Part 12 (1/2)

marketed worldwide by a US company. There are a number of instances where Indian software has found applications in Europe and the USA, in tasks ranging from airport applications to manufacturing . Also,certain types of software from the academic sector are being tapped by a few global giants, eventually to be integrated by them in value added packages. The targets for India's software export are projected as:$10 billon by 2002 and approximently $38 billon by 2008 .Even these projected levels of acheivements can be greatly surpa.s.sed by encouraging entrepreneurs.h.i.+p. Experts also believe that by 2020 india could capture about 10 to 15 per cent of the total world market for upper end manufacturing software,emerging as an important supplier of software to companies of the developed world .This will be addition to a large business in lower end software. Since by 2020 the language barriers for software would have been reduced considerable,most Indians would be using Indian languages for domestic and local applications. It is likely that 30 per cent of those in employment would be using various kinds of software .

The nature of business in the manufacturing sector is such that a few companies dominate the world scene due to the superiority of their technological base and organizational strengths.How ever,the demands of modern technologies and customer preferences are such that even these global giants cannot do everything on their own.They need several sources software,design practices,applications development and so on .India's manufacturing sector align with some of these giants to provide at least part of their value added software and designs. These efforts will bring in considerable earnings and also place India in a position of strength as the software industry becomes more sophisticated in the coming years.In return, Indian industry can also benefit by acquiring the Most modern manufacturing equipment and practices required To meet rigorous quality and time schedule standards in modern business. These new manufacturing practices will also give a fillip to overall economic growth because each sector, be it agrofood or chemicals or biotechnology or electronics or packaging,will benefit from these new capabilities. Even though technologies and know how may be imported, the Indian machine tool and engineering sectors could well aim to manufacture the most sophisticated and automated systems the world. Eventually, India can acquire a leaders.h.i.+p positionin a few areas of 134.

advanced machine systems. It will require a concerted effots involving people from industry, research laboratories, designers, consultants, exports and marketingpersons. The management of several such teams in a highlycompet.i.tive and businesslike environment requires new skills,capabilities and commitment. It cannot be achieved in the older style of central coordination and delayp.r.o.ne hierarchicaisystems. In fact, the managerial tasks involved are going to bemanufacturing systems design.

Other manufacturing sectors We have discussed the upper end of the manufacturing sectorwhich is emerging in a major way in the developed countries because it is most likely to be the model for the future globally.We believe that Indian indudtry cannot escape this route and In fact, if we are alert enough and 'get our act together', we cantake major advantage of the newly emerging opportunities and been make up for the ones missed earlier.Therefore, we needto act on this front speedily. Yet we cannot afford to forget a large number of small andtiny manufacturing units which are in the organized and the socalled informal sector. They range from the level of artisancraft to those with obsolete machinery and equipment, survivingostly because of their low wagecosts.Of course a number ofthem have people with great innovative capabilities and basic skills. Some of the smaller units have come up to meet the demands for equipment arising out subst.i.tution ,orbecause of the local sourcing requirements of industries using imported equipment and know how.

The automotive sector isa good example of this. Many plastic products, textiles, leatherand electrical goods are also manufactured by small andmediumsized industries.

The problems facing them are not merely automated manufacturing or availability of software.Eventually, say in a decade or even earlier, this sector will also face compet.i.tion from more efficient units using advanced technology. It is imperative that we prepare the tiny, small,medium and even bigger(not so advanced)Indian industriesto face a more compet.i.tive future. That would mean a systematicupgradation of human skills in most of these industries and also largescale modernization of many of them by continuousinjection of newer (albeit incremental) technologies.Many ofthese industries have to be helped to reorient themselvesspeedily for different product ranges and production processes,keeping in mind future demands in the domestic and export sectors.

A redeeming feature of the domestic and export manufacturing methods is that there is 135.

no longer going to be a centralized and monolithic ma.s.s manufacturing base.

Thefactories of the future will be a network of highly specialized design,development and production bases, spread over the globe. If we have a collective will we can transform most of ourexisting industries along these lines and thereby also createenough s.p.a.ce for totally new technoentrepreneurbased unitsto come up.

We do not envision an India which gives up manufacturing In favour of agriculture and services. A country of a billionplus People has to excel in many crucial sectors manufacturing is one of them.

Engineering industries Some of the elements envisaged in the TIFAC technology Vision report for engineering industries are: .

By 2010 , 60 per cent of the machine tools producedwill be computer and numerically controlled (CNC).

By 2020, 80 per cent of the machine tools produced Will be CNC.

By 200005, Indian industries will go in for flexiblemanufacturing systems (FMS), artificial intelligence (AI) applications, processing using laser, water jet, etc., coldforming / extrusion,near net shape manufacturing, highspeed machining , intellilgent manufacturing using sensors, continuous forming, reduced setup times virtual reality applications and hard machining.

Boiler designs for many alternate fuels will be available by 2005.

Fluidized bed combustion technology will be in wide use by 200005.

By 200005, technological upgradation covering matertials design, manufacturing, quality, reliability, packaging, marketing and servicing will take place. These will include computer Aided Design (CAD), computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), FMS, ISO9000, ISO 14000, R&D in new materials, modular design, casting, and forging, mechatronics, precision manufacturing and automation.

Design and development of high precision machine tools, highspeed spindles, linear motor slides, diamond truing machines, etc. will also come up.

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India will become a net exporter of technologies by 2010.

Software development for processes and systems will take place.

By 2020 India will be a leading producer of quality castings and forgings and will be a large exporter of these items. India will be selfsufficient in advanced machine tools and boilers using stateoftheart technologies.

Exports of these items will progressively increase.

Employment generation will be on the rise.

The select areas of strength are automobile parts, casting, forging and CNC machine tools. A few more could be added after close evaluation. Urgent action is needed to realize this vision. Among these manifold tasks are: gradation of processes CAM, robotics, welding, near net shape manufacturing, quality, delivery and cost, and state of the art technology adoption.

Improving the supplier base for components and suba.s.semblies as well as evolving modular designs flexible manufacturing and agile systems are crucial.

In the foundry sector, the increased accent has to be on control of dimension / surface finish, value addition through machined casting, forging and machined and automation with increased scale of production.

In the forging sector we need to develop better tooling capabilitiesCAD, adopt cold forging and near net shape technologies and resort to mechanization and automation with largevolume production.

In boiler and pressure vessels manufacture, urgent action is required for the upgradation of welding systems, automation in welding, use of robotics for improvement in radiography, controls, reliability and safety.

Further advanced boiler technologies that are required to be mastered are development of fluidized bed technologies, once through boiler designs, improvement of boiler tubes, thermal efficiencies and design for alternate fuels.

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In addition to the above, advanced manufacturing technologies would crucially depend upon improved manufacturing capabilities. This demands considerable investment in research and development in areas such as: .

Fundamental research in machining including micromachining .

Development of advanced automation systems including software .

Development of robotics .

Mechatronic development .

Development of measuring and testing equipment for quality and reliability as well as .

Development of proper standards The above will require allround upgradation of skills and their continuous enhancement.

The workforce at all levels has to be readied for mechatronics through multiskill training. Most of the updated curricula in it is, polytechnics and engineering collages will require drastic revision. Their facilities will need to be modernized. In the transitional period, innovative teaching methods for the advanced facilities existing in industries and national laboratories have to be adopted. As depicted briefly in the earlier chapters, we have attempted to present the transformation of the present status to the vision for 2020 for engineering industries through figure 7.1. In the centre core technologies to be mastered are highlighted.

Vision for textile machinery The textiles sector is crucial for India to meet its domestic needs and more important to provide the major share of its export earnings. While there are a number of strengths in this area, there are also several technologies weaknesses. For example, we depend upon imported machinery for quality production. The TIFAC Task Force teams which have looked at these aspects in totality are confident that India can be a leading textile producing country and become a top player in the global market.