Dun & Bradstreet India hosts Manufacturing Summit 2018

The Summit saw over 11 industry leaders discuss how Industry 4.0 and Innovation are redefining manufacturing in India

Gurugram, 25 April, 2018: With an aim to discuss the impact of the industrial revolution 4.0 and innovations in the manufacturing industry, Dun & Bradstreet, the world’s leading provider of business information, knowledge & insight in association with SAP India today hosted Manufacturing Summit 2018 at The Leela, Gurugram. The event saw leading names of the manufacturing industry discuss the key trends, challenges and growth opportunities using digital transformation as the biggest driver of change in the VUCA world.

The Industry 4.0, which is based on the principle of interoperability between machines or what is popularly known as connected machines or systems, uses technology and intelligent networks along the entire value chain of autonomous manufacturing. At the same time, with the advent of IoT (Internet of Things) and digitization, organizations have realized the importance of data security and privacy.

In his keynote address, Manish Sinha, Managing Director, Dun & Bradstreet – India highlighted that before the start of first Industrial Revolution (1.0), India was clearly at par with other seven industrial developed countries. However, the country could have fueled the manufacturing engine better to continue the growth momentum. “We have found that not only manufacturing-led economies have shown to be more egalitarian, they have attained a sustained and resilient growth pattern. We believe that India is capable of producing complex manufacturing goods but is currently in a legacy state along with countries such as Thailand and Mexico. Our country needs to be ready to take on Industry 4.0, it seems we have a long journey to cover before we start exploiting the opportunities.” he said.

The engaging roundtable discussions that followed Manish’s keynote address saw leading industry experts echoed the views expressed. The panel encompassed Pravin Malhotra, Chairman, Nipman Fastener Industries; Manoj Munjal, Chairman, Majestic Auto; Mahendranath Talluri, Regional Director – North, SAP India; Ravindra Dayal, Executive Director, Maruti Suzuki India Limited; Nishant Arya, Executive Director, JBM Group; Ritesh Suneja, Group CFO, Lava Mobile; Amit Bhatia, Chief Information Officer, Jaguar Group; Chandan Sinha, Chief Information Officer, Jindal Saw; and Sundaram Mallik, Head of Marketing- Emerging Geographies & India, PTC.

The panel agreed that one of the most important reasons why manufacturing-led economies have been more egalitarian as compared to other countries is because of the ability of the sector to create jobs for both skilled and unskilled laborers. If a country can grow positively in a sustained manner for a longer duration and attain more equality in distribution of wealth it goes without saying that there will be some positive externalities.

During the discussions, Amit Bhatia of Jaquar, highlighted that equal importance has to be given towards training and skilling of workforce in order to sustain the growth momentum offered by the adoption Industry 4.0 and IoT in manufacturing.

Ravindra Dayal of Maruti Suzuki emphasized that as the number of variants of vehicles manufactured has increased manifolds in the last few years, it is increasingly becoming difficult to use manual system. Robotic systems increases productivity and reduces time wastage.”

However, Praveen Malhotra of Nipman cautioned, “While the auto industry has been steering the autonomous manufacturing and manufacturing 4.0 trend, without understanding and learnings nothing will change. India being one of the fastest growing automobile market, introducing new technologies can be a game-changer.”