SIAM hosts 15th Lecture Series on Digital Innovation and Smart Manufacturing: Industry 4.0 and Beyond

New Delhi: In its bid to strengthen the ongoing discourse on leveraging digital technologies and physical domains for smart manufacturing in the automotive sector, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the apex industry body organized the 15th Lecture Series on Digital Innovation and Smart Manufacturing: Industry 4.0 and Beyond, on a virtual platform.
 
Divided in two sessions, the 15th Lecture witnessed industry stalwarts and experts discussing the impact of Industry 4.0 and the means to achieve environmental sustainability by sharing the latest knowledge and best practices around smart manufacturing and related business and technological innovations. 
 
In his welcome address, Mr Prashant K Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM, said, “As complexities around products and services increases along with the turnaround time to go to market, continuous technological disruptions, and changing customer preferences, there’s an increased pressure on manufacturing to meet the market demand. In such a scenario where there are complex KRP systems and integrated supply chain partners that require business intelligence and data handling, the complexities demand that industry 4.0 awareness increases drastically.”
 
Mr Satyakam Arya, Chairman, SIAM Manufacturing, Industry 4.0 and EODB Group, & CEO & MD, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, touched upon key aspects of industry 4.0, including increased automation, bridging of the physical and digital world with cyber-physical systems enabled by IoT, and a shift from central industrial control system, with smart products defining manufacturing.    
 
Industry Veteran Mr Mahesh Kaikini, Co-Chairman, SIAM Manufacturing, Industry 4.0 and EODB Group, & Chief of Quality, Hero MotoCorp, expressed while the digital technology is very well recognized, it needs a long-term roadmap and policy framework. He further discussed the blurring of the lines between physical, digital, and biological system, and focused on industry 4.0 key digital value drivers. 
   
Mr Brijesh Gubbi Suresh, Head (New Business Strategy), Hyundai Motor India, gave his perspectives on smart ecosystems, emphasising that automation enhances skillsets and not really contribute to unemployment. He also gave examples of integrated smart manufacturing ecosystem “SMARTIVITY” and discussed the changing market trends, including mass customization, smart supply chain systems, and 100% operational efficiency by using connected technologies and advance data analytics.

Adding to the deliberations, Dr Eva Diedrichs, Senior Consultant, A.T. Kearney, gave a complete picture of digital innovation strategy (DIS), elaborating about the key challenges for the automotive industry, success factors for DIS, and the key steps to develop the DIS, including identifying triggers, developing and sharing of organisational vision for digital future, DIS development and implementation. 

Citing the example of Taiwan, which is ranked No 1 Industrial cluster in the world by WEF, Prof. Yan, Vice President (R&D) and Faculty Director of MBA Program, Northwestern University (NU), Visiting Associate Professor at Cornell University, USA, explained that technology can be the driving force that can link to sustainability and livelihood. He elaborated upon Taiwan’s policy on industry 4.O, innovation aspects of advance digital technologies, value chain integration, and discussed case studies of smart manufacturing strategies.

Mr Karsten Mueller, Head of Manufacturing, Bosch India Ltd, spoke about LAKSHYA a project by Bosch is focusing on human capital. He discussed the key elements of future ready factories, which focused on clear focus on business requirement, leveraging conducted industry, anchoring digital competencies, and enabling data-driven improvement. He also explained applications of AI and AI driven anomaly management.
 
Giving his perspective on growth strategies for smart manufacturing, Dr Jagannadha Pawan Tamvada, Associate professor, University of Southampton, UK, in his presentation shared the Accelerate, Contribute, and Transform (ACT) framework. Furthermore, he gave examples of new business models and discussed the need for organisational collaboration, the emergence of mass customization, and went a step ahead to discuss EU policy of Industry 5.0 and its strong focus human centricity, sustainability and resilience.
 
Dr Vishal Talwar, Dean – School of Management, BML Munjal University, added to the discussion and stated that 86% of manufacturers in US believe that smart factories will be the main driver of competition by 2025. He mentioned the various polices on industry 4.0 in Asia, and explained the right kind of data being the driving factor in Industry 4.0. He shared essential learnings for the journey from data generation to data driven decision making.
 
Industry 4.0 is fuelling the emergence of smart factories globally. The 15th Lecture highlighted the adoption of connected and intelligent digital technologies is transforming traditional manufacturing shop floors into sustainable smart factories, enhancing productivity, profitability, compliance, and customer delight.