AOTS, Japan (Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organised a 2-day technical seminar and workshop on “High precision arc welding technology” at Jamshedpur in December. While the seminar was organised at Hotel Alcor, the practical demonstration of Japanese latest welding technology was conducted at Indo Danish Tool Room (IDTR), MSME Tool Room. This training program at Jamshedpur was funded by Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry, Japan (METI). Panasonic Welding Systems - a part of Panasonic India that offers latest arc welding machines and robot in India - was an Industry Partner by providing lecture and practical demonstration on latest welding equipment and robot technology to improve productivity of Indian metal fabrication industry. Other industry partners were Kobelco Welding (welding consumables) and Iwatani Corporation (shielding gas). 

 

Some of the key dignitaries present at the occasion were (Chief Guest) Masayuki Taga – Consul General of Japan in Kolkata; Tapas Kumar Sahu, Convenor, CII Jharkhand MSME Panel, Executive Director & CEO, Highco Engineers Pvt Ltd; Yukari Saisho, Program Coordinator, AOTS Japan; & Masafumi Himeno, Divisional Director – Smart Factory Solution (SFS), Panasonic India Pvt Ltd.

 

The 2 day seminar serves as a platform to promote Japan’s latest high-precision welding technology into India. With an aim to support ‘Make in India’ vision, this initiative is expected to foster the growth of personnel engaged in the manufacturing sector, welders and welding technologists in particular.

 

Welcoming the Japanese delegates to the Eastern part of India, Masayuki Taga said, “Government of Japan is committed to support the Make in India initiative and ‘Made in India’ mission by continuing these kinds of workshops. Japan has already started taking significant measures to improve the human resource in India and we shall continue to support such kind of initiatives in India.”

 

Tapas Kumar Sahu informed that Japanese technology is an ideal example of best manufacturing practice giving world “zero defect” principle. He also said that welding is most important event in one’s life and welding is most important event in metal working technology and both must be handled with care. He also said that India is currently going through infrastructure mode and there is going to be drastic increase in steel consumption from current 100 million tonne per annum to 300 million tonne by 2030 as per National Steel Policy (NSP) 2017. Steel is the foundation of infrastructure and proper welding is the foundation for steel use. He also stated that he has been a user of Panasonic welding robot and this robot is very helpful to increase production speed and maintain consistent quality.

 

Masafumi Himeno said that understanding of welding technology is the most critical aspect. He also explained that analysing and contributing to the country’s manufacturing sector and taking it to the highest potential level must be the only agenda of this mission and forward. 

 

The technical workshop and seminar was attended by more than 130 participants from companies like Tata Steel Ltd, Tata Motors, Tata Hitachi, Hyva India, Highco Engineers, ISWP, The Tata Power Company, TRF Ltd, Utkal Automobiles, RSB Transmissions, Maruti Suzuki and Indico Motors to name a few and institutes like Indo Danish Tool Room, MSME, Jamshedpur & Ranchi, NTTF Jamshedpur, NSTI Jamshedpur & NSTI Kolkata.