 "'Industry-academia connect make TN enviable for advanced manufacturing'")
A skilled talent pool, strong collaboration between Industry and academia, and a good infrastructure ecosystem have made Tamil Nadu a sought-after state for advanced manufacturing, said industry experts at the Business Standard Tamil Nadu Round Table 2023.
This is also evident in the recent numbers shared by the state government. After nearly tripling its electronics exports in 2022-23, Tamil Nadu is likely to strengthen its presence as an electronics exporter in 2023-24 by crossing the $8 billion mark, up around 49 per cent from $5.37 billion last year. This comes at a time when the state has already touched exports of $4.8 billion, contributing 31 per cent to the total exports out of India.
One of the reasons for this growth has been the China-Plus-One strategy of global manufacturers like Apple, which made its contractors Foxconn and Pegatron and suppliers like Salcomp have a presence in Tamil Nadu as the country’s electronic hub.
Kartikeyan P, head of materials management, Nokia Solutions & Networks, Chennai Factory said, “We have a talent pool from the base work environment to the senior level - the talent which is required for any industry is very abundant here. There is a very strong collaboration between industry and academia for that infrastructure to get developed.”
Kartikeyan was part of the panel discussion on ‘Tamil Nadu as India’s advanced manufacturing hub: Prospects & Challenges’.
Gopala Krishnan CS, chief manufacturing officer, Hyundai Motors India also agreed. “In terms of what Tamil Nadu is offering, is the skill sets...we have an excellent talent pool here and above that we have a very good infrastructure ecosystem, connectivity and everything. So that we could contribute to the global volume,” he said.
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This is evident in why investors have preferred Tamil Nadu among other states. Other leading states that have managed to raise investor interest are Uttar Pradesh ($2.58 billion), Karnataka ($2.29 billion), Maharashtra ($1.69 billion), Gujarat ($1.59 billion), Delhi ($807 million) and Haryana $386 million), but lag in front of $5.37 billion clocked last fiscal.
Krishnan, however, suggested the government assess various industries to identify the gaps. He said, “At present, all the industries are at different levels of maturity in terms of advanced manufacturing practices. If they are able to go through some kind of assessment methodology and if they're able to identify the gap points where they can improve, will help them to leverage the advanced manufacturing practices.”
Talking about the industrial ecosystem of the state, Hans Raj Verma, chairman and managing director, Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation (TIIC) said, “Unlike other states, Tamil Nadu is not a mega cluster, it has multiple clusters. This decentralised industrialisation with specific clusters like the Chennai cluster, comprising the number two from the emerging Hosur cluster, Salem cluster, Coimbatore cluster, Trichy, offers exciting opportunities for investments in Tamil Nadu.”
The panelists agreed that India has the ecosystem to be a hub for advanced manufacturing in the coming years.
"The C4I4 lab which is available in Pune is bridging the gap between the technology providers and companies by offering various solutions. IIT Madras has advanced manufacturing facilities to boost manufacturing and R&D. So, India as a whole has got a positive outlook and we can take the best practices out of here to the global level also," said Krishnan while talking about government support in the field.
One of the points highlighted was the need to also make micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) part of the advanced manufacturing practices.
Verma opined that matching the engineering capabilities of MSMEs with sectors such as defence and aerospace could be beneficial. "For advanced manufacturing, we need to take MSMEs on board and educate them that investments in IR-4 projects and energy transitions are not just costs but strategic business decisions," Verma said.
Karthikeyan called for government support in establishing an unbiased agency to aid these initiatives, especially for smaller companies aspiring to match the capabilities of larger multinational corporations.
Automation in Manufacturing
The panelists, while talking about automation, said the focus lies in automating traditionally monotonous jobs, ensuring a seamless blend of efficiency and worker well-being.
“In terms of the automation, we are trying to focus on how we can support the workers' productivity at the same time by ensuring the safety as well wherever it is dangerous,” said Krishnan CS.
“There’s an aspiration of the people to move from the redundant jobs to high-value addition jobs. So, we are trying to move out people from non-value added and redundant operations and replace them with automation,” added Kartikeyan.
Announcing the further investment of Hyundai in Tamil Nadu, Krishnan said, "We're going to invest in a battery system assembly plant which will cater up to 75,000 to 100,000 units a year so that we can make the battery assembly in Tamil Nadu itself. We are developing a whole ecosystem here, and whatever the good practices are in advanced manufacturing, we are communicating to our suppliers as well and are hand-holding them so that they will also leverage these benefits and can improve their competencies".
Balasubramaniam M, CEO, 3i Medical Technologies expressed optimism about the burgeoning potential of the medical technology (med tech) industry, likening it to the next pharmaceutical or IT sector. “The med tech industry is going to be, in my view, the next pharma or IT, because of the competitiveness of our industry,” he said.
He urged the government to recognise the nascent nature of the med tech industry and provide substantial support, underlining the industry's current valuation of less than $12 billion, and projecting its potential to reach $50 billion, with a significant portion stemming from exports.
Med tech opportunity
While responding to a question on the use of advanced technologies in medtech space, Balasubramaniam highlighted the absence of an ecosystem capable of manufacturing core components of medical devices.
"About 60 per cent of the value of medical devices 'manufactured' in India is imported. How can med tech firms be more competitive if they import the core components from outside?" Balasubramaniam asked.
He stated that the government has to provide support in creating the infrastructure and vendor ecosystem which will help companies, including MSMEs that cannot invest heavily in core manufacturing.
"For core technology, there could be a different method of approach, could be co-investment model, or entire plant and equipment be developed by the government so that we can leverage that," he added.