Manufacturing Sector Using Modern Age Technology To Revive the Indian Economy Although our recent circumstances such as the pandemic have forced us to adopt different ways of going about the day-to-day processes, in hindsight it only hastened the sector's move towards more advanced forms of functioning
By Avneet Singh Marwah •
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The Indian manufacturing sector has seen a major enhancement in the last five years, from a nation which was doing major trading now started focusing on making in India.
Although our recent circumstances such as the pandemic have forced us to adopt different ways of going about the day-to-day processes, in hindsight it only hastened the sector's move towards more advanced forms of functioning.
Currently, in India we are just assembling, we need to create an ecosystem of the component or core raw material manufacturing. So that our dependence reduces to other countries which are enjoying a monopoly, as a result, there is a price rise of raw material. The Indian government has put multiple plans in motion such as the Make in India program, promoting Vocal for local and now PLA scheme. This has given an impetus to the industry, especially amidst the pandemic.
However, the system now needs to be supplemented with investments and better infrastructure to support the manufacturing setup that is required and move on from "assembly-only" lines.
In the next three-four years we envisage steady growth for India in terms of manufacturing some key components of the electronics industry; only if the current momentum is maintained by the government along with some more new schemes being introduced.
The industry has witnessed many ongoing talks about investment plans but what is awaited is the fruition of these conversations.
By 2026 it is predicted that India will be the second largest manufacturer of electronics in the world with an overall Industrial output of 4-8 per cent per annum. Till now we have seen more smooth operations and approval systems in place put by the government, steps that are helping create the necessary change.
However, this predicted growth will need to be supported by concrete plans and stable policies. If we do see ourselves becoming a leader in manufacturing, then one of the key things to do will be to move on from just assembly lines to the manufacturing of actual raw materials along with lucrative deals to be put in place to attract the required investments.
Use of automated technology to simplify the process in manufacturing
The pandemic sped up the industry's ways of functioning and in hindsight for the good. Things today have changed in assembly lines. There is a complete overhaul of how we go about our day to day which involves social distancing every step of the way.
The current scenario forced us all to adapt and adopt technologies such as the automation of assembly lines. Process lines are being developed in a way that only major fixtures will be incorporated, only semi-knocked down (SKD) assembly will be done on the line and the rest fixations will be done in the respective departments.
This is a format that has turned out to be very effective for units across India.
Additionally, we are also seeing the incorporation and use of AI artificial intelligence to do better and effective quality checks along with automating packaging goods and so on.
We have had to come up with measures to keep up with the upcoming boom in our sector and as mentioned above the industry is only set to grow. The pandemic did set us back as a sector but also it allowed industry leaders time to come up with emergency measures in the nick of time. It was a great learning and has put in the confidence in the sector to surpass anything else that may come our way and only shown how ripe the Indian electronics industry is for investment and growth.
The leadership is rightly aiming for India to become a $5-trillion economy. However, the backbone for that to happen is the manufacturing sector. This sector will contribute 20 per cent to the GDP and 19 per cent of our nation's workforce will be associated with this sector. We need to focus on building core competence around this to produce raw materials. Better and faster adoption of technology also needs to be in the play for more efficiency. If we can do this as a collective within the next five years then India would have achieved global success in the current status quo.
