“A platform where industry, government and institutions work together is needed to build an ecosystem that will embrace Industry 4.0”, stressed Mr Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. “We have come out with a set of specific action points on rules and regulations for giving more flexibility to innovators and enterprises. These are incorporated in the new Industrial Policy”, he added. He was speaking at the session on ‘Factories of the Future’ at the CII Annual Session 2019 with the theme of ‘India 5.0: India@75 and Beyond. 

Mr Abhishek highlighted that Industry 4.0 presents huge opportunities for the MSMEs to scale-up, reduce their inefficiencies and improve their competitiveness. With smart technology, MSMEs can boost their competency with little investment.

Prof K Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, emphasized that India has an untapped network of research institutes & industries and the stakeholders need to reach out to the youth of the country for capacity building in the technological field, in order to embrace Industry 4.0. 

Mr Soumitra Bhattacharya, Co-Chairman, CII National Committee on Skill Development and Managing Director, Bosch Ltd, stated that adoption of Industry 4.0 will not result in loss of jobs and will instead lead to redesigning and redefinition of jobs. Agreeing with Mr Abhishek, he too stressed on the point that MSMEs can embrace Industry 4.0 and leapfrog their growth path.

Mr Baba Kalyani, Chairman, CII National Committee on Defence and Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Forge Ltd; remarked that Industry 4.0 is an evolving goal-post. He identified the key Building Blocks for shaping the Factories of the Future which includes changing the culture & mindset of people, building new competitiveness, freedom to experiment, cyber security among other things. 

Mr Vikram Kirloskar, Vice President, CII & Vice Chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd, stressed that Factories of the Future shall be impact-driven with long-stretched goals and shall have clean energy & higher amount of people involvement at all levels.

“Factories of the Future will be required to work upon their supply chains to disseminate new ideas of manufacturing brought together in Industry 4.0 to increase productivity through digital intervention”, commented Mr Jamsyd Godrej, Past President, CII in this opening remarks.

5 April 2019

New Delhi