Mastercam is focused on Skilling tomorrow’s Manufacturing Specialists

By OEM Update Editorial February 14, 2023 5:04 pm IST

Mastercam caters to nearly every industry that is engaged in manufacturing processes.
Mastercam’s industry focus is all-encompassing. The latest product releases include new functionality as well as improvements in milling, lathe and other leading modules. Mastercam caters to nearly every industry and covers all manufacturing processes. Mastercam is not designed for a specific industry, but rather for almost any machining application, be it automotive, aerospace, medical, oil & gas, general manufacturing or Die & Mould, among others.
Focus on enhancing productivity.
The cost of 5 Axis& Multi-tasking machines is coming down, and they have become more accessible to customers. To drive these 5 Axis machines, customers would require sophisticated software like Mastercam to program them efficiently. The intent is to add more functionality and features into multi-axis toolpaths to keep providing value to customers, as we have been doing in the past.
Industrial development and challenges
Challenges areabound everywhere. But in the current environment, especially in India, the government’s manufacturing focus is very supportive and conducive for growth. The expectations are for more to happen in the manufacturing sector by India for itself and the world. It is all very enabling as the future for the country’s manufacturing, fraternity, and ecosystem appear to be on the rise. The challenges are in the execution of project infrastructure, and they always remain around that. However, the government’s task teams can overcome them.
In any industry, whatever can be touched has to be machined or formed at some point. This insulates a lot of different economic outcomes. If one industry is down, another is up; thus, things have to be machined, and the primary focus therefore centers around it. Mastercam intends to continue to remain the solution of choice for everybody who seeks help with CNC machines’ programming. Mastercam is often the first choice for people looking forward to setting up their industry or enhancing their productivity.

Measures for upskilling the force
Mastercam is focused on the skilling space in India. The government of Karnataka has implemented an ITI upgradation programme, and Mastercam is a consortium partner in the project. Being an integral part of the initiative, Mastercam have already executed the ITI project at 150 locations in Karnataka and are also part of the MoU signed with three other progressive states – Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Assam. Since the 1960s, when ITI was set up in India, the government had decided to give vocational training to students so that they could go out into the market in trades that everybody required. Trades in those days were related to plumbing, electrical work, auto mechanic, etc. ITI students became the go-to segment for the automobile industry to hire machine operators and first line production workers.
The concept of ITI upgradation is to bring a higher level of sophistication required by the industry in current times, to the ITI’s and to make these students job ready, as soon as they complete their course.
An engineering college, Polytechnic, or ITI is just an institute in itself and is never attached to any industry, such as hospitals. Doctors have hands-on practice, and likewise lawyers too. However, engineers are not engineers in the truest sense, as they have some practical knowledge in the college labs and a lot of learning from books. Industry needs to hone their skills to be productive, which takes time. ITI has taken the initiative to break the chain and hasten the process. This ensures that industry gets trained people and ITI students get a better salary and bigger openings. They are also focused on futuristic technology rather than just the current trends. ITI today also has advanced CAD CAM software along with robotics. Theoretical learning is hand-in-hand with practice. The idea is that each of these ITIs becomes a small industry. The outlook is to provide the students with a commercial environment and enable them to get the prototyping done.
The first batch of students is coming out in 2023, and there will be an estimated 40,000 students going out into the manufacturing ecosystem each year. Roughly, 10 percent of these will become entrepreneurs, and many of them will have either an aspiration or an opportunity to go to other countries to work. In the Middle East, a lot of the workforce is Indian, and they have a slightly higher pay scale in comparison, creating higher earning opportunities. Students also have similar options in Southeast Asia, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Government Incentives
Government incentives such as the PLI scheme is a significant enabler of production, to industries that are set up as growth promoters. This will create a better layout for the manufacturing sector in India as well as providing the world with an alternative manufacturing destination with greater economic and political stability, than some peers in the global economic sense.
IMTEX is the largest machine  tool show in India, representing a meeting point of technologies. It’s an excellent place to meet old acquaintances, people from the industry, customers or prospects and partners at a common venue. They are a centre point for many activities scrunched up in a week. Interaction at all levels can be done with hundreds or thousands of people, which otherwise would have been difficult. Each day, exhibitors welcome hundreds of delegates from all over the country and many parts of the world, to their booth. IMTEX becomes the crucible of technology presence and discussions for seven days, culminating in business opportunities, technology talks and academic learning amongst the manufacturing community.