Roadmap towards future ready factories

Frost & Sullivan concluded the 15th edition of its ‘India Manufacturing Excellence Awards (IMEA) 2018’in Mumbai. The gala evening commemorated years of best in class innovation, success stories and stellar performances exhibited in the manufacturing industry. Bringing in a global framework of mapping excellence, the awards banquet has been foremost in identifying Future Ready Factories in the country.
This year’s Manufacturing Excellence awards were presented to 28 companies across 4 major categories: ‘Indian Manufacturer of the Year Award’, ‘Future Ready Factory of the Year Award’, ‘Gold Award’, and a new, fourth category – ‘Smart Factory Award’. The scores of IIoT Readiness assessment and IMEA assessment were collated to finalize the winners of the ‘Smart Factory Award’ category.
Being an integral part of the IMEA journey all these years, Nitin Kalothia, director, Manufacturing & Process Consulting Practice, Frost & Sullivan said, “Adoption of Industry 4.0 principles will be critical for the competitiveness of Indian industries in future. A few of the futuristic Indian companies are already reaping the benefits of IIoT adoption. With advances in technology, need for advanced manufacturing practices in the country, and their improved affordability, IIoT will be the next driver of manufacturing competitiveness.”
During the awards banquet, Frost & Sullivan’s GIL Index for Manufacturing Competitiveness in India ranked Maharashtra as the number one State demonstrating highest potential for manufacturing investment. Hon. Shri Subhash Desai, Minister for Industries and Mining, Government of Maharashtra graced the occasion and accepted the award.
This research-based index evaluated each of India’s 29 states across 30 indicators and facilitated state-wise comparisons. It followed a robust, data driven indexing methodology that weighed the indicators of each state over 3 pillars, which are – Growth, Innovation and Leadership.
Frost & Sullivan also celebrated the contribution of leaders who have made an impact by their contribution to the manufacturing sector. Pradeep Banerjee, executive director, supply chain, Hindustan Unilever, KR Srivasatava, CEO, UPL, and P Kaniappan, MD, Wabco India, were conferred the Lifetime Achievement Awards.
The awards banquet celebrated 15 glorious years of IMEA’s exciting journey with over 850 manufacturing units being assessed over this period. This year was even more exciting since the ever evolving assessment model had Smart Manufacturing elements incorporated into the assessment process in an endeavor to share meaningful insights with factories on their journey to Industry 4.0.