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EVENT REPORT
On the move
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The India Automotive Summit organised by Noppen at Pune on October 13 -14, 2011 in Hotel Le Meridian, witnessed a gathering of around 140 prominent industry leaders and government officials from across the globe.
T
he Indian passenger market is growing at a healthy speed and is slated to become the fourth largest market in the world. Under the Automotive Mission Plan(AMP), India has set a target to become a $145 billion automotive market by 2016, for which an investment of $35-40 billion is required.In this backdrop the Summit seemed quite befitting.
Setting the agenda Among many enlightening speakers
at the event, standout ones included keynote speaker Guru Kathawate, Vice President, Automotive, Sika Corporation. He spoke on the challenges that occur in design when using advanced materials. He stated that there are several factors such as functionality, aesthetics, structural rigidity, safety, durability and economics that will affect India in 2020. His presentation addressed basic questions on managing six factors, including ‘why do I need certain parts?’ and ‘can I use a better material which can do two or three things together?’ He
summarised on the note that to achieve success in the automotive industry, India needs more ‘industry - university’ partnerships and engineers should have access to innovative technologies, better ‘application-based’ education and ‘silicon valley’ type environment where people innovate and share, which leads to speed in the developmental process, and efficient delivery times. He was shortly followed by another keynote speaker Nagaraj Meda,Chairman & Managing Director, Transgraph Consulting, who gave a different Nov/Dec 2011 | EM