Zurvan H Marolia, Senior Vice President and Head of the Manufacturing Council, Godrej & Boyce
Zurvan Marolia chairs the Manufacturing Council of Godrej & Boyce, a group of prominent manufacturing leaders dedicated to achieving manufacturing success at Godrej & Boyce through a collaborative environment that promotes, facilitates, and advocates best-in-class manufacturing. The use of disruptive technologies such as big data analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, automation, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) across manufacturing functions is helping enterprises transform into smart factories. Zurvan speaks about the technology adoption in the sector and the way forward. “Technology can give companies the necessary visibility to improve planning, monitor execution and keep customers informed. End-to-end manufacturing cloud solutions, increased use of automation technology, IoT, and Digital Twin in factories, particularly predictive maintenance, and interconnectivity for efficient supply chains will be major technological trends. These trends will drive the growth of the manufacturing sector in 2023, enabling businesses to be more resilient. Robotic process automation (RPA) is revolutionizing the business world by automating routine, manual tasks with the support of software robots. At Godrej & Boyce, we deploy robots to perform repetitive and high-precision activities such as welding. We have also developed our in-house AGV technology for material movement between the machines, using IoT for communication between the machines and the AGVs.
The emphasis of supply chain leaders on sustainable approaches in manufacturing and procurement and the industry’s shift toward adopting modern technologies have contributed to the industry’s global competitiveness. As single-piece flows are replacing mass production due to changing consumer expectations, the efficiency of manufacturing processes confronts various operational issues, which are currently being addressed through the adoption of industry 4.0 and IoT, with appropriate Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). With the advent of Industry 4.0 and IoT, process data required for quality assurance is available at our fingertips. Godrej & Boyce’s overarching objective is to harness smart technology while adopting a holistic approach to the customer experience, resulting in increased productivity, consistent quality, reduced costs, and improved safety. Over the past few years, most Godrej & Boyce plants have built roadmaps and are implementing technology by piloting and doing POCs before scaling up, thereby improving its ‘smartness quotient’. Using digitization and robotics on the shop floor ensures consistent production processes. Choosing solutions that adapt to the way a business runs, rather than the business having to adapt to the technology, can work wonders in the long run for the sector’s growth.”