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International Tooling Summit 2018 : Echoing success

Organised by Tool and Gauge Manufacturers Association (TAGMA), third edition - the International Tooling Summit 2018 was held on February 1 and 2, 2018 at The Leela Palace, Chennai, with the theme of Driving Indian Tooling Industry – Opportunities and Challenges. The two-day event witnessed over 400 visitors, packed with four panel discussions, 16 technical sessions, with 44 speakers discussing various topics that impact the Indian tooling industry, and among them 10 speakers from overseas.

Various companies showcased their state-of-the-art technology through technical sessions at the event that targets companies and professionals associated with die mould industry. Thought provoking panel discussions were also organized keeping in mind the latest technologies, customer expectations, opportunities & challenges in the Indian tooling industry.

The programme started with the National Anthem, followed by lamp lighting and inauguration by the Chief Guest Steffen Heim, Executive Director, Corporate Purchasing, Volkswagen India; S Ganesh Mani, Guest of Honour, Sr Vice President,Production, Hyundai Motor India; Guest of Honour, Harish Laxman, Vice President, Rane Group in the presence of Pulkit Datta, Head of Sales & Marketing – Speciality Steel Division, Hitachi Metals India Ltd; D Shanmugasundaram, Vice President – TAGMA India; Veronica Just, Vice President, Millutensils Italy; D Ravi, ITS 2018 Committee Chairman and DK Sharma, President – TAGMA India.

It was followed by a welcome note from DK Sharma, President, TAGMA India. DK Sharma welcomed all the dignitaries and said, “There is an increase in demand for tooling in India, thanks to the growing requirement in the automobile industry. In a bid to make India a manufacturing hub, and to augment exports from the country, major automotive manufacturers are now sourcing most of their tooling requirement from India. This means localization of tooling is happening.”

DK Sharma also stressed on the growing market, “For the FY 2017-18, the estimated market size of the Indian tooling industry (comprising press tools, plastic mould, die-casting dies, forging dies, rubber mould, jigs & fixtures and checking gauges) is around INR 14,650 crore. The tooling market in India is expected to reach to INR 20,000 crore by FY 2020, at a growth rate of CAGR 11%.”

Within three years since its inception, the International Tooling Summit has become one of the most important gatherings for die mould industry. The event saw notable visitors from companies like Volkswagen India, Bajaj Auto, Brakes India, Daimler, Ford Motor, Indo-German Tool Room, ISUZU Engineering Business, Mahindra & Mahindra, Renault Nissan, Misumi India, Premier Industrial Plastics, TITAN Company Ltd, TOYODA GOSEI, USBCO Steel, TVS Upasana, Hyundai Motors, Hanon Systems, Schneider Electric, Royal Enfield, BOSCH, Hitachi Metals, Maruti Suzuki India, Jain irrigation Systems, among others.

The Chief Guest, Mr Stefen Heim, Executive Director – Corporate Purchasing, Volkswagen India, highlighted the opportunities for Indian tooling suppliers while addressing the gathering. However, he also mentioned that financial stability and productivity is very important while sourcing a product. He urged Indian suppliers to become more efficient, productive and cost effective.

Addressing the gathering, Guest of Honor, Mr S Ganesh Mani, Senior Vice President – Production, Hyundai Motors India highlighted the current trends in Indian automotive market while talking about the futuristic technologies like 3D Printing and Electric Vehicles. He said, “Since time-to-market for car manufacturers has reduced drastically, industry expects the same efficiency and speed from tooling suppliers as well.”

Going ahead, second Guest of Honor, Mr Harish Laxman, Vice Chairman, Rane Group spoke about the future trends in automotive industry like connected cars, shared mobility and Electric Vehicles. He also highlighted how these trends will change the dynamics of automotive industry in the future.

The Keynote speaker Mr Pulkit Datta, Head of Sales & Marketing – Specialty Steel Division, Hitachi Metals India Pvt Ltd, spoke on “India, a world class Manufacturing Hub – Opportunities & Challenges”.

D Ravi, ITS 2018 Committee Chairman handed over the mementos and delivered the vote of thanks with warm greetings to the dignitaries present. He assured the delegates with valuable takeaways with enhanced knowledge.

 
 

The welcome note was followed by a Panel discussion on “Digital Manufacturing : Way Ahead”. The panelists highlighted the importance of digital Manufacturing, current situation in Indian Market and the way forward for digital manufacturing in India.

Moderator : Mr Pankaj Gauba, Head Digital Manufacturing Group, Autodesk India Pvt Ltd.

Panel Members are Mr Ankit Sahu - Founder MD - Objectify Technologies.
Mr Armin Wiedenegger – Manager, Voestalpine High Performance Metals.
Mr A Dayanand Reddy – MD – Vasantha Tool Crafts.
Mr Pradeep B Kirkole – Product Manager – Technical sales – DMG Mori India.
Mr Pravin Pathak – General Manager – Industry 4.0 – Robert Bosch India.

A technical session on “Advance material solutions for PDC or Press Tools and good heat treatment procedure and surface quoting options” was presented by Mr Kanechika Osamu, Specialty Steel Department, Hitachi Metals (Thailand) Ltd.

Mr Hidehiko Yamamoto of Makino Japan, Die-Mold Business Development specialist presented on “New technologies for higher efficiency in die-mould manufacturing process”. He focused on the key aspects set to impact the tooling industry in next 10 years.

Mr Marc Weinmann, Founder CEO – VEM Tooling (China, Thailand & India) – spoke on benchmarking of Global tool rooms Vs Indian tool rooms. He also spoke of the great future of Indian tool making industry, and stressed on putting more effort to improve the efficiency.

Another thought provoking panel discussion on ‘Indian tooling industry : Opportunities and Challenges’ helped delegates to understand the way things are changing to meet the global level standards, good transition happened in last 10 years and need to think big from individual to collaborative working to move with higher capability and capacity. It was moderated by Mr Ahsim Sharma – Nomura Research – Partner and Group Head while the panel included Mr M M Singh – Executive Advisor – Maruti Suzuki India Limited, Mr Nikhil Kumar – Reydel Automotive – Director and Mr Nilesh Vedak – Alstom Transport – Director.

Autodesk India Pvt Ltd, Mr Pankaj Gauba, spoke on The future of manufacturing: ready to make anything and Mr Sachin Fulsundar- spoke about the Mold Flow for Tool & Die.

Mr Paul Altorf, VP/GM International sales of Mastip Technology, gave a technical talk on innovation as a key driver for Hot Runner Solution in India. Pioneered with strengths in 2 color + 2 component valve gate in Indian market including rotary, core back & cube technologies.

Mr Ashish Bhansali, Director – Anand Group of Companies – Reliable partners for Special Steels from Germany gave a technical talk on selection of right grade for individual application. With an example, right steel for right application for both exterior and interior parts.

The gathering also applauded the presentation by Mr Kannan Venkatraman of Mold Masters on ‘Hot Runner Technology in today’s plastic Industry’. With around 35 years of experience, Mr Kannan highlighted that India is at par with global standards and lacks nothing. He encouraged everyone present there to rise to the occasion and make the best of the ample opportunities in the Indian market.

First day came to an end with TAGMA felicitating the following industry leaders.

Mr P Gunasingh - Tool Room and design Expert
Mr Raghavachari K, Industry Veteran
Mr Taher Ali Abbas, United Trades & Manufacturing
Mr R Srinivasan, Former Vice President at Wheels India Ltd
Mr Rajan Y, Managing Director, A R Moulds & Dies
Mr G D Gopal, Managing Director, UMS Technologies Ltd ( on behalf, his son Mr Rajkumar received )
Mr P Chinnaraj, Ex VP – Tool Room, Craftsman Automation Pvt Ltd

Day two began with the very promising and futuristic technology, Additive Manufacturing by Armin Wiedenegger and showed the latest development in additive manufacturing which is popularly known as 3D printing. Latest technology is proven with density of the steel at 99.95%, similar to forged steel. Big potential to make create a value added part/s/products. However there is lot of design limitation and post processing is always required after additive manufacturing.

In a presentation Ms Veronica Just of Millutensil spoke about benefits and best practices of spotting presses along with case studies.

A panel discussion on “Indian Tooling Industry : Customer expectations” saw a good mix of panelists from several user industries. Panelists highlighted the importance of collaborative approach and encouraged tooling suppliers to work closely with each other. They also discussed about delivery time, efficiency, technology up gradation, opportunities & scalability and skill development in the tooling industry. The panel discussion was moderated by Mr Mittul Soni, Managing Director and CEO of Nagata Group (India Operations). The panelists included Mr Ajay Kumar Tannu, Executive Director, Omrbagla Automotive Systems India; Mr Mahesh Marimuthu, General Manager, Visteon Electronics; Mr B Thej Kumar, General Manager, Toyoa Gosei South India Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru; V Srinivasan, Vice-president, Fine Blanking & Tool Engineering, TIDC India – unit of tube investment of India.

Technical session by Mr Umesh Godbole on high end steel solutions from SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH Group.

Mr Zoltan Pap from Stromsholmen AB – Sweden, gave an informative technical talk on Innovative and flexible forming solutions for stamping dies.

Mr Vijay Kumar Saboo, AVP – Head, Manufacturing & Supply Chain – Godrej Toolings, gave a technical talk on “Innovative and flexible forming solutions for stamping dies with title Smart Dies”.

Mr Gobinath Padmanathan from Citi Bank spoke about the emerging trends in Commercial Banking.

Mr Nitin Gupta from Nomura Research institute, presented a report on development of tooling ecosystem in India.

Mr Christoph Mueller, Specialist application Technology of Kind & Co., Edelstahlwerk GmbH & Co, KG, Germany, spoke on “Hot stamping of UHSS Steel and need for specialized tooling’s and raw material..

Mr Daniel Jaco from Enterprise Leadership, gave a motivational speech.

The two-day event concluded with a much anticipated panel discussion on the impact of EVs on tooling industry. Re-skilling and new technology key for tooling industry in electric mobility era.

In the backdrop of India’s rapid industrial growth, International Tooling Summit emerged as an ideal platform for industry professionals to understand about the latest technologies, future trends, customer expectations and make valuable acquaintance.

The next edition of ITS will be held in Pune in February 2019