ACMA National Conference
India as a global R&D Powerhouse
Thomex.com
Despite passing through a difficult time because of double-digit inflation and increasing raw material costs, the Indian automotive industries is strategically re-locating its priorities to become the global R&D powerhouse of automotive industries.
It was keeping this in mind that a national conference on "Becoming an R&D Powerhouse: The next frontier" was organised by Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) during its 48th annual session here in New Delhi on September 3, 2008.
Speaking on the occasion, Santosh Mohan Dev, Minister of Heavy Industries, Govt of India, exhorted the Indian automotive industries to follow the trajectory of technical and managerial innovations to become a leading player in the world. He said that the Rs 75,000 crore-industry has shown an impressive growth with annual export touching 35% rise.
It is to be noted that vehicle production in India grew by 11% during the last 5 years and the industry produced more than 11.2 million vehicles during 2007-08. Out of this, 1.76 million were passenger vehicle and 8.5 million two and three wheelers. India is the second largest producer of two wheelers in the world.
Lauding the efforts of ACMA in promoting the interests of the industry, the Minister said that Quality Circle Competitions for SMEs organised by ACMA was a step in the right direction. Elaborating on the issue of R&D, the minister said, "The theme of R&D is most apt for market economy, which is the source for sustained competitive advantage."
Elaborating on the role of the government in promoting the industry, the minister said, "We have established National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRIP) in this direction. The Development Council is being reactivated and an Indo-German joint working group on automobile industry is being formulated to provide technology based collaboration with Germany.
Addressing the Skill Development need of the industry, the Minister said that Rs.15,000 crore has been allocated for Skill Development under Private, Public Partnership and called upon ACMA & SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) to participate in this effort.
Drawing a realistic picture of the industry, RC Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti-Suzuki said that India does not have strong Design capabilities as yet. The R&D spend is as low as 1.6%. Engineering resources are very expensive in Europe and other developed countries and are not available at short notice since they are over booked.
Bhargava said that the need of the hour is to develop design capabilities. This will reduce the time cycle in an economy where the product life cycle is shrinking. We should be able to sell on the basis of quality and performance and not mere price alone, Bhargava said.
Addressing the gathering, Sanjay Labroo, President, ACMA said that these are the trying time for the industry as Inflation is skyrocketing and interest rates have touched 13%. “However, the best time to improve is in times of adversities. Therefore, this is the best time to invest in improving efficiency and developing design capabilities,” he said.
The Keynote speaker, John Hadley of Price Waterhouse Coopers, Automotive Practice, presented the global overview and outlook on Research and Development. Francois Van der Wielen, Sales Director from Delphi Diesel Systems stressed on the need of accelerating the production of automotive components.
On the occasion, Dr Abhijit Ray, Director-Pharmacology, New Drug Discovery Research, Ranbaxy Laboratories shared the experience of drug discovery research. Uma Maheshwari, Leader for Aviation Technology Development, GE-Aviation, spoke about the complexities of designing in the aviation industry.
|
