By Debarati Das
Industry leaders recently got together to discuss the “Industry in Transition: Navigating the New Age of Innovation,” at the 14th India Forum organised by the ARC Advisory Group. The two-day forum saw enthusiastic participation from both the process and discrete industries. Held on 7 & 8 July, in Bengaluru, India, the forum built a common platform for end users, technology solution providers and global industry thought leaders from across the country. Industry 4.0: Industry in Transition
The global manufacturing is going through a revolution with Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) taking the global industry in its stride. With all this, the industry is moving towards digitised automation to bring in greater flexibility, better maintenance and optimising the overall manufacturing output. Among other things, the industry is utilising artificial intelligence at a dynamic level for asset management, proactive maintenance, asset performance modelling, advanced data visualisation and transforming the entire industrial ecosystem.
“The world is changing around us and this change is gaining momentum. Companies are transforming and imbibing digital transformation. There are some traditional industries that have not changed for decades. But even these process plants have to transform themselves,” said Andy Chatha, president, ARC Advisory Group, in a video presentation.
“Most of the chemical and process plants are over 20 years old, their assets are even older, their performance is ageing and it is difficult to upgrade these plants. We really need a whole new generation of technologies, like open systems, to upgrade these plants. The future is all about smart machines, and we have to start working towards achieving that,” he added.
At the forum, while global technology solution leaders delved into the latest technological advancement, which is changing the manufacturing scenario across the world, Indian manufacturers ideated into the ways in which these global solutions can be deftly amalgamated into the Indian manufacturing environment.
“In today’s marketplace, innovation is the buzzword. But innovation is not just confined to product changes, it encompasses innovations all level of the value chain from shop floor to the end user. It is about becoming collaboratively networked enterprises, managing to disperse interests of technology, engineering and resources. Only those companies which can navigate through all information and technology and implement them effectively will remain successful,” said G Ganapathiraman, country manager, ARC Advisory Group, India.
“The forum was structured to disseminate this information and technology effectively and provide end users, solution providers and decision-makers an opportunity to network and get the overall view of the market. The forum focused on information and how it facilitates the dissemination of new technologies across all industry verticals,” he further added.
As a common concern, the forum had an array of industry sectors discussing the dire need for Indian companies to be a part of this global transition towards Industry 4.0.
“The industry today wants to maximise the throughput. Instead of efficiency we are looking for profitability. Process timing is changing to the decision-making timing and collaboration is replacing individualization. Instead of eliminating humans from the shop floor or the production units we are empowering them with technology. This is the new way of working,” said B R Mehta, sr vice president, Reliance Industries Ltd.
“The industry is looking for open systems with which we can see and operate an entire plant on an iPad. However, many plants still do not even have automation and proactive maintenance in place, which is hampering their growth. These digital technologies are the need of the hour to keep you ahead of times,” added Mehta.
As Achyuta Ghosh, head of research, NASSCOM, made a remark in his talk, “An industry in transition opens up a lot of avenues for innovation;” the forum was abuzz with the various types of digital transformation that are being integrated into the industrial system today.
Companies such as Seimens, Bentley, ABB, Mitsubishi Electric, STEAG, OSIsoft, Bosch, discussed the latest technologies in the global market steering industries towards Industry 4.0 and deftly incorporating this transformation in existing systems.
Various other Indian companies such as Reliance, Ace Micromatic, NTPC etc gave a clear insight regarding the difficulties faced while implementing these new age technologies in their systems. But the benefits gained in the overall process management and production optimisation with these technologies made it worthwhile.
Anne-Marie Walters, industry marketing director, Bentley Systems, in her interaction with Chemical Today, said that although India is still in the phase of incorporating automation in the production units, the country is a promising region to fast integrate IIoT in their systems and be at par with the global trends in the near future.
All in all, the 14th India Forum got all decision-makers to put on their thinking caps and look to ‘implement’ a difference in their companies moving forward.
© Chemical Today Magazine
Read More: ARC Advisory Forum- confluence of global innovative technology
No comments:
Post a Comment