The Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) hosted the 2nd ACT Summit in Pune on January 9 and 10 with its theme ‘Innovations in Manufacturing – Make in India’. Mr. Anant Geete, Union Minister for Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, was the Chief Guest at the inaugural function on the first day, while Mr. Baba Kalyani, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Forge Ltd., was the Chief Guest at the valedictory session on January 10.
The summit was addressed by industry luminaries on a range of topics covering automation, digitisation, future manufacturing, innovative business models, optimizing resources, zero defect quality, etc. The summit was graced by dignitaries like Mr. Ashok Taneja, Managing Director & CEO, Shriram Pistons & Rings Ltd., Mr. T. Sarangarajan, Sr. Vice President, TAFE, Peter Wells, Head of Logistics and Operations Management & Co-Director at the Centre for Automotive Industry Research, Cardiff University, UK, Mr. Abhay Deshpande, Technical Services and Application Development Manager, El DuPont India Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Jayant Dawar, Co-Chairman & Managing Director, Sandhar Technologies Ltd., Dr. S. Devarajan, Sr. Vice President, Production Engineering, TVS Motors Ltd., Mr. Ganesh Mani S, Vice President – Production, Hyundai Motors India Ltd., and Mr. M.S. Unnikrishnan, Managing Director & CEO, Thermax Ltd.
In his address, Mr. Anant Geete said: “I acknowledge the unparalleled efforts put in by the ACMA Centre for Technology (ACT) in guiding the auto component industry to adopt international best practices and bring about awareness on path-breaking technologies and development processes. The issues of environment and technology are becoming critical as we evolve, and this summit, is certainly the apt forum to advocate innovation in manufacturing. I congratulate ACMA on its efforts to drive the industry forward in a responsible manner and assure that the Government will extend full support to ACMA in realizing the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Make in India’.”
Speaking on the evolution of the auto component industry in India, Mr. Baba Kalyani observed: “Years of sustained efforts by the auto component sector and a pro-active Government policy framework have transformed a relatively small domestic industry into one with world-class manufacturing practices and a global footprint. The rapid developments in the fields of automation and the robotics in recent times have helped the automotive industry to significantly improve quality, productivity, delivery and at the same time reduce cost. Therefore, it is imperative that higher levels of automation will be integral to manufacturing. This is critical to the growth of the sector to meet global quality and productivity levels. Moreover, with India being a volume-driven market, high automation will allow of appropriately sweating the assets.”
Commenting on the success of ACT’s role in promoting the auto component industry, Mr. Nirmal K. Minda, Vice President, ACMA, said: “The Indian auto component industry is at a point of inflection, quality and technology will be the key differentiator for industry’s competitiveness. With the ‘Make in India’ initiative and thrust on increased localization by OEMs, the component industry is actively focusing on delivering enhanced quality products as well as on R&D and innovation. In the backdrop of this summit, ACT has signed two MoUs in the area of higher education with Cardiff University, UK, and with DuPont on ‘Train the Trainer on Safety’ respectively. ACT is playing a major role in industry upgradation and I am happy to note that 300 companies, including micro, small, medium, large industries and OEMs are part of the present running clusters.”
At the session, Mr. Srivats Ram, Past President, ACMA, Chairman, ACT, and Managing Director, Wheels India Ltd., said: “ACT clusters are now considered as a proven approach to building manufacturing excellence in the auto component sector. Over the years, ACT has successfully transformed more than 650 manufacturing plants with a special focus on upscaling the SMEs in the area of productivity, quality and manufacturing competitiveness, energy savings, better inventory management, space optimization and total employee involvement. Besides, ACT is driving various other programs to optimize resources in such a way that there is ‘zero effect’ on the environment.”