The 9th edition of Automation exhibition was a grand success and a veritable wide-ranging knowledge bank for every visitor. Automation 2014 created a new horizon and opened the doors for international market for the exhibitors.

It was a humongous gathering of the World of Automation at Bombay Exhibition Complex in Mumbai in mid-October 2015. The inaugural day happened to be the election day in the state of Maharashtra but the opening ceremony was graced by the presence of CEOs and other officials from exhibiting companies, policymakers and of course visitors. Those present included chief guest Mr Richard Timoney, President Fieldbus Foundation; guest of honour Mr Joseph Kabakeza, First Council and Deputy High Commissioner of Government of Republic of Rwanda; Chairperson of Board of Governance Mr B R Mehta and other board members along with Mr M Arokiaswami, MD of IED Communications Limited, the organisers of the show. Rwanda was the Partner Country at this edition of Automation show.

Mr Timoney briefed the gathering on the activities of the Fieldbus Foundation, the organisation representing excellence within Fieldbus protocol stacks. Fieldbus Foundation is a part of Automation exhibitions since the beginning from the year 2002. Fieldbus International AS or Fint, provides fieldbus network products and services to vendors and users in the process control and offshore industry. Fint specialises on products based on the Fieldbus Foundation, Profibus, HART and Wireless HART technology. Fint also supplies its patented, high-speed fieldbus I/O system for hazardous environments.

Mr Joseph Kabakeza said that Rwanda's economy has grown at an average annual GDP growth rate of 8 per cent over the last decade. The country is consistently ranked one of most reformed countries with exceptional performance on the annual World Bank Doing Business Rankings. Rwanda is the best place to start a business in Africa. Rwanda aspires to be a middle income country with per capita income of US$ 1200 by 2020 as enshrined in the Vision 2020, and quite a number of projects in different sectors are planned to uplift the economy and this is indeed an opportunity for many Indian and other companies considering exploring investment and business. Many consider Rwanda one of Africa's leading lights on information communication technology. Nicknamed "the Singapore of Africa" and the goal is to be the technological hub of East Africa. In his address, Mr BR Mehta, Sr VP, Reliance Industries Ltd said that Automation has key role to play in fuelling economy worldwide and specially in India as many new projects in every field like oil & gas, refineries & petrochemicals, cement & steel, textile, and telecommunications & automobile industries are coming up in the country. Mrs Jyothi Joseph, Director, IED Communications, presented the Vote of Thanks.

Automation 2014 featured over 800 exhibitors in an exhibition space exceeding 23,040 sq.m. The participating companies represented the Who's Who of global automation companies and their Indian operations, besides leading Indian companies active in the automation field and system integrators working with major manufacturers. The participants were happy with the organisation of the event spread over four days. Mr Kalidas Bhangare, Managing Director, Testo India Pvt Ltd, expressed: "We are associated with IED Communications and Auto- mation since its inception. It has shown amazing growth and today Automation is the most recognized and well-acclaimed platform for the Automation Industry. We are glad to say that Automation 2014 also like every time gave Testo India, good footfall to its stall and great business opportunities too."

Sudhakar Badiger, Head Marketing, Pune Techtrol Pvt Ltd said "The overall response in the exhibition was excellent with quality visitors all 4 days from different areas, i.e., OEMs, consultants, PSUs, distributors, etc., from India and overseas, and most of the visitors are new customers for us. We received good enquiries too. On the whole it was a nice event."

IED Communications Limited has announced the next edition of this successful series, Automation 2015, that will take place from 24-27 August 2015 at Mumbai.

Awards Galore

Since inception, the organisers have presented the Best Stall award to encourage the exhibitors. The award is defined in four categories. The following are the winners across the four categories:

Direct foreign participation:
First: M/s Lima SPA
Second: M/s Sanyo Deinki Co Ltd

Small stall category:
First: Cybernetik Technologies Pvt Ltd
Second: R Stahl Pvt Ltd
Third: Electropneumatics & Hydraulics India Pvt Ltd

Medium Stall Category:
First: Axis Engineering
Second: Weidmueller Electronics India Pvt Ltd
Third: Autonics Automation India Pvt Ltd

Large Stall Category:
First: ABB
Second: Rittal
Third: VIPA

OMRON Automation: "We Automate!"

OMRON Automation, part of Omron Japan - a global leader in industrial automation - had put on displays its best in Vision and Safety at Automation 2014. Themed "We Automate!" - the OMRON booth exhibited the utility of OMRON's unique sensing and control technology helping crucial operations in the manufacturing industry to get automated. The major focus of the display was on the Vision and Safety solutions, the flagship range of Sysmac automation and Scara robotic platforms - which play an important role in varied industries like packaging, automotive, material handling, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage and textile to name just a few. Select offerings from industrial components portfolio were also exhibited. Commenting on the participation, Mr Sameer Gandhi, MD, OMRON Automation India, said, "Relevant shows like Automation 2014 help us a lot in portraying our strengths as complete automation partners and strengthening our reach and connect with all key audience - OEMs, end users, system integrators and engineering distributors. It has also given us a great platform to display our strengths in the field of Vision & Safety which are the key areas for driving the organisation's growth in India this financial year."