Industry2 0 vol 01 issue 02 december 2013(1)

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A 99 MEDIA PUBLICATION

VOLUME 01

ISSUE 02

DECEMBER 2013

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WINNING IN THE NEW NORMAL

Economics as a fiEld EvolvEd to study businEss cyclEs with limitEd succEss

Ravichandran Purushothaman President, Danfoss Industries

Pg 40

Varun Vijay Rao Managing Director, Actuant India

Y. Srinivas Reddy Managing Director, Bevcon Wayors

Cover Story

INVENTORS OF THE YEAR 2013

siEmEns has rEcognisEd 12 rEsEarchErs for thEir outstanding r&d Efforts in 2013 Pg 14

CAPTAINS

OF INDUSTRY

TALK ON THEIR BUSINESS PRIORITIES IN 2014



editorial Volume 01 | Issue 02 | december 2013

Managing Director: Dr Pramath Raj Sinha Printer & Publisher: Kanak Ghosh Editorial Group Editor: R Giridhar Managing Editor: P K Chatterjee (PK) Design Sr. Creative Director: Jayan K Narayanan Sr. Art Director: Anil VK Associate Art Director: Anil T Sr. Visualisers: Manav Sachdev, Shigil Narayanan & Sristi Maurya Visualiser: NV Baiju Sr. Designers: Haridas Balan, Manoj Kumar VP, Charu Dwivedi, Peterson PJ & Dinesh Devgan Designers: Pradeep G Nair & Vikas Sharma ONLINE & MARCOM DESIGN Associate Art Director: Shokeen Saifi Sr.Designer: Rahul Babu Web Designer: Om Prakash PHOTOGRAPHY Chief Photographer: Subhojit Paul Sr. Photographer: Jiten Gandhi Sales & Marketing Vice President: Naveen Chand Singh (09901300772) National Manager - Events & Special Projects: Arjun Sawhney (09880436623) National Manager - Print & Online: Rajesh Kandhari (09811140424) Product Manager: Siddhant Raizada (09873555231) GM (South & West): Vinodh Kaliappan (09740714817) Regional Mgr. (North): Vipin Yadav (09999885515) Regional Mgr. (South) : Anshu Kumar (09591455661) Production & Logistics Sr. GM - Operations: Shivshankar M Hiremath Manager - Operations: Rakesh Upadhyay Assistant Production Manager: Vilas Mhatre Ad Coordination: Kishan Singh Assistant Manager - Logistics: Vijay Menon Executive - Logistics: MP Singh, Mohamed Ansari & Nilesh Shiravadekar office address Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt Ltd Office No. B201-B202, Arjun Centre B Wing, Station Road,Govandi (East), Mumbai 400088. Board line: 91 22 67899666 Fax: 91 22 67899667 For any information, write to info@industry20.com For subscription details, write to subscribe@industry20.com For sales and advertising enquiries, write to advertise@industry20.com For any customer queries and assistance, contact help@9dot9.in Printed and published by Kanak Ghosh for Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt Ltd A-262, 2nd Floor, Defence Colony New Delhi-110024 Board line: 91 22 67899666 Fax: 91 22 67899667 Editor: Anuradha Das Mathur Plot No. 725 GES, Shirvane, Nerul, Navi Mumbai 400706. Printed at Tara Art Printers Pvt ltd. A-46-47, Sector-5, NOIDA (U.P.) 201301 www.industry20.com

Welcoming

2014

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hen the entire country is excited to welcome 2014 with different sets of agenda, let us look at – which challenges the Indian manufacturing industry is carrying forward, and what our business leaders are thinking now to counter those challenges. “Focus on quality, technology and customer centricity is the way forward for companies to be successful.” This thought emerged recently at a panel discussion organised by The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at the release of its book ‘The Big Leap: How Indian Companies Leveraged Reforms for Success.’ In the same event, B. Muthuraman, Vice Chairman, Tata Steel Ltd. said that companies cannot benefit if customers don’t, and hence Tata Steel focused on marketing as a vital business function to improve customer relation and enhance value to the customer. This enabled the company to command a premium of 10-20% on their products. According to him, there is a pressing need for deeper social reforms, agricultural reforms, educational reforms and investments in technology. As far as growth and survival are concerned, Indian small and mediumsized companies could not compete

industry 2.0

P. K. Chatterjee (PK) editor@industry20.com

with the big companies on technology front, expressed Praveen Toshniwal, Chairman, Nivo Controls, who was also one of the panelists. Thus, according to him, the only way MSMEs can do this – is by offering a comparative quality and competitive price and value to the customer. As a capital equipment manufacturer, Toshniwal feels that to ensure customer retention, the product needs to be supported technically before and after the sale. Another panelist, T. C. A. Ranganathan, Ex CMD, EXIM Bank of India, opined, “Quality does not come merely from internal processes but by having strong customer and vendor relationships.” He feels although reforms were needed, not many companies were geared to face this kind of reform and the resultant competition. According to him, there is a need to focus on environment, permissions and labour reforms. Although publicly unpronounced, another major haunting issue is political uncertainty in the country. Of late, this is a very common topic for discussion away from the podium. Nobody knows who will man the Indian prime minister’s chair next year. But everybody is expecting a person who has a track record and proven capability to accommodate, nurture and take forward the Indian manufacturing industry.

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contents departments Editorial....................................................01 Advertisers’ Index................................... 02 Industry Update.......................................04 Event Report......................................39, 40 Product Gallery....................................... 42 Business Index........................................ 44

advertisers’ index Omron...................................................IFC

cover story 14 Inventors Of The Year 2013

Siemens researchers enthusiastically worked on developing some great products that should either push to improve industrial production and medical diagnostics or contribute to the ever-sought stabilisation of power grids...

Bry Air Asia............................................... 5 Dell................................................... 16 – A Everest Pressure & Vacuum Systems................................. IBC Exxon Mobil........................................... BC

Cover Design: Peterson PJ

BLOG

technology trend

financial management

08 ‘My House Is Clean’ Syndrome

12 Workplace Efficiency

32 Lessons For Corporate Borrowers Today, the business profitability is at

The house being clean does not mean that the ‘universe’ is also clean...

Smartglasses are expected to have the most impact on heavy industry...

business info

top priorities for 2014

09 Indian Fertilizer Demand Remains Strong

24 3 Captains Of Industry Talk On Their Business Priorities

Indian companies continued to purchase urea in November 2013…

Business heads from manufacturing companies reveal their action plans...

challenges & solutions 28 Tackling Filtration Challenges How a company reduced process costs through innovation...

design & optimisation

the core, both for the rating agencies as well as the banker...

Supply Chain 34 Improving Customer Service Demand-pull supply chain solution delivers improved customer service...

36 Coal Transportation Thermal power plant coal supply will improve with expansion of Inland Water Transport (IWT) mode...

30 Improving Mould Quality Perfection of design is vital for making high quality moulds...

market trend 10 Asia Pacific Technology Predictions For 2014 Strengthening of the ‘age of the customer,’ will be the trend in 2014...

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quality & innovation 31 Piping For Energy Saving

A simple change in the compressed air line will generate a huge saving...

- technology management for decision-makers

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industry update Danish delegation visits APM Terminals in Dadri

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ick Haekkerup, Minister for Trade and Economic Affairs, Denmark and Freddie Svane, Denmark’s Ambassador to India, along with an eight member delegation, visited the Dadri facility of APM Terminals India recently. The visit provided them an opportunity to tour the APM Terminals facility in North India and understand its role in lifting global trade. Nitin Jain, Business Unit Head of APM Terminals Dadri hosted the delegation at the Dadri container freight station facility. The delegation visited the warehouse, yard and rail siding areas of the facility and were briefed about the A P Moller Maersk (APMM) group’s presence in India, including how the facility serves Indian exporters exporting to Europe and the United States – and Indian importers, importing from Europe and the United States. With more than 58,700 sqare metre of paved yard area and warehouse very well equipped with modern infrastructure, process and equipment, this is one of the most advanced facilities in North India.

KPTL secures new orders

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alpataru Power Transmission Ltd. (KPTL), an EPC player in power and infrastructure contracting sector, has secured new orders worth over Rs 1,000 crore. The first order is worth Rs 630 crore for execution of Suez Gulf/Samalaut 500 KV D/C over-head transmission line in Egypt. The second order is valued at Rs 246 crore for supply and installation of 220 KV transmission systems in Rwanda and O. R. Congo. The third order is from HPCL for installation of cross-country pipeline, which is to the tune of Rs 131 crore.

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Front row: (2nd from left) Nick Haekkerup, Minister of Trade and Economic Affairs, Denmark and (1st from right) Freddie Svane, Danish Ambassador to India

Solutions and services provided by APM Terminals Dadri include container and cargo handling, empty and bonded depots, customised Garment on Hanger (GoH) fabrication, equipment maintenance and repairs including reefer monitoring and transportation. APM Terminals Dadri is a joint venture between APM Terminals India and Container Corporation of India (CONCOR).

“We were privileged to host the delegation from Denmark at our facility in Dadri and happy for their recognition of our commitment to facilitate trade with European and especially Danish organisations. We look forward to continuously provide best in market service,” said Subhasis Ghosh, Managing Director, APM Terminals India & Director, Inland Services, South Asia.

Arrangers declare dates for SPS IPC Drives

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esse Frankfurt Trade Fairs India together with Mesago Messe Frankfurt introduces Europe’s leading automation exhibition SPS IPC Drives to the Indian market. The organisers feel it is the perfect time to harness business opportunities across all verticals of the automation industry in India and believe the launch of ‘SPS Automation India - Driving manufacturing processes of the future’ will be the ideal platform to aid this development. The trade fair, like the mother event SPS IPC Drives (Nuremberg), will create a good platform for innovations in the field of industrial automation and host a vast range of displays of products, systems and services. This will be held from 5 – 7 February 2015 at

- technology management for decision-makers

Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Currently estimated at INR 12,000 crore, India’s automation industry is growing at an annual average of 12%, which translates to huge opportunities for the sector. With the evolution of the Indian market, the need for a more competitive edge in terms of productivity, profitability, safety and sustainable manufacturing processes has also heightened. Manufacturers, especially start-ups, have been aware of the benefits derived from adopting automated processes across their value chain. Experts feel that the current situation of the industrial automation sector in India can be enhanced with stimulation in demand for products and services.

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DISA showcases its new products in EXCON 2013 t the recently concluded EXCON 2013 in Bengaluru, DISA India highlighted the Wheelabrator ‘Pass through Machine.’ The ‘pass through shot blasting solution’ can be harnessed for various applications – like construction equipment, cranes’ girders, vessels, infrastructure parts etc. According to DISA, the machines are developed with an aim to prepare the surface for the painting needs, and their wheels are oriented in such a way that the maximum parts surface is exposed for the direct blasting. While designing the machine, new techniques are being utilised to simulate the job coverage parameters. Overall, DISA and Wheelabrator have delivered 10 machines of this family to various construction equipment and tower crane suppliers in

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India. Now, the company has started localised production of the same. At the same event in Bengaluru, the company also introduced ‒ the DISA Silo Vent Filters ‒ these products are specially meant for venting of silos fed with powdered products. Commenting on the occasion, Viraj Naidu, Managing Director of DISA India, said, “We Viraj Naidu, Managing Director of DISA India, is explaining DISA’s latest products in EXCON 2013. are thrilled to be a part of EXCON 2013 and showcase our key products to our varithe ‘Silo Vent Filters’ ensure that we ous stakeholders. India is a big market increase our offerings for various segwith much potential for our products. ments – and be able to cater to a wide The ‘Pass through Machines’ and array of industries.”

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industry update Adani Ports signs MOU with Belgian Port of Zeebrugge

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dani Ports & SEZ Ltd., has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Belgian Port of Zeebrugge, to act as a strategic entry port for the lucrative European market. It will now collaborate with the Belgian port to explore joint business opportunities between the two ports along with other forms of trade, shipping, railway infrastructure across India and Europe. The MoU over a period of time will help in an enhanced movement of traffic to and from APSEZ into Europe and beyond. It will also enable sharing of global best practices including technical know-how between two of the leading port developers globally. During the visit of an important Belgian business delegation led by HRH Princess Astrid of Belgium, Representa-

Accenture boosts industrial solutions

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ccenture has agreed to acquire the industrial and embedded software development and services business of Evopro Group, a software development and engineering services company headquartered in Budapest. The acquisition will increase Accenture’s ability to help companies get the most return on their investment in industrial software through process improvement and software development, enabling them to take products to market faster and more efficiently. Evopro Group has operations in Germany, Hungary, Romania and Turkey. It provides services for embedded software used widely in the industrial equipment, automotive, logistics and transportation industries. The acquisition will strengthen Accenture’s skills in the industrial software and automation market for industrial companies.

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in Mumbai recently, to this effect, by Karan Adani, Executive Director of Adani Ports & SEZ Ltd, and Joachim Coens, President-CEO of the Port of Zeeburgge. The MoU was signed in the presence of HRH Princess Astrid of Belgium, Representative of His Majesty the King, HE Didier Reynders, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade (LtoR) Karan Adani, Executive Director of Adani Ports & SEZ Ltd, & European Affairs of Beland Joachim Coens, President-CEO of the Port of Zeeburgge during gium and HE Kris Peeters, signing the MoU Minister-President of the tive of His Majesty the King to India, a Government of Flanders, Flemish Memorandum of Understanding was Minister for Economy, Foreign Policy, signed between the two companies Agriculture & Rural Policy.

Dalmia Bharat Cement bags CII-ITC Sustainability Award 2013

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almia Bharat Cement has been conferred with the prestigious CII-ITC Sustainability Award 2013 for contribution to sustainability and conservation of the environment. The company received the “Commendation Certificate for Strong Commitment to Excel on the journey towards Sustainable Development” for the year 2013. This is the 2nd consecutive year that the firm has got this award, underlining the its strong and intrinsic benchmarks for sustainable practices in the area of cement manufacturing. “It’s a huge honour for us to receive the CII ITC Sustainability Award industry once again this year. Each one of us at Dalmia is conscious of our responsibility towards leaving behind a planet that is safe and can meet the need of our future generations. Businesses in particular have an important role to play here, and this recognition is a great encouragement for us,” said Gautam Dalmia, Managing Director, Dalmia Bharat Group.

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Vishal Bhardwaj, Asst. Executive Director, CSR, Dalmia Bharat Group was also honoured along with others for assisting CII as an assessor for these awards. The assessment process followed the internationally acclaimed European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) standards and gave equal weightage to economic, environment and social dimensions of the business. It began as desk appraisal, followed by onsite assessment of the short-listed companies. The final decision lay with the jury comprising eminent personalities ‒ including Suresh Prabhu, former Union Minister and Chairman-Council of Energy, Environment and Water, the Jury Chair, Jurist, Soli Sorabji, and Sudha Murty. These awards were constituted by the CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development in 2006. The awards recognize India’s most sustainable companies that have been successful in embedding sustainability in their business models.

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NALCO goes green with solar energy

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jaas Energy is all set to execute a large grid interactive solar PV project on the roof top of head office of leading Navratna Company National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) in the city of Bhubaneswar. NALCO, which has taken many major initiatives in the field of renewable energy and is very much concerned towards environment, has started with this small initiative with 160 KW ‒ depending on the space availability of their roof, and has planned to go many miles in the field of solar energy. It is a welcome step for leadership role the Navratna Company

has taken in the field of power through green source. The project will be executed under the allocation from Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). It will be synchronised with the grid. The installation will be the first of its kind in Bhubaneswar that will be executed as per the recent guidelines of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) for distributed generation resources. The project, which is to perform at minimum 75% PR will be providing enough electricity to cater the requirement of NALCO office during day time, when major consumption happens.

Coficab to use Infor’s solution

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nfor has signed a contract with Coficab Group, a global supplier of wires and cables for the automotive industry, involving a comprehensive multinational, multi-site implementation. It will see Coficab standardises on Infor LN for Automotive, and the application will be implemented in Portugal initially, followed by Mexico, Morocco, Tunisia, Romania and US. Now, Coficab has disparate solutions, which hinder the harmonisation of processes and the implementation of the best practice

L&T partners with Bayer for efficient CapEx

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&T Technology Services has signed a global master agreement with Bayer Technology Services (BTS) in Leverkusen (Germany) – to support efficient implementation of worldwide Capital Expenditure (CapEx) projects within the Bayer Group. This collaboration is furtherance towards the efficient implementation of worldwide

neering solutions on the basis of BTS strategy. Describing the advantages of this new partnership, Dr. Jürgen Hinderer, Head of BTS Engineering said, “In L&T Technology Services, we have found a competent and an experienced engineering partner with a global presence, with whom we can execute our CapEx projects safely, reliably and even more efficiently.” He also added that another objective of the partnership is the targeted reinforcement of the Bayer project team to support CapEx projects across the globe. Dr. Keshab Panda, Chief Executive, L&T Tech Services, said, “It is an exciting onward journey with Bayer. We are proud to associate with BTS in providing (1st right sitting) Dr. K. Panda of L&T during signing of the agreement engineering services capital expenditure (CapEx) projects to support their CapEx projects and within the Bayer Group. further drive CapEx optimisation. We With this agreement, L&T Technolconsider this partnership as one of our ogy Services will provide a dedicated top 10 within L&T, and are confident of team to Bayer, which will use the delivering to the expectations of Bayer established Bayer engineering systems, group and addressing the principle tools and methods, to bring about engiobjectives of this alliance.”

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industry 2.0

across the group’s factories. This disparity also compromises ease of access to information and consolidation of results. Capabilities of Infor LN for Automotive are designed to facilitate standardisation of systems and easier reporting throughout the group, helping the company streamline processes, reduce waste, raise productivity and enable new production units to be opened more quickly. “This implementation will allow us to have a single information system across its factories, simplifying reporting, and allowing the group to follow its trajectory of growth through applying these processes to other markets. Our selection was given considerable thought, and we only moved forward when we were certain that Infor LN for Automotive would enable significant gains in efficiency. We chose Infor for this project based on an understanding of their solutions and the professional manner in which they work,” said J. Pires, Financial Director of Coficab Portugal.

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blog

‘My House Is Clean’ Syndrome The deployment of new initiatives like ‘pull based system’ or ‘vendor managed inventory’ or ‘kanban’ by the customer burdens the vendor with extra amount of stress. By Pinak Kulkarni

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rganisations undertake improvement initiatives. The expected outcome of the improvement initiatives is to bring about a positive change in the performance of the entity. The initiatives range from incremental and consistent to breakthrough improvements. The initiatives are titled differently. Sometimes it is a radical BPR, in some other instances it is adoption of ‘lean practices’ or in some other occasions it may be ‘six sigma.’ All these lead to a structural change in the processes and in certain instances policies of the organisation undertaking the initiative. In most of the cases, these initiatives would impact the entity, which initiates the improvement initiative. For example, a large OEM undertaking an initiative to be ‘lean’ or some OEM implementing a ‘pull-based replenishment system.’ These systems bring about a change in the way the organisation now plans the flow of the product. The initiatives like ‘pull based system’ or ‘vendor managed inventory’ or ‘kanban’ put the ‘supply’ side under a new way of functioning. Deploying world class philosophies and techniques, the OEM implements a system, which streamlines process parameters for his organisation, e.g., reduced inventory or ‘on time delivery’ to his customer.

The deployment of such techniques, in turn, would need the supplier to plan his supplies to the OEM (his customer) differently. The shift of requirements from the customer leads to increased stress on the supplier. Many times the OEM has an extremely mature process, which the supplier is expected to adapt to. Here, the question arises: what is the process maturity level of the supplier to meet the new system requirements? Most of the suppliers have no sophisticated systems to cater to the new system. All that it means is that ‒ one entity passes on the ‘waste’ from itself up the supply side. The entity ‘cleans up its own house’. The fact is: the house being clean does not mean that the ‘universe’ is also clean. Current state of improvement initiatives, hence, look like that the ‘stronger’ link of the supply chain strengthens itself – but the reality is that – the strength of the chain is as good as that of the weakest link.

The author is a Supply Chain focused Business Performance Improvement Coach and Trainer. He is the founder of SPARK, an organisation focused on releasing and igniting organisational potential for Sustainable Excellence. Contact: pinak.k@think-spark.com.

Industry 2.0, India’s only magazine for the decision makers and influencers across the manufacturing and supply chain industries, invites your valuable inputs and opinions.

To get real time, in depth focus on the Indian Manufacturing Industry, please log on to: 8www.industry20.com december 2013 | industry 2.0

technology management for decision makers

For editorial inputs and enquiries:

P.K. Chatterjee

Cell: +91 9320912419 www.industry20.com E-mail: pk.chatterjee@9dot9.in


business info

Indian Fertilizer Demand Remains Strong Although in the last 50 years, Indian fertilizer industry has grown in size and stature – to be the third in the world, we still need to increase domestic production. Let us see the current situation…

Photo Credit: www.photos.com

Article Source: ICIS

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ndian companies continued to purchase urea in November (2013) from international markets such as Iran and China. Under the latest tender on 11th November (Nov), Indian Potash Ltd., (IPL) bought over 600,000 tonnes of urea scheduled to be shipped by 22nd December (Dec). A consortium of Indian fertilizer companies is also understood to have proposed an investment of around $1.2bn for the construction of a gas-based urea mfg plant at Chabahar (South-eastern Iran). Indian officials are soon to visit Tehran for this. Reviewing the other markets, the strong flow of ammonia cargoes to India saw a combined 240,000 tonnes of contract – and spot product loaded for buyers on the east and west coasts in Nov, roughly the same amount as was in October (Oct). Despite robust demand, prices remained relatively stable last month, with the latest contract cargo from the Arabian Gulf to Dahej and Sikka heard priced at $484/tonne CFR (Cost & Freight) and $480/tonne CFR, respectively. The Indian phosphates market remained subdued in Nov, despite a fresh sale on a US DAP basis by US-based Mosaic to Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals and its own network. New trade is seen as lacklustre until the end of 2013 due to ample stocks that are estimated at 1.2m tonnes. Stocks are expected to drop to a normal level of 800,000 tonnes ahead of the new season. Any new business is expected to be concluded for restocking purposes. On the potash front, imports picked up in Nov, as suppliers have resumed shipments to India after agreeing to give buyers discounts of over $50/ tonne. Prices fell to around $375/tonne CFR from the $427/tonne CFR agreed earlier for the current fiscal year. On a monthly basis, Russian producer Uralkali’s Muriate of Potash (MOP) shipments to India in Nov are understood to be at 90 to 95,000 tonnes for Nov, while Canada’s Canpotex shipped 115,000 tonnes of MOP. Other suppliers such as Israel

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Chemicals Ltd (ICL), Arab Potash Co (APC) and K+S Potash Canada also shipped contract cargoes to India during the month. MOP imports nearly doubled to 322,010 tonnes in Oct. from 166,580 tonnes a month ago, according to the Fertilizer Association of India (FAI). The rise came after shipments came to a near halt in August and September, following the Belarusian Potash Co (BPC) split. Sales for direct applications were, however, down by 27.5% in Oct, compared to 193,000 tonnes in Sep. Indian sulphur prices climbed through Nov to reflect the international upward trend. Indian producer, Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) awarded a tender to Midgulf International at around $110/tonne CFR, but Coromandel International then purchased 25,000 tonnes from Swiss Singapore for Dec delivery at $127-128/tonne CFR. Further tenders are closing in early December and expectations are that prices will rise in subsequent trade as Middle Eastern producers have increased their FOB levels for Dec cargoes. Indiabased Paradeep Phosphates Ltd (PPL) was closing a tender for 35,000 tonnes of sulphur on December 3, while FACT was due to close a tender on December 5 for 15,000-25,000 tonnes.

industry 2.0

- technology management for decision-makers | december 2013

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market trend

10 Asia Pacific Technology Predictions For 2014

The most critical overarching trend for the Asia Pacific technology market in 2014 will be the strengthening of the ‘age of the customer,’ according to a new report titled 'Asia Pacific technology predictions 2014' by Forrester Research. Forrester predicts that the ‘age’ will manifest itself in Asia Pacific through 10 major trends, which will fundamentally alter or disrupted regional tech markets in 2014.

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s the age of the customer develops in Asia Pacific, global businesses will have new opportunities to bypass traditional physical channels (which are underdeveloped in most of Asia’s emerging markets), and reach massive new markets digitally. To understand the scale of the online markets opening up in Asia Pacific, consider that the number of online buyers in China alone will reach 356 million in 2014 — surpassing the entire US population.

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Mobile payments mature, but not mainstream yet

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he mobile payment landscape in the Asia Pacific region is entering an exciting phase of development, but will remain riddled by fragmentation in 2014. Those progressive companies, which are betting on mainstream adoption of mobile payments that leverage a consistent and stable standard, will be disappointed.

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CIOs’ IT spending will decline as the clout of the business grows

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n dollar terms, Forrester predicts that IT purchases made by the CIO will decrease through 2016. As business leaders increasingly flex their technology management muscles, Forrester expects that business-controlled IT budget growth will accelerate in 2014.

Organisations will look to source business capabilities, not technology

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s business decision-makers look to build capabilities that will help improve business outcomes, Forrester believes that they will move away from procuring technology to sourcing a new breed of managed services that complement their strategic capabilities. This new breed of services will combine strong business process expertise and automation, monitoring analytics, and flexible engagement models that align with business value.

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Photo Credit: www.photos.com

The number of online buyers in China will surpass the total US population

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Lack of objectives will hinder Data Center transformation and Hybrid Cloud adoption

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he perception of cloud computing among mainstream organisations will continue to shift in 2014, from a focus on increased IT efficiency and responsiveness via private clouds to a drive toward a more fundamental disruption of existing processes and a full embrace of hybrid cloud scenarios, including a far greater reliance on public cloud-based services for core transactions.

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Customer experience will surge as a CIO priority

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n 2013, we have seen the topic of customer experience come out of nowhere. At first, it wasn’t even on CIOs’ agendas; now it’s one of their top priorities. In 2014, Forrester expects CIO focus on customer experience to drive very rapid spending growth in this area, driven by firms seeking to differentiate themselves from their competitors by offering a superior customer experience.

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Few IT organisations will meet business demands for improved analytics

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usiness Intelligence (BI) continues to expand beyond traditional reporting as realtime analytics and business-led, self-service access to visualisation tools grow. But big data remains a problematic term; it’s technology-centric and doesn’t appeal to or excite business decision-makers. The take-up of big data systems, solutions and consulting services will therefore remain sporadic across the region in 2014.

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The Internet of Things (IoT) will get personal

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n 2014, the Internet of Things (IoT) will get personal. Sensors will help people get fitter, control their car, find their keys, unlock their house, monitor the ambient temperature, turn lights on and off, control a toy, among many others. Smart fitness monitoring and motivation devices such as the Fitbit, Jawbone, and Nike Fuelband and associated smart body scales, blood pressure monitors, and heart rate meters are beginning to appear on wrists and in houses across Asia Pacific.

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Smartphones will become life hubs

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few years ago, the smartphone was a ‘third screen;’ as the device became more capable, organisations promoted it to the preferred screen. In 2014, for many consumers in Asia, the smartphone will begin to resemble a ‘life hub’ ‒ not just a device for consuming content, but a tool for managing their lives.

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Technology spending growth will remain flat

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conomic challenges will continue in 2014, but the regional tech market will demonstrate some resilience. It is expected, IT spending growth in AP to be flat in 2014 compared to the prior year, with region-wide growth of 4%; the regional growth rate reaches 6%, if Japan is excluded. The growth in 2014 will mostly benefit local vendors as they have strengthened capabilities in the hardware space, while foreign vendors are challenged by security concerns issued by government agencies.

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technology trend

Innovation To Increase

Workplace

Efficiency S

martglasses, such as Google Glass, are causing CIOs to take a fresh look at the impact wearable electronics will have on the enterprise. Gartner said that the use of smartglasses has the potential to improve worker efficiency in vertical markets such as manufacturing, field service, retail and healthcare. “Smartglasses with Augmented Reality (AR) and headmounted cameras can increase

the efficiency of technicians, engineers and other workers in field service, maintenance, healthcare and manufacturing roles. In the next three to five years, the industry that is likely to experience the greatest benefit from smartglasses is field service, potentially increasing profits by $1 billion annually. The greatest savings in field service will come from diagnosing and fixing problems more quickly and without needing to bring additional experts to remote sites,”

Google’s Augmented Reality (AR) head mounted display as glass form

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said Angela McIntyre, Research Director at Gartner. Smartglasses still remain an emerging technology in the enterprise and less than 1 per cent of companies in the U.S. have implemented smartglasses, although Gartner predicts that may increase to 10 per cent during the next five years for companies with offsite workers, such as field service personnel and inspectors. The introduction of lower-priced, consumer versions of smartglasses will further help adoption such that in 10 years, perhaps half the companies that would benefit from using smartglasses will give them to at least some of their employees who could make use of them. Adoption of smartglasses will be slow, as the benefits they give depend heavily on the apps and services targeted at them. But, during the next 5 yrs, the ecosystems will evolve to include more apps that do specific tasks with smartglasses that may cause IT organisations to provide them for a wider range of employees.

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Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia

Smartglasses are expected to have the most impact on heavy industry, such as manufacturing, and oil & gas, because the AR glasses enable on-the-job training of workers in how to fix equipment and perform manufacturing tasks.


Smartglasses are expected to have the most impact on heavy industry, such as mfg, and O&G, because the AR glasses enable on-the-job training of workers in how to fix equipment and perform manufacturing tasks. The impact is likely to be medium for mixed industries, such as retail, consumer packaged goods and healthcare, where the benefits may mostly be looking for information via a visual search. The weightless industries, such as insurance, media and banking will likely experience a low impact from these. However, there are still potentially beneficial uses for smartglasses. Insurance agents, e.g., may use smartglasses to video property that has been damaged and then check on the replacement value of items they’ve identified using a visual search. Financial institutions and the media will use these to deliver alerts via subscription services for smartglasses to professionals who need up-to-the-minute information. Gartner expects some of the basic functions of smartglasses to help bring added efficiency to the enterprise. How-to instructions and illustrations on the smartglass displays enable workers to perform tasks even if they do not remember all the procedures. The virtual assistant on the smartglasses could serve as an interactive, hands-free ‘how-to’ manual. Thus, workers may successfully complete tasks they have little experience doing. In addition, workers with mild memory issues or cognitive impairment may find smartglasses useful tools for remembering how to complete tasks. Video collaboration with experts in remote locations results in faster repairs and saves the expense of flying an expert to the site to help. Employees at remote sites can

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Google Glass (2013) and Mann’s Digital Eye Glass (1980) on exhibit at the “History of AR Vision” exhibit at the 2013 Augmented World Expo. Both are shown recording video with each device lit up accordingly. communicate and share video of what they see with experienced workers to get advice on how to diagnose and fix problems. In this way, enterprises can improve the cost-effectiveness of their field service and remote operations by employing a larger ratio of less-experienced workers to experienced ones or specialists, thus saving labour costs. The streamed video can be stored as evidence that a job was performed correctly or that everything looks fine during an inspection. Such video records can be valuable if customers make allegations against the field service company. The video record is important for other industries as well, notably insurance adjusters, real estate appraisers, construction inspectors and couriers to prove package delivery. “Given these advances, the goals of corporate training may evolve away from memorising procedural steps to knowing how to use them and access key information using voice commands. Classroom training and tests on the content of manuals can be reduced since much of the practical training can be done ‘on the job’ with the assistance of smartglasses. But, training

must include safety and employees should continue to know how to use equipment for routine tasks,” said T. Nguyen, Principal Research Analyst at Gartner. For the healthcare industry, smartglasses would facilitate telemedicine and expert consultations with doctors in a different locale, and they would serve as a how-to guide for performing medical procedures. These could streamline the patient experience at the doctor’s office. Patients could opt-in to have their face in their doctor’s database. The electronic records of the patient would be ready for the doctor as soon as facial recognition identifies the patient. “IT organisations are already being asked to make recommendations about whether smartglasses should be used in the workplace based on benefits and risks perspective, as well as policy and implementation. Now is the time for them to refresh their Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) policies with smartglasses in mind. Though IT organisations will provide smartglasses to employees – who regularly wear them for their job, much of the IT impact may come from employees wearing their personal devices at work,” said McIntyre.

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cover story

INVENTORS OF THE

YEAR While the entire business world was struggling for finding ways to tackle the economic challenges that came up because of the global economic uncertainty, a few Siemens researchers enthusiastically worked on developing some great products that should either push to improve industrial production and medical diagnostics, or contribute to the eversought stabilisation of power grids.

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Photo Credit: Siemens press picture

2013


S

iemens has recognised 12 in-house contributors this year for their outstanding research and development works. The scientists, associated with approximately 600 invention disclosures and more than 500 individual patents, are based in Germany (Berlin, Duisburg, Erlangen, Mülheim, Munich, Nuremberg), the USA, Austria, Italy and Switzerland. The following paragraphs present glimpses of their contributions.

Better MRI images generated more rapidly Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is still a relatively new medical imaging technique. MRI images display the structures of organs and tissues. Inventions developed by Dr. Stephan Biber are now continually improving the image quality of MRI devices. These inventions make it easier to identify changes to tissue structures, while at the same time enabling ever shorter imaging times. Unlike X-ray machines, MRI devices do not expose patients to ionising radiation. Instead, mag-

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netic resonance imaging exposes protons in the body to a powerful magnetic field that causes them to oscillate at a high frequency. These oscillations are picked up by an antenna in the MRI device, whose computer programs then convert the signals into images. “The closer the antenna is to the part of the body, the better will be its reception. In addition to the technical issues involved, it’s important for the patient to feel comfortable during the procedure, despite the fact that the antennas are located very close to his or her body. That’s something I have to take into account as well,” says Biber. MRI devices have several separate antennas that are combined to create a local coil that receives signals from inside the body. The trend in recent years has been to produce smaller and smaller antennas that deliver a stronger signal at more or less the same level of noise. The advantage here is that a higher resolution enables continual improvement of the quality of the diagnosis because it allows physicians to recognise smaller and smaller structures more reliably. The improved signal-tonoise ratio can also be used to shorten scanning

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cover story and measuring times, and that makes it possible to examine more patients in the same period of time. “The smaller antennas also offer an additional benefit in that they’re more sensitive and focus more precisely on the area being examined,” he explains. But, the benefits offered by the small antennas also lead to several technical problems. For example, by their very nature, the more sensitive small antennas will more strongly pick up signals that are distorted by breathing processes and by the resulting movements in the chest and stomach area. Biber has developed a program that very effectively focuses antennas on a specific point before a scan – in order to prevent distortions. The same invention, which is also a software solution aligned with MRI hardware and applications, enables signals to be compared after they are digitised – but before the image is generated. This, in turn, allows the most important information to be filtered out.

rgy’s Oil n working at Siemens Ene time Dr. Ralf Bode has bee this ring Du 1. 200 ce sin isburg and Gas Division in Du tected in entions that are now pro s. he has registered 34 inv ent pat ual ivid and 36 ind 22 trademark families

motor stator from the gas mixtures that need to be compressed. His invention makes it possible to use compressors up to a depth of 3,000 metres – and it offers benefits for gas drilling on land as well. That’s because the prototype, which is known as STC-ECO and is already operating at a Dutch gas field, works without gaskets, lubricant systems or gears. “Gaskets often need to be repaired,” points out Bode. That’s why compressors that are virtually maintenance-free make a major contribution to the cost-effectiveness of gas drilling and processing operations. Such compressors can also be employed when toxic, explosive or environmentally damaging materials have to be safely compressed.

re algoh hardware and softwa helped in developing bot hitect – responsiArc tem Sys Dr. Stephan Biber has a o als is r that nal processing. He rithms for image and sig ual MRI components are developed in a manne ivid . ind tem t sys tha g te ple urin ens com a for ble rk together perfectly as enables them to later wo

New material for underwater compressor The exploitation of deep-sea natural gas deposits has been a very complex and expensive endeavour until now. That’s because this fossil raw material has to be processed on the surface, on land or on platforms. Dr. Ralf Bode has made a major contribution here with an invention ‒ that enables the hermetic sealing of a compressor with gasket-free integration of the compressor’s electric drive. “Every job and the associated equipment on the open sea costs an average of one million dollars per year,” says Bode, a Materials Expert. He therefore made it his mission to find a material that could be used to hermetically seal a compressor’s

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Steel production generates a considerable volume of emissions worldwide. In view of the constantly increasing demand for steel, environmentally friendly new technologies in this industry are making a huge contribution to climate protection. Dr. Alexander Fleischanderl has invented a process that reduces (by more than 90 per cent) the harmful emissions generated during the manufacture of sinter, one of the most important iron carriers in the blast furnace process. The global use of steel is increasing by about three to four per cent annually. In 2012 approximately 1.55 billion tons of steel were used. About 1.8 tons of CO2 are generated per ton of crude steel produced via the integrated steelmaking route. The steel industry is responsible for about seven per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The production of sinter, during which the finely powdered iron ore is baked together with other materials, consumes a great deal of coal-based and gas-based energy – and also generates dust, heavy metals, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and organic emissions such as dioxins. Fleischanderl

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Sustainable steel production


and his colleagues have developed a process called MEROS (Maximised Emission Reduction Of Sintering), which filters almost 99 per cent of the pollutants out of the exhaust gases. Siemens Industry has set up a treatment plant for sinter exhaust gas in the steel mill of Voestalpine AG in Austria. The heart of this plant is a 56-metre-high reactor with a diameter of ten metres and ultramodern filtering, blowing, electrical, measuring, and control technology. The MEROS process injects absorption and desulphurisation agents in several successive ‘dry’ steps. These agents rapidly bind sulphur oxides and metallic and organic pollutants, which are subsequently almost completely filtered out of the sintering exhaust gases, together with the resulting fine particulates. In this way, the plant cleans one million cubic metres of exhaust gases per hour. Many hundreds of sintering plants are operated all over the world. “At each one of these plants, hundreds of tons of fine particulate emissions and thousands of tons of sulphur dioxide emissions could be avoided annually. A tremendous potential for environment protection is dormant here,” asserts Fleischanderl. To date, Siemens has built three turnkey MEROS plants in Austria and China. Three more have been ordered, and additional ones are in the decision phase. The tremendous significance of this new process has already won Fleischanderl the Austrian Future Award and the Siemens Environmental Award.

Dr. Alexander Fleischanderl has invented a process that reduces by more than 90 per cent the harmful emissions generated during the manufacture of sinter. He is today the Director of Technology and Innovation Manager for the ECO Solutions Group at Siemens VAI Metals Technologies in Linz, Austria.

Better performance, less energy consumption Today it is standard for computers on the PC market to have two or more processor cores on a

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Dr. René Graf has developed a process that acts as a kind of lock keeper and guarantees that time-critical program segments are executed with precise timing. In 2008, he started working in advanced developme nt of automation systems. During this time he has registered 51 inventions. Many of these are protected in 35 IPR families by the 14 patents that have been granted so far.

single chip. With this arrangement they can deliver better performance while consuming less energy. The trend in industry is also toward ‘dual-core’ and ‘multi-core’ computers that can run programs on two or more processors in parallel. But unlike office computers, automation control system programs running on industrial computers must be executed with precision at predetermined time intervals lasting only a few microseconds. Previously it was not possible to guarantee this level of performance for distributed computation using dual-core processors. Dr. René Graf has developed a process that acts as a kind of lock keeper and guarantees that time-critical program segments are executed with precise timing. The nominal peak performance available from the processor cores in a dual-core or multi-core processor is not utilised, in order to minimise waste heat. Instead, each core operates at a slightly reduced level of performance. For example, each one will run at two gigahertz even though it would be possible for it to run at three. Because this arrangement generates less heat, energy consumption is reduced by up to 50 per cent compared to a single-core processor running at four gigahertz. “There is better performance with less heat generation,” says Graf. But there are also some drawbacks. There is only one main memory, and when both processors try to access it at the same time – there is a conflict. For complex processes that require large amounts of computing power, the nominal performance cannot be called upon ad hoc. An individual processor core executes its

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tasks at a reduced performance level, and this may take longer than it would on a higher-performance, single-core processor. “For office software that doesn’t matter, because the tasks aren’t timecritical,” explains Graf. But the situation is very different when it comes to industrial applications. The control of an aircraft’s mechanical components and the signal processing in a magnetic resonance tomograph operate with command sequences that are timed in the realm of μ secs; in other words, the sequences are executed within the blink of an eye. Industrial automation computers must also execute their tasks in accordance with precisely defined time intervals – in order to ensure that the command sequences are conveyed correctly and the robots and machines execute their tasks at exactly the right moment. If there is only one processor core, this isn’t a problem. This processor simply executes the program according to the different tasks’ priorities. “This makes it possible to guarantee that timing requirements are complied with,” says Graf, a Physicist, who has worked at Siemens Industry since 2001.

Preventing blackouts Matthias Kereit’s inventions are designed to prevent power outages. Kereit develops programs for protection devices – that monitor high-voltage power transmission systems. The programs enable the devices to shut down power lines in the event of dangerous short circuits. No one likes to have a high-voltage power line right outside their front door. However, the need for electricity transmission systems is continually increasing, especially as more and more energy

the inventions of Matthias Kereit. He ‘Preventing power failures’ is the purpose of for protection devices that monitor works in Berlin. He has developed programs the protective devices to switch off allow ams progr The lines. r high-voltage powe short circuits. rous dange of case in lines

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from renewable sources is now being generated in distributed power systems and has to be transmitted. To better exploit transmission capacity, energy suppliers are now more frequently constructing pairs of overhead high-voltage lines, with each line carrying three separate cables. Monitoring these lines, which can be several 100 kilometres long, requires them to be equipped with distance protection devices at their starting and termination points. The devices, which are about the size of a shoe box, are fitted with a microprocessor, relays, and interfaces for communicating with a control centre, usually via fibre optic cables. Short circuits can occur in the system if a tree grows into a line, if the line is hit by lightning or breaks, and even if an insulator gets dirty. In such a situation, the line has to be either partially or fully shut down in order to fix the problem. The distance protection devices detect short circuits by measuring current-voltage ratios and using the resulting data to calculate the impedance. This allows conclusions to be drawn regarding the type and location of the problem. False alarms are also sometimes issued, however. “Electromagnetic couplings occur between the parallel-running lines, which means a short circuit on one line might trigger a false alarm on the line next to it,” Kereit explains. This can lead to a disastrous chain reaction. That’s because it only takes the protection devices 20–40 milliseconds to shut down an entire high-voltage line after registering a short circuit. He came up with the idea of allowing the protection devices located at each end of a high-voltage line to communicate with one another, via fibre optic cables, for example. Such data exchange offers huge benefits in terms of evaluating the causes of problems and disruptions. In this setup, the protection devices exchange information on their current status. His program processes the data to determine whether a given line is even operating, or how many power transmission poles have been affected by a short circuit. The information collected by analysing these and other parameters is used by the protection devices to make a decision as to whether a line should be shut down completely or only partially. For example, if a short circuit affects just one phase of the line, only that phase needs to be temporarily shut down until the electric arc is extinguished. Kereit’s program is yet to be utilised, but the chances are very good that it will be implemented in the next generation of protection devices. “Such programs will become even more important as power networks are expanded into smart grids,” he says, who works as a Developer in the Smart Grid unit of the Siemens Infrastructures & Cities Sector.

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cover story


a number of measurement methods Dr. Stefan Lampenscherf has developed e predictions about the durability precis make to eers engin e enabl and models that years that he has worked for 13 the In gs. coatin ting of these thermally insula which are protected by 17 tions, inven 80 ered Siemens, Lampenscherf has regist es. famili IPR individual patents in 47

Heat protection for turbine blades In order to construct gas turbines that operate with the highest efficiency, while still keeping the costs competitive, R&D workers must consider the interactions of many factors. One important point is the coating of the turbine blades. When the turbine is operating, these blades are exposed to extremely high temperatures, enormous centrifugal forces due to rotation, and very great flow speeds. Turbine blades are cast from a metallic base material. In order for this material to remain undamaged if the combustion temperatures exceed the melting point of this material, the blades are protected with a ceramic coating. Inventor Dr. Stefan Lampenscherf has developed a number of measurement methods and models that enable engineers to make precise predictions about the durability of these thermally insulating coatings. “We can’t spend 10,000 or more hours testing a newly developed turbine blade coating in real time; that would be prohibitively expensive,” opines Lampenscherf. Instead, working together with his colleagues, he has developed a number of methods that use laboratory tests as a basis for making predictions about how materials will behave under real operating conditions inside a turbine. These tests require special samples, which are prepared according to the CT researchers’ specifications. Lampenscherf and his team examine the properties and stability of these samples, using specially developed mechanical and thermal test procedures. The measurements and information about material properties that are obtained in this way are used to simulate how the thermally insulating coatings will

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behave under real-world conditions in a gas turbine. By following these steps, the researchers gain knowledge about the operating conditions that would cause protective coatings to develop cracks and ultimately detach from the turbine blades. In a real-world situation, this detachment is something that must be avoided at all costs; otherwise the turbine blades would be greatly damaged by the hot gas. This could lead to expensive repairs or even failure of the gas turbine. “Some cracking is unavoidable over the many thousands of operating hours that a turbine blade is in service. But we need to recognise and predict when such cracking will lead to dangerous detachment events that would destroy the protective coating,” he says.

Grid frequency reinforced by wind turbines When the electricity generated by solar panels and wind turbines is fed into the power grid, one of the biggest technical challenges is to maintain a stable frequency of the electrical network – and thus prevent blackouts. Robert Nelson from Siemens Wind Power has developed techniques that help to control the frequency of the power in systems with wind turbines. This helps prevent sudden fluctuations in network frequency due to changing system conditions. These techniques are especially important for the operators of smaller power grids, such as those on islands. He developed a control to allow wind turbines to respond to sudden grid frequency drops – so that system operators can avoid under frequency load shedding, and “That is something that grid operators want to avoid,” Nelson explains.

Robert Nelson, Senior Expert Engineer at Siemens Energy in Orlando (Florida), USA, has developed a control to allow wind turbin es to respond to sudden grid frequency drops. This valuable control is only one of his 50 inventions. He has registered 44 individual patents in 18 IPR families for the Siemens.

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cover story He says, “The idea is simple. Kinetic energy is available in the shaft and rotor of the wind turbine. It is possible to extract some of this energy and convert it to electric power in addition to what would normally be produced by the wind turbine. Although this slows the rotor down and results in a very short-term loss of energy production by the wind turbine following the contingency, it helps prevent the system frequency from dropping to levels that may necessitate customer disconnection. It is only necessary to apply this additional power for a few seconds – 10 seconds is a typical number – in order to prevent unnecessary customer inconvenience and help make wind a ‘good neighbour’ in the power system.”

High-tech repairs of turbine blades Gas turbine blades are expensive. Each of them costs as much as a compact car, and a gas turbine’s rotor is equipped with hundreds of these blades. Because the heat and aggressive combustion gases inside the turbine corrode the blade material, Dr. Michael Ott from Siemens Energy has developed a technique for repairing damaged blades with the help of laser welding. Turbine blades have to be extremely resilient. Depending on the turbine in question, the gas has a temperature of 1,100 to 1,400 degrees Celsius when it leaves the combustion chamber – and comes into contact with the first rows of blades. Because the temperature of the gas is near the melting point of the blade material, the first rows of blades are covered with a protective ceramic coating and have coolant holes through which air wafts

to form a cooling film. These measures reduce the heat on the blade surfaces to a more bearable 950 degrees Celsius. However, the blades located further back on the rotor don’t have a protective coating. Although the temperatures there are somewhat lower than in the first few rows, the heat and the combustion gases still affect the blades and corrode their material. The blades are also damaged if the turbine is frequently turned on and off. Depending on whether a gas turbine continuously generates electricity (base load) or is only used to cover peaks in demand, the blades reach the end of their operating interval after 10,000 to 20,000 hours of operation, after which they have to be replaced and repaired. “That’s why my colleagues and I looked for ways in which the blades can be quickly repaired in a standard process and under economically feasible conditions,” explains Ott, who is a Specialist in Materials Science. He has been studying nickel-based superalloys. Such materials are also used for laser powder cladding in order to fill in any cracks and indentations on the blades. “The material remains stable even when the metal is heated to 950oC, as happens in a turbine,” says Ott. A disadvantage of the material is that it is extremely difficult to weld. In fact, a workpiece has to be heated to over 900oC to make welding possible. “It’s very difficult to uniformly heat a blade so that you can begin welding,” expresses Ott. That’s why he worked together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology in Aachen to develop a technique for welding the material onto the blade at room temperature. “The trick is to melt the material in very small processing steps,” explains Ott. To do this, the laser head moves at a speed of 500 millimetres per minute across the blade. The cladding material welded onto the blade then cools off so quickly that no stresses arise that could cause strengthreducing defects. As a result, it can take an entire eight-hour shift to repair a blade. “Although this is a relatively long amount of time, the blade’s value makes it worthwhile,” comments Ott. However, Ott is also experimenting with other welding additives for increasing component strength.

the gas turbine corrode the Heat and aggressive combustion gases inside Energy has developed a ens Siem from Ott ael Mich Dr. rial. blade mate the help of laser welding. with s blade ged dama those technique for repairing led to 93 individual have which , tions inven Ott has registered a total of 100 ies. famil patents in 71 IPR

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Whether vehicle bodies are being put together on an assembly line or soft drink bottles are being filled by machines, automated production processes are controlled by Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). These systems are continually being refined in order to efficiently coordinate more and more production factors as automatically as possible. Dr. Elena Reggio has developed a program

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Photo Credit: Siemens press picture

Optimal utilisation of machines


that helps in optimising the capacity utilisation of machines and other systems. For years now, the various levels of management in companies have been increasingly merging together. However, it will still take years before the so-called ‘Industry 4.0’ program – in which all systems, ranging from human resources planning to materials management and production control are networked together – is a reality. Nonetheless, this development is proceeding inexorably, step by step. ISA-95 is an international industrial standard for the integration of enterprise and control processes within companies. Reggio, an IT specialist, had the idea of supplementing the ISA-95 standard with a program that makes the process of selecting the right production machines automatic. She invented a method by which all of the available machines and systems are listed, and then controlled according to a schedule that keeps all the machines running at their optimal capacity during the manufacture of products. “This makes it much easier to plan production,” she explains. The user now only needs to enter the basic data of the manufacturing process into the MES, which then produces a list of the necessary and available machines. The user can adopt this list as it is or improve it according to his or her own requirements. The production process will then be free of errors. By creating this program, Reggio has closed the gap between traditional automation technology and the factory management level. “Previously the production processes were often inconsistent. This means that errors were reported and the production managers would then have to enter many steps themselves,” she explains. The program has been used in Siemens automation systems since 2007. She states, “It’s not connected with a certain type of production; instead, it can be used wherever machines are producing something.”

A new era in interlocking technology Communication between interlocking tower and track equipment makes rail travel safe. The inventor Anton Reichlin has been working for years on a new network technology known as Sinet, as well as on a new energy supply system called Sigrid. The latter replaces the point-to-point connections previously used to link signalling equipment and the interlocking tower. The benefit here lies in a ring-like communication network that links all technical equipment along the tracks. Such a network is more reliable and also more cost-effective over the long term than cable and wiring systems, which are expensive to install. Sinet is now being tested under normal operating conditions in Switzerland.

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Dr. Elena Reggio, an IT Specialist from Sieme ns Industry in Genoa (Italy), has developed a program that helps in optimising the capacity utilisation of machines and other systems. By creating this program, she has closed the gap between the traditional automation technology and the factory mana gement level.

Anton Reichlin has been working on a new network technology known as Sinet, as well as on a new energy supply system called Sigrid. Sinet replaces the existing point-to-point connections between signa ls and the signal box with a ring-shaped communication network. Sigrid replaces the point-to-point connections previously used to link signalling equipment and the interl ocking tower.

Rail systems equipment and technologies need to be long-lasting. The many thousands of kilometres of rail lines and technical equipment installed in every country require enormous investments, which take decades to recoup through actual operations. That’s why technologies that have long been standard in other industries take a long time to find their way into the rail sector. However, the time has now come for state-of-the-art network technologies that are common in every office environment to help with the complete modernisation of systems for transmitting signals between interlocking computers and element controllers installed along rail tracks. This upgrade of the communication technology will be accompanied by the use of new technologies for supplying energy to the element controllers. In this case as well, the cable-

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cover story heavy, point-to-point connections will be replaced by bus or ring structures. In addition, the installation of energy buffers along the tracks will enable the use of thinner cables, which will reduce the amount of copper needed. Reichlin, who works for Siemens Infrastructures & Cities at Mobility and Logistics, managed the Sinet (Siemens Interlocking Network) project during the feasibility phase and is now responsible for the Sigrid (Smart Interlocking Grid) project. Siemens is currently conducting field tests for Sinet together with its partners. The first Sinet system began operating in Sevelen, Switzerland, in October 2013 on a 5 kilometre stretch of a rela-

tively infrequently used secondary route – that was reequipped accordingly. Many rail operators, including Deutsche Bahn AG, have already expressed great interest in the new technology.

Efficient illustration of metabolism Metabolic illnesses are not rare. Because they can affect any organ in the human body, they are difficult to isolate. Doctors use Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) to help them make a diagnosis. For the past ten years, Dr. Alexander Hans Vija and his team in the U.S. have been working on algorithms, software and hardware solutions to optimise the images resulting from this type of examination. Now the researchers have developed an application that qualitatively improves SPECT analyses. Subsequent developments, such as IQ•SPECT, can reduce the dose of radiation or the time the diagnosis takes by three quarters.

rch Group for SPECT at Siemens Dr. Alexander Hans Vija heads the Resea His latest invention, Application AG. ns Sieme of diary subsi Molecular Imaging, a tion of SPECT/PET Projection struc Recon and Driven Optimization of Acquisition of SPECT examinations. ncy efficie Data (ADORA), improves the quality and

hcare Diagnostics in Elkhart, IndiChris Zimmerle, a scientist at Siemens Healt test strips. His invention, an ID urine of ility ana, has been able to increase the reliab damaged by moisture ‒ strips test band attached to the strip, helps in recognising so that false-positive results can be avoided.

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For thousands of years, urine analysis has served as an indicator for diseases. And today, urine strips are still a common method of medical diagnosis. An invention by Chris Zimmerle will help in increasing the reliability of results in the future. The idea is simple: to find out what’s going on inside the body, look at what flows out of it. It’s therefore no surprise that early civilizations and doctors in the Middle Ages believed that urine could serve as an indicator for disease. The latter used visual inspections, odour tests or even tasting for a first diagnosis of all kinds of illness. As knowledge about anatomy, physiology and organ functions grew, analysis of urine and its chemical constituents also evolved, delivering more accurate evidence of possible diseases – especially after the invention of the microscope. Zimmerle and a small team of nine people in Elkhart work in the Point of Care field for urine strips and diabetes testing. They focus their efforts on improving the test strips themselves, as well as the instrument systems used to measure results from the strips. What drives their research is one simple goal: reliability of results. One threat that can affect the results is high humidity, which can quickly damage urine strips. But thanks to an invention by Zimmerle, there is now a way to determine if a result has been compromised. Although his invention is invisible to the human eye, it can make a big difference: An Infrared ID band was applied to the Siemens Multistix urin analysis strips, making it possible to identify the strip type and also to minimise potential falsepositive results.

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Photo Credit: Siemens press picture

Small strip, big opportunities



top priorities for 2014

Ravichandran Purushothaman President, Danfoss Industries Pvt. Ltd.

“Danfoss views ‘energy efficiency’ as the new alternative fuel” “As a global leader in providing energy efficient solutions, Danfoss is looking at opportunities in the areas of ‘cold chain, urbanisation and power & energy.’ We will be focusing on three important themes in 2014,” says Ravichandran Purushothaman, President, Danfoss Industries, in an exclusive interaction with P. K. Chatterjee.

E

nergy efficiency is one of the key focus areas for Danfoss. Steadily increasing energy prices and the increasing supply-demand gap are going to create enormous challenges for the Indian economy – as the country marches towards becoming a developed country. Our customers will face the same challenges. Danfoss solutions which are predominantly energy efficient solutions will help address these challenges. We work closely with our customers to save energy through our technologies, which ultimately impact the bottomline of our customers. Unless we embrace technologies that are energy efficient, it will also have

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an adverse impact on sustainability. We pursue energy efficiency aggressively and implement more environment-friendly solutions for various sectors. The second area of focus will be on the pharma, food processing, mining and material handling clusters. This will help us identify specific requirements for each of these clusters. We will be working along with customers to identify local issues and challenges – pertaining to these clusters to bring in adaptation and customisation of technologies that significantly impact the economic value to our customers. Last but not the least: skill development and building an ecosystem around skill-needs is a

- technology management for decision-makers

top priority. We will be embarking on growing our business and getting the rightly skilled talent – as hiring at the required level is a huge challenge today. We will be looking for bright talents from leading educational institutes across the country – that can help realise our goals. While R&D will see a boost, we are focused on knowledge sharing and will continue to do so. It is highly important for us to be an integral part of the skill building process for the industry we serve; it is also our duty to help develop skills that are lacking in the industry. To develop skilled technicians for future, we have set up a Refrigeration and Air conditioning Learning Centre at Chennai. It focuses on enabling knowledge transfer about our technologies, their applications and value added services to our customers and partners. It takes no rocket science to see the challenges the world is facing. I feel, energy efficiency is the new alternative fuel. The more we save the more we secure our future generations.

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top priorities for 2014

Varun Vijay Rao Managing Director, Actuant India

“I am excited with the opportunities that I see in 2014”

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ctuant has been doing business for over 100 years, and believes in evaluating the long-term potential of any business decision. With this in mind, I was hired to grow Actuant’s business in India and formulate strategies for innovating in high growth markets like India. As a first step, I evaluated the growth potential in India and the underlying market drivers and dynamics. I found that, irrespective of any short term contractions, experts like Dun & Bradstreet estimate that India’s economy is expected to be more than US$ 5 Trillion by FY 20. I am committed to the long term potential of India and growing the Actuant business for Indian customers through 2014. Actuant’s vision is to be known as a growth company that is operationally excellent – and we will be using our current rapid growth to fuel our plans. Despite a downturn in the last several months, we continue to invest in India. A good example of this is in October 2013, Actuant launched its first manufactur-

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Actuant India is a wholly owned subsidiary of the $1.4 bn Actuant Corporation, USA. The company focuses on hydraulic tools, engineering solutions and motion control systems. In a free wheeling chat with P. K. Chatterjee, Varun Vijay Rao, MD of the company, is focusing on his top priorities for 2014. ing facility in India, which spans 25,000 square feet with the option of scaling up to 100,000 square feet. The state-of-the-art facility is fully-automated and will initially start with assembling and manufacturing products for 3 of Actuant’s signature businesses namely Power-Packer, Enerpac, and Hydratight. This again strengthens Actuant’s commitment to source, produce and sell solutions specially designed to support local customers. Some big projects (to be executed in 2014) for this brand new mfg. facility include assembling localised steel cylinders for Enerpac, and also creating a world-class manufacturing line for PowerPacker. These are ‘made in India’ products for the Indian market.

2014 will also be a year, when I will be focusing on growing the Actuant business in India through strategic acquisitions. As we grow to serve our customers, acquisitions will help us expand our portfolio and enhance our customer offerings. Actuant has a defined acquisition strategy that combines macro drivers with the identified growth area verticals and we are targeting companies in niche markets. Matching business technology with market trends is expected to help us significantly increase our market presence in India. I am excited with the opportunities that I see in 2014 – as I lead my team to significant longterm success.

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top priorities for 2014

Y. Srinivas Reddy Managing Director, Bevcon Wayors

“I want to act as a teacher and lifelong learner” Bevcon Wayors provides integrated bulk material handling and processing solutions. In an exclusive chat with P. K. Chatterjee, Y. S. Reddy, MD of the firm highlights his top priorities for 2014.

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s a business leader, my three top focused areas in 2014 will centre around: Strategy, Employee engagement and Drive for results. Let me brief on how I should do that... Managing changes: Continuously challenging the status quo and encouraging others to do that as well, gathering feedbacks about changes, learning from mistakes and recognising problems and scopes for betterment. Settling issues: Confronting issues head on, resolving conflicts by negotiating win-win solns, and emphasising more on performance by employing right people and placing them rightly. Entrepreneurial spirit: Identifying and pursuing meaningful opportunities by taking prudent risks and leveraging resources to drive growth constantly, considering how various scenarios will

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impact the future of the business, and also anticipating future and consequences. Vision for the future: Communicating a clear vision and mission, and core values of the organisation – and enrolling one and all in building a good organisational culture. Collaboration: Bringing together individuals, teams and partners to drive for results, and establishing a shared vision and goal with stake holders – removing barriers of silo culture, more importantly empowering the teams by creating awareness of ownership culture with transparency in every aspect of their professional life. Communication: Anticipating sensitive issues and successfully navigating through them, listening to others and following through promises (made)

- technology management for decision-makers

encouraging open and transparent communication. Inspiration: Developing commitment in others by setting examples, demonstrating enthusiasm and energy and using intrinsic and extrinsic incentives to motivate others. By valuing talent committed to maintain a great workplace to work for, recognising individuals for excellent work done, and rewarding accomplishments by demonstrating care and concern for colleagues considering ‘empathy and trust,’ I’ll make a strong foundation of leadership. I will set aggressive goals and strive to reach them, managing priorities when facing adversity, and effectively delegating and holding others accountable for desired results. At the same time, I will add value to ‘people and processes.’ I feel, those are the most important resources, and their effective utilisation will make difference as far as outcome of the business is concerned. As a leader, I want to act as a teacher and lifelong learner.

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challenges & solutions

Managing

Challenges In an Indian paint manufacturing plant, cleaning filtration equipment was labour intensive and hazardous to employees. Installation of specialised filters improved the quality of finished paints. Also through this innovation, the company reduced process costs, and gained a safer, cleaner and hygienic work environment. 28

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In Filtration

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large paint company in India manufactures a wide range of paints for decorative and industrial use. Fully committed to continuous quality improvements in its business practices, the company routinely tracks those achievements with measurable procedures. Its plants are certified as environmentally safe.

Challenges faced by the manufacturer In the process of meeting both of those objectives, the company was recently forced to investigate a new way to filter impurities from soybased resins used in the manufacturing of certain paints. Three different types of impurities compounded the problem. First, the dominant intruder, consisted of oversized particles that occur naturally in resins. Second, foreign fibre matters, which are finer than resin particles, were also proving to be troublesome. The third was the buildup of colloidal haze, which again occurs naturally, and can adversely affect the quality of the paint.

- technology management for decision-makers

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The existing setup was highly labour intensive requiring the manual dismantling of the equipment for cleaning. Exposure to hazardous gases and high temperatures were also present during cleaning. In addition, maintenance was becoming increasingly more difficult and costly, and plant officials believed that the aging system was occupying too much floor space. Its shabby appearance due to years of resin spillage was also disconcerting to workers and visitors alike.

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Solution provided to counter the challenges Working with plant officials, Eaton filtration experts based in India installed an Eaton DCF-1600 mechanically cleaned filter to remedy the problems associated with the large particles and foreign fibres. With two-thirds of the challenges met, an Eaton LOFDISC Module filter was additionally installed – to remove the haze impurities and neatly close the loop on the system. The DCF-Series filters are ideal for highly viscous, abrasive or sticky liquids – including paint. DCF filters perform a self-cleaning action by mechanically scraping collected debris from the filter screen with a spring loaded cleaning disc that travels down and up, wiping the media clean of concentrated solids in both strokes. Collected debris is automatically purged from the collection chamber at the bottom of the filter. Based on a remarkably simple concept, the self-cleaning filter consists of a cylindrical stainless steel housing that contains a filter screen. Unfiltered liquids enter the inlet, solids are deposited on the interior surface of the filtration media, and filtered fluid exits the outlet. Without halting production, this self-cleaning action provides the highest quality filtering under continuous demand. The horizontal LOFDISC Module filter housings are equally effective, just as uncomplicated, yet better suited for filtering out tiny, fine particles like the colloidal impurities barely larger than a standard molecule.

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In Eaton’s DCF mechanically cleaned filter unit, incoming fluids (1) are channeled from the interior cylinder through a wire screen (2) to the outer cylinder and out the discharge port (3). A cleaning disc (4) travels down and up inside the cylinder to periodically clear the filter screen. Particles are collected at the bottom of the housing where they can be discharged (5).

Results after commissioning the devices Offcials at the paint company report that quality objectives have been met with the finished paint’s sparkle and finish better than ever. But best of all, the path to getting there is less costly, safer and more environmentally friendly than what was experienced in the past. Financial gains are mainly attributed to filtration time reductions and improved flow rates that roughly have gone from one batch (18 tons) to four batches a day. Significantly less resin loss and reduced labour, disposal, and maintenance costs are bringing about additional savings. Meanwhile, the manual, hazardous cleaning of filters has been essentially eliminated. Also, from the aesthetic point of view – a prettier picture is certainly now being painted with the smaller footprint and cleaner operation of the new Eaton filtration system.

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design & optimisation

IMPROVING MOULD QUALITY Manufacturing high quality moulds depends on the design perfection and understanding of the designs received from outside the organisation. The process has to be accurate yet very fast. Let us see how engineers in Godrej & Boyce are managing these jobs.

(CAD) systems. However, NX software from Siemens PLM Software is Godrej Tooling’s preferred choice for mould design. “Juggling multiple systems can be a daunting task, but Godrej Tooling takes it in stride, typically importing 3D component files from our customers in the STEP/IGES format,” says Jayesh M Rathod, Senior General Manager and Head of Engineering Die-casting at Godrej Tooling. “When component models are imported to NX for tool design creation, the process runs smoothly and efficiently. This contrasts with data loss, errors and other problems we too often experience using other CAD systems.”

Streamlining data handling

Users no longer have to be programmers to reuse models, thanks to the synchronous tech of NX.

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o remain competitive in the tooling industry, a company must produce precise, quality parts and equipment. Godrej Tooling, a division of Godrej & Boyce, has been doing just that since 1935. The company’s ability to deliver on its promise of “tooling our customers’ competitiveness” is borne out in its ISO 9001, ISO14001 and OHSAS 18001 certifications, as well as work for major automakers including Honda, Toyota, Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Caparo and Valeo. A major factor in Godrej Tooling’s success is its use of the most advanced manufacturing technology. In fact, Godrej Tooling has significant experience with a number of Computer-Aided Design

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“NX has effective tools to facilitate data handling, such as its ‘examine geometry’ and ‘heal geometry’ functions,” notes Rathod. “NX helps our engineers quickly and effectively repair the 3D input we receive from customers; it gives us a real edge in this area. Now, we can make complex component models usable for tooling without losing valuable time to data restoration.” In addition, Godrej Tooling utilises the synchronous technology of NX, which represents a breakthrough step forward in productivity. With synchronous technology, users no longer have to choose between constraint-driven or history-free modeling, no longer have to be a programmer to reuse a model, and no longer need to worry about using data from multiple CAD technologies. Rathod points out, “Using synchronous technology, we can modify the geometry directly, as needed. By eliminating the need to work with data history, we realise big dividends in terms of faster design time.” Twenty per cent faster turnaround “NX has helped us significantly reduce die design turnaround because, with synchronous technology, we have significantly streamlined the model editing and change management process,” says Rathod. “Among gains, we have calculated that using NX has helped us reduce overall CAD model editing and patching time by 20 per cent.”

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quality & innovation

Innovative Piping To

Save Energy A simple modification in the compressed air line will generate a huge saving in an Indian textile mill.

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iyaram Silk Mills, established in 1978, is a well known manufacturer of yarns, home furnishings and garments. The company’s plant is equipped with the latest machinery for textile manufacture. The company has installed AIRnet, a modular compressed air piping system from Atlas Copco, at its plant in Tarapur, Maharashtra. AIRnet delivers quality air from the compressor to the point of use. It will offer an estimated annual energy saving of up to 56,000 kWh for the plant.

The system and its installation According to Atlas Copco, installing AIRnet is fast and simple as no welding, gluing or crimping is required. Its modular system of corrosion-resistant anodised aluminium pipes are highly durable, and feature self-aligning, fully sealed polymer fittings with integrated o-rings that eliminate any possibility of leaks.

AIRnet, a modular compressed air piping system from Atlas Copco, which is working at Siyaram’s mill compound. The low friction factor of aluminium and the seamless connections minimise pressure drop. This, combined with bigger inner diameter, ensures high efficiency. In compliance with industrial standards, AIRnet pipes are pre-painted in blue (for compressed air) or green (for nitrogen gas) for easy network identification.

Energy savings and reductions in CO2 emissions

A view of the AIRnet system during installation at Siyaram Silk Mills, Tarapur

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At Siyaram, the AIRnet piping system is connected to an Atlas Copco 250 kW Oil Free Air Compressor ZT 250, and reduces the pressure drop by 0.2 bar, resulting in an energy saving of 3.5 kW per hour. The compressor runs for about 8,000 hours per year, therefore, annual savings in energy consumption will be close to 56,000 kWh. In turn, this reduces CO2 emissions by 54 tons per year, which, over 10 years, is equivalent to planting 2,400 trees.

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financial management

Lessons For

Corporate Borrowers

Over the decade or so a major transformation has undergone in Indian Banking System. Unlike the past, when funding was available at the instance of producing the collateral demanded by the bankers, today, the business profitability is at the core, both for the rating agencies as well as the banker. By Jaspal Singh Kahlon

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orrowings from banks have been an important source of funding for Indian firms irrespective of size and ownership. Historically, borrowers and bankers shared a strong and stable relationship premised on trust alone. Information sharing with the banker was minimal and most of it dated enough to give true health of business. Bankers showed little interest on getting any updates on business as long as interest on borrowings were paid on time, no defaults on repayments of term loans and monthly DP statements submitted regularly by the corporates. Rest all other compliances requirements were manageable without hassling the borrower much. However, over the decade or so, a major transformation has undergone in Indian Banking System. Post Base I Accord; New Capital Adequacy Framework was released in 2004 by Basel

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Committee on Banking Supervision, more popularly known as Basel II. As of date though, Basel II guidelines are extended and effectively superseded by Basel III. Basel II guidelines rested on three major elements: • Minimum capital requirements ‒ based on weights

- technology management for decision-makers

more closely aligned to economic risks • Supervisory review- set basic standards for supervision to minimise regulatory arbitrage • Market discipline, which envisages greater levels of disclosure and standards of transparency

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Hence, Basel II implementation transformed the behaviour and approach of bankers towards their borrowers. Technology has also been at the forefront of transformation of banks’ functioning. It has helped improve service quality, ease of transactions for all types of customers and more intelligent information collection that helps drive the compliance within the bank.

Banking and linkages to transmission of Monetary Policy Banks across the world are most regulated since they play an important role in transmission of monetary policy. Balance sheet of a bank will have: (Assets) Reserves + Securities + Loans = (Liabilities) Demand Deposits + Time Deposits. As per bank lending channel hypothesis, any increase in reserve requirements or interest rates by the Central Bank increases the opportunity cost of holding deposits – and hence resulting in reduction of loan portfolio. Empirical evidence in support of Bank lending hypothesis was mixed till the 2007-2010 financial crisis, when the role of banks in transmission of monetary policy was recognised. Empirical research, post financial crisis, proved that proportion of fee-based income and off-balance sheet assets caused significant aberration in transmission of monetary policy. Further, the financial health of the bank also impacted the efficacy of monetary policy. Unconstrained banks (with more liquid assets), continued to extend credit when Central Banks followed a contractionary monetary policy. So in a nutshell, Basel II influenced relationship between supply of loans and monetary policy by defining regulatory capital standards.

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Banking regulation and Credit Risk Management Banks in India operate under the provisions of the Banking Regulation Act ‒ but overall they are subject to some 54 legislations. Today, banks are not just lenders, they cross-sell mutual funds and also have alliances with insurance companies. Compliance is one of the most important functions with compliance officer having direct responsibility in the bank’s organisation structure. Banks today, are subject to periodic audits by teams from RBI (Reserve Bank of India) who attach credit rating to their overall loan portfolio. Credit ratings help link the risks of the borrowers to the underlying assets of the bank. Today, as a borrower we are mandated to get our sanctioned limits (both fund-based and non fund-based) by the bank, rated by an approved credit rating agency. Credit ratings have a direct linkage to our cost of borrowing and ultimately to reserve requirement for the banks. Resorting to an independent credit rating framework helps Reserve Bank of India compare asset quality across all banks ‒ and assess the default risk. All borrowers are mandated by the bank to get their limits rated annually. Further, credit ratings agencies will be conducting a quarterly review of your business in lieu of annual surveillance fee. During the rating process, the analysts from the rating companies will not only focus on reviewing borrowers’ financials but also engage with the management team to comprehend the business model and form a forward looking opinion on ability of the company to execute on the business plan projected. The rating proposal is presented to the rating committee internally for review – where weights

are assigned to financial performance (with more weightage to liquidity parameters), future projections, industry growth; comparison with firms from similar industry, business group credentials and past repayment track record. ICRA and CRISIL follow rating model of international rating companies, like of S&Ps, on the other hand, FITCH (India Ratings) and SMERA claim to follow their own rating models. Rating models followed by the rating agencies do not matter much – but profile of borrowers with whom the comparisons are drawn to take a forward looking view of business does matter. Hence, borrowers should be upfront in listing out their competitors. The ratings assigned are comparable across all credit rating companies approved by RBI, and have a direct link to the interest rate payable on the limits sanctioned.

Conclusion Going forward, corporate borrowers should be well prepared to share more information, and be better-off in explaining their business in detail – so that the banker is able to take a clear stand on their business and help them decide a right leverage level. This is unlike the past, when funding was available at the instance of producing the collateral demanded by the bankers. Today, the business profitability will be at the core, both, for the rating agencies as well as the banker. So, corporate borrowers should expect increased disclosure and compliance norms to be adhered to. Bankers will no longer be tagged as ‘Lender only.’ The Author is a finance professional consulting companies on mastering execution skills. He may be contacted through e-mail: jaspalkahlon@gmail.com.

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supply chain

Improving

Customer Service Demand-pull supply chain solution delivers improved customer service with less investment and cost. It has been once again verified in a recent project. Pinnacle Strategies implemented a comprehensive production management solution based on demandpull principles and integrated it with the existing SAP ERP system. Let us see the results.

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• Inaccurate forecasts • Long lead times for parts When they are applied with the highest hopes, conventional approaches often fall short of expectations. Eg., when longrange forecasts are used, MRP planning spreads the inherent demand variability and creates inventory swings between too much and not enough. Although ‘lean’ techniques rely less on

- technology management for decision-makers

A recent application When a company’s – which is a global manufacturer of commercial and military airplane assemblies and components,

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Photo Credit: www.photos.com

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emand-pull is an alternative to conventional planning and execution rules that manufacturing and distribution companies apply to challenges such as: • Global sourcing and demand • Shortened product life cycles • Less customer tolerance time • More product variety • Pressure for leaner inventories

forecasts, they include little to no formal planning tools. Supply chains (SCs) can easily be ‘surprised’ by demand spikes or changes in capacity. In either case, the proliferation of spreadsheets attests to the weakness of the conventional solutions. The alternative: Let demand lead the process. In a pull-based supply chain, procurement, production and distribution are demand-driven – so that all activity is based on actual customer orders, rather than forecast projections. The pull demand system controls inventory investment, thus stabilising supply chain performance and allowing supply chain managers to make rational tradeoffs and decisions regarding supply chain variables and performance. By letting reality, not modeling, take the lead, the demand-pull SC solution delivers improved customer service with less investment and cost.


employing over 14,000 skilled staff – ‘General Fabrications’ unit suffered internal fill rate shortfalls, missed service deadlines and incurred excessive overtime costs, ‘demand-pull replenishment system’ raised inventory turns 83%, also improved service levels from 85% to 99.5%.

The challenge:‘General Fabrications’ is the parts production organisation of a worldwide designer and manufacturer of aero structures, including fuselages, propulsion systems, and wing systems for commercial and military aircraft. The General Fabrications (Gen Fab) unit employs approximately 700 of the company’s 10,000 employees on a 20-acre facility in Kansas, and was responsible for 4 years’ worth of orders placed within the firm’s master production schedule. But long lead times and a confounded ‘system’ of priorities contributed to a number of bottlenecks that dropped the fill rate to 83% and led to budget-busting overtime expenses. Managers were operating from 15 different priority schedules compiled from a variety of areas within the organisation. As a result, inventory was very high, turning less than three times a year.

Solution: With more than 30,000 SKUs under production, Gen Fab required a comprehensive work scheduling and management process overhaul to reduce costs – and increase service levels. Pinnacle Strategies worked with Gen Fab in five key initiatives that turned the unit around. • Reducing shortages by refilling actual use When Pinnacle Strategies arrived, component supply was managed based on cues from the master production schedule, and orders were pushed through

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the system, rather than pulled based on actual consumption. Pinnacle Strategies developed and implemented an inventory buffering strategy incorporating scientific methods rooted in ground-floor realities and using existing SAP functionality; the resulting streamlining enabled the company to carry four times less inventory while simultaneously improving service levels. • Reconfiguring batch size and lead times Pinnacle recognised that the true ‘touch time’ (when components are actually worked upon) was a small proportion of overall production time. Pinnacle resized the production batches and reduced lead times, accelerating the flow of work through the production process. • Integrating work into one priority system In any week, as many as 8,000 orders competed for management attention. Pinnacle brought coherent focus to the entire factory floor, creating a single execution priority system integrated with SAP data – that reflected the true needs of the customer. • Busting bottlenecks to increase throughput Once the execution process was under control, Pinnacle organised a series of Rapid Analysis Bottleneck Improvement Teams (RABITs) to rapidly identify and

RESULTS IN NUMBERS • Inventory turns increased by 83% • Overtime spending reduced by $2.8 million annually • Internal fill rates improved from 85% to 99% • Past due orders dropped by 93%

break the bottlenecks (activities, machines and resources) – which were delaying the overall workflow – without requiring new machines or additional staffing. • Monitoring progress with an 'objective performance management system' To consolidate process improvements and sustain performance, Pinnacle created a system of measurements and reinforcements that established a single objective platform for monitoring mfg. performance. The embodiment of this process was the Bufer Management Tool (BMT), a database (residing along with the SAP database) of all open orders and related activity.

Results: Lasting improvement The first phase began with about 2,000 SKUs moved to the new replenishment formula. Within just three months, the fill rate increased to more than 95 per cent. Over the next nine months the remaining 19,000 parts were converted to the system, reaching fill rates of 97 per cent, then 99 per cent. Inventory turns almost immediately increased, escalating to 83 per cent by the engagement’s completion. As productivity improved, overtime was minimised, saving the company more than $2.8 million annually even as past due orders fell by over 93 per cent. But perhaps the true test of the new system’s value came in the wake of a spring tornado, which took down major portions of the Gen Fab operation and halted production. Thanks to the strength of the demand-pull system as the organising principle (along with the BMT), the company was able to completely recover from facility damage and two-weeks of lost production time in less than 30 days – without missing a delivery.

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- technology management for decision-makers | december 2013

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supply chain

Transporting Coal For Power Plants

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ransportation of cargo through waterways has been in vogue in many parts of India since ancient times. Regular movement of powered vessels carrying daily needs to various destinations through rivers across the country, especially through River Ganga and River Brahmaputra was very prominent. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Inland Water Transport is considered to be the backbone of transport link between mainland of India and NE Region, and has been a lifeline for supply of essential commodities between Kolkata and Allahabad on Ganga, and between Kolkata and Guwahati through Ganga- Brahmaputra routes since those days. IWT is widely recognised as a cost effective, fuel efficient, and environment friendly mode of transport, and is also the most suitable mode for trans-

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portation of bulk cargo, over dimensional cargo and hazardous goods. As per National Transport Policy Committee Report (1980), the approximate length of navigable waterways in the country was 14,500 km. Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) was formed in October 1986 for development and regulation of inland waterways. Primary function of IWAI is development of National Waterways for Shipping & Navigation by creating IWT infrastructure, to make them a commercially viable mode of transport. National Waterways are declared by the Parliament through specific Acts and come under the purview of Union Government/IWAI. Other waterways remain in the purview of respective State Governments. On some stretches of waterways in Goa and Mumbai (which are tidal waterways) substantial IWT cargo movement takes place.

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Thermal power plant coal supply will improve with expansion of Inland Water Transport (IWT) mode. Twelfth plan outlay for IWT is nearly 2.5 times of that of the previous plan. By Dr. H. R. Keshavamurthy


There are five National Waterways (NW) as of now, namely: • Ganga (Allahabad-Haldia-1620 km) – NW-1, declared in 1982 • Brahmaputra (Dhubri – Sadiya -891 Km) – NW-2 declared in 1988 • West Coast Canal (Kottapuram – Kollam) along with Udyogmandal and Champakara Canals – (205 km) – NW-3 declared in 1993 • Kakinada-Puducherry canals along with Godavari and Krishna rivers (1078km) -NW-4 declared in 2008 • East Coast Canal integrated with Brahmani river and Mahanadi delta (588 km) – NW-5 declared in 2008 Declaration of one more waterway, i.e., Lakhipur- Bhanga stretch (121 km) of Barak river in Assam, as NW-6, is under consideration of the Government. IWT infrastructure is being developed on first three National Waterways (NW-1, 2 & 3). For National Waterways – 4 & 5, which were declared in November 2008, preparation of Detailed Project Reports has been completed.

IWT and Kolkata Kolkata has always been a very important inland water transport hub for eastern and north-eastern India. Even during pre-independence era, a proper berthing jetty was constructed by the colonial rulers here, and was named Garden Reach Jetties. These jetties, however, outlived their life and became defunct in 1980s. The Haldia- Allahabad stretch of River Ganga – Bhagirathi- Hooghly system was declared as National Waterway – 1 in 1986 and since then IWAI has been developing and maintaining IWT infrastructural facilities including loading /unloading facilities at various locations on this National Waterway, which passes through the States of UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Two major ports viz. Kolkata Port and Haldia Port are connected with the waterway. Kolkata is also an important IWT hub for transportation of various cargo by IWT mode, not only for these States on the Ganga – but also for the entire NE Region. National Waterway-1 is linked to the North Eastern Region through Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route via Bangladesh connecting the National Waterway – 2 (Brahmaputra) and the proposed National Waterway – 6, the river Barak. As of now, this Protocol is valid up to 31st March, 2014. In the year 2004, IWAI established a floating terminal in BISN area of Kolkata – from where regular export of fly-ash is made to Bangladesh through IWT mode every year. In addition to fly-ash, Over Dimensional Cargo (ODC), foodgrains, fertilizers,

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Transportation of goods through water ways is an age-old practice in India.

bitumen etc., are identified cargo for regular movement to various destinations along the National Waterway – 1, to Bangladesh and North East. There is also potential for movement of containers on NW-1. A recent study conducted by M/s RITES has projected IWT traffic of 1.5 million tonnes by 201819 and 3 million tonnes by 2031-32 at Kolkata. Considering the volume of Cargo and the importance of Kolkata as a transport hub, IWAI has taken on long term lease 4.5 hectares of land from Kolkata Port Trust in this area – covering BISN, GR Jetty-1 and GR Jetty-2 for development of a multi-modal modern IWT terminal. This area has a total river frontage of about 470 m, which is a great asset from navigation point of view. As a part of this IWT complex, IWAI has constructed a permanent RCC jetty at GR jetty-2 at a cost of Rs. 38.47 crore through the Central Public Works Department. The jetty has been designed for mechanical handling of cargo and the terminal has road connectivity with State Highway and a water front of 210 metres.

Cargo movement Cargo movement by IWT mode has generally been showing increasing trend over the years with increase of 54% between 2004-05 and 2011-12. The overall cargo movement through IWT went up from 45.6 million tons in 2004-05 to 70.30 million tons in 2011-12, but declined to 34.60 million tons in the year 2012-13 due to shutting down of iron ore mining activity in Goa by the order of Supreme Court of India.

Budgetary outlay Plan outlay for IWT sector has been increasing since 11th plan. In 12th Plan the outlay for IWT

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supply chain sector is expected to be Rs. 1500 crore, which is about 2.4 times that of 11th Plan outlay of Rs. 560 crore. There is a Central Plan Scheme providing 100 % grant to the States for development of IWT infrastructure on any waterway of the North East. For other States, Centrally Sponsored Schemes have been discontinued by the Planning Commission from 1st April, 2007. However, Planning Commission has suggested that all the States can request for funds in their Annual Plans for IWT development. Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme, 35 projects of 15 States (Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Orissa, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) costing Rs 107 crores were sanctioned by the Central Government during 10th Plan.

NTPC coal movement project NTPC’s power plants at Farakka and Kahalgaon require imported coal amounting to more than 5 million tonnes per annum (MMTPA), which is brought through Paradip and Haldia ports. But due to capacity constraints of railways, these power plants regularly face shortage of coal. Further, due to low depth available at Haldia port, bigger ocean going vessels cannot come there due to which, 70% of imported coal is received at Paradip port and from there it is transported by railways. Both these power plants are located along River Ganga (NW1), quite close to the river bank. IWAI had been working with NTPC on the project of transportation of imported coal by IWT mode fromHaldia to Farakka and Kahalgaon. In July 2010, NTPC gave written commitment of transportation of 3 MMTPA of imported coal from Haldia to Farakka by IWT mode for a period of seven

years. Thereafter, IWAI and NTPC developed a project envisaging total investment from private sector. After open competitive bidding M/s Jindal ITF Ltd. were selected as operator and the project has been commissioned recently. NTPC has a dedicated railway line between Farakka and Kahalgaon power plants. Hence, it is likely that they may transport further 3 MMTPA of imported coal for Kahalgaon power plant to Farakka by IWT mode under the same project. Since there are several existing thermal power plants along Ganga and many more are going to come up, success of this pioneering project may pave way for many more projects for transportation of coal on NW-1 and possibly on other National Waterways as well and may also become a catalyst in reviving the inland water transport mode in the eastern and north-eastern parts of the country. IWAI has also identified a few more cargo specific projects with private sector investment for transportation of 3 MMTPA coal for NTPC’s power plant at Barhin Bihar; Transportation of 0.5 MMTPA of coal for NTPC’s power plant at Bongaigaon in Assam; Transportation of food grains of FCI by IWT mode in Kolkata-Tripura (through Ashuganj); and within NW-2 (north banks); AP to Tripura and transportation of fertilizers on NW-1.

Kaladan multimodal transport project This project was conceptualised by the Ministry of External Affairs to provide alternative connectivity of Mizoram with Haldia/Kolkata ports through Kaladan river in Myanmar. The project envisages Coastal Shipping/ Maritime Shipping from Haldia to Sittwe, IWT; From Sittwe to Paletwa (in Myanmar) and thereafter road from Paletwa to Mizoram. It is piloted and funded by the MEA at a cost Rs 342 crores. Construction of Sittwe port is in progress, about 50% work has been done up to March 2013, and the work is likely to be completed by June, 2014. Encouraged by the successful completion of project of transportation of imported coal by IWT mode from Haldia to Farakka, IWAI and NTPC have developed another similar project for transportation of 3 million tonnes of imported coal per year from Haldia to Barh power plant of NTPC, which is also located on Ganga river, about 60 km downstream of Patna. This will encourage private investments in this booming sector – where Government has substantially increased budget support.

Carrying coal for power plants by IWT mode is easier, faster and cheaper.

The author is the Director (M&C), Press Information Bureau, Kolkata.

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event report

Manufacturing Summit 2013 Frost & Sullivan (F&S) recently concluded its Manufacturing Summit 2013 in Mumbai.

Nitin Kalothia, Deputy Director , Manufacturing Process Consulting Practice, Frost & Sullivan is addressing the gathering in the event.

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his year, the F&S’s knowledge sharing event witnessed a huge gathering of people from various Indian manufacturing industries like: Larsen & Toubro, Trelleborg Sealing Solutions, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, Hindustan Unilever, Encube Ethicals, Fiat India Automobiles, Rockwell Automation, Tata Motors, Apollo Tyres, Diebold India, Nokia, Alstom India, Phoenix Conveyor Belt, Tikaria Cement Works (ACC Ltd) and Micro Labs. A number of good presentations from the Indian manufacturing industries brought out several interesting innovations – that have taken place in the Indian manufacturing arena in the recent past. In today’s situation, beside focusing on the innovative practices in manufacturing, it is also equally important to concentrate on the innovative labour management practices. Thanks to the organiser for accommodating a presentation on the good

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labour practices that are being followed in Tata Motors, Lucknow. Overall the presentations touched upon all burning aspects of manufacturing; especially discussions on modular fabrication, innovations in the field of safety, automation and IT integration, supply chain and customer service level management, RFID in process control, application of lean in manufacturing, online quality assurance systems etc. kept the audience spellbound. As far as secondary aspects related to manufacturing are concerned, discussions on nurturing talents, document transportation, potential of automation (future looking), development of self-managed group, business reflections at the shop-floor and building competitive workforce were interesting. Presentations titled: “Document Transportation through Airveyor,” by Jinaraja Poojary, Plant Head, Encube Ethicals; “Constructive Union towards a Sustainable Corporate,” by Shyam Sunder Singh, Gen. Secretary, Tata Motors Workers Union, Lucknow; “Automation and IT integration,” by Raghavendra N. G., General Manager, Trelleborg Sealing Solutions (India) successfully generated special interest among the listeners, and prolonged the post-presentation question-answer session. During his keynote address, Nitin Kalothia, Deputy Director, Manufacturing Process Consulting Practice, F&S, said, “Having worked for years on internal systems and process efficiencies, companies now have to go beyond their organisational boundaries and implement improvement projects in the extended supply chain. The approach is expected to significantly enhance the competitiveness of the organisations by improving efficiencies and reduction in lead time, inventory and cost across the value chain.” Although, some of the approaches described in the case studies presented in the event are already being practised by other organisations, according to the audience, F&S’s summit created an opportunity to judge the efficacy of their approaches, compare their methods with those of others, verify their levels of accuracy and of course to draw a better future plan.

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event report

Winning In The

New Normal

The Indian manufacturing industry is coming out of the grip of global economic uncertainty, feel many of the prominent Indian manufacturing industry leaders. The 12th Manufacturing Summit 2013 of CII, which was held in Mumbai recently, aired this message.

(LtoR) – Dr. A. Bhattacharya, J. N. Godrej, A. Shankar, P. Bhargava and Kaushlendra Sinha (Regional Director, CII) at the inaugural session

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he present depression has bottomed out, and with economic revival is on its way back, the manufacturing sector will soon get back to the 14-16% growth rate, which was the norm a decade ago. This was stated by Ajay Shankar, Member Secretary of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) while delivering the inaugural address at the event, “Manufacturing in India: Winning in the New Normal.”

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Shankar pointed out that business cycles were part of economic life in all open economies, and India would have to come to terms with such cycles. “Economics as a field evolved to study business cycles with limited success,” he said. Clarifying that he was not a representative of the government but represented a manufacturing competitiveness council, which was a government-industry partnership, he opined that – a problem

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in India was that manufacturing in India was not as strong as it should be, and urged the gathered corporate captains to evolve a consensus on pushing the case for manufacturing. “India is a democracy, in which the government listens to the public opinion,” he added. The NMCC Member Secretary impressed upon the audience that the debate between fewer but high-technology goods and mass-produced goods could not go on. “If you see India’s requirement, we need manufacturing on a massive scale and we have no option but to succeed. The government has announced a National Manufacturing Policy (NMP) with the aim of generating 100 million jobs, and we have to create an environment to make that happen,” he said. He asked industry to come up with creative solutions for the problems bedevilling economic growth. He said instead of complaining about the rigid labour laws that made it impossible to set up factories in India, which can employ a million people, industry needed to come up with solutions to the labour laws – and advocate the same to the government so that such factories can come up. Shankar pointed out that Indian manufacturing was strong

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in all sectors, and the Indian industry was extremely competitive. The world was no longer with the Anglo-Saxon model of financial services and veering back to the importance of manufacturing, particularly after seeing the success of Germany. “A recent survey of global CEOs found India to be the fourth most popular manufacturing destination after US, Germany and China,” he said, adding that most CEOs now believe the worst is over and the economy is on the road to recovery. In the event, Baba Kalyani, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Forge, said that the Indian manufacturing was in the ICU. “Over the last seven to eight years, imports of manufactured items have gone up due to the removal of imports duty, coinciding with a drop in our industrial productivity in manufacturing. The fundamental problem is that there is nothing to manufacture because everything we need is imported,” he explained. Kalyani bemoaned the fact that manufacturing as a share of GDP had come down from 17% a few years ago to 14.6% at present, while the dream was to make manufacturing account for 25% of GDP by 2025. On a more positive note, he added, “There is no country in the world that is more competitive than India in manufacturing. We have the skills set and the capability, which need to be channeled in the right direction.” He urged Indian companies to look at more exports adding value to their products. K. Venkataraman, Managing Director & CEO, Larsen and Toubro, spoke about how his company had bucked the economic downturn by increasing its exports and achieving excellence in its various verticals, and urged others to do the same. But

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(At the podium) N. Godrej (Sitting LtoR) K. Venkataramanan, Dr. A. Bhattacharya, B. Kalyani and P. Bhargava

he added that given the size of India, the domestic market would always remain the focus of the company. Venkataraman pointed out that India still had sectors that provided enormous opportunities to manufacturers such as nuclear power and defence industry, which were just opening up. Jamshyd N. Godrej, Chairman, 12th Manufacturing Summit, CII, and Chairman and Managing Director, Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd., said the growth slowdown has put the focus on what industry can do – and it was the company’s internal strength and its own DNA that would make a difference in the sphere of manufacturing. “There’s no easy way out,” he cautioned. Godrej also praised the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), which he said are critical to the manufacturing ecosystem. “SMEs contribute a lot and we need to look into the infrastructural and structural problems faced by them,” he added. Pradeep Bhargava, Immediate Past Chairman, CII WR (Western Region), and Director, Cummins Generator Technologies India Ltd., gave the gathering hope – when he averred that MNCs were increasingly looking at

India to set up their manufacturing units. He also expressed that collectively, our industry had failed to influence the government to bring in policies favourable for manufacturing. Nadir Godrej, Managing Director, Godrej Industries read out a poem describing the current economic and manufacturing woes, much to the delight of the audience. During the inaugural session, a report, “Powering Past Headwinds – Indian Manufacturing: Winning in an Era of Shocks, Swings, and Shortages’, was released by CII and BCG India. Speaking about the report, Arindam Bhattacharya, Managing Director, The Boston Consulting Group, said industry would have to learn and prepare to operate in a volatile environment, which could be caused by a depreciating rupee or an earthquake in some part of the world. He categorically stated, “It is believed that by 2015, the US will become one of the most manufacturing competitive nations in the world, there are changes taking place in China, Africa is rising… in all these present turbulence companies that adapt will thrive.”

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product gallery Fcc Valves

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Digital Pressure Gauge

auer-Danfoss offers a family of proportional flow control cartridge valves. These valves work in conjunction with Hydraulic Integrated Circuits (HICs) to regulate the fluid flow that controls specific equipment operations. For mobile machinery OEMs, the valves mean precise control and smooth manipulation of everything from combined headers to forklifts. The proportional valves regulate operations by controlling the flow in the circuits.

merican Sensor Technologies offers AG200. This media-isolated, digital pressure gauge offers a 4-20mA output signal complete with a large LCD display. Utilising AST’s Krystal Bond technology, the product provides the quality and performance as an AST sensor, with the additional benefit of a local readout. The AG200 can display each of the following measuring units with the push of a button: PSI, BAR, kg/cm, ATM, inches H20, and inches of Hg. The gauge also offers the option to view the 4-20 mA output signal on the LCD display.

Sauer-Danfoss Tel.: +1 515-239-6000 Website: www. sauer-danfoss.com

American Sensor Technologies Tel.: +1 973 448-1901 Website: www.astsensors.com

MEASUREMENT SOLUTIONS

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nvensys offers Foxboro Eckardt LevelWave Radar Series measurement solutions for liquids, including corrosive, sticky or difficult media. The company informs, “The Foxboro Eckardt LevelWave Series enables us to offer our customers wider capabilities for level measurement with the same peace of mind, quality and accuracy they have come to expect from Invensys.” Invensys Process Systems Tel.: +44 (0)1306 882288 Website: www.invensys.com

Pneumatic Valve

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Outdoor Encoders

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he robust, thick-walled die-cast housing of the Sendix encoders is press-fit stemmed in several places to the encoder flange. An extremely sturdy socket is located on the die-cast housing, to which the connector is fixed by means of four screws. The high protection level (up to IP69k) as well as the wide temperature range of -40°C up to +90°C allow for problem-free outdoor use. The sensor-protect design of the magnetic Sendix encoders affords the highest protection level of IP69k, because of the fully-encapsulated electronics. Due to the separate mechanical components with mechanically protected shaft and labyrinth seals, no additional protection is required for steam or high-pressure cleaning. Kuebler Inc. Tel.: +1 704 705 4711 Website: www.kuebler.com/usa

INCLINATION SENSORS

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lippard Instrument Laboratory offers a special valve with its Minimatic line of pneumatic components. This ‘fill and bleed’ toggle valve has two poppet valves connected to a single outlet. The operation is similar to a three-way, three position centerblocked valve. The FBV-3 offers an extreme amount of flexibility in adjusting flow controls, when pressurising or ‘fill’ and de-pressurising or ‘bleed’, simply by changing positions of the toggle. Two built in needle valves provide the speed control needed for extend and retract applications.

hese sensors are used in particular in vehicle, crane and lifting technology as well as in solar systems and commercial vehicles. There flexibility is based on a sophisticated technology, and allows measurements of 1 or 2-dimensional inclinations. Depending on the version, measurement ranges of ±10°, ± 45° or ± 60°, and up to 360° for the 1 – axis version are possible. The ideal goniometer for harsh industrial environments also convinces with its high resolution and precision as well as parametrisable vibration suppression. The calibration accuracy (at 25°) is ± 0.1°. T

Clippard Instrument Laboratory Tel.: +1 877-245-6247 Website: www.clippard.com

Kuebler Inc. Tel.: +49 7720 3903-80 Website: www.kuebler.com

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Portable Dehumidifier

Track Repair Machine

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ri-Eaz's New LGR 7000XLi dehumidifier features Advanced Crossflow Technology. According to the manufacturer, with maximum energy utilisation and a simplified user interface, the LGR 7000XLi is proving to be a top performing dehumidifier. Dri-Eaz engineers created Advanced Crossflow Technology, allowing the 7000XLi to remove more water than any other dehumidifier in its category. The product is rugged, durable, and highly portable, making it fit for water damage restoration, structural drying, construction, and other applications requiring temporary dehumidification.

ncreasingly the focus of a cost-effective maintenance strategy is being placed on the maintenance of turnouts, which are cost-intensive and precision engineered components of the railway track. Thus, this company is presenting a machine for continuous-action cleaning of turnouts and tracks: the URM 700, the multi-talent for continuous-action ballast cleaning without dismantling the turnout. As per the company, this is the 1st machine of this type.

Aramsco Tel.: +1 800-767-6933 Website: www.aramsco.com

Plasser & Theurer Tel.: +43 1 51572-0 Website: www.plassertheurer.com

Monitoring Relay

Frequency Inverter

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oncentrating on basic functions, the decentralised SK 180E frequency inverter is a solution for numerous elementary drive tasks such as long-distance horizontal conveying. This inverter dispenses with features that are not strictly necessary, like positioning functions, encoder feedback, sophisticated safety functions, or braking resistors. The robust, long-life design ensures the 200% overload reserves that are typical for NORD variable frequency drives. Distributed technology from NORD follows a uniform operating concept with NORD CON parameterisation software available free of charge. This enables, e.g., efficient combined applications with a new electronically switched line of drives – SK 135E decentralised soft starters and reversing starters carry out simple switching tasks for motors from 0.25 to 7.5 kW that require no speed control.

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MRON Corporation offers monitoring relay K8AK / K8DS series. They detect overcurrent/overvoltage, undercurrent/undervoltage, phase-loss, phasesequence, and voltage asymmetry. The monitoring relays K8AK / K8DS series has enhanced resistance to inverter noise compared to the previous models. They suppress heating from the monitoring relays themselves generated by inverter noise, and monitor power supply troubles even if the noise filter is not installed in the device or machine. OMRON Corporation Tel.: 91-124-4921700 Website: www.omron.com

Forklift

NORD DRIVESYSTEMS Tel.: +49 (0) 45 32 / 289 - 0 Website:www.nord.com

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us system problems often occur during twisting applications in energy chains, particularly with shielded data cables if the shields get damaged or open up. This is not the case with glass fibre optic cables: These do not have a mechanically vulnerable shield braid, and they are insensitive to EMC whilst transferring high-speed bus signals up to a length of 400 m. Following comprehensive tests, the Cologne-based company igus GmbH has now developed a new twistable fibre optic cable for all 3D movements in energy chains, to keep bus systems working reliably.

yundai Heavy’s Industrial Design research department has been continuously improving its forklift product range, enhancing both performance and utility. Ultimately this has resulted in the awardwinning design of the new 9 Series forklifts. The 9 Series forklift truck is reaping the rewards of the R&D team’s innovative work, which has resulted in products that meet the environmental and technical security needs of today’s market. Effectively, its large front operator visibility, controlling equipment system and the addition of rear ramps make the machine safer and more efficient.

Igus (India) Tel.: +91-80-45127800 Website: www.igus.in

Hyundai Forklift Tel.: +1-800-660-5241 Website: www.hyundaiforklifts.com

Fibre Optic Cable

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product gallery Pressure Measuring Devices

Cryogenic Valves

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or a quick installation within the vacuum insulated piping system, cryogenic valves from STÖHR ARMATUREN can be ordered with pre-installed housing provided by the factory as option. The prepared housing is available for all cryogenic valve series, however it is especially useful for the standardised cryogenic valves of the STICKS series with its insert concept. For preparation, the valve body will be wrapped with a multi-layer adsorption insulation material achieving high thermal quality. The housing made of SS will then be welded to the standard pre-installed welding flange. The encased cold valves can afterwards be installed directly into rigid or flexible transfer lines without further machining by the customer.The encased valves are either preconfgured with optional couplings or with open pipe for connection to the plant.

oneywell’s Digital Pressure Sensors with CANopen, Model DPS, are rugged, all-welded, and made of SS. Featuring the CANopen protocol, Model DPS sensors are highly configurable, so customers can choose from multiple pressure types, accuracy levels, pressure ranges, connections, and electrical terminations to meet specific application needs. Featuring 1% accuracy, Honeywell Sensing and Control’s Model S Series of subminiature pressure transducers fit into tight spaces with little clearance, and accurately measure pressure ranges from 100 to 15000 psi. These rugged transducers are designed to handle high pressure and temperature. Honeywell PX2 Series Heavy-Duty Pressure Transducers are highly configurable, stainless steel pressure measurement solutions engineered to be resistant to moderately harsh media such as refrigerants, brake, and hydraulic fluids, engine oil, tap water, and compressed air.

STÖHR Tel.: +49 8231 3490-0 Website: www.stoehr-valves.de

Honeywell Tel.: +91 20 6603 9400 Website: www.honeywell.com

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Business Index Company ................................................. Page No. ACC Limited..........................................................39 Accenture............................................................. 06 Actuant India ........................................................25 Adani Ports & SEZ Ltd.......................................... 06 Alstom India..........................................................39 American Sensor Technologies............................42 A P MOLLER - MAERSK....................................... 04 APM Terminals .................................................... 04 Apollo Tyres...........................................................39 Arab Potash Co (APC) ........................................ 09 Aramsco................................................................43 Atlas Copco........................................................... 31 Bayer.....................................................................07 BCG India.............................................................. 41 Belarusian Potash Co (BPC) .............................. 09 Belgian Port of Zeebrugge................................... 06 BEVCON WAYORS.................................................26 Bharat Forge......................................................... 41 Canpotex.............................................................. 09 Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals ....................... 09 CII....................................................................01, 40 Clippard Instrument Laboratory..........................42 Coficab .................................................................07 Cummins Generator Technologies India.............. 41 Danfoss.................................................................24 Diebold India.........................................................39 44

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Company ................................................. Page No. DISA......................................................................05 Eaton.....................................................................28 Encube Ethicals....................................................39 Evopro Group....................................................... 06 Fertilizer Association of India (FAI)..................... 09 Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) .............................................. 09 Fiat India Automobiles..........................................39 Forrester Research............................................... 10 Gartner.................................................................. 12 Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co......................................... 41 Godrej and Boyce.................................................. 41 Godrej Industries.................................................. 41 Google................................................................... 13 Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages..........................39 Hindustan Unilever...............................................39 Honeywell.............................................................44 Hyundai Forklift ....................................................43 ICIS....................................................................... 09 Igus (India)............................................................43 Indian Potash Ltd (IPL) ....................................... 09 Infor.......................................................................07 Invensys Process Systems...................................42 Israel Chemicals Ltd (ICL)................................... 09 K+S Potash Canada ............................................ 09 Kalpataru Power Transmission............................ 04

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Company ................................................. Page No. Kuebler..................................................................42 Larsen & Toubro ...................................................39 Mesago Messe Frankfurt .................................... 04 Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India....................... 04 Midgulf International .......................................... 09 Mosaic ................................................................. 09 National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC)................................................... 40 Nokia.....................................................................39 NORD DRIVESYSTEMS.........................................43 NTPC.....................................................................38 OMRON Corporation............................................43 Paradeep Phosphates Ltd (PPL) ........................ 09 Phoenix Conveyor Belt.........................................39 Pinnacle Strategies..............................................35 Plasser & Theurer.................................................43 Rockwell Automation............................................39 Sauer-Danfoss......................................................42 Siemens................................................................ 14 Siemens PLM....................................................... 30 Siyaram Silk Mills.................................................. 31 SPARK.................................................................. 08 STÖHR...................................................................44 Tata Motors...........................................................39 Trelleborg Sealing Solutions.................................39 Uralkali’s Muriate ................................................ 09 www.industry20.com



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