…says Amit Bhingurde, COO, TAL Manufacturing Solutions Ltd, which launched India’s first articulated industrial robot TAL BRABO in the market last year. In this interview with IPF, he discusses trends in automation & robotics.

Kindly share with us automation & robotic solutions offered by your company to manufacturers in India.

TAL Manufacturing Solutions, a Tata Motors subsidiary, launched India’s first articulated industrial robot TAL BRABO in the market. TAL BRABO is an indigenous articulated industrial robot and has three variants with 2, 6 and 10 kg payload capacity, and 600 mm, 850mm and 750 mm reach respectively. TAL BRABO is easy to use, easy to program and easy to maintain. It has flip back capabilities and with its 5 axis and 6 axis variants, along with repeatability of 0.2 mm, would take over the dull, dangerous and dirty jobs. The design of TAL BRABO is simple and has all the features which are required to do applications like welding, sealant, vision inspection, machine tending, press tending, loading unloading, pick and place, chamfering, abrading and so on.

TAL Manufacturing Solutions unveiled first ever India-made robot TAL BRABO last year. What is the significance of this for TAL Manufacturing, in particular, and Indian manufacturing industry, in general?

Tal BRABO was launched last year, keeping in mind the automation requirement of Indian manufacturing industry. The Indian robotics and automation market was dominated by only foreign players offering products with high cost of ownership, with focus on robots with high payload capacity catering only to the OEMs, but with entrance of TAL BRABO in market, all this is set to change, we aim to provide robotic automation solution to not only OEMs but also to tier 3 tier 4 suppliers, SME and MSME. Our indigenous manufacturing of robots, easy availability of spares and trained manpower will usher in a new chapter of robotics in India.

Is TAL working on similar projects? If yes, could you please elaborate on this?

Yes. TAL besides providing robotics automation solutions to OEMs like Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra and so on have also provided robotic automation solution to SMEs. For example, CPG Industries in Satara, an SME, which carry out machining of cylinder blocks. Since CPG Industries was in the business of supplying critical components like engine blocks, it, at all points of time, had to make sure that the company meets the stringent quality norms and delivery schedule.

The machining of engine block was largely labour dependent and it was getting increasingly difficult to match up the delivery and zero defect policy of companies like Bajaj Auto Limited. So CPG decided to take up the automation route, and to induce flexibility in its production facility, the company opted to pick a robotic automation solution. TAL BRABO was selected as it was easy to install, operate and maintain. TAL BRABO was fitting in the rate of return of the investment CPG was willing to make, offering a low cost of ownership.

As a result of deploying TAL BRABO robot, the work station space decreased by 40% which enabled CPG Industries to put more machines in the same area. After deploying TAL BRABO, the quality and consistency improved and the material rejection rate drastically  got cut which assisted them in their goal of achieving zero defects and increasing their credibility as a supplier of critical engine components.

Can Indian manufacturers make a mark on the global robotics industry (given the fact that this sector is dominated by MNCs)?

Global market including India has been dominated by MNCs till now, but indigenous players like TAL BRABO have entered the market with offerings which have low cost of ownership. Besides spreading the Robolution across India, we are expanding our operations globally. We recently got a CE certification which enables us to export to Europe. TAL BRABO has already provided robotics automation solutions to Middle East Countries, and will be focusing on markets in SAARC countries. We have just entered the market, hence our market share is low as compared to the established foreign players but our commitment to provide the very best engineering solutions to the industry would make an impact on the market shares in the future.

How is the demand for robots in India? Which industries are driving Robolution in India?

Demand for robots is still low in India as compared to the rest of the world. If you look at the robot density numbers (number of robots per 10,000 workers) given by IFR (International Federation of Robotics), India has a robot density of approximately 1 compared with world average of 69. Countries like South Korea have a robot density of 539. So in comparison to the rest of the world India has a lower demand, but factors like increased competition, preference for good quality products, being globally competitive would be the driving factors which would increase the demand for robots in India.

In India, the automotive sector is the biggest sector which has a large demand of robots but within this sector only OEMs have adopted the robotic automation route, the facilities of tier 3, tier 4 suppliers have very little automation, we at TAL Manufacturing Solutions are focused to change this trend where not only OEM’s but also tier 3 tier 4 suppliers would adopt Robotics automation technology. With TAL BRABO in market new wave of Robolution would be unleashed.

With defence and aerospace manufacturing gaining momentum in India, do you see demand for high-tech technologies like robotics going up?

Yes demand for hi-tech products like robots would go up in the coming time. In fact, foreseeing the trends which would be relevant in the future, TAL Manufacturing Solutions went through a transformation journey where focus from legacy business of machine tool division was shifted to sunrise sectors of aerospace and robotics. Presently, TAL Manufacturing Solutions is a leading solution provider in aerospace and robotics and automation sector.

What are the emerging trends in automation & robotic space?

Automation in India is very low and not up to the level seen in European countries, America and East Asia. But, increased competition, preference for good quality products and being globally competitive would lead to an increase in demand for robotics and automation technology. In the next 2- 3 years, smart manufacturing would be making inroads, where the shop floor would be connected to the top floor with real time data and alerts which would be collected and analysed by software all leading to improvement in decision making.

Aggregating data from various systems, assets and people will give 360 degrees view into operations and result in better decision-making and ultimately higher operational performance. We will see more and more number of robots in the shop floors, for example, for inspection of parts and assembled products, which was done only manually based on human judgement that had its own limitation. This would soon be done with help of robots and high precision 3D laser trackers which will increase quality and productivity. More and more operations which are dull, dangerous, and risky would be done by robots. Collaborative robots would also make inroads in the automation industry but not as fast as compared to the rest of the world.

With TAL BRABO in market not only OEMs but also tier 3 and tier 4 suppliers will automate their facilities. Through the Government of India and its efforts of improving ease of business and the ‘Make in India’ initiative, an upward trend in automation would be seen.

What are your growth plans for automation & robotics business?

We, at TAL BRABO, are committed to provide the very best engineering solutions to the industry. For the future, we would be expanding our portfolio by getting newer variants of TAL BRABO with higher speed and longer reach. We would be entering newer segments where turnkey solution using robotics and automation technology is unheard of. A recent example of this was when TAL BRABO came up with applications specific for the niche segment of foundries.

In the future, we would also like to focus on the education sector as in the future robotics and automation would see an upward trend which would then lead to an increased demand for skilled workers adept in using robotics and automation technology. Hence, TAL BRABO would focus on reaching out to the education sector which would enable students to be job ready and future ready. We would also focus on spreading our system integrator and channel partner network who would assist us in providing robotic automation solutions pan India.