Smart Connected Collaborative Factories of India

Only 28% of Indian manufacturing industry has implemented smart factory whereas globally it is
43%. The wave of smart factory started by the adoption of Industry 4.0 it has been has been
essential for the survival of the manufacturing industry since then. Gartner Inc forecasted that 20.4
billion there is going to be connected things worldwide by 2020. The Government’s Make in India
initiative will be a key enabler of connected factories in the country is believed by Probodh
Chiplunkar.

The concept of connected factories has given rise to the altering landscape, where senor-enabled
machines effectively communicate with other machines, devices, and people, gathering the pool of
data that can be used to make informed decision making. The Industry 4.0 is a collection of 10
different technologies like

 The Cloud  Simulation

 Big data and analytics  Horizontal and vertical system
 The industrial Internet of Things (iot) integration
 Co bots  Cyber-security
 Sensors  Augmented Reality
 Virtual Reality
Industry 4.0, has procreated yet another formidable manufacturing force: machine-as-a-service
(MaaS). Machine learning as a service market is expected to exceed more than $3,754 million by
2022. Whereas a 3.3 billion M2M (Machine to Machine) global connections are expected by 2021.

The future of digital manufacturing will bring all the operational efficiencies aspects of the
manufacturing industry together – be it traditional industries (automotive, coal, electrical, etc) or
high-end industries (miniaturisation, printed electronics, etc). Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
research says that the tasks performed by the robots across all manufacturing industries will
increase to about 25% by 2025, from the current global average i.e. around 10%. More adoption of
robotics will boost productivity by up to 30% which in return generates a performance improvement
of 5% year-on-year, and eventually brings down the average manufacturing labour costs also.

Yet manufacturers are working towards becoming digital enterprises to driving growth, profitability,
innovation, and customer engagement.

Challenges faced by Indian Manufacturing Industries

Integration

Indian manufacturing industry is fast in grasping technology, it needs to confront the impediments
that can impact the adoption of connected factories.

Connectivity

Pushing wireless connectivity can represent a change in the network infrastructure design.

Financing
A key enabler of connected factories in India is the Government’s Make in India initiative, which aims to
develop the country as the factory of the world and create highly skilled jobs in the sector. The governing
committees and leadership people should have a firm defined decision-making processes.

Security

The most crucial is security, which companies can’t afford to ignore. Their systems have to be strongly secure
the data and communication as well as protect the intellectual property.

Skills

It is required to upskill and re-skill workers while also giving them the required time to get accustomed to the
new technology.

The main benefits of smart manufacturing for India are:

 Lower costs and enchanced revenue generation

 Assset effeciency
 Improvements in safety and sustainability
 Mass Customisation and reduced energy consumption
 Knowledge transfer
 Quality

The Connected factories will be crucial for the ability to integrate global production and supply
chains to enable the flow of information in real-time and create opportunities to develop analytics
frameworks for driving efficiency.
Investments in R&D, and skilled workforce along with a robust human-machine interface would be
the key differentiators for manufacturers commence on connected factories.
The early adopters of Industry 4.0 will have the early-mover advantage, while those who fear to take
the risk will become irrelevant and are left behind.