Industrial Automation Magazine India

Automation implementation opens new opportunities

Published on : Tuesday 15-10-2019

What are the latest trends in automation for the industry?
There are many technological developments in the recent times which are being talked about such as:
•    Open Protocols – faster, deterministic, reliable – going away from Proprietary Protocols
•    Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
•    Industry 4.0
•    Artificial Intelligence (AI), and
•    Machine Learning (ML).

These new trends applied in industry help augment production with comparative ease and also help improve quality of products as human errors are avoided.

Is the pace of changing technology too rapid for user industries to adjust to?
It is always easy to adopt to newer technologies for the Greenfield projects, however for the existing and operating plant there are several concerns such as availability of shut downs, return on investment (RoI), reliability of the technology – proven track record, skilled manpower, obsolescence, capital cost, cyber security before going for any new technology.

Moreover, the present industrial environment is not so conducive for new projects hence we are witnessing the slow pace in implementing these, though the awareness exists. Further, the pace of work is different in Public and Private sector, which is a known fact but acceptability and knowledge in both sectors is high.

Are the user industries, especially SMEs, adequately informed and equipped to handle digital transformation and its challenges?
Wherever the business is being handled by the Millennials in the SME sector, or for that matter industries managed professionally, there is awareness, the will to go for advancements, ready to take risk, and trying out new technologies and innovations.

The Indian market always has its own challenges when it comes to technology adoption, especially the RoI factor. Are things changing?
Indian customers are always price conscious and RoI is always on their mind. So, suppliers have to provide very strong and logical reasons along with RoI and tangible benefits (value for money) to justify the investments. At the same time the suppliers have to make things locally to bring down the cost or come up with products at reasonable cost after studying the applications or customise it.

The challenges are well known such as availability of shut downs and other factors already mentioned earlier.

Is there a fine balance between total automation and safeguarding jobs?
Automation does not mean taking away jobs – it was never like that. Automation & Controls make processes and products faster, reliable, better quality, consistent, repeatable, safe, energy and environment efficient and opens the door for customisation, producing even low volumes, fast changeovers and more variants, which can help manufacturers expand their market segments globally.

Automation implementation opens new opportunities thereby venturing in product upgrades or new products. The existing manpower getting trained in new skill sets helps them to enjoy the job and also gain self-confidence generating more income to them.

Deepak Edwankar is Director at Forbes Marshall, Pune. Forbes Marshall is a leader in process efficiency and energy conservation for process industry. Long and deep customer relationships have enabled the company to develop products and services that help save energy, improve process quality and throughput, and run a clean and safe factory.