A report on the Technical Seminar and Workshop on High Precision Arc Welding Technology in India held in Chennai

Under the aegis of Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry, Japan (METI), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with AOTS (Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships) and Kasai Economic Federation (Kankeiren) organized a 2 day Technical Seminar and Workshop on High Precision Arc Welding Technology at Chennai on 22-23 Aug 2018. The seminar was organized at Hotel ITC Grand Chola, Guindy and the workshop which featured live demonstration of machine and robot welding technology was conducted at Advanced Training Institute (ATI). Workshop at Chennai was the first one of the three series workshops to be held in the current fiscal year 2018-19. The next 2 workshops and seminar are planned to be held in Ahmedabad on 23-24 Oct 2018 and Jamshedpur on 13-14 Dec 2018.

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.

Welding technology is the most critical metal working technology for the industrial sectors that are required to assure long-term reliability, such as the construction of buildings, bridges, and chemical plants, and the production of ships, vehicles and other transportation equipments. Based on a report published by CII, there is a requirement of fresh 50,000 new welders every year in India but on the contrary, the ITI’s and in India have a capacity to produce 15,000 to 20,000 welders only.

Reports say that the per capita consumption for finished steel products was estimated to be 59.4 Kg in India during year 2014. This is very low when compared to other developing countries. The low per capita consumption indicates significant growth potential of steel consumption in the country. The sustainable level of per capita consumption of steel is about 300 Kg per capita per year in a developed economy. When a country is in infrastructure mode, the consumption goes up even to 1000 Kg like that in the case of China (510 Kg.). The per capita consumption of steel in India would move from the level of 59 KG in 2014 to 175 KG in 2025-26. Considering the fact that the population of India is projected to grow to 1.43 billion that year, the steel consumption in 2025-26 is likely to be around 250 million MT.

The welding industry faces a pressing challenge in the growing lack of skilled welding operators. Many manufacturing operations struggle with every day as they work to keep their operations competitive. There are 2 ways to address the welding operator shortage – (1) Increase the work force by training more operators and (2) Increase productivity with existing welding operators.

Some of the key dignitaries present at the occasion were (Chief Guest) Mr. Kojiro Uchiyama, Consul – General of Japan in Chennai, Mr S Chandramohan, Vice Chairman – CII Tamil Nadu State (Southern Region) & Group President and CFO, TAFE Ltd, Mr Masafumi Himeno, Divisional Director – Smart Factory Solution (SFS) Division, Panasonic India Pvt Ltd. Amongst other key representations were Mr Sivanesan R, Sr. VP – Quality, Sourcing & Supply Chain, Ashok Leyland Ltd, Mr Anand Swaroop, Chief Mechanical Engineer (Planning), Integral Coach Factory-Chennai and Mr R. Senthil Kumar Director, Advanced Training Institute (ATI) Chennai.

The 2 day seminar serves 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 Kojiro Uchiyama referred to Japanese Prime Minister Mr Abe’s visit to India on 13-15 Sept 2017 & 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”. Japan has already started taking significant measures to improve the human resource in India and we shall continue to support such kind of initiatives in India.”

Mr Hisashi Kanda, AOTS, India stated “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 Chandramohan informed that Japanese technology is an ideal example of best manufacturing practice giving world “zero defect” principle. He also said 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 Masafumi Himeno said that Chennai is the hub of welding expertise and they are more than willing and equipped to adopt latest technology in welding to produce goods of international standard.
The Technical workshop and seminar is attended by more than 200 nos. of participants from leading companies like Ashok Leyland, India Metal One Steel Plate Processing Pvt Ltd, Tata Hitachi, Brakes India, Caterpillar, Komatsu, Daimler, Katsushiro Matax, etc. to name a few and institutes like Don Bosco, ATI, Integral Coach Factory (AWTI) and WRI, Trichy.