IMTMA hosts 12th National Productivity Summit in Chennai

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IMTMA hosts 12th National Productivity Summit in Chennai

IMTMA hosts 12th National Productivity Summit in Chennai

Industry News
Oct 01,18

The summit showcased competitiveness and sustainable growth in manufacturing as Industry 4.0 adoption scales up across India.

IMTMA hosts 12th National Productivity Summit in Chennai

Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association’s (IMTMA), the apex body and single point of contact for machine tool industry in India, hosted the 12th edition of National Productivity Summit in Chennai from August 24-25, 2018. Over 300 delegates participated in IMTMA’s National Productivity Summit 2018 having the theme of “Showcasing Competitiveness in Manufacturing”.

The two-day summit enabled the delegates to learn about the best shop floor practices through pre-summit plant visits, insights from prominent industry experts on productivity gains, and case studies. The National Productivity Summit has been organised to serve as a learning and knowledge sharing platform with interactive sessions and networking opportunities to usher in a fresh perspective on manufacturing as technologies surrounding Industry 4.0 gain wider acceptance across Indian manufacturing units.

Inaugural function

The summit was inaugurated by M M Murugappan, Executive Chairman, Murugappa Group and Dr V Sumantran, Independent Director, UCAL Fuel Systems, in the presence of P Ramadas, President, IMTMA, and V Anbu, Director General & CEO, IMTMA.

In his opening address, Murugappan said, “India is poised to be one of the largest manufacturing economies in the world as Industry 4.0 gains wider acceptance and reshapes the manufacturing as whole rendering real-time control of entire manufacturing value chain.”

Elaborating further he said, “Across India today, companies are in the process of digitizing their day to day operational functions to achieve efficiency and boost revenue growth and Industry 4.0 will usher in an era of transformative manufacturing in India.” He also emphasised on the importance of having the right talent and cash flow to make a business successful. In this backdrop he explained the philosophy of the group – ‘Recruit for Attitude and Train for Skills’.

Speaking on the ‘Impact of productivity on India’s manufacturing competitiveness’, Dr V Sumantran, Independent Director, UCAL Fuel Systems, said, “It is imperative to leverage the combination of quality and productivity to meet the competitive demands of the

industry. Manufacturing units need to embrace modern technology including Industry 4.0 to raise the collective input in manufacturing and boost India’s share of medium and high-tech activities in manufacturing exports so that manufacturing activity can be sustainable and contribute further to GDP.”

According to P Ramadas, President, IMTMA, it is imminent now for companies in India to enhance competitiveness in manufacturing by reducing costs and improving productivity by building a sustainable competitive advantage especially around technologies surrounding Industry 4.0. “Summits like these are platforms that address learning and best practices requirements of manufacturing industry and raise its competitiveness” he added.

National Productivity Summit is organised every year to acknowledge and reward outstanding productivity practices in the metal working industry. The Productivity Summit consists of two main components: keynote presentations from eminent persons in industry/academia/R&D on the concepts and practices in productivity improvement. The second part is deciding the winners of the IMTMA-Ace Micromatic Productivity Championship Awards.

Recognising productivity

The summit also featured live case study presentations on some of the best practices in manufacturing by leading manufacturing companies. The IMTMA-Ace Micromatic Productivity Championship Awards 2018 were given to recognise and reward outstanding efforts from the shortlisted case studies of companies who have excelled in achieving superior performance with cash prizes worth Rs 10 lakh.

This year companies such as Bajaj Auto - Akurdi, Hero MotoCorp - Haridwar, L&T MHPS Turbine Generators - Surat, L&T MHPS Boilers - Surat, Mahindra & Mahindra, Foundry Division - Kandivali, Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts - Bengaluru, and TVS Motor Company - Hosur, presented their case studies on productivity improvement projects for the IMTMA-ACE Micromatic Productivity Championship Awards.

Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts’ case study presentation on ‘Productivity Improvement in Transmission Lines’ won the first prize at the IMTMA-ACE Micromatic Productivity Championship Awards 2018.

Mahindra & Mahindra and L&T MHPS Turbine Generators bagged the second and third prizes respectively for their case studies on ‘Frugal Automation in Vent Poking Process for High Pressure Moulding Line’ and ‘Capacity Enhancement and Process Optimisation of Blade Manufacturing’. Distinct Productivity Solutions, Bengaluru was conferred with SME Productivity Award 2018 for its case study on ‘Productivity Approach as a Tool for Price Sensitive Critical Component Manufacturing’.