Buzzwords always become the topics of discussion in any conference. A few years back, “innovation” was the buzzword, then came ‘green manufacturing’, later it was ‘lean manufacturing’, followed by ‘sustainable manufacturing’. After that ‘next-gen manufacturing’ and ‘factory of the future’ became the most discussed topics in the conferences. Then ‘Make in India’ was there for some time. Now ‘smart manufacturing’ is the most popular buzzword. Go to any industrial conference happening these days, and you’ll get to hear government officials, bureaucrats, industry professionals and academicians talking only about ‘smart manufacturing’ where Industry 4.0 and IIoT are the highlight areas. The recent Automotive Industry 4.0 Summit by CII was no exception. Packed with a huge list of speakers, the event covered the topic in a much detailed way. What it lacked probably was in touching upon the ground realities when it comes to deployment of advanced technologies in the brownfield plants.
