The time has come to talk of quality, safety and per capita GDP - this was the message that came through loud and clear at the Automotive Engineering Show (AES), held at the Chennai Trade Centre on June 10-12, 2011. With Chennai being India's biggest automobile industry hub, the 120 exhibitors present at event naturally focussed on that part of the manufacturing sector.

Awards and certificates for Excellence in Innovation and Creativity Automation were presented to 19 managers for their ability to use automation on the shopfloor to increase productivity, safety standards and overall efficiency.

The areas chosen to honour middle level managers were Productivity, Energy Efficiency, Environment Protection, Safety and Value improvement. Two Plant and General Managers were chosen for each of these areas while nine more executives were awarded certificates.

Automation is now an integral, indeed in some cases mandated, part of the manufacturing process. Management of supply chains of massive products, conveyor belts, handling of chemicals and hazardous products, etc., all require extraordinary safety standards and are better served by automation.

"Industrial Automation in India is in its adolescence phase. Since the real drive for automation started only in early 90s we are still trying to play 'catch-up' with the absorption of product technologies and manufacturing processes," said Mr Vijay Paranjape, President AIA, and Director & Member of Managing Board, Siemens Ltd. Meanwhile, he added, China had rapidly closed the gap in skills development and industrial deployment of highly automated processes.

Fully automated assembly lines are an integral part of modern automobile production. To ensure a high level of productivity, mounting and welding tasks are handled by anthropomorphic robots, which must meet the highest demands for round-the-clock operation. Downtime for just one robot means an interruption in production and results in enormous costs. The event, with its concomitant seminars, coincided with the Government unveiling its draft of a new manufacturing policy, seen not as a coincidence, but more as the entitlement of India in securing its place as the new destination for large to very large scale investments in manufacturing.

The number of entrepreneurs ranged from the medium sized Rita Pad Printing Systems of Gurgaon, who uses laser to mark products and surfaces, to giants like Siemens and D?rr India. Fittingly, it was this spirit of entitlement that pervaded the event. Finally, India is back on the rails, remarked one visitor, moving towards a manufacturing-dominant phase in its economic drive forward.

AIA Director Mr Anup Wadhwa underscored this aspect, pointing out that the spirit of entrepreneurship was very strong among Indians. Critics, he added, must stop comparing India with China, or any other economy, and focus instead on the fact that growth here was a reality whether it reached the estimations and expectations or not. "We may not be able to compare favourably when it comes to measuring in terms of quantity. But it's a different matter when it comes to quality, efficiency or safety standards," he pointed out.

In fact, efficiency, safety and quality were the key concepts of the event and widely used by delegates attending it, along with 'per capita GDP'. "The time has come," said Mr Abhinav Sood of AIA, "to talk of per capita GDP", while talking of man-hours and productivity.

The "Excellence Awards for Innovation and Creative Automation" presented to middle level and shopfloor managers are specially focused towards celebrating the pioneering role played by operational management teams. The show highlighted various technologies for "Manufacturing and Operational Excellence" in the automotive sector, including advanced industrial automation technologies The awards were envisioned to highlight how today's automotive industry operates in a dynamic and increasingly competitive climate. Component suppliers, OEMs and vehicle manufacturers are challenged with rising consumer demands for quality and selection, shorter product life cycles, increasingly stringent environmental and safety standards and fierce global competition among others.

These factors drive improvement strategies and raise the bar continuously for plant engineering and production teams. In cost conscious India, particular emphasis is laid on lowering life cycle costs, increasing productivity, enhancing functional safety, optimising energy use and simplifying plant and machine visualisation.

Delegates, exhibitors and organisers emphasised that India's 8-9% GDP growth saga was not a strong reason for jubilation, since the growth percentages were derived over a low base denominator (GDP). The fact that we have one of the lowest GDP 'per hour worked' also means that we are doing a chunk of the lowest-end jobs in our manufacturing sector; and that too, rather inefficiently.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Ethirajan Bhaskaran - Deputy Director, Dept of Industries & Commerce, Government of Tamil Nadu, said: "Innovative fora such as this provide direct interaction between government, administration and the industry thus shaping the future of Chennai's auto industry, which is the base of nearly a third of India's automotive industry, to strengthen direct interaction."

For the first time, the event honoured in-house innovations by instituting 10 awards for excellence in creative automation. An eminent jury chose the winners. Adjudged on the basis of innovation and creative automation, the award winners were

??Siemens Energy Efficiency Award - Mr Neelakandan V, Deputy Manager - Body Shop, Ford India Pvt Ltd for Energy Saving in Robot Systems
??Kennametal Environment Protection Award - Mr Piyush Thakar, Manager Paint Shop, Mahindra Vehicle Manufacturers Ltd for Intelligent Automation for Green Paint Shop
??Siemens Productivity Award - Mr Ramanathan Srinivasan, General Manager Manufacturing, Tata Cummins for Quick Changeover Cylinder Block Machining Line
??Demag Safety Award - Mr S Nagaraj, Manager Electrical & Electronics, Maintenance Dept, Ashok Leyland Ltd for Safety Improvement & Operation Scrap Elimination in "H" Series Cylinder Block Machining, and
??Emergys Value Improvement Award - Mr Ashok Virmani, Manager Welding, Honda Siel Cars India Limited for 100% Spot Weld Assurance.

"Flexible, synchronised and efficient production system controlled through benchmarking and shopfloor management is the way to achieve excellence in manufacturing," said Mr V K Bhalla - Chief Executive Officer (Ashok Leyland Nissan Vehicles Ltd), while commenting on the role of automation in the industry. The jury also included Mr Balasundaram R, VP, Powertrain Operations (Ford India), Prof Nilesh J Vasa, Head of Dept., Engineering Design (IIT Madras) and Mr Jacques Foulquier, Sr VP, Director (Renault Nissan Technology & Business Centre, India).

While India has imported robotic systems or occasionally built automated machinery, the country has not proactively taken to higher research or commercial innovation, and done little to build a culture that would sustain automation. In-house innovation and creative ways to knit-together automation solutions is integral to the mission of an industrial economy and the automotive industry, known as the mother of innovation, has rightfully stepped in to take the lead.

"The Automotive Engineering Show, Chennai, now in its 4th edition, has consistently carried the message of Industrial Automation," added Mr Sameer Khedkar, Exhibition Director and Managing Director, Focussed Event Management (P) Ltd, which organised the event. The B2B event's line-up of 120 participants, representing high profile plant technology vendors to car manufacturers and component suppliers, is virtually double the number of registrations for the event last year, he said.

Highlights of the show included participation from over 120 automotive and industrial automation companies including showcasing manufacturing enhancers, IT solutions in design, development, planning and manufacturing, world renowned manufacturers of automation systems and factory control, assembly line system integrators and line builders, machining centres and metal cutting equipment including laser cutting, productivity enhancers, latest concepts in tools, jigs and fixtures, specialised solutions in welding including laser welding, automotive testing, metrology and quality inspection providers and end toend in-plant (material) handling systems.

AIA also had put up a dedicated Automation Learning Kiosk for working professionals and students which had three zones earmarked for hands on demos on emerging automation concepts such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Machine Vision (Contour and 3D sensing), Energy Optimisation with the help of young volunteers from IIT Madras and NIT Tiruchy and MVGR University.