Dynamic Manufacturing India by MeshMix Media

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CONTENTS

REGULAR Editor’s Note Publisher’s Note Imprint / Ad & Company Index

INDUSTRY SAMURAI TK Ramesh MD & CEO, Micromatic Machine Tools Dr. Rakesh Sinha Founder & CEO, Reflexive Supply Chain Solutions Gautam Maini MD, Maini Precision Products Ltd Rajesh Doraiswamy Joint MD, Salzer Electronics Ltd Ravi Raghavan MD, Bharat Fritz Werner (BFW) Nishant Jairath Director, Metalman Auto Pvt Ltd Indradev Babu IMTMA President and UCAM Pvt. Ltd. MD Shailendra Goswami CMD, Pushkaraj Group Swapnil Sansare CEO and Founder, Divide by Zero Technology Mayank Dalmia Director, Wave Mechanics and Investor KAHM Capital Maulik Patel Executive Director, SLTL Punit Gupta Managing Director - West Asia (India & SEA), Blaser Swisslube Dr. Vishwas R Puttige Business Head, amace solutions Pvt. Ltd Clemens Kirner Founder and Owner INS Insider Navigation Systems GmbH Oliver Lorenz, President and CEO SHANXAGENCY E.U. Magesh Srinivasan VP - Fleet Management Solutions ZF WABCO India, VUCA Leader, and Writer Deepak Anand Research Director, JETRO

Market Place Safeguard Your Digital Future now

Industry News Laser blanking Improves Forming Process

Product News Fully Automatic Complete Measurement Of Complex Tool Geometrics

Industry News Online Exhibitions Start Ahead Of Time India An Attractive Destination For Taiwanese Companies

06 09 70

Case Study A Good Fit For Flexibility And Precision

72 74 76

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Message | EDITOR’S NOTE

A Collector’s Edition

t is mid-October and we are still not out of the woods. But some things have become clearer than they were at the beginning of the crisis. One is, of course, that we mustn’t take anything for granted. Things can change in a heartbeat. We must cherish and nurture all the good things that we have.

Two, act positively. Don’t just stand paralyzed. Do something, do anything, no matter how small, how inconsequential, to move closer to a possible solution. Three, connect. Because that makes us rise above our own individual limitations. Times of crisis have a way of isolating us from others. This pandemic has made us realize that. In the Pre-Covid era, we could travel anywhere and meet anyone we wanted to, but we could rarely put in the time and effort needed to make real connections. Covid changed that. The first thing it made us do was to strengthen our bond with our elder folks, who this pandemic put at the greatest risk. Then, from the confines of our homes, we reached out to our long-forgotten friends and distant relatives, putting aside whatever differences we had with them. As remarkably, we developed a newfound respect for providers of critical and essential care. Now when we interact with a doctor, a nurse, a municipal worker, a delivery person, a police officer or the neighbourhood shopkeeper, we feel a deeper sense of connection, of empathy, of gratitude. At MeshMix Media, thankfully, we decided to do both — act positively and connect — early on in the crisis. And the results were rewarding. In mid-March, we started a talk series with the decision makers of the industry — entrepreneurs, CEOs, function leaders — those who have the proverbial skin in the game, and asked them all the important questions. What is your organization going to do to deal with the situation? How are you keeping up the morale of your employees? What are the industry’s main strengths and weaknesses? How should these be leveraged or addressed? The leaders responded with amazing clarity and insight. Sample a few quotes:

▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪

Indians are born entrepreneurs. It’s just that one needs to know and develop ways to channelize all that energy into action and results. A positive thing that has emerged is that this has given me an opportunity to find many hidden leaders within my group. Value has become an important parameter when determining the price of goods or services. It's amazing to see how we can all play all these different roles and join hands together. That's the human spirit where we evolve and rise above a crisis. I can see that happening. An open-source movement is happening all across the globe wherein people are helping each other design PPEs which can be 3D-printed and quickly delivered. Diversification is required in manufacturing. Even when we are manufacturing for the auto industry, we can also make ventilator parts. If we are making a 3D printer or an EV component, we can also make a robot component which can actually help the medical industry. The cheese has moved. Now we all need to look at where it is moving. The world is not going to be the same, the modes of communication, job roles, processes, the way transactions will happen; everything will change. Taking all this into account we need to remodel our businesses. There has been too much focus on low-cost manufacturing in India, but I think we must start moving away from low-cost driven to value and competence driven because low-cost manufacturing is a game of diminishing margins. Some positives could be that people will become very efficient, they are going to innovate and think out-of-the-box. There will be a lot of low-cost automation. A lot of ideas could emerge that could provide big gains. I believe that in the post-Covid world, our progress will be more holistic where we will see a balance between the ecology and the economy. We need to have more companies making products which go to B2C rather than to B2B. People need to have the ability to create products and launch them in the market. India’s most competitive and efficient manufacturing industry is automotive. They have a well-organized system to be very effective and efficient — they have followed the footsteps of the Japanese auto manufacturing system and so on. Their knowledge of excellence in manufacturing has to be transferred to the SMEs. We need to establish Indian manufacturing as a global brand much like the American, European and Japanese manufacturing brands. If you're not a brand, you become a commodity.

The following pages are a treasure trove of such insights. Indeed, this issue is a collector’s edition for anyone who is a part of the manufacturing industry here or anywhere in the world. Don’t believe me? Take a look yourself. Stay resolute. Stay safe.

ANAND PANDEY Editor DMI Write to me at editorial@meshmixmedia.com

Email: pune@sidbi.in Contact us at : SIDBI, Office No. 305 & 305A, 3rd Floor, Kakade Bizz Icon, Pune University Road, Near E - Square, Shivajinagar Pune - 411016. Phone : 020-25530812/13/14

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Message | PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Stronger With Each Step W

e are united in our resilience in the face of this crisis, and our collective hope that this, too, shall pass soon. Covid-19 has taught us a lot and made us realize and value our relationships, health, and the importance that nature holds in our lives, even more.

We at Meshmix Media are delighted to share with you the Fourth Anniversary Issue of Dynamic Manufacturing India. Think of it as a strategy note on how to manage and overcome this crisis. This issue contains insights gathered from a podcast series that we did recently. As the Covid-19 crisis hit our industries in March, we decided to connect with industry leaders, so that we could share their experiences, their vision, solutions and suggestions with our readers. From March to May 2020, we conducted a series of webinars with seventeen industry leaders from the manufacturing and associated supply chain sectors. We spoke to them about the prevailing scenario and what the industry can do to respond to it, and emerge stronger out of it. The initiative got an unexpectedly encouraging response and feedback from industry stakeholders. As we got the opportunity to speak to 17 prominent industry leaders we titled the series “Seventeen Samurai”. Taking the initiative further, Meshmix Media has decided to hold an award titled “Industry Samurai Awards™”. These awards will recognize and felicitate manufacturing and supply chain companies and stakeholders who responded boldly and bravely during this pandemic. Our Samurai Award Jury comprises highly accomplished industry experts, namely Dr. Nikhil Agarwal, CEO FIRST, IIT Kanpur; Dr. Ranjit S. Patil, Head- Dept of ME, BITS Pilani, Goa Campus; Dr. Soumyajit Ghosal, Dean- School of DesignJainUniversityandExHeadR&DNID;Dr.RakeshSinhaFounderCEO,ReflexiveSupplyChainSolution;andAanandPandey,Editor, Dynamic Manufacturing India. The Industry Samurai Awards consist of 27 Awards to be Given Under 7 Categories. Each award will be given under two segments in terms of size: Large enterprises (revenue> Rs. 250 Crores) and SME/MSME (revenue< Rs. 250 Crore). The 7 categories are: Safety Samurai, People Samurai, Resilience Samurai, Guardian Samurai, Digital Samurai, Shogun Samurai, and Innovation Samurai. The awards will be presented at the end of a 2-day virtual conference to be held on 29th and 30th November, 2020. The last date of application is 22nd November, 2020. For more details please visit our website www.industrysamurai.com In recent years, India has emerged as an attractive hub for foreign investments in the manufacturing sector. Several mobile phone, luxury and automobile brands, among others, have set up their manufacturing bases in the country. The Government of India has also been supportive towards industry’s growth. Several initiatives have been taken to promote a healthy environment for the growth of the manufacturing sector in the country. The Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative which means 'self-reliant India' or 'self-sufficient India', is the new version of the Make in India movement. Using the tagline 'Vocal for Local', the initiative aims to boost the manufacturing segment further. Also, the most talked-about reforms have come in the MSME sector, an important pillar of the economy. The GOI has announced many changes to the way it will categorize MSME which would lead to a big boost to the MSME sector as well. We are grateful to our readers and advertisers for supporting us through our journey, especially during these challenging times. The initial ups and downs, the struggles have all been a part of this journey has gathered momentum with each step. We thank you all for your valuable suggestions and unbiased feedback and look forward to your views on the current issue. We thank our advertisers for their continued support and faith in us. You are our strength and your support has given us all the courage to be able to strive further. The pandemic has badly impacted the world economy including that of India. Although India’s manufacturing industry has been hit hard by this crisis, it has given us the opportunity to innovate, persevere and emerge stronger on the other side. Lastly, please don’t forget to register yourself on www.orderfox.com, the largest search engine for CNC Industry. Do please write to me at preeti.m@meshmixmedia.com Stay safe. Stay Healthy. Stay Positive!

PREETI MISHRA Publisher Meshmix Media

For e-copies, industry news and other updates please visit the following websites: www.meshmixmedia.com | www.machineinsider.com www.sheetmetalindustry.online | www.industrysamurai.com

Do please write to me at preeti.m@meshmixmedia.com

Happy Reading!

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Industry Samurai | COVER STORY

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Industry Samurai

We Will All Emerge Stronger WHERE WE WERE This talk was held two weeks into the nationwide lockdown. Confirmed Covid-19 cases in India during this time had crossed 7,000. TIME LINE: Hospitals and healthcare workers were gearing up for an uncertain APRIL 11, future. All factories and production lines, barring a few that were 2020 making essential supplies like hygiene products, PPE and food items, had come to a standstill. Lakhs of migrants from the major cities had started their march home. Work-from-home was starting to become a reality for millions of public and private sector employees, except for those battling on the frontlines of the epidemic. It was during times of extreme despair and unparalleled uncertainty, when we held this talk. We were fortunate to speak to two experienced and battle-hardened industry leaders – Mr TK Ramesh, MD & CEO, Micromatic Machine Tools, and Dr Rakesh Sinha, Founder & CEO, Reflexive Supply Chain Solutions. This interview was conducted over the web and was joined by over 100 attendees from all backgrounds: senior managers, company founders, academicians and students. An edited, abridged version of the talk follows the Key Takeaways segment (which provides the highlights of the interview). The detailed interview that follows gives a deeper perspective:

Mr. TK Ramesh

GLIMPSES

▪ The MSME sector, which forms the largest base and employs the largest number of people, is the hardest hit. It is also the sector that buys a lot of capital equipment. A lot of value-add and job generation happens in this sector as there are a lot of big and small companies in this sector that export goods. There's a great amount of disbelief and shock among people in the manufacturing sector. ▪ The most important indicator of demand sensing in capital goods business is the prevailing and expected consumer sentiment. ▪ It is hard during such times to predict anything, but the larger expectation appears to be that in the short term, markets are going to come back to only about 40-50 percent [of the pre-Covid state of the economy]. I say this not only from an Indian market’s perspective but also from that of what's happening in Europe and China. ▪ Globally, it's still too premature to predict how things will go, a lot will depend on the movement of people and goods, or the regulations and the financial stimuli that different economies will put in place in the coming months.

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▪ Many companies and industries will have to deal with this crisis through the application of what is called a Five R methodology that comprises the following stages: Resolve, Resilience, Return, Reimagination, and Reform. Resolve and resilience are about dealing with the crisis, looking at cash, inventory, cost, and people. This is the stage where the bigger OEMs and the MSMEs are; companies who are trying to look at how to best take care of their people and business at this point in time. ▪ One thing that's very different this time from the supply chain disruptions of the past like the Icelandic volcanic eruption [or the Fukushima nuclear accident] is that the accidents impacted one or two geographic locations, but this crisis has impacted everyone, everywhere. ▪ With the global supply chain being affected, it's going to get worse but I believe that this would also impel the governments to do things better. If you look at India’s vehicle density as a measure of the number of vehicles to people ratio, it's still far lower than what it is in the developed countries. The creation of infrastructure in the interiors of the country will create job opportunities, and that will see transportation becoming one of the most important sectors in India. ▪ The whole information overkill has been there for at least the last couple of years. Moreover, we have always had more information than what we could handle: the only difference was it was in the books and on shelves and in files and papers; it couldn't jump out at us. We had to look for it. That scenario has changed with all of us wedded to our cell phones. I believe it has more to do with human behavior rather than the flow of information itself. ▪ Today, people who are beginning their careers see entire professions disrupted time and again. Therefore, people of the young generation will need to reinvent themselves accordingly. We see that in the IT sector, programming languages [in vogue] change overnight. With developments in Artificial Intelligence, you know that anything that follows application of data and logic can be automated. So people who are beginning their career, should be ready to keep reinventing themselves at least once every three to five years. Of course, everybody has to become more and more entrepreneurial and learning skills for professional survival. ▪ Two thousand years ago, what a person needed to survive was to know where his food was going to come from the next day. As professionals and the way technologies are changing, we need to get into that kind of mindset, and be prepared to reset accordingly.

▪ We need to find ways to be more helpful to our customers, take our people along in this journey by transparently discussing with them about the situation and conveying that all of us are in this together. ▪ We have had many difficult times before and if we really look back on history at any point in time, whenever difficult things happen, they give way to better things. I personally believe that yes, these times could last a little longer, there would be some sacrifices that people will have to make, but I strongly believe things will get better and we will all come out stronger.

Dr. Rakesh Sinha ▪ Firstly, let us all admit that this is a real Black Swan event, which nobody could have predicted. So all we can do is to respond to the challenges that we are facing every day now. In this case, the disruption is both on the supply side as well as on the demand side. ▪ Companies which have relatively good demand-sensing mechanisms in place are able to sense what type of demand is coming from the retail outlets and accordingly from the distributor level. These companies are able to respond better to the crisis. ▪ There is definitely an information overload and we can't wish it away. It's really up to each one of us to separate good information from bad – there are some good things which appear from time to time even from unknown sources. It depends on the individuals to decide how they can be discerning enough to pick up what is good for them and not waste too much time reading each and every bit that comes from each and every person. ▪ Many of the youngsters can take to their own ventures once they come out of college. I believe this is a much better time for a startup because in all this turbulence, when the future is so much uncertain, the business models need to be reinvented so do the delivery models. ▪ I empathize with the transportation industry because they have faced a lot of disruption especially during the early part of the lockdown when the trucks were not allowed to move. To add to the woes, the drivers migrated back to their villages. Now thanks to a lot of good work that is happening in the transportation industry, things are getting back to normal. ▪ Many times, the traditional logic does not apply, especially in these conditions, but our heart tells what is the right thing to do, and we should go ahead and do that.

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THE TALK How has Covid-19 impacted the respective manufacturing and supply chain sectors in terms of the functioning of plants, and supplies? Mr. TK Ramesh (TKR): We are in the capital goods business. We manufacture machines that make parts which go into sub-assemblies used to make final products, be it cars or aircrafts or, say, earth-moving equipment. We are in the B2B sector, which has been badly hit. The MSME sector, which forms the largest base and employs the largest number of people, is the hardest hit. It is also the sector that buys a lot of capital equipment. A lot of value-add and job generation happens in this sector as there are a lot of big and small companies in this sector that export goods. The suddenness with which the Covid-19 outbreak happened, followed by how the industry came to a standstill, is something I have never witnessed in 40 years of my career. There's a great amount of disbelief and shock among people in the manufacturing sector. This is a one-of-a-kind situation that I don't believe any of us have experienced before. This is my impression of what's happening.

visits. One of the implications of minimizing the store visits is that every time they go to the store, they buy products in bigger volumes or numbers. Also, certainly the demand for many hygiene products including hand sanitizers etc. has gone through the roof. On the supply side, during the first week of the lockdown, there was a lot of confusion, which has still not been completely sorted out – whether we can run factories or need permission to do it or how long would it take to get the permission, can the workers come to the factory, who issues passes and how long does it take to get those passes and so on. Everyone’s units along the supply chain needs to run – whether they are of our vendors, or the packaging-material suppliers, or the raw material suppliers. And their workers need to come to the factories. So the first one week was pretty turbulent but after that things started getting sorted out. In the logistics sector, there was a complete ban on interstate movement of trucks – they came to a standstill wherever they were on the highways. This was sorted out after some time but now things are becoming more normal compared to how it was at the beginning of the lockdown. Now there are a couple of things that companies can do: one, improve the ability to sense demand. Companies which have relatively good demand-sensing mechanisms in place are able to sense what type of demand is coming from the retail outlets and accordingly from the distributor level. These companies are able to respond better to the crisis. Companies that don't have good demand-sensing mechanism in place are really struggling in the dark. Two, after you sense the demand you need to respond to it much faster, which requires flexibility in the entire system. Flexibility in sourcing for manufacturing, in the ability to scale up the lines from one product to several products [or vice versa], and flexibility in distribution strategy.

Dr. Rakesh Sinha (DRS): I can speak from the perspective of the FMCG industry, a B2C industry. Firstly, let us all admit that this is a real Black Swan event, which nobody could have predicted. So all we can do is to respond to the challenges that we are facing every day now. In this case, the disruption is both on the supply side as well as on the demand side. On the demand side, consumers who are now locked down in their homes, do have to go out to buy essential groceries which include some FMCG products. However, they are rightly minimizing the store

TKR: Yes. Demand sensing is key. It is as significant but a bit more complex from a B2B perspective. For example, in the capital goods business, the demand for parts are going to come from the anticipated sales of, say, cars, or white goods. The component manufacturers, the sub-assembly manufacturers or the OEMs work with certain predetermined levels of stocks. Therefore, inventory levels and cash flows become important criteria in determining the minimum-order quantity of stocks. The most important indicator of demand sensing in capital

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goods business is the prevailing and expected consumer sentiment. For example, at present hand sanitizers and soaps have to be bought whether one can afford it or not. But it is not expected or certain whether anyone will buy a car or take public transportation. I think that the industry may not get a sense of clarity on demand for another twelve weeks or so. Maybe we will get a better idea by June or July [Mr. Ramesh’s instinct was right. It was only around mid-June that non-essential buying started to kick into first gear. – Editor.] It is hard in such times to predict anything, but the larger expectation appears to be that in the short term, markets are going to come back to only about 40-50 percent [of the pre-Covid state of the economy]. I say this not only from an Indian market’s perspective but also from that of what's happening in Europe and China. China is slightly ahead of the curve. It appears that they are getting back to normal with industries in Wuhan having begun functioning to an extent around the first week of April. Globally, it's still too premature to predict how things will go, a lot will depend on the movement of people and goods, or the regulations and the financial stimuli that different economies will put in place in the coming months. Many companies and industries will have to deal with this crisis through the application of what is called a Five R methodology that comprises the following stages: Resolve, Resilience, Return, Reimagination, and Reform. Resolve and resilience are about dealing with the crisis, looking at cash, inventory, cost, and people. This is the stage where the bigger OEMs and the MSMEs are; companies who are trying to look at how to best take care of their people and business at this point in time. Which sectors have been the hardest hit in India? DRS: From a manufacturing industry perspective, all the sectors have been hit whether it’s the consumer durables or the automotive sector as the demand has almost collapsed. Just think of the summer coming in, and if the demand for ACs and such products drops, that will set into motion a chain reaction – the industry will take quite some time to come back up. The demand for daily essentials, understandably, has gone up. TKR: To add to that, a lot of consumption of goods happen when the service sector [of an economy] is robust whether it is the travel or the hospitality sector. As things stand now, none of these sectors are going to restart until absolutely essential, that will compound the slack in demand of

manufactured products. Even after the lockdown opens, people are not going to come back the next day with full vigor to the markets, the movie theater or the hotels. Which again gets connected to consumption of petrol and therefore to the oil price and so on. One thing that's very different this time from the supply chain disruptions of the past like the Icelandic volcanic eruption [or the Fukushima nuclear accident] is that the accidents impacted one or two geographic locations, but this crisis has impacted everyone, everywhere. For example, even in China, where some factories have begun to function, work cannot resume as before because the international cargo sector has not yet opened. This crisis has impacted every sector, everyone across the board. The automotive sector is the biggest buyer for the manufacturing B2B industry and it has been the worst hit. Do you feel this crisis is going to affect it even more since it is already struggling with a lot of underlying issues like a quick transition to BS-VI norms and slowing growth of recent months? TKR: With the global supply chain being affected, it's going to get worse but I believe that this would also impel the governments to do things better. If you look at India’s vehicle density as a measure of the number of vehicles to people ratio, it's still far lower than what it is in the developed countries. The creation of infrastructure in the interiors of the country will create job opportunities, and that will see transportation becoming one of the most important sectors in India. To answer your question, yes, this crisis has hit the automotive industry hard in the short run – the short run could be anywhere between one year to 20 months – but I believe it will pick itself up again to create greater opportunities. So it's not just doom and gloom. How long could this crisis pan out and how are you and your peers in the industry dealing with the whole situation and what do they expect as to how when this cloud will clear away? DRS: Initially the sentiment wasn't so bad but over a period of time once everyone understood the gravity of the situation, people started getting much more serious. But now I think people are coming out of panic and they are taking more considered and informed decisions now as to how to go about it hereon forward. I see a lot of work being done by people in the right direction, so I'm happy about that. To what degree do you attribute the sense of

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panic to the infodemic [the flood information from all corners] whether it is the social media or WhatsApp or the mainstream media? TKR: The whole information overkill, and I'm talking from a business and economic point of view, has been there for at least the last couple of years. Moreover, we have always had more information than what we could handle: the only difference was it was in the books and on shelves and in files and papers; it couldn't jump out at us. We had to look for it. That scenario has changed with all of us wedded to our cell phones. I believe it has more to do with human behavior rather than the flow of information itself. You do a lot of things today because it's easy and it doesn't cost. So one receives some information and sends it to 200 people whether it matters or not. I'm not making a judgment about us, but the infodemic has more to do with human behavior rather than the information itself. Coming back to your question from a longterm perspective, I believe information should be based on data. Now there must be some discerning methodology of looking at what is good data and what is not. Yes, the hyper-connectivity is giving an opportunity for more people to participate in the circulation of information, and because there is participation of a larger number of people there is larger amount of confusion. I don't know if this is the right comparison now but if you ask anybody anywhere in the world what is the best form of government, I believe everybody would say democracy now. But democracy also means [generation of ] chaotic information. We could allow for this hyper-flow of information to find its own level and I think it will happen at some point. DRS: There is definitely an information overload and we can't wish it away. It's really up to each one of us to separate good information from bad – there are some good things which appear from time to time even from unknown sources. It depends on the individuals to decide how they can be discerning enough to pick up what is good for them and not waste too much time reading each and every bit that comes for each and every person. What is your advice to entry level professionals and those were starting their career on how to come out best from this situation? TKR: What I strongly believe in from my readings and from what I have seen – for the older generation, life for us was largely divided into two time zones; there was a period of time when you were given a formal education and then you entered the workforce.

Today, people who are beginning their careers see entire professions disrupted time and again. Therefore, people of the young generation will need to reinvent themselves accordingly. We see that in the IT sector, programming languages [in vogue] change overnight. With developments in Artificial Intelligence, you know that anything that follows application of data and logic can be automated. I'm talking about a horizon of the next 30-40 years, there are going to be major disruptions from a human-skill perspective, whether it is in the fields of technology or science or even humanities and arts. So people who are beginning their career, should be ready to keep reinventing themselves at least once every three to five years. Of course, everybody has to become more and more entrepreneurial and learning skills for professional survival. Two thousand years ago, what a person needed to survive was to know where his food was going to come from the next day. As professionals and the way technologies are changing, we need to get into that kind of mindset, and be prepared to reset accordingly. DRS: Yes, flexibility and the willingness to learn things on the go are very important skills. One more thing I would like to add is that many of the youngsters take to their own ventures once they come out of college. I believe this is a much better time for a startup because in all this turbulence, when the future is so much uncertain, the business models need to be reinvented so do the delivery models. The youngsters can do it much better as they can find out what really works and what doesn't. This is the right time to do a startup. Most billion-dollar startups started during and after the financial crises [of 2001 and 2008]. I would advise them to take the plunge and work out something which is going to be much better suited to navigate such turbulent situations than the known business models. These are challenging times for the young generation where they are entering the industry at a very turbulent time and there are certain ways of navigating it. I'm sure they would take the right steps, for I don't see them getting panicky except in a few cases when internships got cancelled at the last moment. It's a difficult time but they would find their way out – they are quick on their feet and smart and quite knowledgeable and intelligent. Audience Question: How can the machine tool companies, particularly the SMEs, deal with this crisis?

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TKR: The machine tool industry is not essentially a mass producer; it is largely dependent on people. The first and the foremost thing is that we really have to look at how best to collaborate with your people, making them a part of your core team whether it is about the necessary financial savings, or application of lean management practices. The second most important thing is capacity utilization, which is going to be a big concern for our customers. In the immediate future our customers would be focused on getting their respective companies back into operations â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this is where we can really serve our customers with the expertise that our people have. We can help them start up quicker and easier, help them to retool, help them with flexibility as Dr Sinha pointed out. For example, if they want any modifications in their machine to transition from making, say, motorcycles to tractors, as machine manufacturers we can help them retool their machines. Third, there are always areas you can find where cash flows or cash or inventory is stuck. So you can use this time to time to reduce waste and become more lean. In summary, we need to find ways to be more helpful to our customer, take our people along in this journey by transparently discussing with them about the situation and conveying that all of us are in this together; that if we need to emerge successful it's not just me or you or the company or our customers, we have to do it together. These are some of the things that we as machine tool manufacturing companies need to do, and do them very transparently over the next 12 to 16 months by which time we are able to understand what is going to be the new normal. Audience question: We are from the transportation industry. My question is what steps we have to take to come out of this critical situation? DRS: I empathize with the transportation industry because they have faced a lot of disruption especially during the early part of the lockdown when the trucks were not allowed to move. To add to the woes, the drivers migrated back to their villages. Now thanks to a lot of good work that is happening in the transportation industry, things are getting back to normal. One good thing is that the trucks are plying much faster on the highways for there is hardly any traffic. Secondly when it comes to distributing the products within the cities, earlier there used to be restrictions that the

trucks couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t enter the main city during peak hours; nowadays those restrictions are in my understanding not there in a lot of cities so it's much easier to distribute. The question really is how fast can the transportation companies double up and increase the distance travelled per day. Most of them do about 350 kilometers a day. Can they do 500 kilometers a day? So the faster transit time, a better ability to distribute within the city, is what is coming out as the two key things that we are looking forward to from the transport industry. An audience member shares his experience: Within our company we have made a task force and risen to the occasion. We are supporting the industry in a big way in moving a lot of essentials all across the country. But we are encountering various challenges. The roads are free of traffic but the interpretation and implementation of government guidelines on those roads vary from state to state and city to city so even if the truck driver has a permit, the local authorities have no hesitation in stopping him and parking him for up to six hours even if he is carrying essentials. These are some hazards which we are facing. Perhaps things will settle down a bit more we hope. TKR: One thing that we have to understand and realize is that this is a medical pandemic but when it comes to enforcing social distancing, we use dated laws like section 144 and use terms like curfew. The definition of these words in the minds of police force is something very different from what the situation demands today. These words are originally used to curb unrest. Therefore, the lathis come out. Now these are again learnings that we are also seeing at every level. Any conclusive remarks, may be an advice to viewers on how to cope up during these times? DRS: Do what you think is best. Many times, the traditional logic does not apply, especially in these conditions, but our heart tells us what is the right thing to do, and we should go ahead and do that. TKR: Dr. Sinha is right, please follow what your heart says. We have had many difficult times before and if we really look back on history at any point in time, whenever difficult things happen, they give way to better things. These are the times that really bring out the best in us. I personally believe, that yes, these times could last a little longer, there would be some sacrifices that people will have to make, but I strongly believe things will get better and we will all come out stronger.

Volume 4â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Issue 4 J u l y /Au gu s t 2 0 2 0

INDUSTRY SAMURAI

TK Ramesh MD & CEO Micromatic Machine Tools

Dr. Rakesh Sinha Founder & CEO Reflexive Supply Chain Solutions

Mr. Ramesh is the Managing Director and CEO of Micromatic Machine Tools Pvt. Ltd., the marketing arm of the Ace Micromatic Group. Mr. Ramesh, a Mechanical Engineering graduate from BMS College of Engineering with a PGDBA from Bangalore University in 1984, began his career in BFW and has over 30 years of experience in Machine Tool marketing in the domestic and international markets. Ace Micromatic Group is India'ss largest machine tool conglomerate with a market presence in several countries across Asia, Australia, Middle East, North &amp; South America and Europe. Formed with the intent to provide its customers a one stop shop for all machining needs, the group specializes in the manufacturing of CNC controlled turning, milling and grinding machines along with subsystems like tool turrets, ATC etc. Building on its expertise in machine tool manufacturing, the group has further diversified into manufacturing of components for various industry segments. In addition, the group also offers products to enhance its customer's productivity through real time machine monitoring.

Dr. Rakesh Sinha is an alumnus of IIT-BHU, NITIE, IIT-Bombay and Harvard Business School. His passion in Supply Chain Management got him the first doctorate in this field in India. He has decades of rich experience with Godrej Consumer Products, a leading FMCG company, holding leadership positions in the areas of Manufacturing, Projects, Strategy, Information Technology, Marketing and Supply Chain Management with responsibilities across India, US, Indonesia, Africa, Argentina and Chile. Dr. Sinha is also a Chartered Financial Analyst and a qualified Cost Accountant, complementing his operational skills with astute knowledge of key financial concepts like EVA and Activity Based Costing. His pioneering work in the area of TOC and the mapping of DDMRP logic in a standard ERP has been widely recognized. He has won several awards for his work, including Platinum Level International TOC Excellence Award by TOCICO, Digital Business Leader Award from IDC, Distinguished Alumnus Award from NITIE, Lifetime Achievement Award from ISCM, and another Lifetime Achievement Award from WBC. Dr. Sinha is passionate about spreading the knowledge of TOC and DDMRP across industry and academia. He is closely associated with leading business schools like NITIE, SPJIMR and Welingkar Institute of Management, advising them on the SCM curriculum.

# 1901, 19th Floor, Elecia Tower, Dosti Imperia Building, Ghodbunder Road, Opp R Mall, Manpada, Thane West - 400610, India E: accounts@meshmixmedia.com

Volume 4–Issue 4 J u l y /Au gu s t 2 0 2 0

Industry Samurai

Play To Your Strengths WHERE WE WERE The Covid-19 onslaught was in early stages, with the total cases less TIME LINE: than 20,000. This was Day 28 of the lockdown, and it had already started APRIL 21, to show impact on world economies, including India. IMF had predicted 2020 an annual contraction of 3 percent for Global GDP. Looking back, that figure appears optimistic. As of the first week of September, 2020, at the time of publishing, IMF predicts a 5 percent contraction for 2020 for the global economy, and India is among the worst hit. Be that as it may, this interview was done during the early weeks of the crisis, but both the speakers, Gautam Maini, MD, Maini Precision and Rajesh Doraiswamy, Jt. MD, Salzer Electronics Ltd. were far more prescient and accurate in their analysis and predictions of the situation. Presenting, edited excerpts.

GLIMPSES Gautam Maini ▪ Some positives could be that people will become very efficient, they are going to innovate and think out-of-the-box. There will be a lot of low-cost automation. A lot of ideas could emerge that could provide big gains. ▪ It is important to keep up everybody’s morale. We have to believe in ourselves. That we will fight back and emerge much stronger from this crisis. ▪ First, there needs to be a realization that we are going to emerge in a different world, a new normal. For one, it has taught all of us the utility of work for home. We have a lot of our engineers connected to our sys-

tem, designing from home, which we never did before. It was not that the technology was not available before. But this crisis enabled the shift. ▪ The whole infrastructure around the whole corporate office structure will change. Business travel will take a long time to recover. Only the machine and operators are not going to change much, except that one will have to find ways to operate more machines with fewer operators, since the crisis has limited the number of people who can come in. ▪ Most of the large companies procure between 40 to 70 percent of their products from a global supply chain. Therefore we can be really competitive and make the best of this huge opportunity. We should go out and get it.

Rajesh Doraiswamy ▪ Taking an optimistic view, in any crisis, there is an opportunity. The bigger the crisis, the bigger the opportunity. India is well placed for this opportunity, when we come out of this. Government support will lead the way for transformation of the economy. ▪ Every sector is hit due to this covid crisis; even those companies that mostly export, or those with higher automation or those who have a lower dependency on supply chain. ▪ There are certain aspects that have been lacking in the manufacturing sector. One

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of them is workers’ productivity. On an average it is almost 4 to 5 times lower than that for China, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam, etc. ▪ Quality systems and processes, maintenance, talent management including skill upgradation are some of areas where even large companies [in India] have not really done very well compared to global standards. ▪ There has to be a better degree of certainty in policy making. That has been lacking in the

THE TALK What is the situation on the ground? Gautam Maini (GM): There’s a mixed feeling. The first thing is you realize that you have so much of time as everybody is at home but then we need to start working really very hard because of the significant impact of the crisis. Everyone is resetting to a new world. Never in our lifetime have we experienced something like this. I am sure that everybody is experiencing the same thing. In our own case we opened our aerospace division a couple of weeks ago. People who are coming are really motivated. Only about 10 percent of the staff made it to the offices, but those who did, let me tell you that they are energetic and they want to contribute with a renewed vigor. From a larger perspective, this is a very tough period particularly for those at the bottom of the pyramid, who constitute 37 percent of our industrial workforce. It has also made it very difficult for the MSMEs but we have to face the reality and roll with the challenges.

country for quite some time, at least for the last 10-12 years. There needs to be a clearcut, unambiguous policy direction from the decision makers. ▪ I am sure that we will definitely see a lot of new opportunities not seen before. Global companies are seeking to diversify production sources to be used beyond China. It started earlier during the trade war. India is definitely among the best placed countries with a massive educated working population.

Rajesh Doraiswamy (RD): Questions around when and how this is going to end are playing in everyone’s mind, across the world. This unprecedented crisis has impacted not only industries but also every individual. This is one of the most complicated periods of our lifetime, which definitely needs extraordinary courage for everyone to come out of this. Which parts of business and economy are the hardest hit? Is it the employee morale? Or the market demand? GM: The hardest hit are people at the lowest strata, especially the migrant workforce many of whom have gone back. They don’t know when they are going to come back and what’s going to happen to their work. Factory owners are also hard hit. Entrepreneurs give everything to business, many of whom are wondering whether they will survive. RD: Our manufacturing sector contributes around 16 percent to the GDP. It generates 12 to 15 percent of direct employment. More than that, every job created by the manufacturing sector creates an additional two or more jobs in the services sector, for example, in the trade and construction sectors. What it means is that manufacturing is the second largest employment provider after agriculture. If we as a country have to lift our people out of poverty, improve living standards, this can only be achieved if the manufacturing sector thrives. The biggest impact immediately will be on the cash flows. If this COVID-19 situation is left unmitigated, many in the industry will look at putting a cap on capex for a year, which will impact the revenue of many in the SME and MSME segments. That in turn can lead to a recruitment freeze and short-term retrenchments. Disposable income will tend to decrease, salary cuts may happen, which will bring down consumption. Low spending will lead to a slowdown of the economy.

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What are the measures you are taking to cope up, or what are the things that industry can do better to deal with the situation? RD: Taking an optimistic view, in any crisis, there is an opportunity. The bigger the crisis, the bigger the opportunity. India is well placed for this opportunity, when we come out of this. Government support will lead the way for transformation of the economy. The government and RBI have already announced certain measures. In my opinion, a couple of things that can certainly work are, one, we should look at an interest waiver of three or four months — this should be automatic with no ambiguity. Two, the government has already announced a good move around the payment of EPF contributions for the next three months. It should be open to all businesses who have more than 100 employees. Another bold move could be a reduction in income tax to a single slab of 10 percent for FY 2020 and 2021. This can put cash in the hands of the industry as cash flow has become a major issue. In the longer term, bolder reforms are required in the areas of labour and infrastructure. In the short run, we all have to survive and it is important that we as an industry do not panic. Secondly, conserve cash. This is a time for planning and finetuning of business processes. identify and eliminate the weak links. We should be ready for a growth phase in the medium term where there is going to be recovery. Finally my take is that, understanding your customer needs, the ability and the agility to respond to unexpected situations like this are the key ingredients for any company to survive and grow. GM: Some of the biggest challenges are the cash flow and cost. We all need to find a way in the short run to make our fixed costs variable. You have corporate overheads which will be around whether you run your operations or not. There are many questions that will come up. Do you merge plants? How do you save jobs? One of the ways of saving jobs could be that a larger portion of the people take wage cuts, starting from the top, and therefore try to save as many jobs as one can. Can the government do something to take on this cost during the time plants are not operating? A reduction of manpower will automatically happen when you are resetting to the new demand situation, even in the medium term. These times could pose the biggest challenge ever to the Indian economy. Some positives could be that people will become very efficient, they are going to innovate and think out-of-the-box. There will be a lot of

low-cost automation. A lot of ideas could emerge that could provide big gains. As far as governments globally are concerned, it seems that they are able to do a lot, perhaps because they have bigger balance sheets. Countries like France, Spain, the UK and Ireland are paying 70-80 percent of salary allowances to employees of businesses. They are able to make sure that money reaches the hands of the people. This sustains demand and, as importantly, livelihoods. One of the ideas our government can implement could be around ESI (Employees State Insurance). All the people who get a salary below Rs 21,000 are registered with ESI. I am told that more than four crore formal sector employees are registered with ESIC. And the net revenue income is about Rs 9,000 crore. Even sharing a part of that revenue with people registered with ESIC can bring a big relief to people in these tough times. It is important to keep up everybody’s morale. We have to believe in ourselves. That we will fight back and emerge much stronger from this crisis. Do you feel that India’s manufacturing has been hit harder because of its deeper vulnerabilities such as dependence on few sectors like automotive? What are its big vulnerabilities? RD: Every sector is hit due to this covid crisis; even those companies that mostly export, or those with higher automation or those who have a lower dependency on supply chain. That said, the manufacturing sector was facing a slowdown preCovid due to a lot of uncertainty in the economic environment. Now this crisis has dealt a double whammy to the sector. There are certain aspects that have been lacking in the manufacturing sector. One of them is workers’ productivity. On an average it is almost 4 to 5 times lower than that for China, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam, etc. Quality systems and processes, maintenance, talent management including skill upgradation are some of areas where even large companies [in India] have not really done very well compared to global standards. GM: One thing that needs to be done is, can we derisk our businesses by going into areas that have not been as deeply explored? One such area would definitely be aerospace. In aerospace, India has more people employed on the service side than the manufacturing side. We are not manufacturing enough for aerospace. This sector demands high quality components, world class product development processes, technologies, etc. Today, India’s share of exports in this sector is 2.1 percent of the global output. We need to

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set a 10 percent target. We shouldn’t be happy saying that we can grow 10 or 20 percent every year. We need to aim for an exponential growth rate. Look at the China story and see how they took 14 percent of the world aerospace market. Can we set a 10-year agenda to reach a 10-percent share? It is very much possible. For example, we [at Maini Precision] make aerospace components which are about 8 to 12 years ahead of the Indian market. I feel that we lack the speed and the scale as an industry, and that goes back to infrastructure, policy, etc. I understand that the government is interacting with all the industry houses to figure out the best things to do. We must diversify. We have to understand that demand is going to be low in the automotive sector for the near future. A simple example is EVs (Electric Vehicles). They require a lesser number of parts. We as an industry should look at what we should do to get a larger share of any growing market. What are the top things to be done during the crisis so we emerge stronger on the other side? GM: First, there needs to be a realization that we are going to emerge in a different world, a new normal. For one, it has taught all of us the utility of work for home. We have a lot of our engineers connected to our system, designing from home, which we never did before. It was not that the technology was not available before. But this crisis enabled the shift. The whole infrastructure around the whole corporate office structure will change. Business travel will take a long time to recover. Only the machine and operators are not going to change much, except that one will have to find ways to operate more machines with fewer operators, since the crisis has limited the number of people who can come in. RD: There has to be a better degree of certainty in policy making. That has been lacking in the country for quite some time, at least for the last 10-12 years. There needs to be a clearcut, unambiguous policy direction from the decision makers. There have been a lot of efforts around Make in India, but I haven’t seen any concrete policy initiative to support manufacturing or to help the sector face its challenges. What would be a better way for the policy makers to make it happen? RD: They have to understand the difficulties of each sector. Each sector faces its own challenge. They have to understand first what are the unique difficul-

ties faced by the auto sector or mining, electrical machinery, textile or F&B. There are a lot of ways to get the right data. How can the industry bodies play a role in this? RD: Industry bodies are doing their part. Despite that we see a lot of contraindications in [the government’s] policy making. GM: We as an industry need to have a global vision. We need to focus on building a great infrastructure, move up the ease of business index, make life a little bit easier for business owners. A lot of people have cases running for 20 years. The [court] appeals have to go 3-4 times right up to the Supreme Court. There are a lot of time consuming and cost-added activities that happen. We need to focus on value-added activities, spend time and resources creating value. Audience Question: It appears that the MSMEs don’t have a proper representation with the government. Why is that so? RD: To the contrary, the govt is doing a lot for the MSMEs. A lot of policy decisions during this crisis has been done for the MSME sector. I would say that there is a lack of representation for the large and medium corporates. Ravikumar Shirige, Carl Zeiss India (Audience): We have been talking about the quality of manufacturing in this discussion. In the same context, if we look at the public sector, the idea is that quality machines can be procured at L1, which is a practice we have inherited from the British. What is your view? RD: You are right. I think in case of public sector tenders, the quality is determined by L1, therefore it becomes the mindset that L1 is the quality that must be produced. The focus is on low cost, and not so much on the specifications and the quality of the product. But that [procurement] mindset does not exist in the private sector. Here companies go with quality, delivery commitment, supply chain efficiencies and similar other aspects. Large OEMs, for example, look at these aspects first before looking at the price. That said, the price has to be competitive. GM: The most important parameter for purchasing decisions has to be quality. That comes first and the rest follow. Govt companies need to have a way to factor in quality into their decisions, not Just price. Audience Question: There is an anti-China sentiment globally right now. In that regard, what will it take for the Indian industry to get some market share in [global] manufacturing?

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RD: I am sure that we will definitely see a lot of new opportunities not seen before. Global companies are seeking to diversify production sources to be used beyond China. It started earlier during the trade war. India is definitely among the best placed countries with a massive educated working population. Industries that can take advantage of this include electrical, machinery, packaged F&B, pharma, and in the longer term, textile and apparel. These are some of the industries where India can become a global supplier. GM: That opportunity has already started coming in. It’s up to us now as to how to really be proactive and avail of these opportunities. There is a lot of business out there. Today, companies will not have the same top line that they used to have pre-Covid. It means that the only way a company will strengthen its bottom line will be to have a better cost. Most of the large companies procure between 40 to 70 percent of their products from a global supply chain. Therefore we can be really competitive and make the best of this huge opportunity. We should go out and get it. I don’t think China is competitive in every sense of the word. China is extremely competitive when it comes to very very high volume. It’s not necessary that they will be competitive when it is medium to high, that is to say, a range of 1,00,000. When you go to the 5 million to 10 million range they are very competitive because of the infrastructure. In many areas we are more competitive. We should select areas where we are strong. There are many, many of them. Not all businesses are high-volume games. We can target medium and low volume businesses. RD: I agree. When it comes to high volumes, China is cheaper. I think it’s not because of the ecosystem that they have developed. As Gautam said, if you go to lower or medium volume [products], my personal experience is that we are competing well on quality and price with Chinese manufacturers in most of the markets. We have to focus on better and more friendly policy measures to attract some of these companies to India. At the same time, we really can’t write off China, because they are capable of bouncing back and being successful. Public memory is short, so a couple of years down the line, when things become normal, the market will go back to the same old principle of best-cost producers. About who is more efficient, who is providing a better quality product in faster time. Who can be more nimble, make a new product and do a faster time-to-market. But there is certainly a gap that is open to India right now. We are capable, we are fast and if we can adapt, quickly align with the global best prac-

tices, I think we have a good chance of, say, taking a 10 percent or more share of the global market. Audience Question: The issue of low average productivity was discussed here before. Can automation solve that problem, given the fact that it is highly expensive? GM: I could answer that with one term: low-cost automation. That’s the combination we need. I agree with you that complete automation is very expensive. I am talking from the perspective of MSMEs and SMEs, not from that of an MNC based in India, that would have a different parameter. If today I switch to robotics to do everything, and it may cost me, say, Rs 10 lakh, how can I do a similar thing or at least 80 percent of that with a lower investment? If for example, I make machine tools, how can one man run five machines with the help of a simple low cost automation solution, where the loading and unloading is done not with the robots but with the simple combination of pneumatics and holders to bring the cost done. How many spindles can I run with the least amount of investment in automation? Depending on your manpower cost and cycle time, you can decide on your return on investment on that type of automation. In other words, multi-manning with low-cost automation could be a general low-cost automation solution for the SMEs and the MSMEs. RD: The right kind of automation [for the Indian industry] is something that gives support to a worker to do it more efficiently, which can bring up productivity. Industrial engineers must study each industry to see how efficient the workers are, and if you can implement some low-cost automation in that area, how can the productivity be improved. That will also reduce your cost for capital. Audience Question: What is the strategy during the COVID period of manufacturers for meeting the demands for multiple varieties of production, given that there is a lack of workforce and the social distancing norms in place? RD: It depends from industry to industry based on how dependent it is on migrant workers. To the industry stakeholders hit by this, they will have to do a reset, find new ways of working on how the social distancing can be maintained for one to two years. The industry will have to adapt to this type of working culture. Getting back the demand will be a major issue and that’s the problem that needs to be solved. GM: In our experience, we opened up one of our units which does aerospace manufacturing. We found that only 10 percent of the manpower showed up during the first week. I do agree that

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bringing manpower back into production will be an issue in the short run. Looking at the lockdown situation for the long term, we have implemented social distancing norms as part of onsite work. For instance, we send a 40-seater bus wherein only 15 people must travel. Similar norms have been put in place at the entrance of the factory, the spaces between machines, and in our canteen where we have 8-seaters with a maximum of 2 people seated on them diagonally. We found ways and means to maintain social distancing. To answer your question about the demand, we will find ways to meet the demand, but getting demand back on track post-lockdown is the biggest worry.

What is your message to the viewers regarding how this crisis can be met? RD: From a longer-term perspective, my recommendation to every organization that you have to build a contingency reserve to overcome uncertainty, because the future is going to be uncertain in a lot of ways. That said, understand your customer. Be fast in responding to unexpected scenarios, which means that you become more agile and nimble. GM: Have a clear 90-day and 180-day plan. Remember cash is king. Conserve cash. Pay more attention to ROC (Return On Capital). Make sure our businesses are more sustainable.

INDUSTRY SAMURAI

Gautam Maini MD Maini Precision Products Ltd

Rajesh Doraiswamy Joint MD Salzer Electronics Ltd

Maini Precision is a diversified manufacturer and supplier of high precision components and assemblies, catering to a global clientele in the automotive & industrial and aerospace sectors. Key products manufactured by the company for the automotive & industrial sectors include precision components, machined castings & forgings, fuel filters and sub-assemblies used in engines, transmissions, fuel injection, turbo chargers, steering & chassis, for passenger commercial vehicles and precision components, machined castings and forgings for other industries; and for the aerospace sector include precision components and sub-assemblies used in aero structures, aero engines and aircraft systems.

Salzer Electronics is at the forefront of the technological advancements in the field of Switchgear products. Salzer has been designing and manufacturing high quality Electrical Relays, Energy Saving Device, Basic Cable Channels, since 1985. Committed to innovation and excellence, Salzer has now earned a reputation for its quality-oriented electrical and electronic products, worldwide. Salzer has entered into a marketing alliance with Larsen & Toubro Limited for marketing its product range within India. The export market of Salzer is looked after by a similar tie-up with Crompton Greaves Limited which is another industrial giant in the switchgear field.

Volume 4–Issue 4 J u l y /Au gu s t 2 0 2 0

Industry Samurai

Where The River Will Know Where Were We: Confirmed cases neared 25,000, at a much faster rate than before. While it took 76 days for cases to reach 10,000 by mid-April, TIME LINE: it took only eight days to reach twice that number. A general realization APRIL 25, had dawned on decision makers in the government and industry 2020 that this was going to be a long-drawn battle. Initial optimism and actions around reopening the economy had been replaced by a sense of bracing up for the unknown. It was during such times that we got to speak with the two industry captains from two different parts of the country — Ravi Raghavan, MD, Bharat Fritz Werner (BFW) joined us from Bengaluru and Nishant Jairath, Director Metalman Auto Pvt Ltd joined us from NCR. Edited, abridged excerpts (following the Key Takeaways section).

GLIMPSES Nishant Jairath ▪ With any kind of crisis comes a new opportunity, an opportunity for you to perform better. ▪ The foremost thing that we need to do as leaders is to increase resilience within our organizations. ▪ The role of industry bodies becomes much more crucial during such times. The big associations should come in together for one common objective. This is required and is the need of the hour. ▪ Indians are born entrepreneurs. It's just that one needs to know and develop ways to channelize all that energy into action and results.

▪ In India if we need to cross-leverage the strengths of the service industry and the manufacturing industry. It can be a win-win situation for India. Despite having such a robust IT industry, we are not able to capitalize on this by creating a bridge between the two aspects, whereas the US has been doing it very well. ▪ We need to re-evolve our education sector. We need to teach manufacturing entrepreneurship and establish incubation centers like how we have in the IT sector. Our industry has the right kind of DNA to be there among the leading players. ▪ Whether it is domestic or global trends you have no control over them; the only control you have is over your company and yourself, so work on that.

Ravi Raghavan ▪ A positive thing that has emerged is that this has given me an opportunity to find many hidden leaders within my group. These are the people who bring out their best during the times of crisis. ▪ We learned about it in management schools and we practiced it to an extent, but when a crisis like this hits, a realization dawns on you that society plays such a big role in everything that we do. And that realization makes the whole purpose of your organization much stronger. ▪ Value has become an important parameter when determining the price of goods or services. Price is not just a function of cost and profit anymore.

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▪ Supply chain resilience will become even more important, not only in terms of the cost and capacity, but also in terms of reliability including how dependable it is from a geo-political perspective. ▪ India's value addition to the global supply chain should be much higher. Instead of exporting raw material, and importing more complex components and finished

THE TALK How is it looking on the ground? Have the factories started in your region? Nishant Jairath (NJ): There’s a mixed feeling. The first thing is you realize that you have so much of time as everybody is at home but then we need to start working really very hard because of the significant impact of the crisis. Everyone is resetting to a new world. Never in our lifetime have we experienced something like this. I am sure that everybody is experiencing the same thing. Ravi Raghavan (RR): We got some permissions to maintain the plant. As you know, plant maintenance is very important for a manufacturing company. And that's actually my advice to all the other manufacturers as well. We need to keep running the machines for two hours or thereabouts every day so that the machines stay in good condition. Otherwise it's going to be a cost when we restart; and you find that many of the components may not be in working condition.

goods, we need to be able to make more high value-added products locally. ▪ Some of the value may be getting lost in doing quick fixes. To digress a bit, we saw this trend in our IT industry, where companies begin by offering a low value-add service, scale up fast, based on which the evaluations go up and everyone is happy.

Can you give us an idea of what was the situation immediately after the crisis hit us? To share with you our experience, we started to get concerned when DMI’s Dinesh Mishra visited Auto Expo in February, and was surprised to see the thin attendance, and not just in the China pavilion, where a lot of exhibitors were disallowed to participate due to the emerging situation. RR: We started to get some idea of it in February. Industries [in general] were going through a tough situation, we were expecting that the last part [of the financial year] would be good as we had good orders too. Sometime in February, a lot of imported material from Japan and Taiwan got into problems – shipments getting delayed and other such difficulties. That's where we started to get a feeling that things were more serious than what appeared. Unfortunately that became a reality a few weeks back. NJ: As you pointed out, the initial signals came in during Auto Expo itself where we were also participating. That is one of the exhibitions we look forward to. The attendance this time was very low compared to the previous years, which gave us a few signals of something that was not right. However, the magnitude of it was not expected to be this big. Lots of people thought we [in India] may have a better immunity to it, or that the type of weather we have could provide some defence. But I never thought that it would hit everyone for such a long period of time; it will disrupt manufacturing in such a big way. The magnitude was something that was completely unexpected. Can you share with us how has been the employee morale; how have they been keeping up? RR: This is a far more complex situation than the earlier crises that we have seen during 2008-2009, etc. They were financial crises and the solutions were financial or economic. But this is a health crisis; it impacts both life and livelihood. To be

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honest, it took a couple of weeks of estimation. But people have understood now that this one is going to be a long battle. Yes, there is a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety among people, and I am talking not only of my company or industry, but everyone across the board. People are finding it difficult to readjust to the unfolding reality. The most important task for me has been to keep everyone motivated, whether it’s our employees or people in the society or family; that's a sort of a single-point agenda I have in mind because I believe everything will fall into place once that is in position. Then it is about looking at aspects of safety for everyone. Then doing what the government wants us to do. I think the only solution for all that is communication, communication, communication. Communication was never so important as it is today – we always knew that it was an important element of life, management, everything but never did I feel that it was such a critical thing as I do now. Can you share some ideas about how you are keeping up the employee morale? RR: We have about 1,200 direct employees, and we've been able to reach out to each one of them a number of times during these last six weeks. We're trying to focus on positive things, focusing on the light that lies beyond the shadow. A positive thing that has emerged is that this has given me an opportunity to find many hidden leaders within my group. These are the people who bring out their best during the times of crisis. NJ: As Ravi said, communication is playing a very important role, particularly in terms of nurturing an atmosphere of positivity. We are trying to convey [to our people] that with any kind of crisis comes a new opportunity, an opportunity for you to perform better. Ravi also shared a very good example of how you are able to find new talent, who see this not only as a crisis, but also as an opportunity to showcase their strengths and capabilities to the top management. It is true with us as well. To add, this is the time when we feel that we've reset ourselves and our work. These times have given us an opportunity to revisit the drawing board, list all the processes that we've been doing as an organization, go back to strategy, and work on the SWOT aspects, not only in terms of strategy, but also, more importantly, from a people’s perspective. For example, we realize that training is important, so we've done things like providing online educational courses to our employees. As importantly, we have made their family also a part of this conversation. We have tried to create a social circle where the employees’ kids can also interact

with each other because you know they're not be able to go out to play with their friends – so I feel that that is something important that we're doing. RR: The point about family is very relevant. It brings to mind to things that I also discovered during these times. One discovery was that I thought I was a very compassionate person, but these times made me realize that a lot of ground still needs to be covered. The second thing is that I never realized how remarkably important social ties are to everything we do. We learned about it in management schools and we practiced it to an extent, but when a crisis like this hits, a realization dawns on you that society plays such a big role in everything that we do. And that realization makes the whole purpose of your organization much stronger. To add another point, we have shared a lot of books with people, encouraging them to read constructive things. As organizational leaders, what course of action do you recommend to your peers as well as the authorities so that plants can be opened up in a safer and better socioeconomic environment? NJ: I think the foremost thing that we need to do as leaders is to increase resilience within our organizations. We have to become more agile and cost-effective. One should look at ways to adopt digitalization within one’s organization — chiefly to connect with customers faster and at a reasonable cost. In addition, as an industry, we need to strongly work on having a framework to adopt risk management — if such a crisis [Covid-19] can happen once, it can happen again. There is a need to bring in new ideas into operations, look at innovation, lean management, these aspects we have to start taking a more focused look at, as an industry. For example, we've been doing value-streammapping of our products, and trying to figure out non-value-add areas not only from the process perspective, but also from the information perspective. From a macro perspective, the role of industry bodies becomes much more crucial during such times. It is my own assumption that there is no unified strength to be able to face such critical times. I think most of the bigger associations should come in together for one common objective. This is required and is the need of the hour. Collaboration and digitalization have never been that important. RR: Let me put the approaching time and strategy into three phases. One is immediate. The next three months for companies and the industry are about survival. It is about keeping one’s head

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above water. The whole learning for me as far as this exercise is concerned is: let's make things very simple. That makes life easier and better. The second phase is midterm. There is some pent-up demand in all markets and industries which will suddenly come up once the initial phase is over. Organizations should be ready to fulfil that demand because that may be short lived. We don't want to miss that opportunity, so we are keeping focus on that as well. Third is the long term. I don't want to use jargons like W- or V-shaped growth. There can be three scenarios in the long term: One, in terms of dealing with the pandemic, India has done okay, the world has done okay. Two, India has done okay, the world has not done okay. And the third, neither India nor the world have done okay. So all strategies will depend on which of these scenarios will pan out. Speaking of things to address in the long term, I'm looking at five things. One is content localization in the manufacturing industry. You can also call it domestic mobilization or an inward focus. The second one is the digital piece. Not that everything will become digital and that you will not have any [physical] touchpoints. What one needs to have is a beautiful combination of both. Modern technology can make doing it so much more efficient. The third piece is alternate cost models. Now, value has become an important parameter when determining the price of goods or services. It is not just a function of cost and profit anymore. When we buy a high-end mobile, we don't strip it down and calculate the price of the IC chip or the camera and so on. We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see why you pay Virat Kohli so much when he bats for only 60 overs. The parameter of value will change the whole alternate-cost-model equation. Fourth is supply chain resilience that will become important, not only in terms of the cost and capacity, but also in terms of reliability including how dependable it is from a geopolitical perspective. And of course, agility, as Nishant said, is among the most important factors that will determine success and survival of industries and enterprises. Do you feel the manufacturing industry was hit harder by Covid-19 because of the underlying vulnerabilities that it already has. If so, what are these vulnerabilities? NJ: In India, as you know, most of our manufacturing happens in the unorganized sector. If more of it gets an organized structure, our resilience would increase. To give you an example, I belong to Ludhiana. I can tell you

that this city is full of excellent examples of frugal engineering and innovation. The only thing lacking is a lack of channels to take these innovations, strengths and capabilities in a systematic way to customers. Indians are born entrepreneurs. It's just that one needs to know and develop ways to channelize all that energy into action and results. The other factor is the industry's dependency on low or unskilled labor. On this issue we have not been very focused, in terms implementing newer technologies. We as an industry are still working with old manufacturing methodologies. RR: Small businesses are a great strength of this country and they have great ideas but at the same time they face certain limitations because of the [economic-regulatory] environment. Our structure is federal so there is a combination of center and state laws. But unfortunately discordance in the many types and numbers of compliances can pose hurdles. For example, an entrepreneur today who comes with technical acumen needs to focus only on the technology aspect. Instead his or her mind is occupied with what compliances he or she may not be fulfilling unintentionally or, say, the number of forms that need to be filled to apply for a bank loan. These things take her mind and energy away from focusing on her enterprise's core strength. Such things don't happen in an advanced economy like Germany. On the subject of ease of business, we have moved fairly fast, but we still have a long way to go. If you do that right, I don't think anything that can stop our industry from becoming a leading force. I believe that this is very critical, and everybody needs to join hands on this with the government because it's so much important for the next generation to lead a great life, and to do so, an important step would be to expand manufacturing from the current 16 percent to 35 percent of GDP. The share of manufacturing in India's GDP is about 16 percent, which is similar to other industrialized economies like Japan (19 percent) and greater than that of the US (11 percent). However, when it comes to India's contribution to global manufacturing output (MVA), at 3 percent it is a fraction of what industrialized nations contribute. How can India increase its contribution to the global value chain? RR: There are two sides to that. One, even at 1618 percent, we are good at manufacturing low value-added things for the most part. When you take nineteen percent of Japan's GDP share of

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manufacturing, those are mostly high value-add goods [including electronics and machine tools]. If Japan had more natural resources like minerals, their manufacturing size would have been much higher as a percentage of their GDP. India's value addition to the global supply chain should be much higher. Instead of exporting raw material, and importing more complex components and finished goods, we need to be able to make more high value-added products locally. We do have the strength of our people. I don't think any other country has this great combination of demography and technical strength. If you take the number of people who are technically skilled in our countries, it is among the highest in the world. So it's just a question of putting all of that strength into collective value building. Some of the value may be getting lost in doing quick fixes. To digress a bit, we saw this trend in our IT industry, where companies begin by offering a low value-add service, scale up fast, based on which the evaluations go up and everyone is happy. We must ask ourselves if we made a great product or we just want to be some app creator and not add any value to that. That mistake should not happen in manufacturing, otherwise we'll remain a semi trading-manufacturing economy. If at all we have to compete with industrialized nations, decommoditized products and add value to them. To take a leaf from the machine tool industry. No country can be called a manufacturing country, if it doesn't have a strong machine tool sector. So the first thing you start is with machining. In machine tools, China does about $30 billion and India does about $3 billion. I think everybody in this industry would be smiling earto-ear if we can do three or four times our current output. There is a huge opportunity. We just have to put our collective intellect and hands to it. NJ: To add, in India if we need to cross-leverage the strengths of the service industry and the manufacturing industry. It can be a win-win situation for India. Despite having such a robust IT industry, we are not able to capitalize on this by creating a bridge between the two aspects, whereas you know the US has been doing it very well. They are good at creating that bridge -- where through services they are able to market products and serve the customers, even when they outsource their manufacturing to some other country [but retain the IP and marketing rights]. Additionally, the crux of it lies in education. We need to re-evolve our education sector. We need to teach manufacturing entrepreneurship and establish incubation centers like how we have in

the IT sector. Our industry has the right kind of DNA to be there among the leading players. RR: To add to what Nishant said, the great opportunity for the manufacturing industry is to combine IT and OT (Operations Technology). Se we make smart machines together with the IT industry. I don't think any other country in the world has that much of IT-OT strength as we do. Japanese have a great ecosystem in the automobile industry, which influences the machine tool industry and so on. BFW has been able to compete very well in an industry which has traditionally been dominated by European machine tool builders. Time is of essence for our manufacturing industry. Audience question: How can India benefit from a perceptible shift of manufacturing base from China to other locations? NJ: One thing we [or any other manufacturing economy] need to accept is that it is near impossible to be able to beat China when it comes to cost. Also, when we talk about this shift, people start assuming that all those factories are going to come to India. There are Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Taiwan where these businesses could shift and are doing so. I think rather than waiting for this opportunity and counting on it, we should work on our businesses in terms of our strengths and weaknesses. From an entrepreneurs' perspective, we should align ourselves in line with the requirements that these countries have. At Metalman Auto, we've created a SWOT analysis with respect to any and all opportunities. RR: I think there is a little bit of emotion in such a narrative, so I won't take it completely as an economic trend. If you see even in the last two years, some companies moved out of China [owing to the US-China trade war] but they went to other countries and very few came to India. It's very simple: water will flow where it finds a path of least resistance, and there's still some resistance in our ecosystem. Some part of it will definitely come to us, and that is going to be huge. We should all be attentive to such opportunities and attract some part of that investment into our own industries. Audience question: We too are in the machine tools industry. The biggest problem we face is that as importers, this year we are not really sure of what the market is going to look like. As an industry we were already going through a low point and now this pandemic has pushed us further down. What kind of recovery measures one should adopt to recover from this pandemic? RR: In the short term, we have to be cautious because

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a [machining] product is not a general product. We have two likely scenarios: one is pessimistic and the other one is optimistic. The realistic scenario looks closer to the pessimistic than the optimistic in the medium-term. By medium term I am talking about a six month to nine-month time frame. In the long run, positive changes will happen. In the machine tools industry, we are seeing two different phenomena -- one, the average price of the machine is going up, and two, the number of accessories of a machine is going up, which means that people don't just want straightforward machines. They want value addition. And there is a demand for automation â&#x20AC;&#x201D; about 40 percent of machines are seeing smaller or bigger tasks automated into them. So automation is going to be the flavor going forward. What is your message to entrepreneurs and professionals about how to deal with the current situation?

NJ: The number one message is that try and look at the positive side of this crisis. There is an opportunity to reset yourself. One hardly ever got a chance like this. Not only from the organizations perspective but also from your own perspective. Relook at how you do business. I think this is a once-in-a-lifetime of opportunity. Whether it is domestic or global trends you have no control over them; the only control you have is over your company and yourself, so work on that. RR: Even more, this is a once-in-a-century opportunity. It is only after [The Spanish Flu Pandemic] 1920 that probably something came like this. Let's make use of it. We will be wasting this chance if we don't make a difference for ourselves. I want to read out a quote from Khalil Gibran which is about the tedious path of a river before it meets the ocean. The ocean here represents the opportunity we have at the end of this tedious road before us.

INDUSTRY SAMURAI

Ravi Raghavan MD, Bharat Fritz Werner (BFW)

Nishant Jairath Director, Metalman Auto Pvt Ltd

BFW was born in 1961 to realise the dream of a young economy that was on the cusp of industrialisation. Ever since, the company has been at the heart of manufacturing. The company has supported the growth of the Indian industry by creating the machine tools vital for industries, across verticals - from plastic buckets to aerospace projects. Mr. Raghavan has more than 25 years experience in engineering and manufacturing, having worked in various positions in Projects, Manufacturing, Business Development, IT, Strategy and Engineering Services.

As Executive Director of Metalman Auto Private Limited, Nishant oversees management of all business operations, manufacturing, marketing, and sales of a company that is rapidly growing. Over the company's 26 year history, it has expanded from a small-scale business to a multi-faceted corporation that is dedicated to supplying precise, defect-free parts at a competitive price with unparalleled customer service. Metalman is a one-stop shop for the fabrication needs of global automotive OEMs, heavy fabrication and construction equipment, off-road vehicles, and white goods industry.

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Industry Samurai

If You're Not A Brand, You Are A Commodity Where Were We: TIME LINE: Lockdown 3.0 had begun. Areas were to be classified into three zones, 02 MAY, namely Red, Orange and Green. It had been 40 days since the lockdown, 2020 the number of cases had crossed 37,000 with over 1,500 deaths, and the shadow of uncertainty loomed large. What was becoming certain, however, was the deepening impact on the country’s financial health, with India’s $2.9 trillion economy coming to a standstill. Looking for words of wisdom and hope, we got to have a talk with IMTMA President and UCAM Pvt. Ltd. MD Mr. Indradev Babu; Pushkaraj Group CMD Mr. Shailendra Goswami and it greatly helped. Edited and abridged excerpts.

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GLIMPSES

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Indradev Babu ▪ Manufacturing output recovery will be more U-shaped [rather than V-shaped] — the growth will pick up but it will be gradual. ▪ I believe that in the post-Covid world, our progress will be more holistic where we will see a balance between the ecology and the economy. ▪ A lack of stability has caused people to not be able to think deeply. When I say people, I also mean governments, the industry and

▪

the industry leaders. But this Covid-19 situation has given an opportunity for people to introspect. I expect a lot of changes to happen in our manufacturing sector. MSME is a very big contributor not only to manufacturing but also to the GDP so it needs to become a lot stronger, competitive and structured in order to attract business from China or any part of the world to India. We need to have more companies making products which go to B2C rather than to B2B. People need to have the ability to create products and launch them in the market. India’s most competitive and efficient manufacturing industry is automotive. They have a well-organized system to be very effective and efficient — they have followed the footsteps of the Japanese auto manufacturing system and so on. Their knowledge of excellence in manufacturing has to be transferred to the SMEs. Please also look at Indian manufacturing from a brand perspective. we will need to establish Indian manufacturing as a global brand much like the American, European and Japanese manufacturing brands. If you're not a brand, you become a commodity. Quality and cost in manufacturing are not inversely proportional. Building high quality does not mean that your cost is going to go up. However, it is conversely true — when you are manufacturing poor quality you are doing it inefficiently and you are losing money.

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Shailendra Goswami ▪ [Presently] cash flow management is the biggest challenge for companies — ensuring salary payments, EMIs, interests and so on. ▪ The recovery depends on the constraints of restoring the operations, redeploying the workforce, managing liquidity and administrative problems. ▪ We are looking at roughly around 50 percent degrowth in a two-year period which is going to take a huge toll on the manufacturers and the industry. ▪ We have been more of an inward-looking society than an outward-looking society. We are very much satisfied or rather we always focused on our ROIs and short-term objectives. We as a society and an industry do not have that global outlook and [therefore do not

THE TALK What is the situation on the ground? Indradev Babu (IB): As you know manufacturing has virtually come to a standstill. The situation that we are going through is unprecedented. Naturally, the government had to take such precautions to save lives that is great. The government and the people of the country have come together to follow this need to be under lockdown. Naturally, this would also bring about a lot of pain, particularly to the weakest sectors and the poorest of the poor. For industries, the micro and small enterprises are facing a lot of challenges and confusion. For example, the government has said that you have to pay all the wages, so the micro enterprise people are wondering how and where

follow] the mantras of quality, cost or delivery, which has been hitting us all along, because we were quite happy with the domestic demand of whatever the production is. ▪ We cannot undermine China’s capabilities in manufacturing -- matching that kind of cost, volume, quality and delivery standards is going to be a big task. ▪ If we have to compete in the global market, the top attributes that we have to ensure are quality, cost, delivery and scalability. We need to specialize in modular manufacturing so we can be very flexible in whatever we do. ▪ Quality does not get compromised because then that is only the last order that you will execute. You have to believe in what you produce and you will have to provide a complete value-added proposal because a product is not sold on its price or cost, it is sold on its total life.

the money will come from to pay the salaries. When I checked with various smaller companies who are part of the association, they're all clueless and wondering how they are going to be able to manage. They are eagerly waiting for this special stimulus package the government is planning to come out with. That is one side of the story. All said and done, people are holding on, the situation is tough. From today’s news, we saw that the wheels of Industry could start to move again slowly I guess. I think the government is doing a wonderful job. As you know from the association’s side I've been taking part in various discussions with ministries both at the centre and the state level, so I'm aware of what the government is doing and [my perspective is that] they’re really working around the clock and doing their best. Shailendra Goswami (SG): The situation is highly unprecedented and we have really clocked almost five to six weeks into it. I can remember that the last I walked out was on the 20th of March, and ever since I’ve been staying at home, working from home like everyone else. From a macro perspective, there was lockdown 1.0, followed by 2.0 and now there is a lockdown 3.0. Controlling the pandemic is the foremost priority that everyone agrees to. I was listening to a renowned economist, who said an important thing about these measures, that we need to do a balancing act between saving lives and livelihood, one cannot be [prioritized] at the cost of another.

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I'm extremely happy to see that all the governments, whether it the state or the central government, have been putting in a lot of effort to do this tightrope-walk, where they have been trying to satisfy every sector. Compared to the world we have done very well so far. The industry has been facing phenomenal challenges, whether it is around restoring operations, or business continuity during the lockdown, which the government has eased in the rural belts or the SEZs. In addition, cash flow management is the biggest challenge — ensuring salary payments, EMIs, interests and so on. Supply chain management is another issue — although the cargo movement has started, hardly 15 to 20 percent of the number of trucks have really been taken into operation. And of course the biggest challenge regarding the workforce, their safety and morale. What does your instinct say about when and how we will see a recovery and whether it will be a V or W-shaped recovery? IB: Manufacturing output is proportional to market demand. So I believe that it will be more U-shaped — the growth will pick up but it will be gradual; not steep like a V-shaped growth. It would take at least a one-year period of shallow growth, because as the wheels will start to rotate after the lockdown, it will start a certain but gradual chain reaction, and then the demand will start to pick up. For example, automotive is a big industry in India — it comprises nearly 49 percent of the manufacturing GDP. And now this has completely come to a standstill. Whether the demand will return in the same way or not will be a question of sentiment. Which mode of transport will people prefer and feel safe in: will it be two wheelers or cars or public transport? This present difficult phase is not going to last just a few weeks or months, it will take a year and a half or maybe two years, and then you will see a very steep rise; because mankind is such that we always need to be building something. Sometimes it looks like mankind is destroying the environment but, finally it is the socio-economic environment that political and business leaders stand to gain from. I believe that in the post-Covid world, our progress will be more holistic where we will see a balance between ecology and the economy. SG: On the manufacturing side, the recovery depends on the constraints of restoring the operations, redeploying the workforce,

managing liquidity and administrative problems. I feel that manufacturing will follow a gradual recovery, rising [post-Covid] from perhaps 30 percent to 70-75 percent at the most and not 100 percent in next five or six months. The most important aspect is the demand generation, which is very critical because as it is, if we take the automotive sector, we have seen a degrowth during the last 18 months of around 20 to 25 percent, owing to a number of factors like the transition to the new emission norm, changing mobility preferences of people and policy implementation like GST and the scrappage policy. Then the process of restoring the operations will last for another year or so, during which time we might experience another degrowth of around 20 to 25 percent. So what we are looking at is roughly around 50 percent degrowth in a two-year period which is going to take a huge toll on the manufacturers and the industry. The first and the foremost area of focus is going to be demand generation which will come only when we have money in the pockets of our customers. In terms of paving a way to recovery, in a recent ACMA (The Automotive Component Manufacturers Association) meeting, we discussed Five Rs — Resolve, Resilience, Restart, Reimagine, and Recovery. The resolve should be to get your bearings right, resilience is the neversay-die attitude, reimagine is to focus on the new future that awaits you, recovery is going to be the growth in the new normal market scenario. Has the manufacturing industry been hit harder because of the deeper, existing vulnerabilities? If so, what are they? SG: This is absolutely true. We have been more of an inward-looking society than an outwardlooking society. We are very much satisfied or rather we always focused on our ROIs and shortterm objectives. We as a society and an industry do not have that global outlook and [therefore do not follow] the mantras of quality, cost or delivery, which has been hitting us all along, because we were quite happy with the domestic demand of whatever the production is. There was a recent study conducted by Nomura in which they looked at some 56 companies relocating from China, and noted that only three out of those 56 companies came to India; 26 went to Vietnam, 11 went to Taiwan and eight went to Thailand. When we talk about the future, we need not be complacent that well with China down, India will gain. We need to think twice before making that kind of a conclusion because there could be

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a possibility that China might come out stronger out of all this. We cannot undermine China’s capabilities in manufacturing -- matching that kind of cost, volume, quality and delivery standards is going to be a big task. That said, whichever international company wants to relocate to India, a favorable government intervention will help us with that. I am happy to share that our government is taking stock of this subject and preparing a strategy paper which will be submitted for approval to the cabinet. This strategy paper will focus on investments to be put in by the government to create additional SEZs, creating a single-window clearance system, helping us move up on the ease-of-doing-business parameter. There is a commitment from the industry side -- once the government and the industry come together on this vision, I am sure India will become the most attractive destination for FDIs, relocating and outsourcing. IB: I agree with Mr. Goswami. We are typically short-term oriented; we don't plan things with a long-term perspective. I think this is because of how our country has evolved, it has been the case that things have been changing very dynamically. A lack of stability has caused people to not be able to think deeply. When I say people, I also mean governments, the industry and the industry leaders. But this Covid-19 situation has given an opportunity for people to introspect. I expect a lot of changes to happen in our manufacturing sector. I feel that MSME is a very big contributor not only to manufacturing but also to the GDP so it needs to become a lot stronger, competitive and structured in order to attract business from China or any part of the world to India. Government has to help with ease of doing business and bring in enablers to help MSMEs. The time has come for MSMEs to become more innovative and productive. They have to grow beyond the Jugaad mindset into organized innovativeness. Instead of being more service or job shop oriented, MSMEs will have to learn to become more creative and manufacture better, innovative products. Of course, supply chain is a critical building block for any type of manufacturing. We need to have more companies making products which go to B2C rather than to B2B. People need to have the ability to create products and launch them in the market. When they launch in the market they have to survive in competition with international products and when that happens they will learn to become competitive.

India’s most competitive and efficient manufacturing industry is automotive. They have a well-organized system to be very effective and efficient — they have followed the footsteps of the Japanese auto manufacturing system and so on. Their knowledge of excellence in manufacturing has to be somehow transferred to the medium and smaller companies. What the government should do is to bring in suitable enablers or programs through which this could get transferred. It's not easy because we Indians culturally find it very difficult to be organized. It's pretty difficult but such initiatives have happened in India before and it can happen again. Everybody feels that China manufactures the cheapest products. Not true. To share an example, there's a company in our association called Pragati Automation, which produces turrets which are best-in-league in terms of price, performance and quality, and have a big market in Germany China. I know of many other companies including my own company that competes with high-tech products and companies globally. So India can do it. Please also look at Indian manufacturing from a brand perspective. we will need to establish Indian manufacturing as a global brand much like the American, European and Japanese manufacturing brands. If you're not a brand, you become a commodity. It's time that Indians develop and produce brands, even in the MSME space. Let me put a dramatic spin on a question I’ve always wanted to ask our industry leaders. There was a Bollywood movie called Nayak, released in 2001, a remake of the Tamil hit movie Mudhalvan. The hero of that movie is made the chief minister of a state for a day, and is asked to fix all the big problems. My question to you is, if you are made the CEO of India’s manufacturing sector, what are the top things you will do to transform the sector, never mind the resource constraints or the time involved. SG: To my mind if we have to compete in the global market, the top attributes that we have to ensure are quality, cost, delivery and scalability. We need to specialize in modular manufacturing so we can be very flexible in whatever we do. Then as pointed out by Mr. Babu, we must learn to innovate and the part where we fail miserably is the logistics efficiency and excellence. We have to fix that and also create value-add centers in strategic overseas locations. You know these are a few things which I would like to implement if we have to become a global player.

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IB: Interesting question. So if I become the CEO of India’s manufacturing, the focus area will be to ensure that India's manufacturing becomes globally competitive. To enable that I am going to form teams comprising top people, thinkers and doers, gurus — and I am fortunate to know many of them in the north, south, east, and west. Below them they will have executive teams that will work with the SMEs. I want to focus on small companies and not the big companies. Big companies can take care of their own [future], and they're already doing it. They know that being productive, being competitive means ensuring a robust bottom line. Item two 2 would be to provide training in manufacturing at a big scale. Generally speaking, our engineers are not top-notch. If we provide the right training for our engineers to be sharper, they could contribute directly into the industries they join. IMTMA is doing a very good job with an initiative called Finishing School In Production Engineering. It is a wonderful thing. The industry really grabs up engineers from this training program. Such types of programs should be implemented throughout the country. The third area is improvement of logistics. Fourth is the industrial infrastructure. For example, a lot of industrial estates are located in places which have pathetic infrastructure including that of approach roads. Not only does that make you lose efficiency, the poor quality gives a bad impression as you go into your company. There are a million things to do but these four areas I would give a top priority to. Audience question: How do you see the trajectory of demand for machine tools moving hereon? IB: The demand for capital goods including machine tools would be much lower this year. It will take a while for the demand to pick up. That said, there is a big pull from the medical sector; particularly pharma, medical devices particularly the PPEs and the ventilators. In the longer term, metal forming and mold making could pick up demand. Also laser processing. I believe in a year's time newer industries will pick up and in about two years you will see a very steep climb for machine tool requirements. Manufacturing will pick up in India and there will be some focus drawn away from auto manufacturing toward these newer sectors. SG: Our focus has to be global market oriented. Any company which makes products driven by the market will survive. The situation is going to change so the marketing books will have to start

writing something else now. The books which we learned in always had a product-based marketing system, but going forward markets are going to demand products, therefore companies must prepare themselves accordingly. To share an example, I was personally being coaxed by one of my very senior friends to get into healthcare which I never really looked at, being an engineer and being in the industry of manufacturing for the last 40 plus years — I always ignored that. For the last two years, I have been advising people in manufacturing to look for avenues in non-automotive [sectors] which could be defense, aerospace, or space technology, much like how Bharat Forge has entered the defence sector [and moved from being a components maker to a finished good manufacturer]. In the healthcare sector, medical equipment is more of an electronics product. If you look at, say, a Covid facility, where the patient is admitted you will see nothing but wires, oscilloscopes and instruments. There is hardly one mechanical gadget which is fabricated, except the hospital bed. Everything is electronic, even the bed is controlled by electronics. Like we say that nowadays in a car 40 percent of it is electronics; similarly in healthcare electronics is playing a major role. There are already forecasts that India will become one of the biggest exporters in the area of healthcare, whether it is medical electronics, equipment, medicines, pharmaceuticals, homeopathy or ayurveda. Then there is another area which is significant: It is digital transformation or the digitalization of the industry. I will extend it to e-commerce [for machining sales]. One of our US principals has already started using an online portal where he conducts his sale of engineering items like vibration switches on e-platforms. This saves a lot of cost. Food processing is another area that has become significant. We don’t know how long this lockdown is going to last. Consumers need to have food which is processed, which could also be exported. This will also help utilize the 40 percent of agricultural produce that goes waste everywhere. IB: Certainly. Manufacturing for IT and ITenabled services is very important and is going to pick up. IT requires several molded parts and metal parts that would give up opportunities for manufacturing but then again, a lot of its components are sourced from China. There are also some very good Indian manufacturers, but more Indian companies need to get into this area.

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The core solution first is that if you want to do anything, you need to get competitive, and now this is the time. In fact this crisis has given a huge opportunity for introspection. I would call upon every company to reflect on how they can become more competitive, how they can sustain and succeed. how they can become profitable. They need to go beyond and grow after this as the new opportunities will come. It's going to be a new sunrise, that's for sure. Audience question: What will be the effect after this pandemic on the machine tools export business? SG: CNC machine parts is one of the exports I do. To answer your question, there is not going to be much of an effect on your existing businesses, because exports opportunities to the US and Europe have increased due to the Sino-American trade war. In fact your businesses will grow further if you take certain proactive measures. You need to create a local base either yourself directly or through some people and see to it that your presence is felt. Europe has always been a country where they do not keep changing suppliers just like that. So I don't see any problems or hiccups as far as Europe and US markets are concerned for exporting from India — in fact such opportunities should increase. Audience question: considering the ongoing crisis, will customers in the manufacturing space, like automotive companies, look for cheaper solutions even if they come at the cost of quality? SG: The answer is a straight no. Quality does not get compromised because then that is only the last order that you will execute. You have to believe in what you produce and you will have to provide a complete value-added proposal because a product is not sold on its price or cost, it is sold on its total life. It's like any other comparable product like, say, a Sony TV which will be the same after many years, whereas a cheaper model with the compromised quality will have to be replaced 3-4 times. So I would go by the quality rather than the cost. It is through your marketing effort that you will need to convince the customer as to why your cost initially is higher but then in the longer run it will be cheaper. IB: I would like to add here that quality and cost in manufacturing are not inversely proportional. Building high quality does not mean that your cost is going to go up. However, it is conversely true — when you are manufacturing poor

quality you are doing it inefficiently and you are losing money. When you have the same input and have to produce the same kind of product with a generic specification, you can definitely be cheaper and yet produce a better quality product. Please understand that as the world is evolving, a better quality is expected; there is no opportunity for poor quality products. Audience question: I need to know the prospect of a new entrant into the automotive industry. SG: You must understand that automotive is a very competitive and a highly quality conscious market. When you are buying a car you are expecting the car manufacturer to give you a five year warranty which means several hundreds of thousands of kilometers. So the quality is supreme and at the same time you want that particular car to be the cheapest one. Therefore if you can work out a combination like that in your manufacturing setup then you are in for playing ball as far as the automotive sector is concerned. But a word of caution is that there are too many players already in it. And there's so many component manufacturers that you need to find a real niche which really gels with your core competences. Then only I think you will be a long-term player. IB: You have to pay attention to the coming trends — for example, during Covid-19 not many people would want to take a taxi so shared mobility is going to suffer. If somebody comes up with a car with a differentiator where, say, all you need to do to disinfect a car is press a button. So you need to come up with something which is attractive from the safety and/or hygiene point of view. Much has changed on this front, because after Covid 19 we may have a Covid 21 or something. So the whole mindset around health, safety, and hygiene is permanently set for us now. Therefore the auto industry is going to evolve on these lines. Suddenly now millions have learned to work at home and they're even wondering what is the need to go to an office? So IT companies won't need so much of an office space. I really worry about the real estate people. Audience question: Do you think private mobility will get a boost in the absence of public transport? IB: I definitely think that the people would prefer to drive in their own vehicles in the near term until the fear of Covid 19 goes away from people’s mind. You would want to use your own

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vehicles even for a longer travel, rather than taking a flight. Let's say I want to go to Chennai or Hyderabad or even Goa, I would prefer to go by car. There would be a need for more personal vehicles but maybe with a different aspect. Auto companies are all innovating right now. SG: Theoretically speaking, yes, the demand has to go up. Presumably, people who were travelling earlier by public transport or rideshare will prefer their own vehicles so that would add a certain percentage. The banks will be extending loans for creating demand; apparently the GST council is thinking of recommending that GST should go down [on cars] or that the depreciation should be added to that extent the demand will go up. Social distancing is going to be the biggest phenomenon as far as demand generation is concerned. Lastly, what is the message that you have for all the viewers on how to deal with this situation and the future outlook?

IB: These are tough times and tough times bring out the best in us. Indians have the strength of managing excellently during adversity. Let me tell you that the Indian manufacturing industry will come out shining, with a new vigor and vibrance. But presently we have a period of tough situations during which we have to pull ourselves together. So be clear minded and stay focused to sustain initially and reap the opportunities and then grow beyond that. All the best to all the manufacturers. SG: By nature I'm an optimist. I always see things in a positive mode. We have a saying in Marathi: “ek daarah banda jhala ki daha daarah ugadtat” (when one door closes, ten doors open). One must have that wisdom and intellect to focus his and her attention on those ten doors that will open rather than the door which has closed on him. Be optimistic and be positive.

INDUSTRY SAMURAI

Indradev Babu

Shailendra Goswami

Mr Babu is MD, UCAM Private Limited and President, IMTMA (Indian Machine Tools Manufacturers Association). IMTMA is the apex industry body of machine tool makers and is the organizer of the industry flagship event IMTEX. In 2018, IMTMA felicitated Mr. Babu with the Premier Outstanding Entrepreneur Award instituted in memory of Vinod Doshi." UCAM is a leader in India for CNC rotary tables, high performance CNC gear, hobbling machines and highperformance stock motors. The company believes in the philosophy Make in India for the world and offers technologically advanced products to the world market.

Mr. Goswami is CMD, Pushkaraj Engineering Enterprises Private Limited and Coherent Networking Solutions Private Limited. He is also associated as an adviser and mentor with Aditya Enterprises and Tanmay Enterprises. Pushkaraj Group represents and distributes products of 32 leading companies from around the world to diesel engine manufacturers, automotive manufacturers, engineering industry, national research industry, oil and gas sector, shipbuilding yards, compressor manufacturers etc.

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Industry Samurai

The Cheese Has Moved Where Were We: Factories were allowed to open with limited capacity. The Covid-19 TIME LINE: cases continued to spike. By this time, the total caseload had risen to MAY 09, more than 60,000 confirmed cases and more than 2,000 deaths. The 2020 hardest-hit places were the big cities, Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad. One thing was for sure: this was going to be a long haul. Therefore this talk was like a breath of fresh air. Both Swapnil Sansare, CEO and Founder, Divide by Zero Technology and Mayank Dalmia, Director, Wave Mechanics and Investor, KAHM Capital came in with a positive view on a number of things about the manufacturing industry, from the near term to the long term. Edited, abridged excerpts follow the key highlights of the interview.

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GLIMPSES

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Swapnil Sansare ▪ I can say from the perspective of the MSMEs that we all are coping up and all the rules are changing, the ways of communication are changing. ▪ It's amazing to see how we can all play all these different roles and join hands together. That's the human spirit where we evolve and rise above a crisis. I can see that happening. ▪ We realized the true enormity of the crisis, when, being in the 3D-printing industry, we started to get a lot of calls for protective equipment. I am greatly thankful to the medical fraternity for

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their support; that helped us in delivering the 3D-printed protective and medical equipment to hospitals, as well as other customers. We have provided support to even our vendors to help them with the restart process, with the documentation, finding them the transportation options and so on. An open-source movement is happening all across the globe wherein people are helping each other design PPEs which can be 3D-printed and quickly delivered. Diversification is required in manufacturing. Even when we are manufacturing for the auto industry, we can also make ventilator parts. If we are making a 3D printer or an EV (Electric Vehicle) component, we can also make a robot component which can actually help the medical industry. We as an industry are dependent on other countries and companies outside India, a lot of our supply chain basic requirements for making these 3D printers or CNC machines are dependent largely on European and Chinese manufacturers. We need to work toward manufacturing these components required by the supply chain locally. That would really push the growth of our manufacturing sector. The demand is going to shift. To borrow a leaf from the book called "Who Moved My Cheese", the cheese has moved. Now we all need to look at where it is moving. The world is not going to be the same, the modes of communication, job roles, processes, the way transactions will happen; everything will change. Taking all this into account we need to remodel our businesses.

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Mayank Dalmia ▪ For the manufacturing industry this is especially challenging; how does a manufacturing business rapidly transition to a digital interface? Some activities and functions can go digital and can be done from home, but your core activity of production can not be entirely digitalized; it needs some physical presence. ▪ These are challenging times for the policy makers as well. India has a federal structure — different states have different realities. A policy that may work well in Karnataka, may be unworkable for a state like Rajasthan or Bihar. This situation requires a lot of patience from all the stakeholders. ▪ We got an opportunity to restart operations because of an order we received to produce critical ventilator components. In the beginning we were limited to about 15 percent manpower, not much in the manufacturing

THE TALK What is the situation on the ground? Swapnil Sansare (SS): The situation has lent a completely different perspective on everything about life: be it one’s business, relationships, customers, vendors, or employees. When the lockdown started on March 24, we thought all operations would be sorted post this period. We realized the true enormity of the crisis, when, being in the 3D-printing industry, we started to get a lot of calls for protective equipment. We needed to deliver certain ventilators parts and face shields that could be 3D printed, and certain parts to be used in UV disinfection robots.

context, but eventually we were able to ramp up machining output to 60 percent and deliver a good number of components. ▪ In terms of morale, there is a bit of uncertainty and insecurity, especially in terms of what is going to happen. Personally, I am in a positive frame of mind. I believe that we can emerge from this stronger. ▪ At the policy level the government was very quick to move for provisioning of PPE, and we also have companies like BEML and BEL (Bharat Electronics Limited) to thank for facilitating this process. ▪ Traditional Indian manufacturing businesses don’t see marketing and communication as an important area to spend time on. ▪ There has been too much focus on low-cost manufacturing in India, but I think we must start moving away from low-cost driven to value and competence driven because low-cost manufacturing is a game of diminishing margins.

I am greatly thankful to the medical fraternity for their support; that helped us to respond to the requirements that arose and helped us in delivering the 3D-printed protective and medical equipment to hospitals, as well as other customers. We have never seen this kind of a situation — the supply chains came to a complete halt. How can you even manufacture your products? How do you deliver it to your customers? In short, these past 45 days have been a learning experience. We have finally accepted the change and are trying to cope with that for now. Mayank Dalmia MD: This is obviously a difficult time. Everywhere, we are reminded about how unprecedented the times are on a daily basis. For the manufacturing industry this is especially challenging; how does a manufacturing business rapidly transition to a digital interface? Some activities and functions can go digital and can be done from home, but your core activity of production can not be entirely digitalized; it needs some physical presence. These are challenging times for the policy makers as well. India has a federal structure — different states have different realities. A policy that may work well in Karnataka, may be unworkable for a state like Rajasthan or Bihar. This situation requires a lot of patience from all the stakeholders.

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For Wave and the rest of the Kahm Group, there are certain decisions that have been taken aimed at keeping the pain to the minimum, such as not reducing salaries. In terms of morale, there is a bit of uncertainty and insecurity, especially in terms of what is going to happen. Personally, I am in a positive frame of mind. I believe that we can emerge from this stronger. What were the hardest things that you had to encounter or manage during the first phase and how did you cope up with that? MD: Machining being the core activity, the hardest part was the first 10 days when we were completely shut, following government directives to cease all operations. A challenge was transitioning the sales team and the projects team [to the new reality]. We were quite stressed, given that we are in two essential areas: aerospace as well as medical and in both of these areas a lot of our international customers continued functioning as they were always declared essential from the get go. Luckily, we got an opportunity to restart operations because of an order we received to produce critical ventilator components. In the beginning we were limited to about 15 percent manpower, not much in the manufacturing context, but eventually we were able to ramp up machining output to 60 percent and deliver a good number of components. I would say that a big challenge has been the supply chain, in terms of raw material, consumables & logistics; we have been lucky to have our raw material stock, but a lot of our peers don’t have it in place. SS: As Mayank pointed out, there was a situation of complete uncertainty during the initial ten days or so. I am privileged to have an amazing team and we were able to function despite everything. I can say from the perspective of the MSMEs that we all are coping up and all the rules are changing, the ways of communication are changing. We have provided support to even our vendors to help them with the restart process, with the documentation, finding them the transportation options and so on. It was definitely worth every effort because it's amazing to see how we can all play all these different roles, and join hands together. That's the human spirit where we evolve and rise above a crisis. I can see that happening. On the manpower side we are allowed to run as an essential service at 33 percent capacity, but since our machines are completely automatic, we are still running at around 45-60 percent capacity on the production side.

What has been the role of your companies in contributing to the supply chain of essentials such as PPE, ventilators, and others? SS: An open-source movement is happening all across the globe wherein people are helping each other design PPEs which can be 3D-printed and quickly delivered. In 3D printing as you know we are not dependent on customized tooling. So that helped a lot in delivering face shields, face masks and fulfil all these requirements coming in from local hospitals, particularly the government hospitals handling Covid patients. A lot of other types of innovation also came into place to handle this. For example, there is a small device called an ‘ear pressure reliever’ [an ear pressure reliever is a device that holds back mask strings to prevent masks from hurting the ear. The device was first designed by an Olympian to help with wearing swimming gear. - Editor]. Then we also moved to making UV disinfection boxes and robots; where a robot has a large UV lamp mounted on it and is positioned in different areas and hospitals to sanitize and disinfect them. There is a lot of innovation happening to help our doctors and medical workers who are fighting on the frontlines of these pandemic -- they are being supported by engineers and manufacturing workers at the backend. There are a lot of groups made on Telegram and WhatsApp where people have started to communicate about all the supply chain and engineering options. Doctors and engineers from across the globe are in these groups, contributing to these designs. We call it distributed manufacturing. Once those designs are made available, we could actually send it to many-many partners across the globe and they can actually make those parts on their 3D printer or CNC machines. MD: Personally, I have seen a lot of companies transition to producing protective equipment and masks. What has been really surprising is that these supplies have not reached hospitals or medical professionals with the speed that that was needed. I know doctors that are involved in fighting Covid-19, and as you rightly mentioned they are fighting this like medieval Knights, where they wear a PPE suit in the morning and get to take it off only at night when the day’s battle is over. It is quite a tragedy that we are seeing medical professionals getting infected. Even more we are hearing about cases where medical professionals and nurses are being shut out in

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their societies. This is something which needs to be addressed by the government. And we need to make it sure that the PPE needs to go in sufficient numbers into the right hands, over and above mere symbolic gestures. At the policy level the government was very quick to move for provisioning of PPE, and we also have companies like BEML and BEL (Bharat Electronics Limited) to thank for facilitating this process. They helped us get permission to re-open & contribute to this need. So that was a very big silver lining from my perspective. We have seen in the US, for example, that auto companies have been roped in to produce ventilators. Are their instances of the same in India? Can other manufacturers not step up to produce such equipment? MD: The short answer is that yes, manufacturers from [other sectors like auto] can retool to produce items like ventilators. We are seeing companies in the aerospace and defense industries like Lockheed Martin and others successfully producing ventilators. So it is very much possible for various types of industries to set up and produce these items. That being said these are not simple devices to get to market. Especially when you add the factor that they are life support systems and justifiably so they are required to meet regulations and certifications. For example, one thing seen across these WhatsApp and Telegram groups, everyone was running into a wall of how to get their design or prototype certified; who is the right body to actually walk us through this process. Similarly, there have been a lot of questions which have still not been resolved. So, you are prevented from selling a working design, without the necessary approvals & certifications. That is one area that we could definitely improve on; make the regulatory framework for approving medical devices and medicine more efficient. SS: I completely agree with Mayank. Bigger medical equipment brands already had these approvals and certifications to manufacture these equipment. For the newer entrants, there is a lack of clarity in terms of whether you get the certification from, or, say, a particular UV device will be certified by ICMR or any other body. There is definitely some clarity required to speed up this manufacturing process here in India and for regions beyond India since there is a global need for these equipment.

Audience Question: I am from a company that makes barcoding and tracking devices. There are a lot of issues which we face and as far as the materials and supplies are concerned, which are available but hard to get. My question to the panelists is that why do we still see the lack of visibility of PPE manufacturers in India except for a few international brands like 3M and Honeywell? SS: There are well-known PPE manufacturing companies in India like Venus, JCT, Adiya Birla and others but yes there is a lack of visibility. Media plus a role to highlight these heroes. In terms of regulation there is a lack of clarity which means that a lot of effort has to be put in to reach out to the authorities to understand the compliance process. Infrastructure-wise you cannot manufacture PPE or any such equipment in a standard manufacturing setup, it requires a particular kind of setup and the machinery and ensuring what we call it as a clean-room environment. But I can see a change happening now in the area of government support as well. MD: We may not have the brand names of the likes of Honeywell, but some of the companies that Swapnil mentioned have done a pretty good job. The challenge really lies in distribution since it is not reaching the right people. In terms of branding, you can kind of expand that question generally for all of Indian manufacturing, where it is more about the lack of marketing and communication, which traditional Indian manufacturing businesses donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see as an important area to spend time on. Audience question: I have seen that we arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t promoting Indian digital noncontactable thermometers because the Indian brands are very-very costly compared to the Chinese brands. I would like to have your perspective on this. SS: Infrared thermometers, even if they seem like a small and simple device, require getting the supply chain together of a lot of different components both mechanical and electronics and a lot of assemblies. Ensuring all of that takes a lot of effort but as the numbers go higher, I think definitely Indian manufacturers will also be able to compete with other international brands, be it Chinese or any other. MD: On the pricing issue, a simple answer is that these companies have been building these devices from before Covid. They have an established supply chain and distribution network, all of their costs have been optimized

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and therefore they have the pricing advantage. Just put yourself in the shoes of a medium or small size Indian manufacturer; first you spend money developing the product, then you spend money finding suppliers and ordering the various items & getting it to your facility; all of these come at a higher than the normal cost given the current context. Finally, you end up with a product that is not competitive because you're not enjoying any of the economies of scale that an existing manufacturer enjoys. The thing about Covid is that it hits those people the hardest who have underlying issues and that is perhaps a metaphor for industry and economies as well in terms of how this crisis has impacted them. To explore these issues, let me start by asking you this: why do you think Make in India could not take off in the way that it should have? SS: One reason I think is that as an industry we are highly dependent on the automotive sector. Even in 3D printing, 70 percent of the consumption happens from the auto sector, and that is true in general for tier 1, 2 and 3. Now the auto sector has been in a state of confusion for a while, because lots of changes have been happening back to back in the last couple of years. Diversification is required in manufacturing. Even when we are manufacturing for the auto industry, we can also make ventilator parts. If we are making a 3D printer or an EV (Electric Vehicle) component, we can also make a robot component which can actually help the medical industry. In addition, we as an industry are dependent on other countries and companies outside India, a lot of our supply chain basic requirements for making these 3D printers or CNC machines are dependent largely on European and Chinese manufacturers. We need to work toward manufacturing these components required by the supply chain locally. That would really push the growth of our manufacturing sector. MD: To answer why Make in India has not taken off, the answer is quite complex and you are likely to get different answers from different people. I feel that it's a combination of issues. One of the major reasons for this is cost & productivity of manufacturing, where we are in strong competition with other emerging nations. For example, in aerospace, we compete heavily with countries like Morocco, Tunisia, Romania and Poland, etc. You may be surprised to hear that they are as cost-effective as we are, especially

given that they probably have a slightly bettereducated labor, but these emerging economies are able to garner the same or even greater amount of productivity from the available workforce. Another factor that works against us is the cost of capital, for example, when it comes to automation. It's simply not financially viable for us to invest in automation given that you have a plenty of supply of (manpower). Of course, there are negatives to not investing in automation which we experienced in the last two months but the case for automation is not yet too compelling. In India, there are two areas that need a lot of work: one is the area of R&D. There has been too much focus on low-cost manufacturing in India, but I think we must start moving away from low-cost driven to value and competence driven because low-cost manufacturing is a game of diminishing margins. It’s only a matter of time before other emerging nations undercut you. Organizations need to take up a long-term view and start spending money on innovation, and start moving away from just being contract manufacturers, try to get into the products, try to do disruptive innovation. We need to look at things like international collaborations, and technology partnerships. The other area which I think would strengthen a lot of the SMEs would be that of flexibility when it comes to labor. We are seeing in countries like the UK, Ireland, and the US that the governments are helping the businesses pay nearly 70 percent of the workforce wages during the lockdown period. That’s a very strong signal from the government that we are here to help the economy and the industry. Here we are yet to see something of that scale. Of course, I am not advocating for exactly such a move in India but something needs to be done to help manufacturing companies that are not able to produce yet are compelled to maintain their entire cost base. That is not viable. As an SME owner I can relate to a lot of industry peers who have been wondering in the last one month about all these odds that are stacked against the SMEs. To add one last point: access to capital. Swapnil, I am not sure how you are managing your cashflows, and whether you have banking partners that are helping with that, but I would definitely say that this is an area that also needs to improve quite a bit. We either have NBFCs that are extremely aggressive, or traditional banks which are extremely conservative especially when it comes to lending to an SME. I think there needs to be a view from the government’s side

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that, since we aim to be a global manufacturing powerhouse globally, we need to support the SME businesses. They need capital support, they need flexibility. SS: I completely agree with Mayank. There have been certain facilities made available from SBI and other such institutions, but here again it is very difficult to get through the processes. They are tedious and long — considering the kind of situation we are in, gathering all those documents and going back and forth becomes very difficult. Right now, that could be a major issue. To elaborate a bit on the issue of labor, we are seeing that some home states of migrant laborers have dramatically changed labor policies with the aim to generate employment and make the home states some sort of a manufacturing hub. How is this going to work? SS: if you look at Mumbai and the nearby industrial areas, nearly 50 percent or more of the workforce has migrated back to their respective hometowns. We need to look at ways to retain labor, ensure that you are assuring them a pay, and providing them facilities. A lot of companies are doing this. [As for the homestates becoming manufacturing hubs with change in some labor policy] I don’t think that could work. After all, there needs to be a certain assurance for the laborers in terms of a job assurance and safety requirements and support. It's time we all should look at how we can grow together. There has to be a win- win proposition for everyone to have a successful enterprise. MD: It’s definitely not a good idea to simply do away with labour laws, that would be a step too far. These laws are there to protect people who are really at the bottom of the pyramid, whose situation the three of us here in the room cannot begin to understand. That being said, it comes down again to what is our intention as a country; do we want to become competitive at a global level, not just in terms of cost but in terms of quality and innovation? If the answer to that is a yes, then I think there needs to be a very clear definition that the onus of people welfare should be on the government, the onus of efficiency and productivity should be on the company. For that to happen a company needs to be free to take some actions which may not be popular. That’s not to say that those people affected by this action should be just left aside,

that’s where the government safety net has to support them. Imagine a picture in America where the US government would say that sorry you can’t terminate anyone or even furlough anyone, that would be unimaginable. The data is in: more than 33 million people have lost their jobs in the US in the last two months alone. And at the same time you have seen the government step in a way that was completely unprecedented. You had their central bank give a sort of a blank cheque saying that here is our support to industries, you have the government depositing $1,200 in every affected citizen’s account.The idea of a Universal Basic Income which we had been debating in classrooms and universities suddenly became a reality. I know that India, as an economy, is much more complex and there are no clear-cut winners or losers here. But I definitely feel that the onus of efficiency and productivity should be on the companies. To answer your second question of what will happen when, let’s say, these labor laws are scrapped, will there be an immediate impact [in terms of improvement in business proposition for industries]? The answer is no. Because suddenly having 50 percent of your workforce gone is not going to make your product better, it may improve your price but it is not going to improve your quality or your delivery. Where it would help will be in companies becoming more cost efficient and reinvesting savings back into the company to improve. When we talk about automation, if somebody is operating at 10 percent, 12 percent net margin, then automation is a dream because the cost of capital itself is close to that number if not more. So then, innovation is just left in the hands of a few that are operating at very healthy operating margins. So in order to improve all these things, yes it would have a positive effect, but definitely in the long term, not the short. If you are made this CEO of India's manufacturing for one day, where you don't have to worry about any constraints, what are the top decisions you will make to transform India's manufacturing into a global force to reckon with? SS: The first thing would be [working on] the education. Particularly in terms of the knowhow of technologies, making data available to the entrepreneurs in the manufacturing sector about what needs to be manufactured and where is the gap.

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The second factor will be that of the support, whether it is capital-based support or regulatory which helps entrepreneurs set up their businesses quickly and invest into capital goods and their manufacturing. Thirdly, I would look at the marketing of our strengths. How those are very well known to the world. The fourth would be to make India export-oriented, doing it through knowledge-sharing and standardardization of manufacturing practices on the total quality management side.

we really need to use this more. And I think this context gives us a huge opportunity to do this. You know there is a lot of mistrust today towards China, and as a result there is a lot of supply chain networks thinking of moving out of China, so I think this the perfect time for India to be in the fray, raise our hands and say that hey, look, we are democratic nation that speaks English, please work with us, partner with us, don't just think about us as a low-cost base — that may the entry point and that's how the business will start — but partner with us with a long term vision.

MD: In addition to points we have spoken about like access to capital and reforms etc., I want to stress upon this point, and request the industry to take it in the right spirit and humor, that the industry must stop overpromising and under-delivering. This is a uniquely Indian trait where somebody, say, from Europe who asks our manufacturers whether you can do this, and even if the manufacturer cannot do 60 percent, he will still say, yes, I can do it. This needs to change as personally I have come across this sentiment that people abroad have about us; they say that our experience in India has been negative because we were promised certain things, but the reality on the ground was completely different. It’s probably a cultural issue where we feel that our guest is God (Atithi Devo Bhava), so we have that approach of doing all (and more than) what we can. But ultimately we need to be confident in what we can do well and do that well. I would certainly say that there needs to be a little more straightforwardness from the side of Indian manufacturing. In addition, I agree with Swapnil about marketing and communication. That is an area where a lot can be done. Our inherent strength as a country is the fact that we speak English. We need to capitalize on this benefit, get out there and communicate effectively to our customers; what exactly can you do, what you can not, who are you, use all the digital tools that are available today to us. I don’t think anybody today can make an excuse for not having an active MarCom strategy which should help us talk to our customers and keep them abreast of issues on the ground because let's be honest, if you're a foreign company from the US or Europe, and you're looking at a manufacturing hub like China or India, you know what you are getting. You know you are getting better infrastructure & maybe price in China, and you can probably get better quality somewhere else. Our key strength, on the other hand, is that we speak English. So

What would you like to convey to your industry peers about how to face this crisis and emerge stronger? SS: During the past 30 days, I realized that businesses are not going to be the same now. The demand is going to shift. To borrow a leaf from the book called "Who Moved My Cheese", the cheese has moved. Now we all need to look at where it is moving. The world is not going to be the same, the modes of communication, job roles, processes, the way transactions will happen; everything will change. Taking all this into account we need to remodel our businesses. The businesses will now move from manufacturing normal products to life-saving and essential products. So we all need to keep an eye there, sit with the team, understand what all possibilities we have, and what all areas we can get into. The cash flow is very important: you should know where it’s going. I've seen that even in my team and those of many of my friends with whom I discuss these issues — many of the teams are internally not ready to accept that this change is coming. A lot of them are still thinking that one fine day we will go back to the office and things will be normal. I pray and wish that it should be the same, but at least for a year I don't see going back to the same normal. Another point here is that synergy is the key. I was working on this project regarding the face shields and the robots, where I had to diversify my supply chain at a short notice to continue manufacturing these products and deliver. Synergistic alliances will help us move forward because you never know what’s coming. MD: To take it forward from Swapnil’s point, we really need to look at ourselves as agile machines that can be moved and corrected as per the situation on the ground, especially when it comes to collaborating with our competitors and peers in the industries, particularly in the SME sector. I can speak again for myself that

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we handle about seven different processes, out of seven, some we do in-house, and some are being outsourced. This is a win-win model for the industry to emulate where instead of two SMEs fighting for scraps, you're joining hands together to increase the pie. This will need a shift in mindset. Overall, I'm pretty optimistic. I think we as an industry will be able to bounce back. To give

you a crude analogy, in some ways this crisis is like chemotherapy for the economy. This is a painful therapy that is going to eliminate the weaknesses that have developed over the years. For us at Wave, we are in fact planning to expand our capacity. We aim to continue servicing our international customers, and I don't think this crisis can put a stop to that.

INDUSTRY SAMURAI

Swapnil Sansare CEO and Founder Divide by Zero Technology Swapnil is a robotics technology expert and an entrepreneur. He has a rich experience of automation and machine design. Products designed by him at Divide by Zero Technologies have won numerous Excellence Awards. He holds India's first 3D printing technology patent. Divide by Zero Technologies is India's largest industrial 3D printer manufacturer that works with partner networks in India, Malaysia, Germany and UAE.

Mayank Dalmia Director Wave Mechanics and Investor KAHM Capital Mayank leads business development and sales at Wave Mechanics. Wave Mechanics provides fully furnished precision mechanical components in assembly ready for further integrations for specialized applications into aerospace, electronics and the medical industry. He also manages Kahm Capital, an arm of the Kahm Group.

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Industry Samurai

Get The Wheels Rolling Where Were We: India’s Coronavirus caseload had crossed 85,000. Essential services like online stores and grocery shops had opened after more than two months of a near-total lockdown. There was a moment of relief after more than two months of near-total lockdown. The term ‘atmanirbhar’ was trending on twitter after PM Modi spoke about it on television. There was an atmosphere of cautious optimism when we did this interview with Punit Gupta, MD, Blaser Swisslube India, Dr. Vishwas R Puttige, Business Head, Amace Solution Pvt Ltd and Maulik Patel, Executive Director, SLTL Group. Edited excerpts.

INTERVIEW DATE: MAY 16, 2020

Punit Gupta

GLIMPSES Dr. Vishwas R Puttige ▪ 3D Printing shrinks the whole manufacturing lead time. Prototyping a part through die-casting could take five to six weeks, whereas with 3DP it takes only about 2-3 days. ▪ The medical devices sector is also using 3DP; there are a lot of 3D-printed medical implants today which are even tailor-made for specific patients. ▪ A local manufacturer doesn't necessarily have to be an India-origin company, but one which is contributing to India's growth. ▪ We need to incubate and develop local manufacturers. ▪ Most manufacturers are going to be left with huge surplus capacity as the lockdown ends, based on some factors. For example, the automotive industry is heavily dependent on how people will start looking at investing in automobiles this year.

▪ We are seeing the good demand only in the electronics and semicon segment at the moment. ▪ A local product has to be defined. Many foreign companies bring high employment and service support organization in India. ▪ India has a sizable market. We need to create an ecosystem in the country to achieve a superior level of cost competitiveness. ▪ Drive for higher competitiveness is key for survival and growth. ▪ Everyone has to set his priorities because the wheel has to start rolling now. Stay focused on long term goals.

Maulik Patel ▪ The diamond processing industry also has a 3D-printing application in the area of CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition). ▪ With the passage of time, China started to integrate along the value chain. For example, when they started making motors, subsequently they also started making gear racks and related components. To give another example, they are making electric vehicles and at the same time have a big stake in the mining of rare earth metals like lithium that is used for the battery. Their industry is very futuristic in terms of vision and investments. ▪ The main determinant of progress or every business is going to be the consumer.

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THE TALK Can you tell us a bit more about your business? Vishwas R Puttige (VRP): amace solutions is an additive manufacturing company. We do everything from design, 3D printing and processing. We serve different sectors from automotive to mold-making, general engineering, defense, space, aerospace and healthcare. Punit Gupta [PG]: Blaser Swisslube has always worked on building businesses with strong fundamentals, which helped to increase the resilience over time. The company has been very agile, evolving and efficient. Long-term strategy with customers, business partners and employees who are committed for the same cause helped create a strong chain. Care towards human health and the environment has been a core philosophy since the beginning of the company. This pandemic has brought in much more focus on this aspect in our lives. Innovative and unique technologies like Blasocut bio concept make coolants as one of the safest products to use in the world for humans and the environment. Can you give us some examples of some of these 3D printing (3DP) applications? VRP: Rapid prototyping is the most popular application. Say, prototyping a part through die-casting could take five to six weeks, whereas with 3DP it will take only about 2-3 days. 3DP shrinks the whole manufacturing lead time. That is why it's slowly gaining popularity now not only globally but in India also. What has been the response from the Indian industry in general prior to Covid-19 for your solutions and 3D printing in general?

Punit Gupta, MD, Blaser Swisslube India, Dr. Vishwas R Puttige, Business Head, Amace Solution Pvt Ltd & Maulik Patel, Executive Director, SLTL Group VRP: Our industry in India has been a little slow in adopting any new technology. As in industry, we prefer to wait and watch. We want a good number of references before we actually adopt any new technology, be it the automobile or any new gadget. That's why we are usually about five to six years behind the West in terms of adoption. Nevertheless, there are a lot of early adopters who have seen value in this because when they travel overseas, they see interesting case studies of 3D Printing solutions. And, of course, Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s industry has seen many benefits of 3DP. Automotive manufacturers have tested a lot of designs for BS-VI conversion through the printed route. The conventional route would have taken them multiple iterations in a lot of time. That is what we've seen time and again in some of the other industries, for example, light-weighting in the aerospace industry is a key area where 3D printing fits in beautifully. The medical devices sector is also implementing this technology; there are a lot of 3D-printed medical implants today which are even tailor-made for specific patients. Any particular application in the anti-Covid supply chain, for example in the areas of the PPE and ventilators? VRP: Yes, a lot of manufacturers have used 3D printed parts in making PPEs and ventilators. We also have a pilot project where we have a lot of polymer parts printed for these devices. If you actually see the face shield, it started off as a 3D printed part and later on moved \to an injection-molded route. Maulik Patel [MP]: SLTL Group serves in two different verticals: the first one is industrial laser applications and special purpose laser machines catering to different applications of various industries like, defence, aerospace and automotive. The second vertical is the diamond cutting and processing vertical where we are among the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest entities. As you know, 95 percent of the world's diamond is processed in India.

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Now, the diamond processing industry also has a 3D-printing application in the area of CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition). That is the next great leap in this industry. Then of course, laser technology has applications in the medical device industry. We manufacture angioplasty stents and balloons which are state-of-the-art, high-quality devices. In addition, we serve in the areas of RF and Microwave equipment and Renewable Energy equipment manufacturing and exports. Can you give us a sense of the impact of Covid-19 on the industrial activity from your experience of working with industries across the board? PG: The global pandemic came all of a sudden and nobody was prepared. Companies went in for the lockdown, bringing all the industrial activity to a halt. There are now bigger challenges in front of companies for survival, sustainability and growth. The new situation is forcing people to introspect and challenge the set thought processes within organisations. The pandemic has shown the limitations in the organisations. Drive for higher competitiveness is key for survival and growth. Enhancing productivity and quality has become the most important aspect to achieve the competitiveness on a global level in the new normal. The industry now faces a dilemma between investment and expenditure. This is the time to start preparing to build robust businesses for a long-term perspective. Investments into right technologies, right partners and right people will be the key to manage the future of the companies effectively. These are doable and every company can find a way ahead once they decide their clear approach MP: Among the tasks at hand is to ensure that our employee morale remains high, and that we should be able to retain staff even with a sharp drop in sales. As you know the entire supply chain is affected, we need some more time to get a clear picture, as the industry starts and begins to revive and recover. VRP: A good thing about this period has been some 3D Printing guys sharing software for free. This was not a marketing initiative. These people wanted to bring a collaborative approach to keep their people engaged and motivated. For instance, there was one 3DP solution which makes a tool to handle the opening of doors without having to touch

them. Such collaborative measures drew our community closer in many ways that was our biggest takeaway. There is a lot of emphasis on ‘local manufacturing’, also termed as being ‘Atmanirbhar’. What exactly does this entail? VRP: From my perspective, a ‘local manufacturer’ is one who generates local employment, and prefers sourcing locally unless there's a very strong need to go outside. A local manufacturer doesn't necessarily have to be an India-origin company, but one which is contributing to India's growth. However, we have seen this idea of local manufacturing fading away in time, due to an increase in imports of machines and solutions that are imported just for the reason that someone fancies an imported product even though it can be sourced locally. When you have local manufacturers available, why not empower them. Coming from the machine tool industry, I see that 40 to 50 of our material’s content is imported, even though we hire local manufacturers. This will probably throw some light on what could be localized without actually hampering the quality of the product. Similarly we see the aerospace and defense sector making parts only on imported machines. I strongly believe there we could bring about a change if the government can work collaboratively with local manufacturers to get up to that stage which helps not only the country but also the local community. We need to incubate and develop these local manufacturers. To add, we've lost a lot of opportunities by not automating our processes; not only mechanical automation but also software automation. Today there is amazing data-management software available that I believe is a must from a long-term perspective, which can help us bring this change to local manufacturing. Unless we can demonstrate cost leadership to a manufacturer or to an organization that is considering moving out of China, we will never gain that market share. We need to see how we can look at local vendors and manpower to scale up. MP: For us, local is when a product is not only manufactured but also developed in India. In lasers, for example, there are companies that buy 100-percent material from outside and assemble it in India, so one wouldn’t consider them as local manufacturers. There needs to be some value addition.

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Most of the manufacturing done in China is assembly which adds only about 5 percent to the value of a product. In such a case, can China model be the right model to emulate? MP: This was true when they started 30 years ago. But with the passage of time, they started to integrate along the value chain. For example, when they started making motors, subsequently they also started making gear racks and related components. To give another example, they are making electric vehicles and at the same time have a big stake in the mining of rare earth metals like lithium that is used for the battery. Their industry is very futuristic in terms of vision and investments. Localizing manufacturing in India will require boosting our education sector to create a research and development mindset. PG: We are living in a globalized world. It will continue to be so, even if the shape of globalization changes. We need to leave it to the industry in how it wants to deal with the changing scenario. India has a sizable market. We need to create an ecosystem in the country to achieve a superior level of cost competitiveness. As an industry, we need to invest in three key areas. One area is technology, with a focus on productivity. The second area is environment, health, and safety. This pandemic is amply showing how important this area is. And the third is competitiveness.Earlier, these areas were considered aspirational; but now they are essential to survive. Audience Question: Post-lockdown, how can companies utilize their capacity? VRP: You are right, most manufacturers are going to be left with huge surplus capacity as the lockdown ends, based on some factors. For example, the automotive industry is heavily dependent on how people will start looking at investing in automobiles this year. Automotive was doing quite badly for some time even before Covid hit us. Therefore it is going to be a long time before we can actually see anywhere close to the capacity being utilized. I would strongly suggest looking at alternate markets or developing new markets and seeing what are the potential sectors that are likely to grow and be quickly ready with solutions for these emerging sectors.

Finally, any advice you want to share with the audience? VRP: Every cloud has a silver lining. it's time for us to look at the opportunities inherent in the current situation. We have to see what our strengths are, introspect and identify them, and see how we can actually leverage on our strengths and create new opportunities. It may be that some customers may not come back [after the crisis] so you'll have to find new ones. The best way to do that is to create good differentiators. If you can create that by either upscaling or creating a niche for ourselves as we've seen SLTL do it beautifully for its markets. It's about time we look at creating products by collaborating with customers, academia, suppliers, and competitors globally. Ford, for example, has collaborated with Mahindra and Mahindra, Toyota has joined hands with Suzuki. Therefore a lot of strength can be gained from joining hands with each other. If that happens, we will definitely see a lot more development of companies and the nation. Let's come together as a team and as a country and move forward together. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s start looking at what's new and how we can start afresh, because we have the most precious things still with us which are our lives and that of our loved ones. Stay safe and stay positive that's my biggest advice to all of you. MP: The main determinant of progress or every business is going to be the consumer. Consumers have to have a greater preference for self-reliant companies that make more local content, once that comes in, we will see faster growth. PG: Stay positive. There are humongous opportunities in front of Indian manufacturers. Set your priorities because the wheel has to start rolling now. Stay focused on your long term goals. Enhancing productivity and quality is the sustainable route to achieve competitiveness. At the same time, every element in manufacturing must generate returns on investment. Finally, this is also the time to look into your organization. Start working on them from a long-term perspective.

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INDUSTRY SAMURAI

Maulik Patel Executive Director SLTL SLTL (Sahajanand Laser Technology Ltd) provides manufacturing solutions in the fields of laser systems, medical devices, diamond and jewelry processing, RF and microwave and renewable energy.

Punit Gupta Managing Director West Asia (India & SEA) Blaser Swisslube Experienced Managing Director with a demonstrated history of developing sustainable business on value based selling, working in the metal working industry. Leadership style in Management, Sales & Execution of Strategy is a strong forte.

Dr. Vishwas R Puttige Business Head amace solutions Pvt. Ltd Dr. Puttige leads the additive manufacturing solutions division of Ace Micromatic group. amace solutions Private Limited is the brainchild of two leading machine manufacturing companies in India, Ace designers Limited and Ace Manufacturing systems. Ace Micromatic Group is one of the largest and most comprehensive machine tools group with an installed base of more than 55,000 machines across the world.

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Industry Samurai

We are all lagging behind China Where Were We:

INTERVIEW

India's Corona caseload had begun to spike at an alarming rate. DATE: In under four months since the first case was reported, the number MAY 23, of Covid-19 cases had crossed the one lakh mark. It was still low compared 2020 to the global numbers, which had passed 50 lakh with more than 60 percent in Europe and the US alone. But it was only a matter of time. We were looking to speak to industry speakers from abroad, particularly from Europe or the US, regions that were facing the brunt of the impact, to share and learn coping and survival strategies for the crisis. This is where we had the opportunity of speaking with two well-known and experienced industry entrepreneurs and speakers from Austria, Clemens Kirner, Founder and Owner of INS Insider Navigation Systems GmbH; and Oliver Lorenz, President and CEO of SHANXAGENCY E.U. Presenting, edited excerpts

GLIMPSES Clemens Kirner ▪ It is not feasible to move all the production back to the US or Europe because if you do that, an iPhone will cost you $2,000 and not $1,100. ▪ Among my first impressions of China’s industry was that most people did not speak English and there were problems with currency exchange, but that all worked out because of the fast improvements there in the infrastructure —connecting roads to ports and airports and all the production facilities for electronic devices in the industrial hubs like Shenzhen. ▪ Industry 4.0 provides high wage countries like those in Europe the possibility of bringing back production to Europe, because as long as you need, say, 20,000 workers in a factory, I guess it's not really doable that you have factories in Austria.

▪ We are all lagging behind China. [Not just India] it's the same everywhere. It is not just skills but a host of factors behind China’s manufacturing leadership.

Oliver Lorenz ▪ China’s local manufacturers have been closing the gap of quality of products between their products and those manufactured by reputed multinationals. ▪ Whether it is suppliers and manufacturers in India or China, everyone has to do their homework. You can’t just press a reset button [and become a manufacturing hub]. ▪ A European company will also look at how a company presents itself, how the logo looks. They will look at the overall appearance of the building, how clean is the entrance area and the washroom, how the coffee is, how organized the factory is, how easy the walkthrough is, and how clean the surroundings are. ▪ There are these two terms that are flying around which I can’t [bear to] hear any more: one is ‘new normal’ and the other is ‘unprecedented’. These terms bring even more uncertainty to the minds of people. ▪ Also, this crisis makes it even harder to compare different economies because we all had to deal with it. Every individual, every family, every organization is dealing with it in their own way. Even in Europe, each country has a different approach to the crisis.

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THE TALK As a result of the trade war and Covid-19, are companies shifting Howmultinational is it looking on the ground? Have out the of China? started in your region? factories ClemensJairath Kirner (NJ): (CK):There’s A lota of production Nishant mixed feeling. processes are isdeveloped in The first thing you realizeand that patented you have so Europeofbut the as production itself much time everybody is is at outsourced home but to China. Theretomight be somereally change this then we need start working veryinhard approachofnow. For instance, we now because the significant impact of thehave crisis.a project inisAustria that an world. Indian Never partner. Everyone resetting to has a new in We have always within Indian partners. our lifetime haveworked we experienced something like notsure feasible move all the production this.It Iisam that to everybody is experiencing backsame to the US or Europe because if you do the thing. that, an iPhone will cost you $2,000 and not $1,100. Ravi Raghavan (RR): We got some permissions to maintain the plant. As you know, plant maintenance Oliver (OL): industries. China’s is very Lorenz important for In a many manufacturing company. local that's manufacturers been closing the And actually myhave advice to all the other gap of quality of products between their manufacturers as well. We need to keep running products andfor those by reputed the machines two manufactured hours or thereabouts every multinationals. In my early in Shanghai, day so that the machines staydays in good condition. around 2007, European SMEswhen set we uprestart; their Otherwise it's going to be a cost production site many in China but they sent may people and you find that of the components not from the headquarter be in working condition. over there to get the factory going [and produce the desirable quality]. In the last three or four years, that whole approach has changed because local competitors have kept coming up with competitive products and pricing. Look at the electric car industry, there are many China brands focusing on electric cars, and their decision making is extremely efficient. They decide that, say, all the buses in a city will have to be electric and it's done within, say, a week. A southern Chinese city [Shenzhen] put something like twelve thousand buses on its roads within a week. Of course, they would have taken the time to manufacture these buses before putting them on the roads.

Similarly, when you look at the present crisis, in Europe there was a dependency in the beginning on the imports of masks from China, then companies here started to produce masks. Some dependency (on China) is still there because when you work in a medical field, you need suppliers who are certified, who have experience and expertise in making medical products. Whether it is suppliers and manufacturers in India or China, everyone has to do their homework. You can’t just press a reset button [and become a manufacturing hub]. Indian local manufacturing companies who have clients overseas have to be a little bit patient right now because European companies have to first sort their own thing out right now. As an Indian local manufacturer you also have the time during this crisis to do your homework. Look at your factory, how to make it more presentable, can something be improved so that when one invites European clients or do a meeting by a zoom or any other electronic means, can we still do a virtual factory tour? Think about how to present one’s manufacturing capabilities as a great proposition for European customers. Indian companies can do more to get a better response from European partners. You might be a local manufacturing company in India, you make excellent products, precise on time and this is all very important but the European companies look at other things too to form long-term partnerships. A European company will also look at how a company presents itself, how the logo looks. They will look at the overall appearance of the building, how clean is the entrance area and the washroom, how the coffee is, how organized the factory is, how easy the walkthrough is, and how clean the surroundings are. How is the digital infrastructure in regards to industry 4.0 and IOT. Is it easy to drive in there by car or not? During the next few weeks or months, Indian manufacturing companies can look at how they implement more digitalization in their factories. Now is the time where Indian manufacturing companies could take a step forward in this direction. That insight is really helpful. However, I understand that China’s companies didn’t need to prove themselves as much to attract overseas investors that they did, in big numbers. What were the things that Chinese companies did in order to attract investors?

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OL: There were a lot of government-funded industrial parks that came up in, for example, the Shanghai region. Similarly, there were cities and villages where industrial parks were built with connecting infrastructure to major industrial hubs. So there was a lot of official investment that went into supporting these developments. That's why comparing India and China is very difficult as there are lots of differences and we're not going to go into details, otherwise we're going to sit here forever but the important thing is India has improved a lot. I've been traveling to India since 2007. My first trip to India was to an IMTEX exhibition in Bangalore in January 2007. I had taken up a booth space there. The exhibition building was still under construction. Now when you look at the BIEC (Bangalore International Exhibition Centre) it's a beautiful building and the whole surrounding is nice and it's location is very-well thought of [in terms of its distance from the business centres and the airport]. Over the last ten to fifteen years, there have been huge improvements in India [in terms of infrastructure]. CK: My experience is very much aligned with what Oliver said. Among my first impressions of China’s industry was that most people did not speak English and there were problems with currency exchange, but that all worked out because of the fast improvements there in the infrastructure — connecting roads to ports and airports and all the production facilities for electronic devices in the industrial hubs like Shenzhen. Also, the decision making is faster, unlike in India, France or Germany, where, if we put aside, say, a global investment fund, then different countries will all have their own inputs and different ways of doing things, and by the time the decisions are made, that opportunity may have passed. How is the situation on the ground in Europe, and Austria in particular? CK: Most economies are opening up, except for restrictions on places of gatherings like restaurants and nightclubs, etc. The problem is I guess the demand is not there. It's a little bit better but people don't go out that much anymore. Some manufacturers had closed the factory because due to Corona they were not able to get supplies, from Italy, for instance. Now some of them have opened up again but only partly because demand went down by 70 percent and people are concerned about what happens if

there is a second wave. So the main problems as we see right now, are not only that we can't open everything again but that there is also a missing trust in the future. OL: We're all looking forward to everything going back to normal. But what will this new normal be. There are these two terms that are flying around which I can’t [bear to] hear any more: one is ‘new normal’ and the other is ‘unprecedented’. These terms bring even more uncertainty to the minds of people. Also, this crisis makes it even harder to compare different economies because we all had to deal with it. Every individual, every family, every organization is dealing with it in their own way. Even in Europe, each country has a different approach to the crisis. So I think now comparing India with China, or India with Europe, or Europe with China work even less than before because it's now important to say that, okay, let's get through this crisis first. Let's restart and think about what our company can do in the future. How we can make sure that our employees can get more satisfaction and stability at work. How we can become more productive, and be more ready for the future. The only thing we can control is our own surroundings; that's what we can influence. Audience Question: Will the whole approach to industry 4.0 change because of the pandemic? CK: Industry 4.0 provides high wage countries like those in Europe the possibility of bringing back production to Europe, because as long as you need, say, 20,000 workers in a factory, I guess it's not really doable that you have factories in Austria. On the other hand, we [increasingly] have many regulations that need to be followed, and rightly so. Data protection regulations justifiably prohibit the processing of clients’ data in the cloud and for the same reason, one can't use predictive models. Then one is not allowed to see if the staff is working or not working, as the unions forbid it. So industry 4.0 is very important but then again, it will have to evolve with all these limitations in view. That also means that companies in Europe are not able to use all of the possibilities compared to those in China. A lot of trade shows have been cancelled. What could be the strategy for manufacturers to stay on track as far as their marketing is concerned?

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OL: Among the trade shows, I am definitely looking forward to the next IMTEX. I have always loved this trade show hosted in Bangalore and in Mumbai as well. These are always special experiences as you have great interactions with great people. Today, the face of your company is your website. Every company has to do a critical analysis on a regular basis of your website, get feedback from your colleagues, especially from people overseas and think of how you can improve that. You should also look at how well-known your brand and products are in India and abroad. This crisis is the time to ask these questions. Audience question: Despite us having such highly skilled people, why are we still lagging behind China (in manufacturing)? CK: We are all lagging behind China. [Not just India] it's the same everywhere. It is not just skills but a host of factors behind Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

manufacturing leadership [see earlier answers]. OL: Use the advantages that India has. You speak English which is the global business language. You have online tools that work. For example, a huge difference that India has is that international payments are quite simple to do with all other countries. I remember that it was not easy to do international transfers from China. That's why many countries have a Hong Kong bank account. When you say that you want to invite or partner with European customers, then look critically at your website, get testimonials from your international clients, saying that they have worked with you to their satisfaction of service and product quality. Promote that on your LinkedIn account. When they virtually want to visit you or in a few months physically visit you, make sure your building looks good and make sure your factory looks even nicer than it is now. And all these improvements are shown in AR (Augmented Reality) when you do a walkthrough.

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INDUSTRY SAMURAI

Clemens Kirner Founder and Owner of INS Insider Navigation Systems GmbH Clemens Kirner is the founder and owner of INS Insider Navigation Systems GmbH established 2014 in Vienna, but acting globally, as a specialist of hardware-free, centimeter precise Augmented Reality (AR) Indoor-Navigation and Indoor Experience without the need of extra Infrastructure like GPS or Beacons. Further, INS Insider Navigation Systems GmbH is specialist in Augmented Reality Visualization of Company Data coming from existing CRM/ERP and other Information Management Systems to Visualize Real-time Data in a Live Camera captured environment. Insider Navigation Solution can be used to optimize Routes in Large Scale Factories, Venues, Airports etc, but can be also used for the Visualization of BIM-Systems (Building Information Management), Order-picking, Logistics etc. Previously, Mr. Kirner was the founder and owner of the company innovation.rocks consulting GmbH, which was established 2003 in Vienna with branch offices in Munich Shanghai and Hong Kong. In 2017 Clemens Kirner sold innovation.rocks to a private equity successfully and now focuses solely on INS. Mr. Kirner holds lectures at the New York University, Technical University of Vienna and is a regular speaker and exhibitor at important Trade Fairs and Marketing Events worldwide – from AWE in Santa Clara/USA, Euroforum in Cologne/Germany or Hannover Fair, one of the largest industry events globally.

Oliver Lorenz President and CEO of SHANXAGENCY E.U. Oliver Lorenz is the founder of SHANXAGENCY e.U. and acts as its President & CEO. SHANXAGENCY specializes in helping European based manufacturing SMEs to find the fitting marketing and advertising partner in Asia and will as a next step help Asian manufacturing SMEs to find the fitting marketing and advertising partner in Europe. Through his extensive experience of almost 15 years in various senior management roles in the B2B marketing and advertising industry in Asia, Oliver has the ability to carefully brief, select and train advertising agencies to the level that each manufacturing company expects their agencies to act. Previously, Oliver was working as the CEO Asia of Montfort Advertising, a leading Europe based globally acting B2B Marketing and Advertising agency. He fulfilled this role for almost 15 years and helped brands like DMG MORI, KUKA, TLD, VOITH Paper and many others to strengthen their brand and promote their products in Asia. In addition, he acted as Board Director of Montfort Advertising’s Tokyo office. Besides his role as CEO Asia at Montfort Advertising, Oliver acted as the Head of Market Asia of ORDERFOX, a leading globally acting marketplace for the CNC-industry where he increased his know-how about the challenges and opportunities in the manufacturing industry in Asia.

P R E SE N T S

Actionable Insights from Industry Leaders on Strategy, Innovation & Growth A

Meshmix Media Initiative

P OWE R E D BY

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Industry Samurai

Sand to Brand Where Were We: That this crisis was wreaking havoc in every sphere of life was becoming INTERVIEW evident. India had recorded more than 174,500 cases and 5,000 deaths. DATE: The manufacturing sector PMI for April 2020 had comin at 27.4, showing MAY 23, a deep contraction, for the first time ever to this extent. This battle was 2020 far from over. In fact, to millions around the world, it had become more tumultuous. It is said that during times of crisis, one should aim at things; good things beyond the gloom and the desperation of the present. Therefore we thought of speaking about what we in India could learn from the history of industrialization. We were privileged to have two thinkers and speakers who made this a highly thought-provoking discussion. They were, Magesh Srinivasan, VP - Fleet Management Solutions, ZF WABCO India, VUCA Leader, and Writer; and Deepak Anand, Research Director, JETRO. Presenting, edited, abridged interview.

GLIMPSES Magesh Srinivasan ▪ Manufacturing jobs provide a lot of stability as people typically join as trainees with them either on the shopfloor or as management graduates and then they have the opportunity to work all the way up to the leadership level. ▪ An Indian vision should have Indian value systems. India is the spiritual capital of the world. There is a lot that we can offer to the world.

▪ Three decades of economic liberalization is relatively a short period of time if you look at industrial revolutions across the world. All these revolutions (globally) comprised incremental contributions by individuals, by pioneers within their own constraints. ▪ A comprehensive vision for the industrial sector needs to spell out how we go from ‘sand to the brand’. The ‘sand to brand’ approach simply means that we need to make semiconductor IC chips (SMIC) right from the stage of using silica — which India has in abundance — to designing, making and marketing of SMIC. ▪ For manufacturing enterprises, the Covid crisis needs to be a catalyst to bring out their ingenuity and innovativeness in ensuring that they keep their people safe, and at the same time, take measures to improve productivity.

Deepak Anand ▪ The Japanese are a very strong-willed people. That is because their country has always had to face and overcome natural calamities such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

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▪ The reality in India’s case is that we have primarily developed as a service-based economy. The services sector accounts for 57 percent of the GDP. Our economy is largely agrarian, with more than half of India’s workforce dependent on it for livelihood, even though the sector itself contributes only 17-18 percent to the GDP. ▪ Japan is a great example in how it started focusing on innovation-driven manufacturing primarily led by mobility and electron-

THE TALK Please tell us more about your work. Magesh Srinivasan [MS]: I started my career with Bosch in 1998 which I joined via campus placement. Bosch has been providing technologies to industries for more than a century. Working with Bosch meant that fresh entrants like us got the opportunity to get a world-class global management training. That helped us not only in our career but also in contributing to society in many ways. Other equally valuable work experiences I’ve had with companies like Black and Decker, Sony Corporation, HCL Technologies and then back with the automotive industry with Blaupunkt, which is a global manufacturing enterprise. My learning has been that manufacturing jobs provide a lot of stability as people typically join as trainees with them either on the shopfloor or as management graduates and then they have the opportunity to work all the way up to the leadership level. And they can have a career here in India or abroad.

ics. And thus in about four decades they increased the industrial sector’s share in GDP to 30 percent, and became a top global manufacturing hub. ▪ Today, when we look at countries like Vietnam or Indonesia which have a fast-growing manufacturing sector, we see that they first built up the basic infrastructure including the land, then they went ahead with promotion to the Japanese, South Korean and European companies.

Deepak Anand [DA]: I work for an organization called JETRO [Japan External Trade Organization]. We primarily work for promoting the investment of Japanese companies into Indian industries and also helping Indian companies to get into the Japanese market. What are the major drivers of an industrial revolution? MS: Let me first share a historical perspective of industrialization. Before the industrial revolution, which began in the mid-18th century, we needed to do physical labor to make or move things. The discovery of steam power started the industrial revolution that enabled a highly efficient way of manufacturing and logistics. In the latter part of the 18th century and the early 19th century, the advent of electricity started Industrial Revolution 2.0. By the mid-20th century, the world had developed machines that could be programmed using PLC logic which paved the way for automation. That increased efficiencies by multiples; this was Industrial Revolution 3.0. And before the turn of the century, when the then U.S. president Bill Clinton signed the commercialization of the public internet, it became available for manufacturing. That heralded the age of Industry 4.0. That's the journey of industrialization. DA: To set the context, let me share with you the history of Japan’s industrialization. In the eighteenth century, as industrialization happened in the European countries, they started expanding their reach into Asia. Japan at the time was a traditional agrarian economy. European expansionism made Japan realize that it had to build a modern army to withstand the colonial forces. That brought about Meiji Restoration, a political movement in Japan

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starting in 1868, which ended the Shogunate. In order to build a modern army, they have to start making the defense equipment made with the help of local suppliers. That's how the first Industrial Revolution happened in Japan. The Japanese are a very strong-willed people. That is because their country has always had to face and overcome natural calamities such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. After suffering a setback in World War II, they started to rebuild their country. Japanese policymakers realized that they cannot become stronger in agriculture because Japan is largely a mountainous country. Therefore they focused on manufacturing. Initially they focused on two primary technologies: mobility and communication. In due course of time Japan established itself as a global hub for manufacturing. MS: For any organization or any endeavor [like Make in India] to be successful the first step is to have a comprehensive long-term vision. This vision has to be based on sound, universal values. It should include everybody from every strata of society and aim at value creation. An Indian vision should have Indian value systems. India is the spiritual capital of the world. There is a lot that we can offer to the world. In the last 73 years, as a Democratic Republic we have been trying to find our place in the world. The economic liberalization of India only started in 1991. Now three decades of economic liberalization is relatively a short period of time if you look at industrial revolutions across the world. All these revolutions (globally) comprised incremental contributions by individuals, by pioneers within their own constraints. These pioneers fought the challenges of their time in order to create what we enjoy today, the inventions, innovations and conveniences that we most often take for granted today. I think India did astoundingly well, immediately after independence in launching the Green Revolution and thereafter launching the White Revolution. The rigor and the fervor with which the young nation took on change was phenomenal. Keep in mind that everything in India was depleted [by the time the British left]. But now that we are 1.3 billion people we need to make sure that India sustains its progress for which it's extremely important to have a vision for industrialization. The vision needs to have a long term time horizon, going up to 50 or 100 years. That time horizon means that the vision has to be comprehensive. And it should use the learnings

from the history of industrialized nations like the Germans, Japanese, the UK and the US. It needs to be led by strategic thinkers and doers at every level in the public administration and the corporate world. Together we need to create a public-private partnership in formulating this vision as well as implementing it. We need to collaborate, work together and make sure things are moving forward rather than oscillating between improvement and slacking, which is what we've seen in the last few decades since independence. DA: We have to bring everything into perspective. The reality in India’s case is that we have primarily developed as a servicebased economy. The services sector accounts for 57 percent of the GDP. Our economy is largely agrarian, with more than half of India’s workforce dependent on it for livelihood, even though the sector itself contributes only 17-18 percent to the GDP. A major challenge is that the landholding share of each farming family has been reducing since independence. Therefore the aim must be to increase the productivity in agriculture. The other challenge is to make the service sector more sustainable. Service sector mainly comprises [in gross value add] the IT sector which mostly depends on the demand from the US and European markets. In the long term, we need to make sure that there is sustainable demand for the IT sector, both from local and global markets. A close study of these two sectors will reveal that they do not offer much scope for fast growth and expansion. We have almost reached a stage of stagnation in these sectors. Our manufacturing sector, on the other hand, holds immense potential for fast growth. Japan is a great example in how it started focusing on innovation-driven manufacturing primarily led by mobility and electronics. And thus in about four decades they increased the industrial sector’s share in GDP to 30 percent, and became a top global manufacturing hub. As an outcome, Japan is a country that has among the lowest employment rates in the world. This also improved the quality of life for Japanese citizens. Their living-standard indicators are among the best in the world, whether it is in health, education or employment. We have to work in that direction in terms of policy. We have all the resources required to make India a global manufacturing hub, whether it is natural resources, the weather, or high-skilled manpower.

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At the time of the opening up of the economy in the 1990s, India projected itself as a service-based economy. I think that was a bit misplaced from a policy-making point of view. It was only in 2012, when the Indian government formulated a national manufacturing policy was when we became focused on this sector. But the problem is that even after 2012, when we envision that by 2022 our share of manufacturing in Indian GDP would be 25 percent, we still stand at 15 or 16 percent [in 2020]. So obviously there is a problem somewhere. And that was not an issue in countries like Taiwan, South Korea and Japan obviously. That is a problem area we need to address at the policy level. To share with you an example, it was planned that in India, to promote domestic manufacturing, 13 locations across the country will be developed as national investment and manufacturing zones (NIMZ). The concept was that these zones will primarily cater to domestic demand. The minimum area earmarked for the development of one NIMZ was 5,000 hectare. The problem started because since this was the precondition, not even a single NIMZ has been completely developed because of land acquisition and other issues. Then we [the govt] also came up with a policy called Electronic Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) scheme [EMC was formulated to support the creation of world-class infrastructure for attracting investments in the Electronics Systems Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) Sector. It was notified on 22nd October 2012. - Editor]. The aim was to boost the local production of electronic components and products. Along with that a policy was introduced by the government to incentivize the production of semiconductor units, which is an essential part of developing an electronics industry. The implementation got delayed because of land acquisition issues, and even the approach was wrong. Today, when we look at countries like Vietnam or Indonesia which have a fastgrowing manufacturing sector, we see that they first built up the basic infrastructure including the land, then they went ahead with promotion to the Japanese, South Korean and European companies. On the other hand, in India we do it when the basic infrastructure itself is not ready. This is one of the biggest concerns from the point of view of Japanese industries. India has a huge potential to grow as an economy. We have a young demographic and a large domestic market. The business

sentiment at home is low and we have to think out of the box. Let us create infrastructure and then invite companies to have them invest in our country. Doing all these measures, if we are able to increase the share of manufacturing to GDP even by one percent, we will be able to create 10 million jobs. The other global perspective is that India needs to do more on the innovation and R&D front. That is the reason that even though there are many global manufacturers in India, they prefer to not have R&D and design centres here. I think we have to reverse these trends. We need to make it an R&D-based manufacturing base rather than limiting it to CKD and assembly plants. These areas are where a lot needs to be done by the Indian industry and the government. MS: [Furthermore], a comprehensive vision for the industrial sector needs to spell out how we go from ‘sand to the brand’. The ‘sand to brand’ approach simply means that we need to make semiconductor IC chips (SMIC) right from the stage of using silica — which India has in abundance — to designing, making and marketing of SMIC. In the future, we can use graphene as well for developing semiconductors and intelligence-embedded systems on chips. With a strong presence in the SMIC value chain, India will also be able to create world-class electronic products. This is the kind of resolve industrialized nations like Japan, UK, USA, and Germany took and this is what we must do for India as Indians. It requires a dedicated, lifetime commitment. How can Indian manufacturing emerge stronger from this crisis? MS: This could be an opportunity to reset the way things have been done. For one, this crisis has made the world realize that nothing lasts forever. The second lesson is that, unless and until we collaborate, the chances of survival are minimal. If you want to survive and thrive in this world, which in my opinion is a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) world, you have to be able to collaborate and work with the strengths of each other. We can see a lot of wonderful examples that have emerged from corporate India, from selfless individuals who helped people to startups that worked together in the pandemic. That sense of contribution and community participation needs to be continued into the post-pandemic world.

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For manufacturing enterprises, the Covid crisis needs to be a catalyst to bring out their ingenuity and innovativeness in ensuring that they keep their people safe, and at the same time, take measures to improve productivity. This situation has also provided a levelplaying field to all the manufacturers in the world, who have to fight against a universal constraint and that constraint is Covid-19. Speaking of the status of manufacturing in India, I always find it intriguing that some parts of the country are far ahead of others in industrial activity. What could be the reasons for this differential? DA: As far as southern states like Karnataka and Tamil nadu are concerned, they are industrially developed because they have had a head start. To consider Bangalore’s example, the Maharajas of Mysore were really progressive. Karnataka has been lucky to have leaders like Bharat Ratna M. Visvesvaraya ji (1860-1962) who gave a clarion call that, ‘industrialize or perish’. He understood at that point of time that industrialization is key to economic sustainability. In addition, the southern states also have had the presence of natural ports. If you go to predominantly agrarian states like Orissa, Bihar, UP, and MP, they missed this developmental opportunity. Now post-Covid, the first priority should be the development of local industries and modernization of agriculture — because a lot of labourers migrated back to those states and they should be able to get work opportunities, whether it is in the industries or or the farms. The other priority for the government needs to be to revive demand — incentivize the industry as well as the consumer. MS: Despite the Green Revolution, we have a big gap in the degree of mechanization in agriculture in India. While we plan to have a hundred smart cities we should also plan to have 100 smart farms. Mechanization in farming can lead to an increase in productivity, better, modern warehousing and cold-chain infrastructure. However, presently we are still dealing with very basic things like providing electricity in the villages. So there is a big gap right there. Therefore, contribution is required from private players. In my vision, if every Indian millionaire, whether a citizen or non-resident, adopts one village, that could raise the living standards in rural India and lift millions out of poverty. India’s labour migration is a natural process of cross-pollination of cultures and movement

of people across regions, but in terms of standards of living, let's clearly understand why do people move away from their place of familiarity to a strange, new place, working under very severe, unsafe and poor hygienic conditions at a very low wage. The answer could range from wage disparity between rural and urban India to the availability of work in the cities. The pandemic has suddenly made everyone realize the contribution of the migrant workforce to the industries. Until everything came to a standstill, nobody really bothered about it. Now the industries must provide a minimum standard of living and working conditions for them to come back and be a part of the value creation process in factories and offices. This is symptomatic of the fact that we continue to exploit people based on their weaknesses. This is not the way in which any country can develop into a very balanced and progressive economy. We have to be extremely careful when we talk about migrant labor because a lot of this migrant labor today is exploited in many ways. That is the reason that we have to talk about how to develop our rural areas, our villages, our natural ecosystems from where people migrate. We need to address this if we want to move forward as an industrialized economy. DA: I will talk more from JETRO’s perspective. There are many queries coming in from all business segments that, post-Covid how the Japanese companies will behave: whether they will shift out of China or invest more in India and suchlike. Just to address such queries, moving out from China is not going to happen and India also cannot be a low-cost mass production hub like China developed. At this stage that is not possible because demand is all-time low. So India should always look at the R&D-driven manufacturing capabilities. They should try to promote such capabilities in due course of time and for that we have requested certain sets of requirements to the government to bring in more Japanese investments. We did a survey of the Japanese companies present in India and fortunately almost all the companies responded that they are not deviating from whatever investment plans they have for India. That is a good news that I want to share with our viewers that Japanese companies will keep on investing in India because we are India’s natural partners. And the partnership will be a win-win. So even though the market sentiment is at an all-time low, we will see an upsurge in Japanese investments in coming years starting from this year itself.

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INDUSTRY SAMURAI

Magesh Srinivasan VP - Fleet Management Solutions ZF WABCO India, VUCA Leader

Deepak Anand Research Director JETRO

Mr. Srinivasan is VP - Fleet Management Solutions, ZF WABCO India, and VUCA Leader, Thinker and Writer. He leads digital customer solutions in India at www.assettrackr.com, www.safekar.in & www.wabco-auto.com He is an expert in mobilizing vehicle intelligence, creating vision, strategy and human capital for next generation smart mobility B2B2C use cases. He has been a speaker and moderator of panel discussions on Connected Car & Artificial Intelligence at global events such as Daimler EDM CAE Forum, Volvo CIO workshop, Telematics Wire, CII Automotive industry 4.0, AIR Summit, Geospatial Summit, ICT Academy and GLADIS 2018 in Shanghai.

Mr. Anand is Research Director, JETRO. JETRO, or the Japan External Trade Organization, is a governmentrelated organization that works to promote mutual trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world. Originally established in 1958 to promote Japanese exports abroad, JETRO's core focus in the 21st century has shifted toward promoting foreign direct investment into Japan and helping small to medium size Japanese firms maximize their global export potential.

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Market Place | ORDERFOX.COM

Safeguard Your Digital Future now Oliver Lodl, CSO, Orderfox throws light on how digitalization can help manufacturers safeguard their future from the ongoing and the future crises

ue to the current crisis, the existence of many CNC companies is at stake. The COVID-19 outbreak has highlighted the vulnerability of the complex global manufacturing supply chains. To make matters worse, the CNC industry relies heavily on on-time deliveries. Delivery delays of just one day can create gaps in the entire supply chain, which can lead to exploding costs, enormous sales losses or even a complete standstill.

Oliver Lödl, CSO of Orderfox.com.

Business for many companies has been delayed or halted as a result of the pandemic, industrial trade fairs have been canceled and tens of thousands of workers around the world are in quarantine at home: The financial impact of the coronavirus crisis will undoubtedly be severe. Yet we are not completely powerless. It is now imperative that we limit the damage and contain the losses. The crisis may limit many production facilities, but the demand for components is still high. Testing times for supply chains COVID-19 was a wake-up call for many companies. Many of them have realized that they need to fundamentally rethink their supply chain management. “The coronavirus pandemic has shown us that our supply chains are unstable, and that the paths we have taken in the past are dangerous. In the context of globalization, many companies have concentrated primarily on lowering prices and have often opted for a single-sourcing strategy”, says Wilfried Sihn, Professor for Industrial Engineering and Systems Planning at the Institute for Management Sciences at the Vienna University of Technology. This is now clearly becoming a major problem, as these supply chains are beginning to collapse. Due to closed borders and interruptions in production, supply from these individual sources can no longer be guaranteed. “A new concept is being discussed in science: Glocalization. This refers to the combination of globalization and local procurement. It is important not to overlook local procurement and thus improved supply security,” says Sihn. In order to diversify their risk, companies should consider moving their production to another location. Production costs may no longer play a major role in the selection of the production site. “We have seen the effects of cutting off transport and production routes. The importance of production in our own country or in Europe is unmistakable. The coronavirus will influence the global situation. I therefore assume that many

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production steps will return to Europe. Companies will consider whether they will continue to outsource everything in the future or whether it might be better to procure in close proximity at a minimally higher price,” says Oliver Lödl, CSO of Orderfox.com. Digitalization as an opportunity for CNC manufacturers Many CNC manufacturers are small and medium-sized enterprises that rely on traditional procurement strategies that are time-consuming and quickly becoming obsolete. In many cases, these producers are highly dependent (more than 65%) on their regular customers, while only around 30% of their turnover is generated from newly acquired customers (Source: Orderfox Customer Research). Customer acquisition is often difficult and time-consuming. And now that numerous industrial trade fairs have been canceled, new acquisition channels are urgently needed. Digitalization will change the CNC procurement It is not easy for buyers in the CNC industry to fill the gaps that have arisen and find alternative business partners. Many manufacturers don't have their own website, and therefore can't be "googled". Most industrial fairs, which have been a reliable source of business contacts for many years, are expected to be cancelled in 2020. Without these familiar events, where we usually make new contacts and expand our business network, the digital world is a welcome alternative. Thanks to online platforms, it is possible to establish new customer contacts independent of time and place, whether on a local or global level. There, CNC manufacturers and buyers can easily find each other with just a few mouse clicks. Digital platforms are a welcomed solution, as they open up new market opportunities while

providing additional transparency. Among them, Orderfox is the only global platform that believes in the need for a direct relationship between buyer and manufacturer. While other platforms hide manufacturer information and supplier procurement takes place in a “black box”, Orderfox enables direct communication between the two parties. This creates maximum transparency and mutual trust. At the same time, the price pressure on manufacturers is alleviated, as the latter can also differentiate themselves from their competitors by means of quality attributes. Oliver Lödl, CSO of Orderfox AG, provides an example of how available capacities can be quickly identified and used profitably: “Once the crisis has passed, when all equipment is put back into operation and we have to compensate for the demand of the past months, online procurement tools will be crucial. Even when things are running normally, newly purchased machines are only utilized at 70 - 80% of their capacity. Orderfox is able to increase their utilization to 100%”. Online platforms to find new CNC suppliers A digital platform can significantly increase efficiency and save CNC purchasers a considerable amount of research work. With the help of digital sourcing, delivery delays can be reduced and risks in general minimized. Oliver Lödl: “There are countless small and highly professional companies that are extremely hard to find because they don't invest much in their market presence or marketing. This tedious research is carried out by Orderfox for you. Visitors to the platform can see at a single glance which components can be produced by which companies, in which tolerance classes they can do so, which machines they use and where their production is located.”

Key Highlight: It is not easy for buyers in the CNC industry to fill the gaps that have arisen and find alternative business partners. Many manufacturers don't have their own website, and therefore can't be "googled". Most industrial fairs, which have been a reliable source of business contacts for many years, are expected to be cancelled in 2020.

www.orderfox.com

We invite all industry participants in India to register and participate at ORDERFOX.com. We can help them take advantage of the international business opportunities, achieve new contacts locally and globally - and to optimise workflows.

DINESH MISHRA Senior VP – Strategy M: +91 9833076669 E: dinesh.mishra@ meshmixmedia.com

Volume 4–Issue 4 J u l y /Au gu s t 2 0 2 0

Industry News | SCHULER

Laser blanking Improves Forming Process Five good reasons for using laser-cut blanks in the forming process

öppingen, 25 May 2020 – Renowned car manufacturers in Europe benefit from the advantages of the Dynamic Flow Technology and show how it works. Schuler's powerful and efficient laser blanking lines already supply press lines of many OEMs and TIERs. As a result, complete sets of blanking dies could already be saved on new models – with around a dozen dies per vehicle, this results in a cost reduction in the million US Dollar range. But in addition to these savings, OEMs and TIERs also benefit from the use of laser-cut blanks in the downstream forming process. The amount of aluminum in cars and commercial vehicles is increasing because the lightweight material improves performance and reduces fuel consumption and emissions. However, the surface-sensitive material confronts processors not only with the challenge of gentle handling during blanking. Furthermore, aluminum tends to produce burr on the lower cutting edge. If this burr detaches and remains as flitter in the forming die, it leads to marks on the material surface, which are still visible even after the painting process, and thus to scrap parts. To avoid those marks in the forming process, extra equipment such as burr vacuum cleaners or blank cleaning systems are required as well as regular line stops for

cleaning theforming dies. Depending on the parts, this can result in a five to ten-minute production interruption after just a few hundred strokes. Aluminum blanks produced on a Schuler laser blanking line not only meet the high quality requirements of the automotive industry but also create hardly any burr. By eliminating the need for regular cleaning, laser-cut blanks thus increase the productivity of press lines. Optimization of the tryout processes In principle, the flexibility regarding contour adaptation is already known from the laser-cut blanks from the tryout process. Depending on need, laser cutting programs can easily be adapted and customized blanks can be produced in small batches without dies. Compared to the flatbed lasers usually used for this purpose, the blanks from a laser blanking line are not cut out of a rectangle, but directly from the continuously running strip material of the coil. If we assume a scrap separation and good part stacking automated with robots, a scrap grid with a width of approx. 0.8’’-1.2’’around the good parts must be considered. In addition the use of rectangular blanks also results in a waste of approx. 2.4’’per side, which could be used for the next hood blank for example when cutting

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from a continuous strip (see blue dotted area in the diagram). So if a rectangular blank of 89’’x 87’’ were required for two hoods on a flatbed laser, a laser blanking line would only need a feed length of 81’’ mm and a coil width of 85’’. This would correspond to a material saving of about 11%. Regardless of whether the parts are purchased or manufactured in-house: material saving is always also cost saving. In addition to the aspect of material savings, the much higher output rates also speak for cutting in Dynamic Flow. While flatbed lasers can generally produce between two or three of such blanks per minute, the output rates for hoods on a laser blanking line, for example, reach up to 35 parts per minute with an overall equipment efficiency of over 80%. This means that about 1,700 parts can be produced in one hour. Depending on the sourcing strategy, either small tryout batches can be run flexibly and at the push of a button on the company's own Laser Blanking Line between series production, or can be purchased at short notice from a supplier with a Laser Blanking Line. These result not only from the fact that production can be carried out faster, but also because the upstream cut-to-length process can be saved. Thus, the tryout process can be optimized by using a laser blanking line with regard to two aspects: cost reduction through material savings and more flexible procurement options. Changes during series production made easy They don't happen often, but sometimes they do happen: Changes during series production. One example is the shift to a material with different flow behavior. While adjustments to the forming

Advantages at a glance • No cutting die set required: savings in million US Dollar range • No aluminum flitter: regular flitter cleaning time of approx. 5-10 minutes can be saved • Material savings of 5 to 10 % per part for the tryout process (compared to flatbed laser) • Material savings in series production (already 1.5% means about 450 t less steel and 150 t less aluminum per year) • Uncomplicated contour adaptation during series production

or cutting die require pre-production and tooling work, laser-cut blanks can be easily modified in their contours and the changeover to the new material is simplified. The previous status can also be restored at any time. This also offers the opportunity to try out optimizations – for example to save material – without much effort or risk. Even small material savings of one or two percent mean that, with an assumed production per blanking line of approx. 30,000 t steel and 10,000 t aluminum, a saving of up to 600 t steel and 200 t aluminum per year can be achieved. A laser blanking line makes it possible to simply benefit from the potential of material savings even during series production and, in the event of changes, to benefit from the reduced time required for die work.

Key Highlight: Laser Blanking Line between series production, or can be purchased at short notice from a supplier with a Laser Blanking Line.

www.schulergroup.com Compared to a flatbed laser, DirectFlow Technology allows the material to be used much more efficiently. © Schuler

Volume 4â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Issue 4 J u l y /Au gu s t 2 0 2 0

Product News | WALTER

Fully Automatic Complete Measurement Of Complex Tool Geometrics WALTER presents new modules for cleaning and laser marking of tools for application in the robot loader on the measuring machines HELICHECK PLUS and HELICHECK PRO

he use of new modules for cleaning and laser marking of tools in the robot loader further increases flexibility during manufacture and final inspection. The user saves valuable time by automatically loading the measuring machine with the robot loader and concurrently cleaning and laser marking the tools outside of the measuring area.

Tool in ultrasonic bath

Tool cleaning module A clean tool is essential for a valid measurement of tools. Therefore, the tools are cleaned before measurement in an ultrasonic bath, which is integrated in the robot cell and separate from the measuring area. Tools are subsequently dried in the air stream, which can be adapted individually depending on the tool length.

Robot loader with the externally installed tool cleaning (1) and laser marking modules (2)

Laser marking module After cleaning and measuring the tool, the high-quality marking of the tool can then be carried out in the laser marking module, also integrated in the robot cell and separate from the measuring area without any penetration. Marking can be made on the shaft and/or tool end face with static or dynamic data. For complete flexibility, the robot loader for the HELICHECK PLUS and HELICHECK PRO measuring machines can be specified with an individual preparation for these two modules - they can then be individually retrofitted if required.

Laser marking on tool shaft

www.walter-tools.com

Volume 4–Issue 4 J u l y /Au gu s t 2 0 2 0

Industry News | TMTS

Online Exhibitions Start Ahead Of Time The ‘national face mask team’ will host TMTS in November 2020 in Taichung, Taiwan

A Key Highlight: Taiwan's manufacturing industry excels at small-quantity and yet diverse customizations. It provides clients with integrated solutions from the perspective of user processes, which is the core value and competitive edge of this industry.

s the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, in response to Taiwan government call for social stability and investment in face mask equipment production, Chairman Habor Hsu of the Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders’ Association (TMBA) invited nearly 30 member manufacturers to contribute more than 100 professional technicians in mechanical assembly and electro-mechanics sectors to support the government to promptly complete 92 face mask production lines in 40 days. The machine tool industry has thus earned a self-evident reputation— “the National Face Mask Team”. The industry’s strength of rapid response and flexibility highlights its potentials for value development and creativity. Affected by the epidemic, many countries around the world have enforced lockdowns, triggering a crisis of industrial supply chain breakage. However, Taiwan’s machine tool industry has benefited from its complete industrial supply chain, and therefore effectively mitigated the impact. Taiwan's manufacturing industry excels at small-quantity and yet diverse customizations. It provides clients with integrated solutions from the perspective of user processes, which is the core value and competitive edge of this industry.

In addition, the epidemic has also driven the transformation of production patterns in manufacturing plants. Under the trend of mature Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing technology, Taiwan machine tool manufacturers have offered related supporting measures such as remote processing, remote monitoring, AI production scheduling, and unmanned factories to further realize the possibility of the “factory of the future”. Organized by the Machine Tool & Accessory Builders’ Association, the biennial Taiwan International Machine Tool Show (TMTS 2020) will be staged at the Taichung High Speed Rail Special Zone from November 10 to November 14. It will be the largest professional machine tool exhibition in Taiwan in 2020, with more than 700 manufacturers showcasing their products in 4,300 booths. “Taiwan International Machine Tool Show (TMTS)" is an industry-target exhibition. The last five-day show attracted more than 86,000 buyers to visit the site. There was also heated discussion on the Internet before and after the exhibition. Though TMTS will be held in November, the online TMTS starts ahead of time. The "Exhibitor Search" function on the official website brings visitors to an online exhibition hall, allowing buyers to precisely find manufacturers and products. Moreover, the online exhibition applies the most intuitive search method and the highest number of page views to increase the Internet presence of the product. The newly created website platform, with its professional exhibition brand image and super high browsing rate and effects, has extended the 5-day physical show to a 365-day, zero-time-difference "TMTS Online Exhibition Hall" .

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Volume 4–Issue 4 J u l y /Au gu s t 2 0 2 0

Industry News | TAIWAN

India An Attractive Destination For Taiwanese Companies Taiwan’s smart machinery solutions to reduce human intervention, boost safe manufacturing

Key Highlight: A new concept ‘Taiwan Excellence Smart Machinery Virtual Pavilion’ was also launched at the conference, which displayed 60 innovative Smart Machinery products from 50 Taiwan Excellence brands.

he COVID-19 pandemic has impacted manufacturing industry across the world. With machinery being the cornerstone of economic development and progress, countries have realized the need for industry upgradation. Taiwan’s Smart Machinery Industry enjoys a sterling reputation globally because of its ability to deliver outstanding products at competitive prices. With stress on quality, price and service, the industry is known for its significant precision technology and massive ICT integration. On Tuesday, June 2, Taiwan Excellence held the ‘Taiwan Excellence Smart Machinery’ online press conference with the aim to familiarize global buyers with Taiwanese Smart Machinery. Taiwan Excellence is an international campaign to promote Taiwan’s superior products. The e-conference saw eight of Taiwan’s most reputed smart machinery companies showcase their advanced smart manufacturing solutions in a bid to assist global manufacturers in managing industry upgrade and automation. The brands included iconic names like Chin Fong, FFG (Feeler), Grintimate, HIWIN, Manford, Solomon, She Hong (Hartford) and Tongtai. The conference showcased the companies’ products and solutions including precision components, digitally-controlled machine tools, automation equipment and smart controlling systems. A new concept

‘Taiwan Excellence Smart Machinery Virtual Pavilion’ was also launched at the conference, which displayed 60 innovative Smart Machinery products from 50 Taiwan Excellence brands. To add to the experience, buyers could also check out superb smart machinery products anytime and anywhere. At a time when most physical exhibitions are being postponed, digitalizing the Taiwan Excellence Pavilion and usage of VR technique means buyers can virtually check products without graphic restrictions. For countries like India, the e-conference aimed to bolster the image of Taiwan’s Smart Machinery industry as a major global supplier of machine tools, equipment and key components. India is an attractive option for Taiwanese companies who have the potential to play a catalyzing role. Also, in the current situation, as industries grapple with loss of migrant labor and in some cases, spread of the Covid-19 through human to human contact, the need for solutions to counter the absence of human supervision is very high. Taiwan’s Automated Smart Machinery with zero human intervention will play a vital role in both the scenario. According to a study published by ‘Markets and Markets’, the smart manufacturing market is expected to increase from US$214.7 billion in 2020 to US$384.8 billion in 2025, growing at a

Vo l u m e 4 – Is s u e 4 J u l y /Au gu s t 2 0 2 0

CAGR (Compound Average Growth Rate) of 12.4 percent. However, to aid this growth in these tumultuous times, the formidable expertise of Taiwanese Smart Machinery companies can go a long way by augmenting indigenous capacity and plugging gaps in manufacturing solutions globally. Besides, countries will now increasingly have to turn to smart automation to manage supply chains and production functions as the need for social distancing will make human intervention and supervision difficult. The world caught a glimpse of the Taiwanese industry’s rapid response capabilities and flexible management when it completed the herculean task of establishing 92 mask production lines in 40 days, and boosted mask production from 1.88 million pieces a day to 17 million pieces a day. Along with demonstrating proficiency, this feat also established Taiwan as one of the best options for reviving the world’s manufacturing industry. Chin Fong, one of the world’s top four press makers, shared how it applies smart concepts to its press machines for better performance and service life. Grintimate demonstrated how it applies a unique hydrostatic technique in grinding solutions in order to simplify the production of automotive drive shafts. FFG, one of the world’s top three machine tool group, and the largest machine tool maker in Taiwan, showcased its solutions for automatic production in the automotive industry for improving the efficiency and flexibility of the production line. HIWIN, the world's No.2 in market share in the field of linear transmission, introduced its precision components which are able to deliver higher performance for automation equipment, with high accuracy and durability. Manford displayed a new energy-saving machining solution that will effectively reduce the use of electricity by 80 percent, lubrication oil by 90 percent, and still maintain (extremely) high performance. Solomon demonstrated how its 3D vision technology can help automation equipment to make complex and precise pick-and-place tasks. She-Hong, the largest machining center manufacturer in Taiwan, introduced the “Hartrol Premium” smart controller. Its friendly interface and easy op-

eration allow operators to monitor and manage production more efficiently. Tongtai presented an outstanding solution for smart manufacturing and share some examples to show how they help customers construct flexible production lines. Speaking about the conference, Walter Yeh, CEO & President, TAITRA, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of industry upgradation, automation, and accelerated import-related solutions. We have demonstrated how Taiwan’s award-winning companies can assist by providing innovative solutions to meet manufacturing demands in the post-pandemic era. These companies will become reliable partners in the global industry upgrade. Taiwan Excellence will continue to present the best of Taiwanese technologies to the world even during these difficult times.” Mr. Guann-Jyh Lee, Deputy Director General, Bureau of Foreign Trade, MOEA said, “Once the COVID-19 pandemic situation slowly starts stabilizing, industries around the world will gradually resume their economic activities. They will need to deploy smart manufacturing solutions to avert similar losses in the future. Taiwan can be the best choice for this industrial upgradation and to help revitalize the manufacturing communities in the post-pandemic period.”

Volume 4–Issue 4 J u l y /Au gu s t 2 0 2 0

Case Study | JUNKER

A Good Fit For Flexibility And Precision JUMAT flexible cylindrical grinding machine impresses with its reduced tooling time and extremely high level of precision

I Key Highlight: The old machine has to be retooled several times a week; with the JUMAT, we have found a flexible cylindrical grinding machine that covers these many different grinding operations with reduced tooling time.

n their new production hall, Kratzer GmbH & Co. KG is uses the JUMAT cylindrical grinding machine to manufacture highly complex workpieces for dual-clutch gearboxes. The grinding machine concept from JUNKER, which has been precisely tailored to the customer‘s requirements, carries out flexible grinding operations with extreme precision. On a JUNKER JUMAT 3000, Kratzer GmbH & Co. KG manufactures gear parts for complex highperformance gearboxes for sports cars. To produce small batches of different dual-clutch components, Kratzer required flexibility with minimized tooling time and extreme precision. The three spindle JUMAT 3000/60 cylindrical grinding machine proves itself as the ideal basis for providing Kratzer with the latest technology and advanced tools for the production of sophisticated components. The gear components are ground in batch sizes of around 3000 pieces. From the outset, the retooling required between the different workpieces was included in the development of the process and, in the end, reduced to a minimum. "The old machine has to be retooled several times a week; with the JUMAT, we have found a flexible cylindrical grinding machine that covers these many different grinding operations with reduced tooling time," explains Florian Kratzer, Managing Director of Kratzer GmbH & Co. KG.

The dual-clutch gearboxes for sports cars must meet the highest standards and therefore require extremely tight tolerances. The JUMAT combines precision and process stability with flexibility and speed. But Florian Kratzer was not only impressed by the CBN grinding machine itself, the project and process planning carried out by JUNKER‘s grinding experts was also an important selling point: "We were extremely satisfied with all of the project planning because JUNKER always found a suitable and constructive solution for us. Choosing JUNKER and the JUMAT 3000/60 was absolutely the right decision." For the family business Kratzer, seamless, quick decision-making is just as important as precision and service. Kratzer and JUNKER are united in their commitment to precision, quality and customer proximity. Florian Kratzer confirms: "JUNKER kept this promise and quickly made our wishes a reality." With 390 employees in Offenburg, Germany and 70 employees in Jaroměř, Czech Republic, Kratzer develops and manufactures precision components and assemblies from a variety of materials for an extremely wide range of sectors, such as analytical engineering, the automotive and aviation industry, medical engineering, electricity, the optical industry, as well as machinery and equipment manufacturing.

Vo l u m e 4 – Is s u e 4 J u l y /Au gu s t 2 0 2 0

The JUNKER Group, is based in Nordrach, Germany, is a market leader in the manufacture of CBN high-speed grinding machines. Just under 1500 employees across the globe work to ensure that the company stays ahead of the pack in terms of technology. All well-known automotive manufacturers and their suppliers, as well as tool manufacturers and companies from a range of other sectors, rely on JUNKER's innovative grinding concepts. Whether for mass or small series production, JUNKER grinding machines work precisely, cost-effectively and reliably. The JUNKER Group comprises Erwin JUNKER Maschinenfabrik, LTA Lufttechnik GmbH and Zema Zselics Ltda. LTA Lufttechnik GmbH manufactures air filter systems and fire protection systems for trade and industry. ZEMA strengthens the group with its specialist expertise in grinding with corundum. On a JUNKER JUMAT 3000, Kratzer GmbH & Co. KG manufactures gear parts for complex highperformance gearboxes for sports cars. To produce small batches of different dual-clutch components, Kratzer required flexibility with minimized tooling time and extreme precision. The three spindle JUMAT 3000/60 cylindrical grinding machine proves itself as the ideal basis for providing Kratzer with the latest technology and advanced tools for the production of sophisticated components. The gear components are ground in batch sizes of around 3000 pieces. From the outset, the retooling required between the different workpieces was included in the development of the process and, in the end, reduced to a minimum. "The old machine has to be retooled several times a week; with the JUMAT, we have found a flexible cylindrical grinding machine that covers these many different grinding operations with reduced tooling time," explains Florian Kratzer, Managing Director of Kratzer GmbH & Co. KG. The dual-clutch gearboxes for sports cars must meet the highest standards and therefore require extremely tight tolerances. The JUMAT combines precision and process stability with flexibility and speed. But Florian Kratzer was not only impressed by the CBN grinding machine itself, the project and process planning carried out by JUNKER‘s grinding

experts was also an important selling point:"We were extremely satisfied with all of the project planning because JUNKER always found a suitable and constructive solution for us. Choosing JUNKER and the JUMAT 3000/60 was absolutely the right decision." For the family business Kratzer, seamless, quick decision-making is just as important as precision and service. Kratzer and JUNKER are united in their commitment to precision, quality and customer proximity. Florian Kratzer confirms: "JUNKER kept this promise and quickly made our wishes a reality." With 390 employees in Offenburg, Germany and 70 employees in Jaroměř, Czech Republic, Kratzer develops and manufactures precision components and assemblies from a variety of materials for an extremely wide range of sectors, such as analytical engineering, the automotive and aviation industry, medical engineering, electricity, the optical industry, as well as machinery and equipment manufacturing. The JUNKER Group, is based in Nordrach, Germany, is a market leader in the manufacture of CBN high-speed grinding machines. Just under 1500 employees across the globe work to ensure that the company stays ahead of the pack in terms of technology. All well-known automotive manufacturers and their suppliers, as well as tool manufacturers and companies from a range of other sectors, rely on JUNKER's innovative grinding concepts. Whether for mass or small series production, JUNKER grinding machines work precisely, cost-effectively and reliably. The JUNKER Group comprises Erwin JUNKER Maschinenfabrik, LTA Lufttechnik GmbH and Zema Zselics Ltda. LTA Lufttechnik GmbH manufactures air filter systems and fire protection systems for trade and industry. ZEMA strengthens the group with its specialist expertise in grinding with corundum.

www.junker-group.com

Key Highlight: UNKER kept this promise and quickly made our wishes a reality.

Volume 4–Issue 4 J u l y /Au gu s t 2 0 2 0

Vo l u m e 4 – I s s u e 4 J u l y / Au g u s t 2 0 2 0

COMPANY INDEX

IMPRINT

Amace Solution Pvt Ltd

48-52

Bharat Fritz Werner

26-31

Blaser Swisslube India

48-52

Divide by Zero Technology

40-47

Fleet Management Solutions

60-65

Industry Samurai

10-65

JETRO 60-65 Junker 76-77 Maini Precision

20-25

Metalman Auto Pvt Ltd

26-31

Micromatic Machine Tools

12-17

of INS Insider Navigation Systems GmbH

54-58

Orderfox.com 66-67 Pushkaraj Group

32-38

Reflexive Supply Chain Solutions.

12-17

Salzer Electronics Ltd.

20-25

SCHULER 68-69 SHANXAGENCY E.U.

54-58

SLTL Group

48-52

Taiwan 74-75 TMTS 72 UCAM Pvt. Ltd.

32-38

VUCA 60-65 Walter 70 Wave Mechanics and Investor,KAHM Capital

40-47

ZF WABCO India

60-65

ADVERTISERS INDEX Ace Micromatic

AMF 82 C G Tech

CII 53 DMI

Machine Insider

Makers and Movers

Meshmix 9,71 Meshmix Leadership Handbook

Orderfox 67 Para Mill Precision Machinery

Samurai awards

Managing Director / Publisher: Preeti Mishra E: preeti.m@meshmixmedia.com M: +91 9820488203 Editor: Aanand Pandey E: editorial@meshmixmedia.com M: +91 9920155943 Sr. Vice President-Strategy & Sales: Dinesh Mishra dinesh.mishra@meshmixmedia.com / advertise@meshmixmedia.com M: +91 9833076669 Creative / Production / Technical: MeshMix Media Team E: creative.meshmix@gmail.com Sales & Marketing / Content Supported by: MeshMix Media Private Limited Apna Media Accounts: MeshMix Media Team E: accounts@meshmixmedia.com Place of Publication: Meshmix Media Private Limited # 63, Ruia Park, J. R. Mhatre Road, Juhu, Vile Parle West, Mumbai, Maharashtra – 400049, India Editorial Office: Meshmix Media Private Limited # 1901, 19th Floor, Elecia Tower, Dosti Imperia Building, Ghodbunder Road, Opp R Mall, Manpada, Thane West - 400610, India. CIN No: U74999MH2016PTC287532 Volume 4–Issue 4 Printed by Meshmix Media Private Limited, India

Disclaimer: All the content and views expressed in this magazine are those of contributors and appointed agencies from various organizations and brands and is the sole property of the publisher. Reproduction in whole or in parts of text or photography is prohibited without consent of the publisher. Whether published or not, no material will be returned and remains the property of the publishing house, which may produce or reproduce deemed to fit. Advertisement materials are provided by the organizations and brands whose identification is published within the same. Published and Printed by Preeti Mishra on behalf of MeshMix Media Private Limited Printed at Anitha Art Printers, Place: 29/30, Oasis Industrial Estate, Opp Vakola Masjid, Next to Vakola Market, Santacruz (E), Mumbai, Maharashtra- 400 055, India and Published from 63, Ruia Park, J. R. Mhatre Road, Juhu, Vile Parle West, Mumbai, Maharashtra – 400049, India Editor: Aanand Pandey Publishing frequency: 6 times per year

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