India wants to be a manufacturing hub: Dr Mahendranath Pandey

Pune, 18th January 2022: India is moving towards digital transformation. The Central Government is promoting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) under the ‘Samarth Udyog Bharat 4.0’ initiative to transform the manufacturing sector in India. Union Heavy Industries Minister Mahendranath Pandey said that India wants to become a manufacturing hub.

The i-Factory Alliance for Small and Medium Enterprises in India was released today through the ‘C4i4 Lab’ located at Savitribai Phule Pune University Campus. These include e-scheduling, order traceability, shop floor planner, digital service management and sales configurator applications.

Pandey was speaking at the inauguration of this application. On this occasion, Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) vice Chancellor Dr Nitin Karlmalkar, Chairman of Kirloskar pneumatic company Rahul Kirloskar, C4i4 lab director Dattatraya Navalgundkar and Tata Motors executive director Girish Wagh were present online. Pro-Vice-Chancellor of SPPU Dr NS Umrani and Director of Innovation Center Dr Apoorva Palkar were also present.

Pandey said, more than 155 projects are underway across India under the Department of Heavy Industries.

“The main reason behind bringing C4i4 Lab to the campus is industry and education integration. The aim is to make science and technology students aware of this, as well as to allow students to research the real problem of the industry. This will also boost the startups”, said Dr Nitin Karmalkar, Vice Chancellor, Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU).

Tata Motors Executive Director Wagh said that digitization in India has increased nine-time during the Covid period. If your customer is digital, then of course the manufacturing companies should also meet the needs of the customer in an expected way. Small and medium enterprises are now beginning to change.

Dattatraya Navalgundkar said problems should be solved by cooperation and not by competition. Through C4I4 we help solve industry problems.

The program was moderated by Shripad Ranade.

What is C4i4 Lab?

The Center for Industry 4.0 (C4i4) has been set up under the Central Government’s ‘Samarth Udyog Bharat 4.0’ initiative. Are gone. The lab will help small and medium industries to plan to launch templates for automation and start a support group for digitisation. The centre is located on the SPPU campus.