Bharat Rakshak

BTW it is not that India's manufacturing went for a toss after British as they prevented the industrialization of India. They honestly thought modern industry was too much for the SDRE brain to handle.

Where is Japan & Russia?

For all the talk of Germany the US industrial sector is several times larger and holding up better too as a share of world product.

by Singha
looks like from after civil war to 1930 US transformed from a sideshow into a massive industrial power. a unbroken run of around 70-80 yrs of solid and rapid growth. and similar growth in the 50s and 60s to cement its place as the khan-of-khans.

The UK was using cotton grown in India for its manchester mills while US was using cotton grown in south for NY mills. USA was always behind than UK in both economic and military power until first world war.

Then in late 1800s lot of industrial innovations like Steel and thus railways, Telegraph and Radio, Electricity and light bulb made US the giant among world due to lots of land and not enough population and hard working emigrates.

The growth in 50s - 60s was due to innovations during second world war and due to growth (cement, steel, etc) after worldwide destruction of second world war. Japan and Germany were occupied (no military adventurism) but allowed to prosper economically., this is what India should be doing with naPakistan.

Indian manufacturing sector has

1. Not enough skilled labor force.
2. Way too much labor force and thus low quality finished products.
3. Instead of focus on profit/loss the government focus is on "providing jobs"
4. Not easy to get rid of bad worker.

and so forth.

Amway prefers Gujarat over TN for its first plant in India

Direct selling fast moving consumer goods company Amway India has finalised Sanand in Gujarat to set up its first company-owned manufacturing plant in the country, state government sources here confirmed. The investment would be to the tune of Rs 400 crore.

At present, Amway India has a vendor plant in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh. The company had recently tripled the production capacity at the contract manufacturing plant at Baddi by adding four new production lines. The US-headquartered FMCG company had earlier zeroed in on Tamil Nadu and Gujarat to set up its first manufacturing plant and has finally chosen Gujarat over the southern state.

Gujarat manufacturing plant to commence operations in Jan 2013: TTK Prestige

CHENNAI: Kitchen appliances manufacturer TTK Prestige today said its manufacturing plant being set up in Gujarat would commence production in January 2013.

"The construction work is going on and the production is scheduled (to begin in) January 2013," the company said in a filing to the BSE.

Govind Rubber plans Rs 750 crore greenfield plant in Gujarat

MUMBAI: Govind Rubber Ltd (GRL) today said it has drawn up Rs 850-crore capital expenditure plan for expansion of tyre and tube manufacturing facilities.

GRL, engaged in auto tyres, tubes and high-end bicycle tyres manufacturing, is setting up a greenfield project near Dahej in Gujarat with a capital outlay of Rs 750 crore, the BSE-listed firm said in a statement here.

HSMC ties up with L&T, IL&FS to set up semiconductor plant.

The government’s approval last week for plans to set up two semiconductor-manufacturing facilities in India has turned the focus on Hindustan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (HSMC) which, in anticipation of imminent approval, had already signed agreements with infrastructure companies Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS).

Devendra Verma, chief executive and founder of Hindustan Semiconductor, remains excited about the idea of being among the first companies to set up a semiconductor plant in India. L&T and IL&FS will take a stake in the project, construct the wafer fab grounds up and complete the first phase by 2016, Verma, who is based in the US, said in a telephone interview on Monday.

India has flirted with the idea of creating a semiconductor manufacturing facility (or wafer fabrication units) since 2007. In 2011, the government constituted an empowered committee to identify technology and investors and to recommend incentives to be provided to set up two fab facilities in the country. The committee had issued a global expression of interest (EOI), inviting technology providers and investors to set up the fabs, following which this committee submitted its recommendations to the government in March 2013.

Last week, the government approved the setting up of two wafer fabs (as they are known) to provide a big boost to the Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) ecosystem in the country. The proposed fabs are expected to provide direct employment to about 22,000 people and indirect employment to about 100,000, according to Union minister for IT and telecom Kapil Sibal. Interested companies are expected to submit their proposals in the next four weeks.

Apart from Hindustan Semiconductor, Jaiprakash Associates along with International Business Machines Corp. and Israel-based TowerJazz, have proposed to set up a Rs.26,300 crore fab in Greater Noida.

Hindustan Semiconductor’s consortium includes French-Italian electronics and semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics (STM), and Malaysia-based wafer manufacturer Silterra. The consortium has proposed to invest Rs.25,250 crore to set up a fab facility in Prantij, near Gandhinagar. “STM has a big portfolio of products that sell in India. Hence, we chose the company. Similar is the case with Silterra and both of them have worked closely so it made sense to have a partnership with both,” said Verma.

Verma’s plans, however, await a final nod from the government, which industry analysts say remains a formality. Verma is not new to delays. In March 2007, for instance, Verma had said Hindustan Semiconductor would set up 10 chip manufacturing plants costing up to $4.5 billion by 2010.

“I have not lost hope despite waiting for almost seven years to build the fab in India. We have an excellent Silicon Valley team in place and the right manpower. We would have almost succeeded to set up a fab in 2008, had it not been for the Lehman crisis that resulted in a global financial meltdown,” said Verma.

“We will set up a greenfield project for which we will require 30-odd permits from different departments. It’s not our expertise. Hence, we roped in L&T and IL&FS to help us build the fab city on the lines of China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia,” said Verma.An L&T spokesperson declined to comment for the story.

Typically, companies such as L&T pick up a small equity stake, eyeing a bigger construction and engineering pie of the business.A senior IL&FS executive, who did not want to be named, said his company has only an advisory role at this point of time and no financial commitment.“We will be helping HSMC (Hindustan Semiconductor) to design and plan the infrastructure to set up a fab. We will be helping the company to structure the project in the country as we have the expertise to do so,” he added, without disclosing details. A fab also requires around 10 million gallons of water a day and gases such as nitrogen, for which Hindustan Semiconductor will take advantage of the existing partnerships it has with US Filters, a former Siemens affiliate, for water and waste management and France’s Air Liquide for gases.

Hindustan Semiconductor’s proposed fab will have the capacity to churn out 40,000 wafer starts per month of 300 mm (wafer) size, using advanced CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) technology. “We may do 90 nanometres (nm), 65 nm and 45 nm in the first phase and 45 nm, 28 nm and 22 nm nodes in the second phase,” said Verma.

Silicon wafers are thin slices of semiconductor material, made available in a variety of diameters from 25.4 mm (1 inch) to 300 mm (11.8 inches), and fabs are defined by the diameter of wafers that they are tooled to produce. A bigger wafer reduces the cost of manufacturing since more chips can get packed onto a single wafer.

Companies such as Intel Inc., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd and Samsung Electronics are each conducting research on a 450 mm prototype.
According to India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), the government’s decision to set up fabs in India will prove to be a “game changer”.
Some of the world’s leading economies including the US, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and China, besides a number of developing economies such as Malaysia and Israel, have their own fabs.

India consumes almost $7 billion of semiconductor products every year. By 2020, when the total ESDM market is expected to reach $400 billion, this consumption is likely to rise to $55 billion, according to IESA.

“With the location of a fab in India, the country could achieve a degree of self-sufficiency in electronics, and partially reduce the very high supply chain risks that India is exposed to, without an alternate source for procurement,” said PVG Menon, president of IESA.

At 6.3% of overall imports and almost 2% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP), electronics imports represent a significant sector, contributing to the country’s trade imbalance, according to a 16 September report by research firm Frost and Sullivan. “If similar conditions prevail, there is ample evidence to suggest that electronics import will even surpass our crude import bill by 2025,” the report said.

Chip fabrication capability within India also helps system designers, software developers and chip designers to join hands and develop innovative, indigenous and cutting-edge technology products, said Menon.

However, there’s a problem. A 90 nm process, for instance, refers to the level of CMOS process technology that was reached in 2004-05, with 22 nm being the current technology. By the time the fab is ready, the world’s best fabs would have reached the 14 nm and 10 nm technology levels.Where does that leave our Indian fabs?

“It’s not about manufacturing an Intel class of microprocessors or flash memory, as examples. Obviously, it needs the 22 nm process which Indian fabs are not targeting as of now,” said Menon. According to him, products churned out by Indian fabs will include chips for industrial use such as those in energy meters, inverters; in auto electronics for chips in ignition and instrumentation panels of bikes; as also processors for low-end tablets like Aakash.
Ajai Chowdhry, co-founder, HCL, also believes that the fabs will not only bring in much-needed investment but also help in strengthening the EDSM ecosystem and provide chips for set-top boxes, smart energy meters, micro-ATMs and smartcards, among other things.

Meanwhile, the government has sweetened the fab deal with its incentive package for the two consortia, including incentives available under the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-Sips) and deduction for expenditure on research and development under the Income Tax Act.

In addition, fab facilities will also be eligible for investment-linked deduction under Section 35AD of the Income Tax Act.

The government will also provide viability-gap funding in the form of an interest free loan for 10 years.The government, which will get 11% equity in the proposed projects, requires the technology providers to take at least 10% equity. The details of the incentives are yet to be worked out.

Just having a 90nm fab would serve *tons* of purposes. It would help feed most of the commodity chips consumed domestically. 20nm or less is for cutting edge microprocessors. You don't need it for all the millions of simpler chips that constitute the basis of basic consumer electronics. All of these are currently imported, and we can plus an annual import drain of billions of dollars with domestic fabs producing this bread and butter stuff, not to mention ruggedised defence related gear.

After nearly a year of dormancy it is a good wake up this thread.

Make in India Live: FDI will mean First Develop India, says PM Modi

Pratyush wrote:After nearly a year of dormancy it is a good wake up this thread.

Make in India Live: FDI will mean First Develop India, says PM Modi

Good for defense and coal. Finally get rid of these useless PSU's. Can't wait till 5-10 companies begin competing for contracts to give our troops the best equipment.

Modi’s ‘Make in India’ plan: The 7 hurdles it has to overcome to boost manufacturing

Posting in full as it gives a good description of the challenges being faced by Indian manufacturing.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to unveil a new manufacturing policy on Thursday, one which will give details regarding his Independence day appeal to the business world to ‘make in India’. Modi had articulated his vision at the time and now what is needed is articulation of how will this vision be implemented.

To revive manufacturing in India isn't easy as over the years we have lost ground in this area. Any policy will need a holistic approach. Manufacturing in India is slowly dying, and while the impact of it is not visible, the signs are clear. Several manufacturing companies have become just traders of branded goods made in China as it’s a simpler business.

The industry presently focuses on taxes, subsidies and grants in any policy but these sops are not enough to build a manufacturing ecosystem. Especially, if the current ecosystem is hollow thanks to Chinese imports. The animal spirits of the entrepreneurs search for the highest valuations and maximum profits. This is where sops play a role as they help in increasing profits.

But manufacturing comes with other difficulties: there is a burden of labour, and capital is sunk in land and equipment. The opportunity cost of this capital is that if employed in trading or marketing it will give a quicker, surer and higher returns. This is the mindset and the outlook that has to be tackled if manufacturing has to become popular again.

If a government sets on itself a target of reviving manufacturing it may have to do several things. States, and not just the central government, have to be pulled into accepting this policy, as a state government has a much bigger role to play in it.

Here's what the new policy needs to address:

1. Smart Controls: Trading or imports of goods for mass consumption especially in the food, consumer goods, electrical products and light engineering goods needs to be controlled. Control cannot be physical barriers but smart barriers. A smart barrier for food, particularly processed imported food flooding our markets, is to have strong regulations on quality clearances. Chinese chocolates and candies flood Indian markets since importers presently do not have to take FDA permission.

2. Smart cities and Manufacturing clusters: Smart cities need to be combined with manufacturing clusters in a manner that creates liveable places for a workforce. Manufacturing does not exist in vacuum. It needs an ecosystem of labour markets, liveable spaces, and access to markets. The trouble with the government policy on Special Economic Zones was that it allowed builders and developers to create these islands which did not have all the components of an ecosystem.

3. Smart Taxation :Manufacturing constitutes just 16 per cent of the GDP but pays more excise duty than services which constitutes 60 per cent of GDP, and pays service taxes. Excise duty exemptions are region-specific or state benefits granted by the Centre. The trouble with an excise tax holiday is that it distorts the manufacturing landscape. Entrepreneurs use the tax benefit region for packaging and shipping and wait for the next region to be granted the benefit for planning their investment. This does not help anybody and has to change.

Excise benefits need to be linked to the number of jobs created as a percentage of turnover and should not be region-specific. This would level the playing field and at the same time allow labour intensive SMEs to avail of these benefits. Moreover a tax holiday linked to region and a period also inhibits expansion in that location as the entrepreneur is closely watching for the next location of a tax holiday.

4. Sales tax, octroi and entry tax are other taxes that a manufacturing unit has to bear. While these will go away when GST is implemented it will take at least 3-5 years for that to happen. What will happen to these taxes in the interim period? Is there a way for a business to plan its investment or will it have to wait for the GST to be implemented?

5. Higher the value addition, the greater the usage of electricity in manufacturing. There is 60 per cent additional charge put on industry so that farmers can get free power for agriculture. Lack of power or captive power supply adds to the cost of production, reducing competitiveness. A much better model of charging for power has to be deployed so that manufacturing should not pay for giving subsidies to farmers.

When a manufacturer has to set up a captive power unit, he wastes time and resources on it. As a friend, Fritz D’Silva from Goa, points out, a mid-sized manufacturer uses diesel gen-sets at least 15 days in a month. This is not a value addition activity but instead takes time and adds to the cost. The government is aware of the power problem but new capacity cannot be created quickly. Therefore can units that set up captive power units be given loans at a soft rate?

6. Another subsidy that is borne by manufacturing sector is high freight rates. As I have argued earlier, freight rates cannot be raised endlessly by railways to subsidise passenger fares. Manufacturing sector and the locations of manufacturing units is highly dependent on the cost of logistics.

7. Another issue that affects both current and new manufacturing units is land. The UPA government created the biggest bottleneck with its land acquisition bill, which makes land so expensive that it cannot be acquired for manufacturing. The only place land is available is in places that are uninhabited or barren, and this does not make manufacturing attractive for labour. Cities dependent on manufacturing are no longer attracting the best employees as they are located in places where it is impossible for an ambitious youth to live.

Even if an existing unit wants to expand, the state industrial development corporation cannot allocate him additional space. This is the problem across states with most state industrial development corporation having stopped providing services to their existing industrial parks. In states like Haryana, the HSIDC, under the Congress, became an instrument for acquiring land and giving it out to builders.

In a bid to take the debate to a wider public and stakeholders, PMO office is set to release the policy with a public debate. It is going to use social media and webinars with industry bodies. Jay Bakshi, a communication entrepreneur, says that industry bodies like CII and others are for the first time gearing up for a policy announcement that has never been seen before.

The PMO clearly seems to be looking at setting a long term debate and discussion on manufacturing. It is important for the states, Chief Ministers and politicians at the state level to be engaged and involved in this debate. A number of challenges for the manufacturing can only be implemented if state governments allow it.

Yatish Rajawat is a senior journalist based in Delhi, he tweets @yatishrajawat.
by K Yatish Rajawat

This article, published moments ago in the Huffington Post, may be of interest to you:

The Historical Context & Contemporary Relevance of PM Modi's 'Zero Defect, Make in India' Vision

Check the website of Semi Conductor Ltd.

http://www.scl.gov.in/

and last year's report.

http://www.scl.gov.in/pdf%20changed/ar_2012-13.pdf

Abhaey wrote:This article, published moments ago in the Huffington Post, may be of interest to you:

The Historical Context & Contemporary Relevance of PM Modi's 'Zero Defect, Make in India' Vision

Are you the author of this article?

As regards PROCESSED FOOD IMPORTS, there are practically no such imports from China. The use of the word 'China' is to create a feeling of fear but in fact, the import of chocolates, products containing milk, are banned from China, for several years. The matter of crackdown on processed food imports is nothing but cartelization by food MNCs and large Indian Companies. They realise that the processed food industry in India is going to be most important as disposable income grows and tastes change, and these Companies wish to monopolise the business.

It is the Indian consumer who is suffering the most. Hundreds of crores of perfectly fine food is being rejected on the flimsiest grounds at Ports. Products that have been imported for many decades suddenly are being rejected.

Not all Indian importers are fly-by-night traders. Many have worked hard over the past decade to create product awareness especially of fine foods, and have brought into India the finest brands. In fact they have helped to create a market for processed foods in India, and instead of setting up manufacturing of processed foods, the Indian industrial giants are working through their trade associations, to raise barriers, so that the new appetite for processed foods is satisfied by the old range of foods they produce.

This is a huge scam on the Indian consumer, who is now denied the choice of fine foods or has to pay exorbitant prices due to the huge cost of complying with the antiquated Indian food laws.

Will the government ever learn that the way to progress is through open competition and not monopoly?

http://www.business-standard.com/articl ... 522_1.html

Three shipyards to make LNG ships in tune with the Make in India initiative

The three liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier ships of the proposed nine to be acquired by the Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) would be built in three shipbuilding facilities - Cochin Shipyard, L&T made Kattupalli and Pipapav Shipyard Ltd, near Rajkot, in tune with the Prime Minister's recently announced 'Make in India' policy.

These highly technical and expensive projects which would cost around Rs 1,500 crore each, has been assigned to these three ports in India, while the rest of the six would be built in somewhere else, while all are expected to be operated by the Shipping Corporation of India, according to Vishwapati Trivedi, Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, Government of India.

Speaking to the reporters after launching a new trade ship service between Chennai Port and Myanmar, by Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), he said that the preparatory works are going on for the ship building, which require a technology partner for the Indian firms. The timeline for LNG ship building is six years.

"There are several things we have done in line with the Make in India policy announced by the Prime Minister. On the shipping side, we are doing several things, like ship building. The Government of India is trying to float very attractive promotional policy to encourage ship building in India," he said.

by vKumar
the import of chocolates, products containing milk, are banned from China, for several years.

Chinese do not drink that much of milk and regularly import it from New Zealand, etc. They would only import milk process it and export it out for profit reasons.

India-ASEAN Trade: Working Toward Greater Manufacturing Integration

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has made boosting manufacturing one of his top priorities with the recently announced “Make in India” program aimed at employing millions of Indians in labor-intensive manufacturing. By loosening regulations and attracting investors, India hopes to become a global manufacturing hub. Boosting trade ties with ASEAN is an important step in this direction, as India’s exports to ASEAN have increased roughly 10-fold over the past decade, making it a key export market for Indian goods.

Most trade between India and ASEAN consists of raw materials, while automobiles, ships and its parts are also important components of two-way trade. In the years ahead, Thailand and Indonesia in particular could become larger markets for Indian exports. The former is a regional hub for auto-manufacturing and the latter a potential nerve center for regional shipping, However, challenges in both sectors need to be addressed in order to achieve greater manufacturing integration.

Akhand Bharat, here we come.

Also, please to read Arc of Industry here: http://csis.org/publication/creating-in ... c-industry

In addition to expanding the number of states it controls, this group of states has another important feature—they are contiguous. This fact is critical in order for the Modi government to carry out its plans to become a stronger industrial nation. Transit of production goods from region to region is much more important in manufacturing than in services, so ensuring that transportation infrastructure is developed in tandem across connected regions will help sew the subcontinent together. Instead of looking at Indian states as mid-sized countries with imposing border controls, foreign investors would be better positioned to tap into India’s massive population and key urban markets.

A third reason this Arc of Industry is poised to become the hub of India’s industrialization is that it includes some of the country’s most important productive assets. The highlight in this regard is the 1,483 km Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), a mix of dedicated freight rail, industrial townships, modernized airports, highways, and ports. The vast majority of the DMIC lies in states that are, or likely will be, controlled by the BJP by the end of 2014. China’s industrial development was initially quite regionally-focused, so there is precedence with another very large nation using this model to accelerate economic activity. There are also key ports airports, LNG terminals, and other productive assets already in place, or under development in this particular region.

BRFites in Bangalore, please make it a point to visit the Machine tool expo this weekend. Definitely worth a visit. There is lot of activity here this time, more activity and presence from foreign vendors compared to previous years

http://www.imtex.in/

I am looking for someone with expertise in setting up a hardware startup. We have a technology that creates better thin film/touch screen displays among other things. Essentially it is an engineered replacement for ITO.

http://www.finnegan.com/3DPrintingandAd ... gIndustry/

Protecting innovations in a 3D printed world
3D printing is a disruptive technology with far-reaching implications for manufacturers, consumers, and intellectual property owners. While 3D printing technology enables manufacturers to make complex designs, rapid prototypes, and final parts in fundamentally different ways, it also allows almost anyone to re-create any existing product design and make, use, or distribute it without permission from the original creator. Due to the very nature of additive manufacturing, users and makers of 3D printers will encounter emerging issues involving their own patents, trademarks, trade dress, trade secrets, and copyrights, and those of others. Almost anyone who owns rights in product designs may be affected by 3D printers. The Gartner Group predicts that “by 2018, 3D printing will result in the loss of at least $100 billion per year in intellectual property globally.” IBM predicts that most companies will not be ready for it.

I can't stress this anymore.

During ITVity revolution, Lot of modeling & designing work was outsourced to Desh while keeping the manufacturing firmly in bhest.

Desh can turn the tables by wholeheartedly adopting 3D printing technologies.

Hope Modi Sarkar thinks beyond west-dominated economic models.

RamaY garu: Gartner group's predictions are a hit and a miss. In fact they charge $25K PA to get their news letters/reports. I am not sure how good those reports are. We have to take these pronouncements with a generous helping of salt. The other problem is that low end design work is not very remunerative. The average salaries in US are ~$40-50K range for a 5 year experienced Industrial Design Bachelors. A masters might get a maximum of $50K, usually less. BS or MS have to compete with talented AS/Community college graduates who have much less debt plus have had more time to hone their talent and skills on the job in the trenches.

$100 billion will be lost but the winners may not gain that $100 billion. It is a negative sum game and I don't think there is all that scope for mass job creation. OTH, it is a key step in the manufacturing pipeline and certainly can complement the mass job creation potential of assembly line manufacturing. The economic argument in its favour is low cost of setting up for a couple of 3D printers for printing replacement parts for village level small to medium agricultural cooperatives. If somebody can come up with a set of simple tools and gadgets and a process pipeline for common use cases - drawing water from wells/tanks/canals (replacement for "mOta koTTaDamu" if you have heard that word before), solar power panel sheets on which the panels can be mounted, plastic studs, fasteners and other knick knacks - using 3D printers, it might work to an extent. As of now agriculture is extremely high-tech in the US and other European countries which comes with a problem. The sustainability is a question mark, AFAIK. So we need to learn from them but have our solutions with a mix of old and new.

certain products can have higher sale tax and lesser or zero exercise duty. but it should be all value addition basis. it should still make the consumer to buy for the best-bang ratio and at the same time, quality of products are above normal quality available on the international open market - from china and other competing nations.

Singha wrote:looks like from after civil war to 1930 US transformed from a sideshow into a massive industrial power. a unbroken run of around 70-80 yrs of solid and rapid growth. and similar growth in the 50s and 60s to cement its place as the khan-of-khans.

They concentrated on Siemens open hearth process for making steel which uses coke from natural coal. The British Bessemer process is quick but uses high grade charcoal and leads to deforestation.
Around 1885 US became the number one steel producer and within 20 years became a world power.

RamaY I too agree that India can be the backend of the 3D printing revolution. I have some ideas for you to mull over.

There is a small startup in Benguluru that makes 3D printers. In fact most of the printer is itself 3D printed. Will get the name soon.

MIT Fab Lab primer:

http://www.fabfoundation.org/fab-labs/w ... a-fab-lab/

Its being replicated in high schools in US

How to set tup a fab lab:

http://www.fabfoundation.org/fab-labs/s ... a-fab-lab/

3D PRINTERS / 3D PRINTING / BUSINESS
Indian 3D Printing Pioneer Aha 3D Launches Their ProtoCentre 1M Industrial Grade Printer
BY TE EDWARDS · FEBRUARY 9, 2015



When Indian tech company Aha 3D was founded in 2010, their mission was to take on fundamental development activities and examinations into 3D printing technologies, and as a result of that work the company has launched the ProtoCentre 1M, the company’s flagship industrial-grade 3D printer.

Now their machines are certified for quality under ISO 9001:2008, and the company says their core strength lies in their in-house design and development capabilities. The company says their engineers and developers take on all aspects of machine design, embedded firmware, application software, core electronics, and mechatronics. They add that they also have a network of outside consultants who handle design for optimum manufacturing, ergonomics, and human factors of their machines.

Aakash, CEO of Aha 3D
Aakash, CEO of Aha 3D
The ProtoCentre 1M can build objects up to 1 meter in height, makes use of a water cooled quad-extruder print head, and includes a long list of user-friendly features.

Aha 3D Innovations says it’s their PrintProtect feature which is critical to the device’s filament management, filament jam prevention, and monitoring of power outages. They say that, should power fail during a print job, print jobs will resume at the precise location where it stopped as power is restored.

According to Aakash, the founder of Aha 3D Innovations, his company launched India’s first, fully-indigenous 3D printer in 2012 and the first dual extruder printer with soluble support 3D printer in 2013.

But he adds that customer support was a key concern in the design of the ProtoCentre M1.

“The machine has self-diagnostics and preventive monitoring, which enables us at HQ to detect the problems before they become a cause of concern for the customer,” Aakash says. “We provide live tutorials via video conference, on-site warranty, and we respond to self-diagnostic messages from the machine.”

He says “intelligent diagnostics software” can also remind users of the need for periodic maintenance tasks and regularly monitors all functions of the device. The company says standard interfaces like a touch screen, WiFi, and remote monitoring come standard with the ProtoCentre 1M.

http://3dprint.com/42937/protocentre-1m-aha-3d/

^^^
Extrusion printers have limited use at the commercial level. This is the lowest level of technology. It would be interesting to see if these folks can push into the more advanced technologies.

Finland-based Salcomp plans to set up factories in India

"We're looking for leased space in Noida DTA (domestic tariff area) for one factory and another one will be set up in Southern India," Gendham said. "We will begin the first factory by second half of this year, with about 40 million peak capacity, and expand to the second in phased manner."

An investment of Rs 130-150 crore would be needed for manufacturing at such scale, he said.

India exports first batch of 'Made in India' metro coaches to Australia

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/ ... 84529.html

Finally something concrete.

The export is great news.

These coaches will service the South East Queensland area (touristy parts including the Gold Coast). The total metro contract is worth ~ A$ 4.4 billion of which Bombardier’s share is ~ A$3.9 billion.

The metro is a PPP with Qtectic a consortium comprising Bombardier, John Laing (British infrastructure Group), ITOCHU (Japs) and Uberior (subsidiary of Lloyds banking group).

The trains are designed and engineered in Australia (Next Generation Stock - NGR) and manufactured by Bombardier in Savli Vadodara. Design is based on Bombardier's VLocity design and uses FLEXX bogies.

These NGR coaches will replace existing EMU's and augment stock by 30%. The network is operated by Queensland rail. The coaches will have Wifi and toilets in every carriage.

Population of BNE + Gold Coast is < 3 millio. My city, Pune has a pop of > 5 million and no metro anywhere in sight for the next 15 years at least - only a fossilised presentation on the PMPNL website.

This is a great win for NaMo's Make in India. With India's rail usage we should be world leaders in rail tech. - instead we punch way below our weight. Maybe NaMo should also start an "Invent In India" initiative- creation of IP will secure our future for generations.

Links

http://www.qtectic.com/

BMW rolls out 50,000th car from Chennai factory - PTI via TNIE

CHENNAI: German luxury car maker BMW has rolled out its 50,000th car from its factory here and has ramped up the localisation content by up to 50 per cent.

"It is with great pride that we are rolling out the 50,000th car locally produced at BMW Plant, Chennai. Each and every BMW that is locally produced is of the same international standard as anywhere else in the world," BMW Plant Chennai, Managing Director, Jochen Stallkamp said.

"Highly skilled employees, advanced manufacturing processes along with the state-of-the-art machinery and technology provide all the necessary ingredients to achieve these tough standards," he added.

BMW rolled out the 7 Series as the 50,000th car locally produced in India, a company statement said.

The luxury car maker has a manufacturing facility at Mahindra World City, Singaperumalkoil near Chennai producing a range of models.

On increasing local content in manufacturing cars, it said, "BMW has further strengthened its commitment to the Indian market by increasing the level of localisation at BMW Plant, Chennai by up to 50 per cent."

The company produces eight models at the factory in two assembly lines.

It manufactures the BMW 1 Series, 3 Series, 3Series Gran Turismo, 5Series, 7Series, X1, X3, X5 at the factory. The group has invested over Rs 4.90 billion in Indian operations.

The company has 38 outlets across the country and employs 650 people.

BMW had a plan to start assembling the engines locally via Force Motors, not sure if it took off.

BMW India plans to source engines from Force Motors - LiveMint

http://forcemotors.com/upload/news/0605 ... 738_dh.pdf

My son attends a STEM school and is hoping to study chemical engineering (and I hope to persuade him to spend a year in Punjab teaching in his ancestoral village)

in the UK and I am sure elsewhere in the west we have TV shows like Robot Wars, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUEqZ61-MPQ

where teams from around the country develop robots which have to fight each other, there are other such shows which encourage design, build, engineering innovation development. I think engineering companies offer prizes. The shows encourage talent.
Is there anything like this in India?

We also have quite a lot of shows like "How do they do it?" about various manufacturing processes, from, engines to candles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X8bo3CGYYI

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 374939.cms

Not pleasant news. Anyone care to give counter facts or balance this? The 14,000 layoffs from L&T, if accurate, is disturbing. I didn't think booming India experienced that volume of layoff, only Canada, the US and Europe did.

^^ selective reporting at best.

1) Note the data cited is only for listed non-governmental companies. Don't mistake it for all of manufacturing sector, though the headline wants you to read it that way.

2) If you exclude, iron & steel and petroleum products, sales in other sub-sectors have recovered, and spectacularly in some cases.

Auto,Machinery,Pharma, Construction have all registered recovery in sales (pages 107-110)

https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Bullet ... A7EFD0.PDF


Not sure about L&T layoffs tho.

Apple's 'Made In India' iPhone SE to hit stores this month

Apple has begun initial production of a small number of iPhone SE handsets in India. Wistron, a Taiwanese contract manufacturer for Apple Inc. has completed the trial run of assembling iPhones in India at its facility in Karnataka. Local assembling is seen as an important move for Apple in order to sell more iPhones in world's second largest smartphone market.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the first Iphone Se devices assembled in India could hit the store shelves as early as this week. It is not clear how much the device will cost, but government officials expect the price to get at least $100 cheaper. In a statement, Apple told WSJ, "it has begun initial production of a small number of iPhone SE handsets in Bangalore and will begin shipping the Indian-made devices to domestic customers this month."

Apple has been under tremendous pressure from Chinese smartphone makers and in its second quarter earnings, the company reported 14 percent decline of sales in Greater China. With sales dwindling in world's largest smartphone market, the company is looking to expand into other growing markets with India being its primary bet.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has previously stated that his company underestimated the potential of Indian smartphone market and recently announced that sales grew 18 percent last year. He also confirmed that Apple is in discussions with the government to set up its own retail stores in India and has sought concessions on import duty.

Apple recently cut the cost of the iPhone 5s to Rs 15,000 and made it available exclusively for online retailers. The Cupertino-based iPhone maker has also cut the price of the iphone se to Rs 20,990 and is now being pitched as company's entry-level handset. It is not clear whether local assembling will help bring the cost further down, but Apple is known for consistent pricing globally and maintaining a control over gross margins.

Local handset manufacturing ecosystem rakes in Rs 3 lakh-crore savings for India: ICEA.

The domestic handset manufacturing ecosystem has garnered a whopping Rs 3 lakh-crore in savings for India by replacing imports of completely-built units (CBUs) with locally assembled and manufactured mobile handsets over the past four years, the India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA) said Wednesday.

“In 2017-18 over 225 million handsets were assembled/manufactured in India, which was roughly 80% of the total market requirement,” the ICEA said in a report.

The ICEA estimates the local mobile handset manufacturing ecosystem to generate mobile phones collectively valued at Rs 1,65,000 crore by 2018-19, and pegs the turnover volume at 290 million handsets during the same period.

In the first 2 quarters itself, the total value of locally manufactured handsets, it estimates, will exceed Rs 75,000 crore while the turnover volume is estimated at 130 million.

“Most global handset brands and manufacturers are eyeing India, which is the world's fastest growing smartphone market, having overtaken US last year to become the world's second-largest smartphone market after China,” ICEA Chairman & National President Pankaj Mohindroo said in a media statement.

ICEA’s Mohindroo, in fact, envisages mobile phone imports will “trickle down to an insignificant level of around 5-7% of the market – or less than less than Rs 1,000 crore a month by end-FY18," adding that India is rapidly moving towards near "zero Imports" for mobile phones.

“Since Reliance Jio Infocomm will soon be moving its entire production of Jio mobile handsets to India, the same success story will need to be emulated in other verticals of electronics and consumer appliances,” the ICEA chairman said.

The net foreign exchange savings, according to ICEA, is already estimated to be over Rs 60,000 crore.

“While CBU imports have come down drastically, import of sub-assemblies and components though has gone up,” ICEA said.

Haresh wrote:India exports first batch of 'Made in India' metro coaches to Australia

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/ ... 84529.html

That was in 2016.

Not sure why then we are importing coaches from China for Greater-Noida Metro to start operations in end 2018.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cit ... 474335.cms