Machine tool industry soaring high

By OEM Update Editorial June 18, 2019 2:03 pm IST

Indian machine tool industry has been doing well over the last one year, and the reliance of other sectors on this industry, has been providing immense growth opportunities, says V Anbu, Secretary, Director General & CEO, IMTMA, in an interview with OEM Update.

‘Make in India’ favouring machine tool industry
The Government of India launched the ‘Make in India’ initiative to encourage multinational and domestic companies to manufacture their products in India. The initiative aims to raise the contribution of manufacturing sector to 25 per cent of India’s GDP, by 2022. The initiative has given manufacturing sector a certain direction and promoted the ease of doing business.

As per World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business report published in 2018, India moved up by 23 spots (as against its 2017 position), to land on 77th position in the global list of 190 countries. With India aspiring to reach the $5 trillion economy club in the near future, Make in India is seen as a favourable medium.

Lean manufacturing to maximise productivity
Lean manufacturing involves, minimising waste. Manufacturing industries are primarily focusing on this aspect and striving to maximise productivity. The industry is also moving towards implementing new-age technologies, such as Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence and machine based systems, which will help them realise this goal. These technologies are changing the way we interact with information and revolutionising shop floor activities.

Machines take care of predictive maintenance for reducing operation and maintenance costs. Artificial intelligence and machine learning enable companies to optimise global supply management. Modern supply chains are known for generating massive amounts of data and artificial intelligence helps analysing this data and organise it into useful bits and pieces. The technology also aids in ushering a seamless quality control over the entire manufacturing process.

Immense growth opportunities
Indian machine tool industry has been coasting well over the last one year. As per Gardner’s World Machine Tool Output Survey 2018, India was ranked 8th in consumption and 10th in production globally for the year 2017. In FY 2017-2018 machine tool production was valued at around ₹7,300 crores and consumption was valued at around `14,700 crores.

It is estimated that production and consumption will grow by around 30 per cent during FY 2018-2019 and the industry may grow around 20–25 per cent in FY 2019-2020 as well. This, however, is only a projection, and result may vary depending on market movement and economy.

Automotive sector is the main driver of growth for machine tool industry. However, the industry also serves many emerging user sectors such as aerospace, defence, medical equipment, railways, power and energy, etc. All these sectors provide immense opportunities for growth.

The Make in India initiative has given manufacturing sector a certain direction and promoted the ease of doing business.
V Anbu, Secretary, Director General & CEO, IMTMA