Make in India, efficiently

June 30, 2015 11:43 am

India not only has the potential for domestic consumption, but we are increasingly being looked upon as a destination for quality exports to the entire world.
Vineet Seth, Managing Director – South Asia and Middle East, Delcam Ltd., UK
 Delcam is one of the world’s leading suppliers of advanced CAD/CAM for industries such as aerospace, automotive, electrical appliance, footwear, ceramics, packaging, signmaking, jewellery, toys and sporting equipment. Over the years, the company has carved a niche for itself in India. In an interview with OEM Update, Vineet Seth highlights the roadmap for ‘Make in India’.
‘Make In India’ to foster growthThe CAD/CAM industry heavily relies on manufacturing growth. If there is no growth in manufacturing, chances are that there will be very little growth in CAD/CAM industry. Over the years, India has gradually increased manufacturing share as a percentage of its GDP. “I am very hopeful that the ‘Make in India’ campaign will bring about more innovation and localisation that will fuel the growth of a lot of allied industry that tie in to the manufacturing domain,” says Vineet Seth, Managing Director – South Asia and Middle East, Delcam Ltd., UK. He is also the ASEAN Business Development Director at Delcam Professional Services Ltd., UK.
He observes, “The ‘Make in India’ campaign has come at the right time. One of the major positive indicators of the country’s GDP is manufacturing. This campaign will help in fuelling innovation across the existing manufacturing infrastructure in the country, as well as motivate newer entrepreneurs to embrace manufacturing and not just limit themselves to services and trading sector.”
Explaining short- and long-term effects of the initiative, Mr Seth said, “On the short-term it will foster investments, infrastructure revamp, training etc. On the longer term, it will help create a manufacturing economy that will drive the country forward. In the immediate future, it will foster a shift for a better tomorrow.”
Needs collaborative approachDescribing the ‘Make in India’ as a ‘collective effort’, Mr Seth said, “If ‘Make in India’ has to achieve success, it will require that all the stakeholders come together and put in positive efforts. The government will not only have to write the policies, but should also put in mechanisms to measure the efficacy of such a policy. The advisory body should also be in touch with market realities both within the country as well as outside – and make changes to the policy and implement them, dynamically.”
There are various representative bodies of many industry associations and industry clusters. Mr Seth recommends that these bodies should work with the government without bias to raise the overall manufacturing potential both within their domains as well as cross-functionally. “Individuals and organisations should believe in the campaign and dare to innovate. India not only has the potential for domestic consumption, but we are increasingly being looked upon as a destination for quality exports to the entire world,” he adds.
Challenges and road aheadThere will be numerous challenges to the campaign, right from the “Whys”, to the “Hows” and the answers to these are not always simple. Talking on the challenges before ‘Make in India’ Mr Seth says, “One of the major challenges of the campaign will be in motivating people and organisations to participate cohesively and work towards enhancing the brand value and perception of goods produced in India.”
He adds, “Macro level policies will need to be formulated to incentivise the role played by small and medium enterprises. These should also be implemented to the dot. Policy makers should understand ground reality and consider the challenges faced by the SME sector and remedy them accordingly. These challenges could be related to a wide band ranging from cost-effective access to expensive manufacturing technology and services, to more operational ones like human resources management.”
In short, Mr Seth believes, the ‘Make in India’ campaign will need to be looked at ‘Make in India Efficiently’ and this is the bigger challenge of the two. “The good part is that we have the momentum and energy, and we will conquer all challenges, so long as we are able to direct this momentum and energy in the right direction,” he asserts.
What are the initiatives taken by your company in this direction?Delcam is a global company. Since early 2014, Delcam is a part of the Autodesk group. In India, a large portion of its 3,000-plus customers are in the SME segment. Apart from making innovative products, Delcam also constantly encourage its customers to break the tradition; whether this is by enabling them to use latest developments in each product or by opening a new area of business for existing products by introducing them to a product or solution that caters to an entirely different business.
“As part of our contribution to the ‘Make in India’ campaign, we have been speaking to customers about their pain areas and helping them address these appropriately,” Mr Seth informs.
Delcam is also partnering with machine tool and cutting tool manufacturers to provide educative seminars on technology that helps manufacturing companies leverage the combined strengths of each, to be more efficient.
“Going a step further, we are also working with leading academic institutions to empower tomorrow’s engineers with cutting edge technology and manufacturing knowledge that will help them be more productive when they join an organisation tomorrow, or start up a new venture,” Mr Seth concludes.