We envision integrated technology advancement in the Indian Manufacturing Sector to unleash the hidden potential of small and medium enterprises. We aim to achieve this by carrying out a holistic intervention called Smart Manufacturing; that imbibes innovative approaches around which smart technology enabled manufacturing (STEM)can fructify. Many aspects of Industry 4.0, Industrial Internet Consortium and e-Factory can be broken down into “automated practices” that can incrementally be connected into a manageable and logical process to suit short-term needs of investors. This practical and cost-effective approach would also generate a natural momentum toward long-term goals. The national Common Engineering Facility Center will act as the medium to accomplish this vision of developed India by integrating the research expertise of IITD and invaluable practical experience of industry.

On assessing the exciting advantages as well as various issues we face in adopting Industry 4.0, there is one overriding conclusion that we all need to acknowledge the dream of wanting to somehow just jump in and excitedly resolve the entire implementation challenge all at once.

For one thing, requirements for Industry 4.0 are just too comprehensive and unwieldy to consider tackling it all at once. For another, Industry 4.0 will likely take years to be commonplace. But in nutshell, Industry 4.0 will never be “complete” anyway, it is a continuous-improvement tool, flexibly changing and expanding its iterations as the world evolves.

The Smart Manufacturing initiative will revolutionize the production operations in SMEs by improving their quality, reducing throughput time and inventory cost. New analytics solutions help our Indian customers move ahead on their Smart Manufacturing journey, no matter where they are today. This will lead to a simplified approach to analytics converting data into decisions. This will also enable flexibility to the manufacturers to customize their products to cater the high expectations of their consumers. This will also improve the quality of jobs and uplift the standard of living of people.