| | NOVEMBER 20208VANTAGE POINT India is on the verge of the Industrial Revolution 4.0. How do you see the adoption of IIoT in the Indian Manufacturing In-dustry? What are the global best practices and learning we should adopt?The revolution in IIoT has begun in India and I feel many oppor-tunities lie ahead of us. That said, I think in a country like India there should be a balance in terms of which industry or sectors, or areas need to be automated, considering the high CAPEX in-volved. For industries that are in precision manufacturing, the cost of automation will be extremely steep owing to the high level of intricacies and sophistication that'll be required for the deployment of robots. On the other hand, some industries might just want to invest in sensors for data analytics and estimating efficiency. These companies would want to invest in upskill-ing their workers for achieving manufacturing consistency. For heavy manufacturing, the CAPEX on automation will be very high, but it will also lead to consistency. Hence the payback on automation should be an important consideration for deploying it. Industry 4.0 for India will be about effective data analyt-ics for process adherence and identifying the areas where a high degree of consistency is important. Effective data analysis with a focus on creating skillsets will enable companies to maintain their processes and also get the benefits of India's demograph-ic dividend. India also needs to focus on creating vocational training systems like say in Germany for creating capabilities for high precision manufacturing and for infusing consistency in manufacturing. Manufacturing plants and factories have to embrace automa-tion to stay relevant in the long run. AI-driven machines add significant value to the manufacturing process as they enable automation of tasks, enhance production efficiency, and bring machine interaction closer to human interaction. How do you see the adoption of AI in the manufacturing sector?AI will be adopted in the manufacturing processes from applica-tion engineering in their operations to service and support. AI is useful not only because it can help support tasks but also because it enables the preservation of knowledge and information. It also supports the timely extraction of information for implementing in current situations. These benefits of AI will help companies train their new generation of employees and maintain consisten-cy, reduce TAT for service requests and client inquiries, and also help to improve client services.Please elaborate on how the use of AI and ML can create more job opportunities rather than job loss in the manufacturing sector.I believe, once AI and ML are integrated into the manufacturing process, it will create new jobs for people rather than job loss. These can range from programming the systems all the way to INFUSING CONSISTENCY IN MANUFACTURINGExcerpts from an interaction with Alok Kirloskar, Head- International Business, Kirloskar Brothers Limited and Managing Director, SPP Pumps Limited, UKAlok Kirloskar
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