Tag: industrial research

IIT Kharagpur Partners with Jindal Stainless to Execute R&D Projects in Metallurgical Research & Development

India’s premier educational institution IIT Kharagpur signed an MoU with Jindal Stainless, the country’s largest stainless steel manufacturer, marking a pivotal moment in the advancement of metallurgical research and development.  In a bid to foster industry-academy collaboration, Jindal Stainless and IIT Kharagpur will work together on metallurgical projects, such as process optimization, materials characterization, and primary alloy production. This strategic alliance signifies a significant step forward in metallurgy, promising ground- breaking advancements and fostering a culture of innovation, as both organisations leverage their strengths to drive meaningful progress and contribute to the industry’s growth.

Prof. Virendra K Tewari, Director, IIT, Kharagpur, said, “This MoU with Jindal Stainless adds another milestone to industry-academia collaboration. By combining the academic expertise of IIT Kharagpur with Jindal Stainless, India’s largest stainless manufacturer, we aim to address pressing challenges and unlock new opportunities in the field of metallurgy. IIT KGP is suitably poised to offer technical and operational solutions. Together, we envision pushing the boundaries of innovation, fostering transformative solutions, and nurturing a new era of excellence in stainless steel technology promoting Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) under Vikshit Bharat 2047. This MoU with industry expert will affirm India’s position in global manufacturing industry and contribute to the vision and mission of IIT Kharagpur & the country at large.”

Prof. Virendra K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur; Prof. Rintu Banerjee, Dean, R&D; Prof. Shiv Brat Singh, Dean BTBS & HOD, Dept. of Metallurgy and Prof. Manas Paliwal, Dept. of Metallurgy at IIT Kharagpur were in attendance at the signing ceremony that took place at the IIT Kharagpur campus. Jindal Stainless’ Jajpur Unit Head, Mr. Deepak Agrawal; Business Head (Phase-I) & Chief Metallurgist, Mr. Awanindra K Singh; and Head, R&D, Mr. Daitari Kamila were also present on the occasion. The meeting was virtually attended by CEO, Jindal Stainless, Mr. Tarun Khulbe; COO, Jindal Stainless, Mr. Jagmohan Sood; and CHRO, Jindal Stainless, Mr. Sushil Baveja.

Commenting on the collaboration, Managing Director, Jindal Stainless, Mr. Abhyuday Jindal said, “We are thrilled to embark on this collaborative journey with one of India’s oldest and leading education institutes, IIT Kharagpur. This partnership will enable us to harness cutting-edge research in metallurgy and translate it into tangible solutions that benefit the industry and society at large. The MoU is a testament to our commitment to shaping the trajectory of stainless steel technology and making substantial strides in the industry, contributing to our collective pursuit of an Atmanirbhar India.”

Under the terms of the MoU, IIT Kharagpur will provide technical consultancy and engage in academic and industrial research to enhance productivity and process improvement at Jindal Stainless Limited. They will conduct lab-scale experiments, facilitate material characterization techniques, and support modelling and simulation studies, emphasizing the importance of waste reduction, recycling, and water conservation for sustainable metallurgical practices.

By: Poulami Mondal, Digital & Creative Media Executive (Creative Writer)
Email: poulami.mondal@iitkgp.ac.in, media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282007

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Robotics and Artificial Intelligence for the School Children in Regional Language

Following the mandate of National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), Prof. Dilip Kumar Pratihar, Institute Chair Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur, has developed one new course on “Robotics and Artificial Intelligence” of 11 hours duration in Regional Language (Bengali) for the School Children starting from Class-9 to Class-12, with the initiative of Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute (RKMVERI), Belur Math.

Recently awarded the Fellowship of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (FNAE) and presented the Fellowship Certificate in the Induction Ceremony held as a part of the Annual General Meeting of Fellows on 11th December 2023 at SOA University, Bhubaneswar, Dr. Pratihar developed this online course on Robotics & Artificial Intelligence for School Children in Regional Language i.e. Bengali  with the initiative of  Vivekdisha , an ICT-based Network of  Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute (RKMVERI), Belur Math. In future, initiatives will be taken by the RKMVERI, Belur Math, to translate this course to various Regional Languages across the country.

Watch the course live on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiuTvXtM4PTZ0MnbdgqZ0q3XXKCryibsJ

Prof. D K Pratihaar remarked, “This innovative course has already been started, and the students are enjoying and learning from it. With the recent advancements in technological transformations, we cannot only rely on what was once taught to us in terms of science education. Today the students need to be updated with the emerging technology that changes the way we have addressed the rising challenges of the world. The scope for Artificial Intelligence is vast in this technology driven world and the expertise of knowing its applications will be up for grabs in the recent future.”

VASVIK Award 2022 in Mechanical & Structural Sciences & Technology

Prof. Dilip Kumar Pratihar, has received the prestigious Vividhlaxi Audyogik Samshodhan Vikas Kendra (VASVIK) Award 2022, for his notable contributions in Industrial Research, in the field of Mechanical & Structural Sciences & Technology, during its 50th year of celebration held on 19th January 2024 in Mumbai. His significant contributions in Industrial Research include Root causes of failure analysis of Gas Turbine Unit, Pigtail Analysis, Optimal design of Leaf Spring for the heavy vehicles, Root causes of failure analysis of multi-stage Centrifugal Pump, and others, in which the fundamentals of Solid Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, Combustion, Principle of Gas Turbine, Gas Dynamics, Heat Transfer, Machine Design, and others have been used. He also carries out fundamental research on Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and others, extensively.

This Award is generally given to one person in one year from each of the 10 fields. This time, the VASVIK Award was presented by Dr. R. A. Mashelkar; Prof. M.M. Sharma; Dr. Mohan I. Patel, the Founder of this Award; Mr. Nayan Patel, Director, VASVIK, Prof. A. Pandit, and others.

The Video of the Award Ceremony is available in the You-tube Link: https://youtu.be/YWEcdTbCQNQ

 

Prof. Dilip Kumar Pratihar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur 

He has been awarded the “Technologist of the Year,” one of the most prestigious IEEE India Council Award, for his pioneering contributions to the fundamentals and applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Prof. Pratihar made significant contributions in design and development of intelligent autonomous systems in various fields of Engineering Science namely robotics, manufacturing science and others. He has proposed adaptive motion planning schemes for intelligent robots using the principle of soft computing, whose performances have been tested on real robots. In relation to automation in manufacturing processes, he has developed expert systems using soft computing to establish their input-output relationships both in forward and reverse directions. He is also the founder of Soft Computing Lab in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Centre for Excellence in Robotics.

Inputs by: Prof. D K Pratihar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur
Email: dkpra@mech.iitkgp.ac.in

By: Poulami Mondal, Digital & Creative Media Executive (Creative Writer)
Email: poulami.mondal@iitkgp.ac.in, media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282007

Follow us: Facebook – IIT Kharagpur; Twitter – @IITKgp;  Instagram – @iit.kgp; LinkedIn – Indian Institute of Technology
For news visit: https://kgpchronicle.iitkgp.ac.in/ 

STEP towards Innovation Drive

IIT Kharagpur has been among the firsts to build industrial parks within an academic setup, in the country. While the Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park (STEP) was set up within and in the vicinity of the IIT Kharagpur campus, a Research Park has also been built in Kolkata to set up industrial laboratories involving researchers from IIT Kharagpur. STEP is aimed at encouraging and nurturing students to launch their startups through incubation facilities.

Recently Prof. Virendra Kumar Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur in the context of mobile application development by Indian companies, has been vocal about start-up ecosystem in technical institutions. While keeping his faith on STEP IIT Kharagpur he  can lead the initiative through seed funding and incubation facility.

Prof. Siddhartha Das, the newly appointed Managing Director of Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park, shares his insights regarding STEP towards this end.

  • How STEP has been providing incubation support to startups? 

The Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park at IIT Kharagpur sprawls over 20,000 sq.ft. of incubation space which is made available to startups for incubation. While fully constructed laboratory facilities are available, mobile laboratories for conducting experiments have been developed too. Further the Park is equipped with conference space for brainstorming and collaboration. 

Apart from space for R&D and operations, STEP performs few critical functions which are essential for startups:

i) Seed Funding

ii) Intellectual Property and other techno-legal requirements

iii) Business operations Advisory

i) Seed Funding – Seed funding is one of the most important aspects of a start-up and for a company incubated at STEP, the following seed loans are provided: (a) Technology Business Incubator (TBI) Seed Loan, (b) Technology Incubation and Entrepreneurship Training Society (TIETS) Seed Loan, (c) Technology Development Board (TDB) Seed Loan and (d) Technology Incubation & Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE) Seed Loan. 

The seed loan amount ranges from ₹ 2 – 25 Lakh per start-up depending on the budget for the technology commercialization and business operations.

ii) Intellectual Property and Techno-legal requirements – Offering support in acquiring intellectual property rights is another important function of STEP. The unit collaborates with the law school of IIT Kharagpur, Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, towards conducting seminars and workshops round the year and educating entrepreneurs in techno-legal matters. Further, the IPR office of the Institute facilitates filing of IP and registration.

iii) Marketing and Business Operations – Now, probably the most important part of a business is marketing because that is what introduces the product to the world. STEP has been seeking expertise from one of the top most business schools in India as ranked by MHRD’s NIRF – Vinod Gupta School of Management (VGSOM). Not only its presence on the campus, but VGSOM is known for its innovative practices, focus on research and industrial consultancy, educational outreach, which make it just the right partner for STEP to enrich the marketing experience of the startups incubated at the Park. The faculty experts from VGSOM conduct lectures, seminars and discussion forums to train startups towards managing business operations efficiently and marketing of the products developed by them.

  • Who can apply for incubating their startup ideas under STEP?

A key factor for STEP is its inclusiveness. The unit is open to any technology-based start-up with the legal status to register and operate in India irrespective of whether they are associated with the Institute or not. It enables STEP to not only invite the 750+ faculty or 60000+ alumni worldwide or the current students, but also any Indian with the ambition to innovate new technologies. Furthermore, STEP is in the process of starting collaboration with MSMEs across the eastern region for entrepreneurship development. To promote technical advisory and networking it is also collaborating with various chambers of commerce and capital rich industries.

  • Will there be any special drive for developing mobile applications?

Our Director Prof. Virendra Kumar Tewari has affirmed that the incubation facilities at various technical institutions in India are capable of leading such drives. STEP IIT Kharagpur, indeed can emerge as a beacon because of our existing system of incubation through infrastructure, operational support and seed funding. STEP can boast of a decent record in terms of incubation. The total no. of companies incubated till date are 200 out of which 183 companies have graduated and 17 are being mentored.

In the current situation, it is quite important that useful mobile applications and services are designed and operated in India. The Director has already mentioned planning for a drive to call for submission of proposals for mobile application development which can be sponsored by the Institute. If the technologies developed are market worthy or for the B2B industry, then STEP would certainly step into the process to incubate them into startups for future use by India.

What’s Next for MSME

Adopting Industry 4.0 in MSMEs – The Way Forward in Post Pandemic World

On May 12, the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, in his COVID lockdown address asked the nation to be self-reliant. PM Modi was heard saying ‘be vocal for the local’ to emphasise the need for using indigenous products which would not only reduce our massive import bill but sustain our industrial sector especially Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). He announced a ₹20 lakh crore economic package which included a major stimulus to the post pandemic industrial world. Soon after, the Ministry of Finance announced details of the economic package in which out of the 15 relief measures, six were aimed to rejuvenate the lockdown-hit India’s enormous MSME sector.

MSME has stayed far from being the focal point of Indian industries, except for the textile brands and cottage industry, but it is the backbone of Indian economy. Going by statistics MSME units across the country employ more than 100 million people in the country and contribute close to 30% of India’s GDP and 50% of export revenue. It is not very difficult to forecast that India’s goal of a multi-trillion dollar economy cannot be achieved without further strengthening this sector. But amid the current COVID lockdown, MSMEs have been the worst hit. Even with the end of lockdown, staggered attendance policy to ensure social distancing would restrict MSME to start production in full strength. Availability of capital is another challenge. While the economic package announced by the Finance Minister would be addressing the capital issue but a technical perspective needs to be explored to address production issues. 

Sustaining MSMEs in Post Pandemic World

Prof. Surjya K Pal who is heading the Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology at IIT Kharagpur points out at Industry 4.0 as a pertinent solution for MSMEs under the current situation and the way ahead.

“We can observe a clear change in demand and supply dynamics due to the pandemic situation. It has driven people towards panic buying of pharma and personal care products while demand for most other industrial products have witnessed a dramatic drop. This has been coupled with migration of the workforce to their respective home locations which would have a long-term effect. There are speculations regarding their return due to the uncertainty of their employment, travel and stay at the cities of work. Even when they return, deployment of the full workforce on the shop floor would not be a possibility because of social distancing as being suggested by experts,” he remarked.

To overcome the situation, new concepts befitting the post COVID world would be necessary. But despite the economic package, MSMEs would face constraints to avail skilled manpower, undertake R&D to develop new technologies to adopt new product lines and business models. 

“This continued dependence on legacy machines would fall short in meeting the new market demands. They would need upgrades through Industry 4.0 solutions along with a skilled manpower,” opined Prof. Pal.

What is Industry 4.0?

Industry 4.0 is an umbrella of several digital tools such as cloud computing, big data, augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, deep learning, robotics, additive manufacturing etc. These have high potential for use in different industrial sectors and various phases of manufacturing to make headway into the process of automation, reduce production time and accelerate the return to normal business operations. Further this process transformation would also create more resilient business operations. 

Prof. Pal terms Industry 4.0 as the new mandate for the entire industrial world and not only MSMEs.

“With social distancing and limited workforce, automation is the obvious avenue to meet production targets. Industries need to come up with strategies for such advanced manufacturing and how to apply them across various product lines to avoid facing COVID-like challenges in future. Such strategies are a global reality and in India we need to move ahead of concept mode and adopt them in practicality. However, we need to also consider the economic viability of the strategies for our industries, particularly the MSME sector,” he added.

But who is going to help the MSMEs to take this giant leap especially under the current socio-economic situation? 

The Ministry of Finance has announced a  ₹50,000 crore as equity funding into MSME sector aimed towards capacity expansion and for the purpose of market-listing. However, while MSMEs can bid on this opportunity, there would still remain the need for upskilling the workforce and developing technical solutions. To achieve the goals of self-reliance and import substitution as set by the Prime Minister of India, strategic infrastructure and policy development is required for enhancing human capability and R&D.

Role of Technical Institutions:

In a recent interview, Prof. Virendra Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur emphasised on the role of technical institutions in rejuvenating MSMEs through capitalizing on the R&D infrastructure and expertise and provision of training. [Read Full Interview]

Explaining this further Prof. Pal said, “academic institutes like IITs have to provide specific low-cost solutions for automation to the MSME sector to sustain their business as we pass through various phases of COVID pandemic. This could be retrofitting existing machineries to meet requirements of upgraded production and precision of process, quality of products and potential of the manufacturing setup to be used for dynamic production facilities. In addition, training of the workforce would help MSMEs adapt to digital tools of Industry 4.0.”

He further pointed out the spillover effect of such upgradation towards reduction in cost of production and making products more affordable for end users, impact demand supply dynamics and also creating avenues for new product development.

Centre of Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing Technologies – taking the lead

IIT Kharagpur took a lead in achieving the aforesaid goals by setting up the Centre of Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing Technologies supported by Dept. of Heavy Industries, Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Govt. of India and an industrial consortium comprising six large scale capital goods manufacturers and a startup. The Centre has been designed to provide technological solutions, R&D facility in digital tools, new materials, additive manufacturing, automation, training of human resources engaged in production. The  interdisciplinary Centre has been conducting training programmes on Computer Numerical Control and has also developed a training module for industrial robotics and other short-term courses and training programmes. 

Talking about the activities at the Centre, Prof. Pal said, “The reliance on robotic industrial solutions in the post pandemic world will only increase. So will increase the need for new products and processes. For example, there would be the need for real-time and cost-effective assessment of product quality. We have developed an affordable solution to carry out this function by amalgamating basic products with deep learning and creating industry 4.0 solutions. We will also work towards ensuring accuracy of such products and processes.” 

Automation induced directional change in employment

Reassuring the smooth continuation of industrial manufacturing through automation, Prof. Pal also dispelled the speculations of a distressed employment situation. MSMEs employ more than 75% of the workforce in the manufacturing sector. While automation would lead to downsizing the manpower requirement, through upskilling and re-skilling the workforce can be deployed in the new industrial environment. 

His optimism echoed in his statement, “automation would lead to human resource requirements for maintenance of machineries with knowledge of digital functions of the machines. Further ancillary industries would evolve which would need skilled workforce.”

Director’s talk on rejuvenating MSME post-COVID

From the desk of Director, IIT KGP:

The post-COVID industrial world would wake up to a new dawn towards the involvement of MSMEs in re-energizing the industrial sector. This sector has a huge contribution in our manufacturing industry. However, as the pandemic situation leads to a new normal, availability of capital would become a challenge for MSMEs thus creating bottlenecks for jumpstarting industrial production and employment of labourers. Social distancing would also restrict employment of existing workforce in full strength. Further the low capital situation would delay new product development or sustenance of production at current costs thus disrupting the dynamic demands of industries and consumers. 

This crucial situation can be addressed by the state funded technical institutions like IITs, NITs, central universities and research labs which can play a key role towards rejuvenating MSMEs. We have the expertise to start exploring the market demands and product requirements, based on the economic condition of industries, especially MSMEs. We can help them bridge the gap by innovating product designs for affordable items with large scale use. These could be PPEs, medical kits, sanitation items etc. which would obviously find a ready market. Also the capital goods sector is evolving. We have seen automobile sector is branching out into medical equipment. Hence the opportunity is enormous.

Other areas wherein technical institutions can intervene are capacity building and upgradation of shop floor technologies keeping in view limited budgets. We can develop applications for MSMEs to help them connect with demand and supply points, provide information updates regarding finances available, government and banking notices, market situation, latest technologies, thus creating an economic model. 

Also we have to ensure that R&D of centrally funded institutes is channelised to the MSMEs or manufacturing companies engaging with the sector. This would require the focus of R&D to be outcome based, encompassing all technological domains, achieving significant levels of import substitution, benefiting the public at large and strengthening our economy. 

Further, the MSMEs can be trained on high-end technologies to conduct experiments and design new products. Such units can also deliver trained personnel who can launch startups or help the manufacturing sector to upgrade their product and process design and production.

At IIT Kharagpur, we have set up one such training unit – the Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology, with support from the Department of Heavy Industry of Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Government of India, along with a consortium of top six industry members in the country.

However, all of these have a steep timescale and the initiatives need to be launched with a sense of urgency to help sustain the MSMEs in the coming months.

IIT KGP’s SATHI for Industries and Academia

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IIT Kharagpur has been selected for the SATHI Centre initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India. This facility named as Sophisticated Analytical and Technical Help Institute (SATHI) Centre will be developed as a state of the art shared, professionally managed Science and Technology infrastructure facility. The primary objective of the centre is to extend help to the neighbouring academic Institutes, research establishments and the industries, particularly the start-ups and manufacturing units for using the state of the art sophisticated instruments, which do not exist anywhere else, in a few selected areas.

The SATHI Centre at IIT Kharagpur will comprise 5 strongly interconnected verticals: (1) Nano-Scale Imaging and Spectroscopy Facility; (2) Ultra-High Temperature Structural Material Characterization Facility; (3) Biological and Soft Materials Analysis Facility; (4) Quantum Opto-Electronics Measurement Facility and (5) High-Frequency Electronic Measurement Facility. The equipment and facilities proposed to be acquired for this Centre will cater to the ever-increasing and diverse need of scientists and technologists of the country.

An amount of ₹ 125 crore is earmarked for the centre for coming three financial years starting from 2019-20.

“The Institute is geared up to take this activity forward. We have already identified the requisite physical infrastructure for setting up this facility and we expect to start the activities for this Centre soon,” confirmed Officiating Director Prof. Sriman Kumar Bhattacharyya.

As per DST mandate, the SATHI Centre will run 24×7 round the year. At least 70% of instrument time will be reserved for external users from other academic institutes, national laboratories, start-ups, entrepreneurs and the industry. Along with IIT Kharagpur, IIT Delhi and IIT BHU have also been considered for similar centres by DST.

“IIT Kharagpur will treat the SATHI Centre as its Social Scientific Responsibility (SSR) programme to promote the culture of science-based Entrepreneurship and Startups in the country, by helping the users analyzing the results obtained from the instruments to achieve meaningful and scientific understanding,” opined Prof. Rabibrata Mukherjee.

The Centre would involve the highest level of expertise of IIT Kharagpur in several key convergence domains of Science & Technology such as Medical Sciences, Soft Materials, Structural & Safety Engineering, Quantum Photonics, Advanced Communication and Nano Technology. This will be added with excellent on-campus infrastructure, outreach centres in several metro cities, availability of trained faculty, student, postdoctoral and technical staff, ERP based research management system, Central Research Facility for internal and external users.

“With several of our existing industrial-scale infrastructure and the further up-gradation to the new infrastructure we are aiming for the SATHI Centre at IIT Kharagpur towards becoming a national centre of excellence, catering to the scientific need of the country,” added Prof. Mukherjee.

State of the art equipment to highlight a few will be installed as part of the SATHI unit:

  • Aberration Corrected High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope,
  • Kelvin Probe Force Microscope, Cryo-FESEM with Micro Raman and environmental imaging,
  • High-Temperature Furnace Mounted Universal testing Machine,
  • Stimulated Emission Depletion Microscopy (STED)
  • Super-Resolution Microscope, Color X-Ray,
  • Time-resolved fluorescence,
  • Raman and transient absorption spectroscopy,
  • Integrated Cryo-Electronic Testbed and more

IIT KGP to Drive MSME Innovations

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IIT Kharagpur is all set to build Eastern India’s first Industrial Research and Innovation Unit for MSMEs and Start-ups. The Groundbreaking Ceremony of the Industrial Research and Innovation Unit of the DHI Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology at IIT Kharagpur was held in the august presence of Shri Babul Supriyo, Hon’ble Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises on February 3, 2019.

Setting up a state-of-the-art centre for manufacturing in Eastern India was a vision of Shri Babul Supriyo which will enable our top industries to compete with the best, rejuvenate the industries which are shutting down, motivate IITians to lead hi-tech manufacturing. The Centre, which was launched in November 2017 aims to stimulate the innovation to manufacture smart machines in the capital goods sector for sustainable products having higher productivity with reduced cost.

“The challenge is to deliver quality products with high-end technologies at an affordable and competitive price. To ensure that the MSMEs and the industrial partners can do that, R&D needs to be done in a state-of-the-art way,” he remarked.

The 40000 sq.ft Industrial Research and Innovation Unit will house high-end industrial equipment such as Industry 4.0 enabled robotic welding facility, Industry scale CT scan machine, Hybrid additive manufacturing facility for industrial jobs, Robotic 3D laser scanner for structural vibration testing and many more. It will support activities such as Design, fabrication and automation of manufacturing, Digital manufacturing and Industrial IoT, Specialty materials, and Additive manufacturing.

“We have brought in people from various domains such as materials, processes, designers, AI and data sciences and also formed a consortium including industries, DHI and our board of governors to ensure sustainability of this initiative. IIT Kharagpur has decided to set up a state-of-the-art industrial manufacturing shed which will house advanced machinery for further technological development and also sample industry 4.0 factory which will become a training and production point for all manufacturers in the country. One of our goals is to invent Make in India products for India and abroad for which we will have to unleash innovations through this Innovation Centre,” said Prof. P P Chakrabarti, Director, IIT Kharagpur.

Further to these, an Innovation Lab has been built to promote the culture of innovation and open engineering facilitating MSMEs and Start-ups to avail end-to-end support from the experts including access to various state-of-the-art facilities for early prototyping of their product. Prof. Surjya K Pal, Professor-in-Charge of DHI Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology emphasized the activity of training the MSMEs to enable capacity building and technology infusion and catalyze start-ups towards innovation-based modern manufacturing. “The industry partners will table their niche problems which would be addressed through bringing innovation in manufacturing,” he said.

While it is seed funded by the Department of Heavy Industry of Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Government of India, a consortium of top industry members in the country have partnered in various activities at the Centre including Tata Sons, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, TCS, HEC Ranchi, and BHEL. Few more industrial houses have expressed interest in joining the consortium, confirmed Prof. Chakrabarti.

“Setting up of DHI Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology with the state-of-the-art facilities is a great step in advancing the research and technology development in manufacturing when the whole world is focusing on Industry 4.0. The centre has been set up at the most appropriate time and I believe that the expertise that is available at IIT Kharagpur will certainly lead to a new direction with a clear paradigm shift,” said Deputy Director of IIT Kharagpur, Prof. S K Bhattacharyya.

The Centre currently involves faculty experts from the departments of Mechanical Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering and Metallurgy and Materials Engineering. Expertise will also be sought from various other specialized units at IIT Kharagpur at a later stage to facilitate the start-ups and MSMEs confirmed Prof. Pal.

The total cost of the project is Rs. 65.19 crore. The Ministry has granted initial funding of Rs. 47.62 crore. Additional funding of Rs. 17.57 crore is being raised from the industrial partners through projects. IIT Kharagpur has already provided land, technological and infrastructural support to the extent of Rs. 25 crore.

The Centre will also launch short-term courses on Advanced welding methods, Additive manufacturing, and Industry 4.0. The Centre is providing high-value fellowship to the doctoral scholars working on those topics.

Photo Credit: Arnab Moitra