knowledge integration company.”

What can we learn from this?

These are the learnings, not only for MGT but for other industries as well:

Cooperative R&D is entirely possible between industry and academic/R&D institutions in India as long as everyone is focused on the same common goal i.e. advancement of academic knowledge that supports commercially viable end results.

Such an approach is most appropriate for medium to long term R&D projects (3-5 years), not those requiring immediate development.

At higher reaches of technology, the scientific inputs can only be brought by academia, since industry mostly does not have the needed resources.

There are tools and resources available from facilities like Advanced Machine Tool Testing Facility (AMTTF) that could be deployed by the students and industry professionals. Developing such ecosystem enhances efficiency and reduces the total cost and investments needed in such projects.

A structured project with System Thinking leading to clearly laid down quantified objectives stands a good chance of success.

There must be a driver each from industry and academia, who make it their personal mission to complete the project successfully.

It is essential for the industry and academic institution to continuously interact and jointly work on the project at every stage. Such collaboration also benefits from engagement of organizations such as IMTMA as well as international experts in Knowledge Integration.

A free exchange of information and data is essential, without being worried about Intellectual Property (IP) confidentiality at every stage. This can be secured through a mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) at the start.

If properly reviewed and managed periodically (as by the PRMC), it is possible to complete such projects within the time and budget allotted.

It is heartening to note that the Government of India has supported 11 more such projects now for the development of advanced machine tool technology at IITM with the participation of six machine tool companies. If these projects can be successfully completed and the concerned companies derive market advantage, then it can truly be said that industry-academia cooperative R&D has reached a mature stage. There is in fact no other way to develop advanced technology in India.

Herald the Latest Technology

Unveiling Next Generation Precision Grinders at IIT Madras

Recently, the Next Generation Precision Grinder (NGPG), an indigenous high precision cylindrical grinder, was inaugurated at the IIT Madras (IITM) campus by the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India (GoI), Dr R Chidambaram. This Precision Grinder has been built through a joint collaborative effort between industry and academia i.e Micromatic Grinding Technologies (MGT) and IITM, a project funded by PSA’s office to GoI. The aim was to indigenously develop the technologies to bring out a best-in-class High Precision Machine such as Cylindrical Grinding Machine Tool in the country.

There is an increasing demand for high precision equipment and components in strategic sectors like
automobile, aerospace, defence, nuclear and medical. These sectors typically employ large numbers of
imported grinding machines to meet their demands, due to the inability of such high precision machines being manufactured by the Indian machine tool manufacturers. Traditionally, the development of high precision machine tools is treated as something very complex and known only to foreign machine tool manufacturers with specialized skills and advanced technologies. Tapping the high precision machine tool market by indigenous machine tool manufacturers mandates the incorporation of technological advancements, which would enable them to build the next generation high precision machine tools.

In this project, IITM generated the necessary information and knowledge to realize the precision for the
grinding machine, from the existing best available from an Indian machine tool manufacturer, prepared a framework to design and analyse the existing grinding machine, and finally developed the methodology for the next generation indigenous high precision CNC cylindrical grinder. Such projects coming to life confirms the fact that “Make in India” dream for the domestic and global markets is coming true.

Poonam Pednekar

Chief Copy Editor

Magic Wand Media Inc

poonam.pednekar@magicwandmedia.org