Harting
Harting

Do you want to advertise here? Contact us

LMW
LMW

Do you want to advertise here? Contact us

Need improvisation towards welding with certification
.

Need improvisation towards welding with certification

By OEM Update Editorial June 18, 2019 11:34 am

RSrinivasan, President 2014-2017, The Indian Institute of Welding and Chairman, IIW Foundation. The Indian Institute of Welding discusses how welding is an integral and important activity in the metal joining process and part of the manufacturing activity. The optimum use of digitalisation in the Indian industry, in terms of manufacturing, is being just explored very recently.

Make in India transforming outlook of manufacturers
What I feel is that the Make in India initiative, which was started in 2014, has really transformed the outlook of manufacturers in the country. I would say that manufacturers, who earlier used to rely partly on foreign technology and services, are now thinking out of the box to make substitute of products, which were being imported, and make it available in the country. It may not be happening in all segments, but at least in some key segments, people are trying to explore possibilities to find an indigenous and equally technically cost effective solutions.

The Make in India initiative has given manufacturers the opportunity to develop new products instead of importing it. Lot of R&D activities are happening in the Indian welding industry, which is a very positive sign. Whatever we’ve achieved might be negligible, but at least steps are being taken. I feel that this initiative will give manufacturers a long term objective and people would be able to take advantage of it. Maybe, we need to travel a long distance to reach the milestone, but the change has begun.

Digital India’s efforts to empower ‘intelligent welding’
Welding is an integral and important activity in the metal joining process and it is part of the manufacturing activity. Going digital is a challenge faced not only by the welding industry, but also all sectors of manufacturing. The optimum use of digitalisation in the Indian industry, in terms of manufacturing, is being just explored very recently.

Primarily, I feel that the personnel who are involved in the manufacturing activity have limited access to digital controls. However, large industrial houses, which are moving towards implementation of Industry 4.0, have sufficient access and expertise. Previously, manufacturing activity has not explored the use of digital services. But, now, the Digital India initiative has given an opportunity for the people to look beyond traditional manufacturing practices.

Industries are now open to adopt digitalisation, but the lack of infrastructure is becoming a hindrance. Large industrial houses should support smaller companies associated with them to adopt digitalisation. Also, there are lot of vocational training centres in the country, which are still not exploring the advantage of digitalisation. There are lot of government and private training bodies where digitalisation has to be introduced. But, the major concern is funding; this is where the role of government is very important. In order to make digitalisation play an important role in the metal joining industries in our country, efforts to develop a strong knowledge sharing programme should be devised at all levels.

Welding industry is the key element
Today, welding is the largest activity segment of the fabrication industry, irrespective of any project. For the welding industry, civil, mechanical, infrastructure, defence, ship building, transportation, power, agriculture and other segments will never be removed as long as steel or metals are the main materials to join. The quantum of importance given to various manufacturing activities are not been given to welding. Even today, somehow, in the industry, welding is treated as an also-ran activity. Wherever steel is to be joined with other material, there is no other technology other than welding. But, unfortunately, welding industry has never been recognised. I think the public awareness on welding itself is very poor.

Recent reports of infrastructure collapses in some of the places, where the welding activity was neglected, speaks about the importance it gets at present, which is really a very disturbing aspect. I, as a welding engineer involved with this activity for over 40 years, feel the pinch. The emphasis on quality and safety is not being done. The rust collared workers lack training and their health hazards are hardly being addressed. The organisation has to look after the welders and the welding professionals, and give more importance to welding activity. Investments should be done on quality management in welding, training, and better quality safety accessories.

Accepting welding as an integral process

Advertising

OEM Android App

Your future advertising space? Our media data

The trend of welding
There are new materials being introduced with new composition in steel, non-ferrous alloys, alloys and aluminium. New metals are being developed depending upon the industry’s needs. When a new metal is being developed, naturally, it poses a big challenge to the welding engineers and experts. There will always be a challenge on how to weld, how to maintain the welding, what type of consumable is required, and what type of welding technology must be applied. Consistent and continuous development of the welding process and technology, with respect to various materials, are definitely giving us an opportunity to grow.

Roadmap for the future
Today, the welding industry’s growth is directly proportional to the growth of steel and the per capita consumption of the steel in the country. Normally, it is welding that accounts to approximately three per cent of the total steel used. Since the country is having very ambitious target of proposing to produce over 260 million tonnes of steel the welding industry is equally poised to meet the demands.The welding industry is also expected to grow in line with the expected GDP growth.

In addition, to make things more robust, I feel that the fundamental requirement is to have proper welding education at the undergraduate level. I’d like to express my desire to the Ministry of Human Resource Development and All India Council for Technical Educationton introduce a four-year Bachelor of Engineering programme in welding, or welding and metallurgy together, or maybe a part of industrial engineering or production engineering at academic level.

Once the students come out of colleges, at least they would be aware about welding. Then we would be able to have a much better qualified welding engineers with digitalisation in their mind. This will definitely help the industry to grow, further enabling us to compete with people internationally. In order to meet the surging demands, changes of metals, digitalisation, I feel that there should be a full-fledged welding research centre in our country.

Today, India is no more a developing country, but a developed economy. Today, the world is looking at India as a hub of manufacturing. With the technology and manpower available, I think a little amount of boost from the government and from other sector would be able to make the Indian welding industry perform better.

By hiring certified welders, the quality of welding will be much better and the production quality would be much higher, which would result in lesser defects, and improved service condition of equipment
R. Srinivasan, President 2014-2017, The Indian Institute of Welding and Chairman, IIW Foundation

Cookie Consent

We use cookies to personalize your experience. By continuing to visit this website you agree to our Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.

Tags: Facility
Webinar
Webinar

Do you want to advertise here? Contact us

OEM Update QR Code
OEM Update QR Code

Events

India Essen Welding and Cutting Expo
India Essen Welding and Cutting Expo
Logimat India
Logimat India
Metal Forming Expo
Metal Forming Expo

eMagazine November 2024

eMagazine November 2024
eMagazine November 2024

Do you want to advertise here? Contact us

Our Sponsors

DIRAK
DIRAK
Pragati Gears
Pragati Gears
Carl Zeiss India
Carl Zeiss India
STMCNC
STMCNC
Nord
Nord
Messer Cutting
Messer Cutting
Atos Profilo
Atos Profilo
Fronius
Fronius
SCHMALZ
SCHMALZ
Sigma-Weild
Sigma-Weild
Mallcom
Mallcom
igus
igus
DH Secheron Electrodes
DH Secheron Electrodes
Timken India
Timken India
UNP Polyvalves India Pvt Ltd
UNP Polyvalves India Pvt Ltd
ENS Oils & Lubricants
ENS Oils & Lubricants
Super Slides
Super Slides
Autonics
Autonics
Fuel Instruments  Engineers
Fuel Instruments  Engineers
Velvex
Velvex
Universal Orbital
Universal Orbital
Chicago Pneumatic Tools
Chicago Pneumatic Tools
MMC Hardmetal Pvt Ltd
MMC Hardmetal Pvt Ltd
Mennekes
Mennekes
ACD Machines
ACD Machines
TruCut
TruCut
tectyl
tectyl
BKT Tires
BKT Tires
Fibro India
Fibro India
Deceler
Deceler
Balluff
Balluff
Urgo Capital
Urgo Capital
Amsak Cranes
Amsak Cranes
Molygraph
Molygraph
SKS Welding
SKS Welding
pioneer Cranes
pioneer Cranes
Exorint
Exorint
Schmersal India
Schmersal India
Exon mobil
Exon mobil