A marked shift towards automation and Customised solutions for users are defining the Indian material handling industry today
by Mitalee Kurdekar
As the manufacturing sector readies itself to increase output, ancillary industries have to brace themselves for the cascading effect. One of the most vital of these industries happens to be material handling, given its role in the handling, storage and transportation of goods. Although the material handling process may seem like a mundane matter, it forms an integral part of any business activity.
An intelligent and innovative material handling solution, if carefully implemented, provides customers with the desired logistical outcomes and resultant cost improvements. This makes efficient, durable and technologically advanced material movement, material storage and material handling equipment (MHE) a must for businesses that are looking to streamline costs and function more productively. Realising this, the material handling industry has been partnering with its customers to innovate and customise solutions for their specific needs.
With a focus on modernisation, automation in material handling is leading the way in assisting leading players in the manufacturing sector to optimise business processes and to enhance their competitive strengths. As a result, most material handling companies are not only offering standardised technology built into their products, but looking to work with their customers to devise a plan for integrated solutions that contribute to overall business benefits.
According to research reports, the automated MHE market globally is expected to reach $44.68 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 7.9% between 2016 and 2022. An interesting feature of this growth forecast is that the Asia Pacific region is racing ahead of others as the fastest growing market for Automated Material Handling (AMH), with India being no exception to this prediction.
Centred on the Customer
Elaborating on the customer-centric approach, Tushar Mehendale, managing director, ElectroMech Material Handling Systems India, suggests, “The industry has started becoming more and more customer-oriented as compared to the past. The trend is towards smarter and smaller sized equipment with more focus on reliability, user-friendliness and safety.”
The basic requirements for any user of a material handling equipment, solution or system are primarily to reduce production process time, unit material handling cost and associated overheads due to less efficient handling. This list is augmented with newer requirements like conserving floor space, preventing accidents and downtime, thereby enhancing employee confidence and morale on the work floor. It is quite evident that business requirements would vary from one unit to the other, as manufacturing processes and related environment differ from one customer to another. This, therefore, calls for solutions that are tailored to customer needs and planned in collaboration with customer teams.
Elaborating on this practice in the MHE industry, Anil Lingayat, executive vice president and business head, Godrej Material Handling, says, “The major trend is to make machines more environment-friendly and green. There is also a trend towards the usage of more electric-driven/battery-operated technology for equipment, which is more environment-friendly. There is an increasing focus now on operator comfort through ergonomics, ease of operations and low cost of maintenance. Another trend is that users are revisiting their supply chain and exploring newer ways to store and handle material more efficiently.”
NORD Drivesystems has supplied drives to Arnreiter Mühle’s food processing unit in Austria. “We need highly flexible facilities,” says Walter Arnreiter, managing director, Arnreiter Mühle. “They must enable variable and parallel processes with separate product flows and additives that can be released from one source into different lines. And we must also ensure product flow with minimal residues. NORD systems carry out many different tasks in our machines,” says Arnreiter in appreciation of NORD’s material handling solutions.
Paint giant AkzoNobel uses a variety of MHE at its facilities, including forklift trucks, stackers, hand operated pallet trucks (HOPT), battery operated pallet trucks (BOPT), dock levellers, EOT cranes/hoist, goods lift, robotic palletizer, and gantry type palletizer. As Joseph Varghese, head of integrated supply chain, decorative paints, AkzoNobel India, states, “Businesses in India are realising the virtues of logistics optimisation. The use of automation and technology has twin benefits. It not only improves the productivity and flexibility in operation but also enhances its safety and quality. In current times, advanced technology and automation play a crucial role in reducing the lead time, in order to deliver on time and achieve customer satisfaction.”
Advancing with Technology
Although the adoption of automation has been slow, things are now changing in India. Dr Rakesh Sinha, Global Head – Supply Chain, Manufacturing and IT, GCPL, agrees, “The adoption of material handling technologies in any economy primarily depends on two factors – cost of financing and cost of labour. India has a relatively higher cost of financing and cheaper labour, hence poor adoption of advanced material handling technologies. Advanced storage solutions are also limited in use due to cheaper rentals and labour. Recent product innovations in these areas have brought down the capital cost of material handling, storage and movement equipment. As a result, we can see its impact in terms of increased usage. As the cost of automation is coming down – especially robotics – we can see its improved adoption. We are also actively considering deployment of robotic technology in some of our operations.”
Reliability of operations and sustainability in sensitive manufacturing processes are some of the other key requirements in demand from modern-day customers. Computerised material handling systems are being considered, where appropriate, for effective integration of material flow and information management. Such applications are widely seen across critical operations in the pharmaceuticals and food processing industries. Men-up forklifts, closed loop material transfer systems, automatic shipper transfer and palletization are some useful applications.
V Venkatanarayan, vice president and site head, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, points out, “We have computerised systems of material handling in different areas like QC sample, material storage automation, container identification, which is very critical in GMP atmosphere of pharmaceuticals formulation manufacturing. In addition, we have large-scale solvent handling through pipelines, making it multiple times safer than manual handling, especially given that we are using several tonnes of solvent every day.”
The company has worked with different vendors and tailor-made many of these systems for themselves. Venkatanarayan adds, “While material handling in pharmaceuticals is relatively smaller in scale than many other industries, the havoc it can create if not done correctly can be highly damaging. Therefore, we invested in simplification and modernisation. And we are happy with the results.”
Intelligent Innovation
Such an intense customer focus has made the industry intelligently innovative. Vendors collaborate with customers to innovate by developing new and improved processes to make smarter products, thereby helping manufacturers gain a competitive edge. Giving examples of such innovative products, Manojit Acharya, managing director, Jungheinrich Lift Truck India, talks about customised trucks for sophisticated distribution centres in FMCG/ online retail organisations.
He clarifies that each user industry has its unique requirements based on an application and that the industry is well equipped to cater to those requirements. Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) trucks is an advanced product provided by Jungheinrich. Acharya elaborates, “Narrow aisle storage allows strategies such as First In, First Out (FIFO) to take place in a controlled environment. Minimising the aisle width and maximising throughput allows the best possible utilisation of bulk storage and picking profiles.”
Combining different business requirements into one versatile product has always been an innovation challenge. Jasmeet Singh, head corporate communications and external affairs, JCB India, says, “One of the key growth drivers for the material handling equipment market is the rise in demand for safe and reliable products at work sites. At present, there are limited options available where safety, productivity and versatility are combined together. Today, customers expect more utility and more productivity of the equipment without compromising on the safety aspect of it.”
JCB offers three revolutionary products in this segment. The first being the telehandlers or JCB Loadall, followed by the skid steers known as JCB Robot, and finally, the recently launched super loaders. The telehandler is a well-established product, ever since its launch four decades ago, and more recently in India. It comes with attachments such as general purpose shovel, heavy duty forks, bucket with grab, crane hook – fork mounted, grain bucket, power grab, man platform and drum handlers; which make the machine multifunctional and give more value to customers. Telehandlers have gained popularity in many industries like agricultural logistics, construction, and process.
On the other hand, automation leader Schneider Electric has come up with innovative solutions for material handling. “The hoisting industry has been transformed from conventional relay logic to state-of-the-art ‘smart’ architectures. We have inclined our approach from product offer to solution offer in order to cater to these transformations,” professes Sanat Vajpai, director – OEM, industry business, Schneider Electric India.
Joint Effort
Fast tracking innovative ideas through tie-ups is a welcome phenomenon in the Indian MHE industry. Echoing this view, Mehendale says, “One of the remarkable trends in MHE sector is with regard to several international tie-ups happening now. This has led to substantial global influence in terms of quality and use of better technology in the industry.” He adds that better quality products have features and benefits that save energy cost, maintenance cost and total operating cost.
Rahul Sagar, assistant general manager, marketing, Maini Materials Movement, explains how the use of advanced products helps users in curtailing costs and increasing productivity. “One of the best examples could be Automated Storage & Retrieval System (ASRS) for warehouses. ASRS helps in increasing productivity multi-fold, thereby reducing the total cost of ownership. Smart warehouses nowadays are equipped with advanced material handling and storage products to bring higher efficiency in the flow of goods in and out of the warehouse,” says Sagar.
According to Lingayat, their Bravo series of electric forklifts has helped their customers with distinct advantages over diesel versions, by way of clean operations, low noise levels, greater manoeuvrability and low maintenance costs. He declares, “Customers get almost the same products with output levels similar to those of diesel forklifts, but at a more competitive life cycle cost.”
Talking about the future of the MHE industry in India, everyone is euphoric about the bright prospect of renewed demand, riding on the Government’s programmes like ‘Make in India’. Lingayat speaks enthusiastically about the latest legislation cleared by the Parliament for the introduction of GST for streamlining the tax structure in India. He feels that this will have a positive impact on manufacturing, logistics and distribution companies.
Singh outlines the way forward when he says, “Faster and safer solutions will have to be adopted in terms of equipment if we are to replicate the global best practices in India.” To support these aspirations, the industry is poised to apply technologies like Internet based applications, cloud computing, data analytics and machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. While there are many drivers to spur demand for this industry, one thing that everyone is unanimous about is the fact that ‘the customer is king’. Success is guaranteed, if one takes care of customer needs though innovative solutions.