On 2nd June 2017, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Southern Region conducted an Industry Walk Through as a part of the Skill Mission program. The main goal of the program was to equip the industry personnel with relevant knowledge about skill development and training in the automotive sector. The participants included leadership, production and service team members from various companies who were keen to experience manufacturing processes followed in the automotive industry by mapping with the skills. The objective of this program was to sensitize the participants about the need for skilled employees and the relevance of industry-integrated training. The one-day Skill Mission was conducted at Advanced Training Institute (ATI) Chennai and Caterpillar India Pvt Ltd, with National Skills Network – NSN as the knowledge partner. Click here to read more about the program.
The  industry visit saw enthusiastic participation from the participants from different industries, and they came with various expectations to know more about the automotive industry (both training and production).
Activities were woven into visit and there were many opportunities to have discussions and interactions with the participants and most of them took part eagerly. This was mainly to connect whatever we saw and learnt with training and skills.
At the Advanced Training Institute, Mr. Yuvaraj, the Deputy Director gave a detailed presentation on the activities of the institute and showed the participants a good number of tools and technology from automotive sector. They also got to see how skilled used and how training is imparted through demonstration of equipment.
The Caterpillar visit was a combination of demonstration of training infrastructure and the production process. There was a very detailed demo of various training equipment, installations, simulation systems and so on and this was handled excellently by the Caterpillar team comprising Mr Sekhar Murugesam, Mr. Krishnan and others. In fact, they showed lot of interest in answering our queries and gave an opportunity for the participants to try the stuff hands-on. Even though Caterpillar production unit demo was a bit hurried up due to time constraints,  it was quite informative as the participants could place the training and skills in action, in the context and understand how things work. On the whole the visit was useful and the participants were able to connect with the skills used in automotive sector, training and production systems.
Testimonials from the Skill Mission participants
“Since I am in the Skill Development Training Field, the visit to ATI gave me many avenues to update our Traning methods, especially in PMVKY. Scheme. Visit to caterpillar gave me the update knowledge about the good practices in the Industry.Especially for welders and painters, virtual training, sample work training,and finally to shop work job gave the workers to ensure 100% efficiency in their works.These methods should be adopted in other industry also to ensure “Zero Defect-Zero Effect” concept.” G.P.Lenin, DICCI, Tamil Nadu State Chapter
“At the Advanced Training Institute (ATI) Mr Yuvaraj made an excellent presentation of what they have been doing in the realm of industry training at the lower level of various trades. Based on the data presented by him , I feel happy about the important role played by ATI in the direction of SKILL INDIA. The process reportedly used by them to design and deliver various training programmes looks appropriate. However as a researcher I would have liked to see one case of how the needs were assessed and delivered. Their role in the automotive sector is appreciated and is reasonably understood given the importance our state TN enjoys in the said sector.The visit to various facilities revealed the shortcomings in infrastructure in some areas.They also have problems in terms of recruitment of proper resources.Perhaps CII could extend some help in this direction , either influencing the Government for funds or Industry for donation.
“The Caterpillar visit was very useful on several count. The people who hosted this visit showed exemplary positive outlook, thanks to the goodwill CII Southern Region enjoys in TN. The persons from the Learning Centre Mr Krishnan and his team were extremely kind in explaining the way they train their people. The learning models and the modules used for machining, welding, finishing(painting) and assembly are well designed. The simulators are interesting. This is one of the best learning centres I have seen. The centre is decently equipped with infrastructure.
Mr Sekhar Murugesan (GM operations) and his team were very enthusiastic in letting the visitors understand their operations. Their assembly line is very special, considering the size of the product it handles and the way in which it passes the product from station to station is very innovative. I have seen many assembly lines, but the line I saw in caterpillar is very special. I would have been happier if visit to other shops hads been arranged ( of course there was a time constraint) As a researcher in the area of manufacturing I could identify a number of ways the line could be made more efficient, especially considering that the line is a multi modal line. I have seen many auto lines, and also lines of JCB and John Deere.” Â Prof. A Subash Babu PhD, IIT Bombay
“We got to see and experience the vast infrastructure at ATI, most of it is yet to be updated as per latest industry standards. Caterpillar has a fantastic training facility. It is a training focussed organisation and we saw how training and skill development adds value to production quality and output. Particularly, the state-of-the-art simulation tools were very interesting to watch and try them out.” S Ramachandra Royal Enfield
“Overall, the sessions were very interactive and informative, we go to see lots of training equipment used in automotive industry. We should have had a longer session at the industry premises. However, we liked the way the visit was conducted and all the discussions we had.” Team from Dell India
