A Report on the Technical Seminar and Workshop on High Precision Arc Welding Technology in India’ 7-8 November 2017, Pune

AOTS, Japan (Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organized a Technical Seminar and Workshop on High Precision Arc Welding Technology at Pune on 7-8 November 2017. The seminar was organized at Hotel Conrad, Pune and the workshop was conducted at College of Engineering Pune (COEP) on both the days. This training program is sponsored by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan (METI). Confederation of Indian (CII) is the implementing partner for this program in India. There were two such training programs conducted earlier at Gurgaon (2 & 3 Aug 2017) and Bengaluru (23 & 24 Aug 2017) in this FY sponsored by METI, Japan.

Panasonic Welding Systems was an Industry Partner by providing lecture and practical demonstration on latest welding Equipment and Robot technology to improve productivity of Indian metal fabrication industry. Other industry partner was Iwatani Corporation, Japan, a leading Japanese company which provides shielding gases for welding in many countries.

The seminar served as an opportunity to promote welding technology which remains the most critical for industrial sectors required to assure long-term reliability across applications such as Fabrication of Building, Bridges, Process Plant Equipment, Manufacturing of Automobiles, Railways, Ships etc.

Some of the key dignitaries present at the occasion were Mr. Masahide Sato, Deputy Chief of Mission, Consulate-General of Japan in Mumbai, Mr Sudhir Gurtoo, Member, CII Pune Zonal Council and Managing Director – Leadec India Pvt Ltd. ,Mr Shigeki Yonemori, Managing Director, Panasonic Welding Systems India (PWSI), Mr Uday Raykar, President, Alumni Society, AOTS.

The seminar served as a platform to promote Japan’s latest high-precision welding technology into India. The eminent faculty included Prof Kazuhiro Ito (Joining & Welding Research Institute – JWRI, Osaka University, Japan), who delivered valuable lecture on Microstructural & Topological Modification of Fusion welds for Mechanical property improvement and Mr Masaharu Sato, Japan Welding Engineering Society (JWES ,Japan), who covered topics including the importance of welding quality control, certification systems as practiced in Japan. With an aim to support ‘Make in India’ vision, this initiative is expected to foster the growth of personnel engaged in the manufacturing sector, Welders and Welding Technologists in particular.

Expressing his views on the occasion, Mr Masahide Sato referred to Japanese Prime Minister Mr Abe’s visit to India on 13 – 15 Sept 2017 and re-iterated Japan’s strong support for initiatives such as “Make in India”, “Digital India”, “Skill India”” and “Start-up India”. He also said “Strong India benefits Japan and Strong Japan benefits India”.

Mr Shigeki Yonemori said “This initiative of METI supports the government’s vision of raising India’s share of GDP in manufacturing from an existing 16% to 25% by the year 2022. Stressing the need for advanced Technology infusion along with Skill development he added “Application of advanced intelligent welding machines which synergise with the Skill of Welders to achieve superior Quality Welds with higher productivity, as being the next big thing of the future for Indian industry”.

Mr Sudhir Gurtoo stated in his address about Japanese technology being an ideal example of best manufacturing practice giving world “zero defect” principle. He also stressed that “Wedding” is most important event in one’s life and “Welding” is most important event in metal working technology and both must be handled with care.

Mr Uday Raykar mentioned that Pune is the city of technocrats and they are more than willing to adopt latest technology in welding to produce goods of international standard.

There were 140 participants from different companies like Bajaj Auto, Mahindra, Thyssenkrupp, Tata Motors, Thermax, Volkswagen, Cummins and various other MSME units and faculties from technical institutes like COEP, several ITI’s and many other engineering colleges.

Practical demonstration on latest welding technology at College of Engineering Pune (COEP)