In its sixth year, reinventing the Future has only grown bigger and more popular. Aditya Birla Group presents Manufacturing Today Reinventing the Future summit began this leg with Rudrapur, Indore, Chennai, Raipur and Vadodara. Over the years, the summit has only grown stronger and more vibrant, as was visible with the level and quality of presentations put forth in these five cities.
The annual event, presented by Aditya Birla Group for the last five years, has become an inspiring and keenly awaited knowledge sharing platform for manufacturing professionals in plant operations, production management, quality control, technical & engineering and HR.
Continuing with the theme of ‘Great Teams at Work’, several reputed companies from within and neighbouring cities participated on a single platform across six broad topics: Cost Optimisation, Quality, Safety, Technology, People Initiative and Sustainability. S Saikumar, MD, ITP Media Group (India) explained the rules to the participating companies before the start of each event.
A noteworthy wasmention must be made about the increased participation from women, reflecting the positive change that is taking place at the shop floor level.
The winning teams from each location competed against winners from other cities in a national competition held on September 25, 2019, in Mumbai, as part of the Manufacturing Today Conference & Awards 2019.
Rudrapur
The keynote address was delivered by Rajendra Sankhe, COO, Indo Gulf Fertilizers (Aditya Birla Group). In his speech, Sankhe said, “Real time capabilities have developed fast. We have developed a programme so that real time optimisation can be worked out at the plant. This allows for maximum output. Digitalisation is what will drive the future. It helps in online analysis and delivers quick results. Adoption of Industry 4.0 is what will help companies and more need to adopt it. The future of manufacturing is adopting latest technology in processes, if possible. Adoption of technology will ensure quality products and also faster time to market.”
The jury for Rudrapur was made of Rajendra Sankhe, COO, Indo Gulf Fertilizers; Gaurav Kumar, production head, Perfetti Van Melle; and Prof Arup Kumar Das, assistant Professor, IIT Roorkee.
A total of 15 teams presented their case study, in the aforementioned six categories.
Mahindra & Mahindra, who were adjudged regional winners, gave a presentation on Cost Optimisation. The team spoke about achieving cost leadership at the machine shop through innovative tooling. It wanted to increase machine shop capacity to eliminate third shift operation, so that they could be cost competitive and achieve cost leadership across all three plants. it adopted four innovative solutions and thus saw results.
Another winner in Cost Optimisation was Wipro Enterprises, Haridwar, who wanted to reduce power consumption of FAGP/TSP production. The team used Six Sigma methodology for the improvements. By using tools such as energy audit, the team identified areas of improvement and saved Rs 20 lakh.
In Quality, the team from Emami (Pantnagar) needed to attend to the rotary problem and also stop leakage when the machine was stationary. It adopted a seven step method and saw quick results.
Bajaj Auto made a presentation in People Initiative and spoke on Yutori – Easy to do (Women in Manufacturing). It adopted measures that would allow women work on several stages in the plant for core manufacturing functions.
Indore
A total of 17 teams presented their case study.
Narasimha Sastry Sridhara, unit head, Grasim Industries (Aditya Birla Group), delivered the keynote. In his speech, he said, “The time has come for everyone to be aware of what’s happening around them. Learning and sharing knowledge and information is a great thing. Today industries need to collaborate. Otherwise companies will find it hard to survive. This is true for any sector or institutions. Interaction between colleagues is also important and offers much learning.”
Jury members for Indore comprised Narasimha Sastry Sridhara, unit head, Grasim Industries; Prem Tiwari, unit head, chemical division, Grasim Industries; and Prof Neelesh Kumar Jain, Professor, IIT Indore.
Kirloskar Brothers (Dewas), who were recognised as regional winners, spoke on Quality. The team had successfully executed chronic defect of noise which facilitated in reducing the internal reject rate by 97% from 49744 to 1647 PPM and cost saving incurred in rework.
In Technology, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages dopted Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS), a fully automated, high speed storage and retrieval system. With 12,000 pallets capacity and 400 pallets hourly throughput speed, it is the first ever such system to be installed and successfully running in HCCB.
In Safety+Sustainability, Johnson Matthey and VE Commercial Vehicles made presentations that offered them enhanced results, while AkzoNobel made apresentation on People Initiatives.
Chennai
A total of 19 teams presented case studies.
Delivering the keynote, Sendhil Naathan, president and unit head, TANFAC, said, “Businesses make products and services, of which products are tangible. Global manufacturing competitiveness have 12 parameters and some of them are talent, productivity, good network of vendors and suppliers, legal framework, etc. Innovation is a must. Local market attractiveness of products should be a priority. Market and government forces must aid in manufacturing. India is quite competitive and is in the fifth position globally out of 15 countries.”
Hyundai Motor India, the regional winner, chose Cost Optimisation. They spoke on how the formation of a Cost Innovation Task Force Team (TFT), an important pillar of MPMP, helped them reduce cost through implementation of innovative projects.
Talking on Technology, BEL talked about Pharos Radar Pedestal and Servo Drive designed and manufactured by BEL. It crossed challenges of structural and thermal engineering, electromagnetics, safety engineering, manufacturing technology.
Other winning presentations were made by Delphi TVS and Ashok Leyland.