Tag: Industry 4.0

IIT Kharagpur inks MoU with HCLTech to Jointly Develop Innovative and Sustainable Solutions for Petroleum Industry

IIT Kharagpur inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with HCLTech, a leading global technology company on 31 May 2023, to collaborate in the field of petroleum engineering and earth sciences. HCLTech and IIT Kharagpur will jointly develop innovative and sustainable solutions to address critical challenges of the petroleum industry including reduction of carbon footprint and provide significant sustainable solutions towards net zero carbon emissions.

“We are pleased to work with HCLTech on this path-breaking initiative. Academia and industry need to forge such symbiotic partnerships that will be instrumental in advancing research and innovation in technology, besides creating a skilled workforce. Joint activities in research and knowledge development have tremendous potential for creating economic and social impact on society,” said Prof. Chandan Chakraborty, Dean (R&D), IIT Kharagpur.

Under the agreement, HCLTech will work to provide opportunities to students and research scholars from IIT Kharagpur to undertake projects and internships at the company, using state-of-the-art technologies to develop digital solutions in the exploration, drilling and production of hydrocarbons. Both IIT Kharagpur and HCLTech will initiate collaboration on programmes of sustainability that includes discussions, podcasts and joint presentations at international forums on transformative initiatives in the oil and gas sector.

“We are pleased to announce our partnership with IIT Kharagpur, which is focused on developing advanced solutions for the oil and gas industry using cutting-edge technologies such as AI/ML, IoT, Industry 4.0, digital engineering, and cloud computing. We aim to introduce eco-friendly solutions that promote innovation, optimize value and prioritize low-carbon sustainability within the industry,” said Ajay Bahl, Chief Growth Officer, Americas, Mega Industries, HCLTech.

Across the value chain, HCLTech provides solutions spanning complex engineering in the upstream and leverages its experience and capabilities in digital transformation, IoT, automation, analytics and artificial intelligence to help unlock value for organizations in their transformation journey.

HCLTech is a global technology company, home to more than 225,900 people across 60 countries, delivering industry-leading capabilities centered around digital, engineering and cloud, powered by a broad portfolio of technology services and products. We work with clients across all major verticals, providing industry solutions for Financial Services, Manufacturing, Life Sciences and Healthcare, Technology and Services, Telecom and Media, Retail and CPG, and Public Services. Consolidated revenues as of 12 months ending March 2023 totaled $12.6 billion. To learn how we can supercharge progress for you, visit hcltech.com.

Media Coverage :

Times of India Telegraph Economic Times
Business Standard The Print CNBC TV 18
Deccan Herald Dainik Jagran Hindi Bartaman
Devdiscourse Edex Live  

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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For news visit: https://kgpchronicle.iitkgp.ac.in/ 

IIT Kharagpur handed over Industry 4.0 solution to GRSE

The Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology (CoEAMT) of IIT Kharagpur has handed over its Industry 4.0 solution to Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE), under Ministry of Defence. The Centre has developed a software for GRSE, named iWeld wherein AI will detect the defective portion from weld radiography images and classify the type of defect. Tested over large number of samples at GRSE, it gives a very high accuracy of 93.18%. The software has been developed by Mr. Avishek Mukherjee, Doctoral Scholar of IIT Kharagpur under the supervision of Prof. Surjya K Pal, Chairperson of the CoEAMT and Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of IIT Kharagpur.

iWeld is likely to replace the need of skilled weld supervisors in near future to evaluate the X-ray films. Additionally, CoEAMT has also taken up another project for Research & Development Centre for Iron & Steel (RDCIS) Ranchi, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) to do the vibration data analytics of exhauster fan in steel industries. The Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology has also bagged Rs 30.18 Cr project fund in phase-2, from the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) and Public Enterprises, Government of India to develop various solutions on futuristic manufacturing domains such as cobots in manufacturing, Augmented and Virtual Reality in training and process quality monitoring, affordable healthcare equipment manufacturing, Industry 4.0 solutions for composite wind turbine blade manufacturing etc. with the help of various industries such as Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Metaliks, TCS, Tata Medical and Diagnostics, and LM Windpower.

On the lines of Industry-Academia Collaboration, Prof. Surjya K Pal remarked, “I am sure with such affiliations from Industry and Government funded projects, and regular short term courses on modern manufacturing concepts, and hands-on training programmes throughout the year, the prominence of the Centre will steer ahead. Understanding the country’s need of reskilling and upskilling the manpower on modern manufacturing concepts, CoEAMT provides hands-on training on CNC to working professionals, technical staffs and students. The CNC training that took place from 5th December to 9th December 2022 for the sixth time, had total filled-in participation comprising of working professionals from MSMEs and technical staff members from academic institutes like IIT Kanpur, IIT Goa, students from IIT KGP and many more.”

The Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology has been established at IIT Kharagpur through the support from the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Government of India, along with a consortium of top six industry members in the country in 2018. The centre aims to stimulate the innovation in low-cost manufacturing solutions for various industries while working in a synergistic way towards the common goals of infusing cutting edge technologies, and to come up with research and development for sustainable products.

Media Coverage :

PTI Outlook India NDTV
Millennium Post The Print Business Standard
News Career 360 The Logical Indian The Hans India

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

IIT Kharagpur and University of Manchester Rolls out its first batch of Dual Doctoral Students

IIT Kharagpur and University of Manchester is proud to roll-out its first batch of Dual Ph.D students for autumn 2021. The news of this prestigious association was first announced in April, 2021 highlighting the unique character of the Programme. All facets of the programme including selection, admission, supervision and evaluation has been jointly administered with perfect synchronicity by competent authorities on both sides.

Owing to the pandemic disruptions in 2020-21 and because of the programme protocol that required selected students to spend their first year at IITKGP, in its first year the programme was open to only Indian students satisfying the eligibility criteria. The partners are optimistic that in the following years when travel restrictions are lifted and normalcy is restored world-wide, the programme will be made available to international applicants as well.

For IITKGP-UMan Dual Doctoral Programme, jointly supervised projects were chosen from across a number of thematic areas including computational chemistry, healthcare and medical technologies, environmental geochemistry, biomaterials and Industry 4.0.

The selection process involved a rigorous multiple level review and evaluation by the Joint Programme Board comprising of the Deans and Associate Deans of both the institutions. All 50 applicants had commendable credentials and it was a difficult task for the selection committee to select the five final awardees based on the understanding of their projects, a short verbal presentation on their proposed research and plans, and a concluding Question & Answer session.

Prof. G.P. Rajasekhar, Dean Faculty of Science and a member of the selection committee feels, “Selecting the 5 awardees was the most difficult decision we had to make because all of them were outstanding. The rigor of the selection process indeed made this a very prestigious programme for students across the country.”

Mr. Aniruddha Das and Mr. Sumanta Laha who have completed their Masters from IITKGP, will be associated with the Departments of Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering respectively. While Mr. Das will be working on, ‘Transition Metal Mediated Difunctionalization of Arynes’ under the joint supervision of Dr. Ganesh Venkataraman at IITKGP and Prof. Michael Greaney from Manchester; Mr Laha will be working on Hydrodynamics of Prosthetic Mechanical Heart Valves to investigate the hydrodynamics of a mechanical heart valve in an effort to develop an ideal design of the valve to enhance the life expectancy and improve the quality of the patient’s life style.

Sumanta believes, “I am not only happy but also lucky to receive such a prestigious scholarship from IIT Kharagpur and University of Manchester. Though the selection processes was rigorous, it was quite interesting. With this scholarship, it has become my responsibility to complete the project and contribute to the area of cardiovascular research which may help the doctors save lives around the globe.”

Mr. Shubhra K. Nandi another final awardee, who has completed his Masters from IIT Ropar, will be working on a project titled, ‘Development of novel metal/ceramic composites via laser-assisted additive manufacturing processing for advanced surface engineering applications’ at the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department of IITKGP. He will be supervised by Dr-Ing. Siddhartha Roy (IITKGP) and Prof. Philip Withers (UMan) as Principal Investigators, and Prof. Indranil Manna (IITKGP) and Prof. Allan Matthews (UMan) as Co-Principal Investigators. Nandi expresses an “ardent desire to contribute to the field of additive manufacturing and advanced materials” and feels that the project is very much aligned with his interests.

Ms. Juhi Srivastava from IIT Jodhpur and Ms. Anjali Srivastava from IIT Guwahati were among the other awardees of this prestigious scholarship. Ms. Srivastava, who would also be affiliated to the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department of IITKGP, will be working on, ‘Microstructural effects on environmentally assisted cracking in model 7xxx alloys.’ Juhi opined, “I really appreciate the assistance and financial aid and cannot express my gratitude enough. With this scholarship, I am able to set higher goals for myself and push myself harder.”

Ms. Anjali Jayakumar will be conducting her project work at the School of Nano Science and Technology IIT Kharagpur, followed by the Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, at University of Manchester. She will be working on the ‘Synthesis of graphene and graphene-based composites using agriculture waste for desalination’. Through her research, Anjali will attempt to tackle the global water scarcity phenomenon by employing advanced materials such as graphene to desalinate seawater and counter the rising demand of pure drinking water. Anjali feels delighted as she will be getting a unique opportunity to work with two different research teams of two different world class institutions during her doctoral research. Anjali feels, “I have always wanted to pursue my doctoral research on a topic with a great societal impact. I am excited as my project strives to tackle the world water crisis, one of the grandest challenges of recent times.”

The five awardees will spend their first and third year of study at IITKGP punctuated by year 2 at Manchester and year 4 at Manchester again. Upon successfully defending the thesis as per regulations at both the institutions, the Doctoral Degree will be jointly awarded by both the Institutions.

Dr. David Polya, Associate Dean for Internationalization, who has been the chief architect of this Joint Programme from University of Manchester strongly feels that, “The JDP between IIT Kharagpur and University of Manchester represents a mutually beneficial partnership for two institutions that are drawn together both by strong similarities and also highly complementary differences. Both institutions are driven by an ambition to achieve not only research excellence but also for their research and teaching to have a positive practical impact on the world. Both institutions take an immense pride in their graduates and have influential alumni networks spanning the globe.  And, of course, there are also differences – not just in the countries in which they are based, but also the way in which things are done. What has been very heart-warming about this JDP is the goodwill that has existed between those involved in sharing the design and implementation of the JDP – we have a lot to learn from each other and the widespread goodwill and flexibility has created conditions where we can readily swap best practice. Most importantly, as our first cohort of JDP PhD research students are recruited, we are confident that the JDP will soon be producing highly trained doctoral graduates of which both institutions will be immensely proud.”

On the other side of the aisle, Dr. Anandaroop Bhattacharya, Associate Dean, International Relations & Ranking, who was instrumental is driving this partnership and formulating the selection process at IITKGP is delighted with the launch of this programme. “We at IIT Kharagpur are delighted to launch this prestigious and unique programme with one of the top ranked universities in the world. I am deeply indebted to my predecessor, Prof. Baidurya Bhattacharya who played a key role in the formative stages of this partnership. To be considered by Univ. of Manchester as an equal partner, is a matter of great pride for us and goes to show the high esteem that our students and faculty are held worldwide.”  

As an integral aspect of IITKGP’s concerted effort towards internationalization strategy, the start of this esteemed programme marks IITKGP’s entry into the United Kingdom after running successful initiatives with its preferred partners in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Both IITKGP and University of Manchester are optimistic that the start of the Dual Doctoral Programme will usher further opportunities of academic and research collaboration between the partners in areas of mutual interest and will go a long way in solving shared problems of an increasingly complex world.

Content Writer:- Koushiki Mukherjee, Office of International Relations.

Contact: Paramita Dey, Junior Assistant

Saturday Manufacturing Talks by CoE in Advanced Manufacturing Technology

The Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology of IIT Kharagpur is conducting a mega event titled “SATURDAY MANUFACTURING TALKS”.

Join Online Every Saturday, from 8:30 to 9:30 pm IST
https://iitkharagpur.webex.com/iitkharagpur/j.php?MTID=m00ba321c9f62cf6aeb29a33edab1b210

It is planned to be a year-long series of webinars on topics of advanced manufacturing. It will stress the need for an industry-academia collaboration perspective.

The topics include but not limited to :
– Robotics, Automation, and Use of AI and ML in manufacturing
– Simulation in manufacturing
– Specialty materials in manufacturing
– Additive manufacturing
– AI in Supply Chain
– Design of Experiments in engineering

Watch Video for insights of Industry 4.0 related work at Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology, IIT Kharagpur

A few highlights of the event are as follows:
– Webinars will be delivered by both academicians and industry professionals – this will help in broadening the reach and outlook
– Speakers would be Alumni of IIT Kharagpur in academics and industry (India and Abroad) – this will help in understanding the research being conducted globally on advanced manufacturing

For more information please visit: https://www.coeamt.com/index.php or write to coeamt@iitkgp.ac.in

Industry 4.0 to create new job opportunities through digitization of industrial operations

By Prof. Surjya K Pal

Overview of Industry 4.0

The fourth industrial revolution, popularly referred to as Industry 4.0 constitutes a plethora of technological concepts aiming towards the adoption of cyber-physical systems. Essentially, it involves connecting the segments of a manufacturing system with digital technologies for gaining critical and real-time insights. The technologies include the use of intelligent robots, real-time monitoring and control of manufacturing systems, cloud, edge, and fog computing, all of which will lead to the development of the Industrial Internet of Things. 

At present, Industry 4.0 is at a very nascent stage, and a large number of industries are aiming to adopt Industry 4.0 to digitalize their supply chains. These would enable automated and faster means of decision making, more efficient operational processes, and better resource utilization through customization, quality checks, thus, leading to cost reduction and market competitiveness. Industry 4.0 also addresses the health and safety of the workforce by means of reduction of human intervention on the shop floor.

Industry 4.0 career avenues for industry leaders and the workforce

Engineers who are currently enamored by software, financial and consulting jobs, would find the manufacturing field much more dynamic and pervasive. 

Industry 4.0 would require digital knowledge and the ability to work with data including automated systems, knowledge of IoT, AR/VR, machine learning, big data and analytics, cybersecurity and data protection, data analytics. In addition to this, there exists cross-disciplinary expertise arising out of the integrated system requirements. 

Leadership and communication too will be a challenging task for Industry 4.0, as the transition would significantly demand flexibility to accommodate customer needs as well as leveraging the EQ of the workforce. 

The workforce will now require trained personnel in computer numerical control, instrumentation, data mining, robotics, design, extended reality, cloud deployment, AI and ML, cybersecurity, and much more.

Industry 4.0 is the bedrock of “Atma Nirbhar Bharat”; it is the way forward for India Inc. Having said that, it is also true that automation will replace repetitive jobs requiring lower skills. But on the other hand, it will create jobs requiring higher skills. Upskilling is no longer an alternative but a mandate of Industry 4.0 to sustain in the technologically enhanced industrial environment towards which India’s industrial sector is already progressing. With the Govt. of India targeting substantial growth of the manufacturing sector under Atma Nirbhar Bharat, the job market is expected to swell. However, in to order adopt Industry 4.0, a highly skilled workforce is the need of the hour. We would not be able to make the transition without such upskilling.

The role which the Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing can play in creating this new avenue

The upskilling of the workforce would require a robust learning and development platform equipped with cross-disciplinary technological facilities. The “Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing” at IIT Kharagpur has been providing this platform to various industrial houses including the capital goods sector and MSMEs. Further, Industry 4.0 infrastructure would be capital intensive in some cases and fast-changing as far as the technological innovations are concerned. This may create a hindrance for the MSMEs to upgrade while keeping pace with the market. The Centre’s deliverables for the MSMEs are not only an R&D testbed but also providing them with a host of upgrades in the existing infrastructure and also very low-cost solutions. Further, the Centre promises to offer innovative and market-ready technologies in the respective domains which the firms can further commercialize.

Some MSME oriented innovations at the Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing

“Real-time weld-quality monitoring and control” is one of the recent success stories of this Centre that has been jointly developed with TCS. The system employs cloud infrastructure for managing the multiple sensory data to derive real-time insights about a welding process and accordingly controls the welding machine by sending real-time feedback. 

Another such endeavor developed is a “Low-cost machine vision-based solution for real-time quality inspection”. This system is an accurate, robust, and real-time solution for job quality inspection based on the features extracted through image processing. A major attraction is the use of a low-cost camera for the machine vision application which significantly reduces the cost. An AI algorithm is devised and incorporated into the system that enhances the image quality in real-time to compensate for the capability of the low-cost camera. 

Training Programs at the Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing

Training programs have been conducted in the past which include CNC and Composites 4.0. Further, the CoE is also coming up with interactive training programs on Virtual CNC classes, Robotics, AR/VR in manufacturing, and advanced welding methods.

Read the article on ABP Education

New Algorithm to Augment Industrial Profitability

IIT Kharagpur – Tata Metaliks Jointly Develop Industry 4.0 Algorithm to Change Profitability Scenario of India’s Manufacturing Sector

Researchers at the Centre of Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing Technologies, IIT Kharagpur have developed a predictive maintenance algorithm to improve the profitability of production jobs through substantial savings in Productivity, Downtime, Cost and Manpower. The data-driven predictive maintenance module has been successfully tested by Tata Metaliks for user-level acceptance. 

The algorithm has been developed at the Centre of Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing Technologies, by a team led by Prof Akhilesh Kumar, Associate Professor, Dept. of Industrial Systems Engineering. Deployed on a gearbox of Annealing Furnace, the algorithm was tested for its ability to cluster various operating modes of the gearbox and outliers, adaptability to recognize new operating modes and predict impending failures, threshold flags for anomaly detection as well as tracking health state of the industrial assets. 

Prof. Kumar said, “My goal was to develop generic diagnostic and prognostic algorithms that are rapidly configurable, and adaptive to facilitate effective and efficient large-scale deployment of Predictive Maintenance 4.0 (PdM4.0) technology for a wide variety of equipment/assets”. 

Tata Metaliks has projected that the algorithm would have the potential for great savings from a predictive maintenance perspective. Based on various performance measures, an indirect increase in productivity was estimated to be ₹1 crore annually along with a direct decrease in (i) annual downtime by 40-hours, (ii) annual manpower requirement by 400 hours and (iii) cost by ₹8 Lakh. Tata Metaliks has developed a graphic user interface to display and retrieve the algorithmic data computation.

Dr. Purnendu Sinha, Technology leader-IoT & Analytics, Group Technology & Innovation Office, Tata Group, one of the collaborators on this project, strongly believes that such an initiative will enable the widespread acceptance of Industry 4.0 as a data-driven paradigm.

Mr. Mohit Kale, General Manager (Engineering Services), Tata Metaliks said “In the era of the fourth industrial revolution, it is undeniable that the industrial community is looking for better Proof-of-Concept to embrace IoT based applications, and this project builds such confidence”.   

Tata Sons along with IIT Kharagpur hold the licensing rights for this algorithm.

“As India is determined to achieve the goal of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat, we must bridge the gap from lab to land by means of translational research. Academic research which can be directly tested by industries will not only improve the commercialization prospect but it will transform our centres of excellence as hotbeds of industrial innovations. This is the vision with which the Centre of Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing Technologies was set up by the Dept. of Heavy Industries, Govt. of India and a consortium of six industries and I am glad it is living upto the expectations,” opined Prof. Virendra K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur.

Prof. Surjya K Pal who is heading the Centre called the development a great success of the industry-academia collaborative platform.

“This is another significant milestone in our goal to deliver Industrial IoT innovations to India’s manufacturing sector thus graduating it to Industry 4.0. The industrial collaborations make it possible to progress through the technology readiness levels and design systems which can be adopted by the industries,” he said. 

About Center of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology, IIT Kharagpur

The Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology was set up at IIT Kharagpur under the patronage of the Department of Heavy Industry of Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Government of India and a consortium of six industry members. The Centre aims to stimulate innovation to manufacture smart machines in the capital goods sector. This centre offers a unique platform for innovative and top-quality research focused on the industries on Specialty materials, Design and automation, Additive manufacturing, and Digital Manufacturing and Industrial Internet of Things. The centre will boost innovative interventions and collaborative research in the advanced manufacturing domain by enabling an ecosystem among Institutes of higher repute, heavy industries, and also the MSMEs and start-ups. 

Contact: 

Project: Prof. Surjya K Pal, skpal@mech.iitkgp.ac.in; 

Media: Shreyoshi Ghosh, shreyoshi@adm.iitkgp.ac.in

Follow us on Facebook: @IITKgp Twitter: @IITKgp Instagram: @iit.kgp

Media Coverage:

India Today DataQuest India Blooms

Low-cost Solution for Advanced Manufacturing

IIT Kharagpur researchers develop a low-cost AI-based Industry 4.0 solution for real-time metrological inspection

In an initiative undertaken by the Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology at IIT Kharagpur, researchers are on a mission to make AI & ML applications affordable for India’s industrial sector including MSMEs. They have developed an innovative system consisting of a low-cost imaging device and an  AI-enabled software for real-time metrological inspection. The developed system can be utilized in the production line to check the quality of the jobs and get instant results.

Explaining the benefit that MSMEs will draw from such an innovation, Prof. Surjya K Pal said, “The MSMEs mostly rely on manual inspection of the jobs produced in a batch where a few samples are randomly selected and checked manually. Accordingly, the entire batch is either rejected or accepted, which lacks effectiveness and increases the cost of production. The potential of the developed solution can be leveraged to inspection of each job in a batch, in real-time, and at a very minimum cost.”

This AI-enabled software will enhance the image quality captured by the low-cost camera at par with a high-quality camera output and process the image in real-time.  Further, it automates the acceptance or rejection of production jobs and delivers the outcome for real-time managerial insights.

With an accuracy close to 98%, the solution can measure the dimensional features of the job, and also it can inspect the presence of scratches, dents, etc., in a job. It takes only approximately 12 seconds for the analyses to be complete. The accuracy check and timeliness of the solution have been guaranteed by testing it on different types of jobs. Researchers are working further to reduce the time.

The research group included Prof. Surjya K Pal, Prof. Debashish Chakravarty, research scholar Debasish Mishra, technical staff Pravanjan Nayak, and intern Ayan Banerjee from Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College, who has filed a patent for the system and made it available for MSMEs to license the technology.

“Automation is one of the key aspects of digitalization and is also the need of the hour. The vision of manufacturers revolves around three things that are how fast can manufacturing be performed, how better, and how cheaper? The first highlights a higher rate of production, the second implies the use of innovation in manufacturing and the third aims at reducing the cost,” remarked Prof. Pal, the lead of Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology.

While India has been making fast inroads in the domain of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, it is the capital intensive and service industries which are able to put the applications to their vantage. The MSME sector, which employs more than 100 million people in the country contributing close to 30% of India’s GDP and 50% of export revenue, is still outside the ambit of industry-scale adoption of AI & ML.

“This is the gap which IIT Kharagpur aims to bridge while making low-cost Industry 4.0 solutions across all industrial sectors and accelerate the pace towards Atma Nirbhar Bharat,” he added.

Media Coverage:

Economic Times Hindustan Times Business Standard
ABP Education DataQuest Analytics India Magazine
NDTV The Week Outlook
CNBC TV18 Danik Jagran

Contact:

Project: Prof. Surjya K Pal, skpal@mech.iitkgp.ac.in;

Media: Shreyoshi Ghosh, shreyoshi@adm.iitkgp.ac.in

Follow IIT Kharagpur on social media: Facebook: @IITKgp Twitter: @IITKgp Instagram: @iit.kgp

AI4ICPS Setting Pace for India’s Transition to Smart Industry Hub

IIT Kharagpur is all set to transform the nation’s industrial sector with scalable application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS). The Institute has recently set up a special purpose vehicle, the IIT Kharagpur AI4ICPS I Hub Foundation for translation of academic research at the proof of concept level to industrially scalable products and processes, focused on AI interventions to CPS. 

“While research has been happening in AI&ML for decades, mostly limited to software with limited inclusion in consumer goods and daily used gadgets; graduating innovation to technology readiness for industrial production is crucial. The Hub is envisioned to be a unique establishment in the country to undertake a diverse spectrum of activities linking academic research to the industry through an inclusive co-working partnership, towards the common goal of unlocking the $500 billion contributions to India’s GDP expected from Data and AI by 2025,” remarked Principal Investigator Dr. Debdoot Sheet, Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical Engineering and the Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence. 

The mandate at AI4ICPS is to transition research from Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 to TRL 7, which means enabling the translation of academic research resulting in pre-/prototypes of AI&ML interventions in CPS to scalability ready products and processes for industry. The Institute received a grant of ₹ 170 crore from the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India under the NM-ICPS to set up the infrastructure and undertake the related research and training programs.

“We are also committed to promote fundamental research in TRL 1 to TRL 3 and foster the creation of startups to scale production for their off-shelf market availability, an activity beyond TRL 7 and ranging upto TRL 9,” added Dr. Sheet.

The Hub will further develop critical infrastructure for the Nation, an AI Cloud for CPS, a National Knowledge Portal for training human resources on the future-ready AI technology for CPS.

“The host of Digital Twins like tractors and farm machines, 3D printing technology, structural health and road traffic, wastewater engineering, energy-efficient buildings, next-gen wireless communication, human physiology and in-silico disease models are to name a few of the 32 technologies to be developed by the PEG at the Hub,” said Dr. Ashish Ranjan Hota, Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical Engineering.

The R&D work will span over core research in algorithms, methods, explainability, trust and safety of AI&ML, enabling technologies like machine vision, speech, natural language processing (NLP), text analytics, augmented and virtual reality, technology for the internet of things (IoT), and also application of AI&ML technologies in a diverse range of industry verticals including (i) healthcare, (ii) precision agriculture and nutritional security, (iii) manufacturing, (iv) transportation, (v) environment and pollution, (vi) infrastructure and energy, (vii) education, (viii) judiciary and legal, and (ix) communication.

“IIT Kharagpur is a pioneer in AI education and research with more than a hundred faculty members working in theory and methods of AI and its applications across various disciplines. This Hub will create a multidimensional ecosystem to foster innovation and commercialization of AI&ML interventions to ICPS spanning across several sectors along with facilitation of new knowledge creation, upskilling human resources, entrepreneurship and job creation,” said Director, Prof. Virendra K Tewari. 

Recruitment is currently underway for leadership and engineering roles including CEO, CXOs, Engineering Managers to drive the pace at the Hub.

“AI4ICPS will have an in-house product engineering group, dedicated team of professionals to support technology commercialization and startup creation, and is looking to support more than 100 research fellows, postdoctoral researchers and early career academics over the next five years, to fulfil its mandate of promoting enterprises to add over 13,000 jobs in CPS,” said Dr. Ashish Ranjan Hota.

With research and new knowledge generation, the upskilling of human resources capable of meeting the demands of AI-powered industrial sectors is also on the chart.

“A mechanism of wide-scale training on AI technologies, not just for current graduates, but also for industry professionals is the need of the hour, to adapt to the rapidly evolving landscape of traditional industry imbibing AI into CPS. We need to train human resources across the spectrum of engineering, starting at diploma graduates, for the adoption of AI in CPS; and focus on building scalable technology with AI to enable wide-scale pedagogical reach out of AI for CPS,” added Prof. Sudeshna Sarkar from the Department of Computer Science & Engineering and Head of the Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence.

Incubating startups to facilitate technology production and job creation will be another thrust area, with programs to support innovation promotion starting with student challenges, gradually maturing them with linked investments like ignition and seed support. The Hub programs on incubation and innovation acceleration will also offer business development training and handholding to technologists aspiring to be entrepreneurs in AI&ML technologies.  Technology Certification and Audit services for AI&ML intervention to ICPS, and their safety and verification shall also be provided at AI4ICPS as first of its kind offering within the country.

“The host of live testbeds of CPS made available via cloud will improve real time collaborations between academia and industry. We look forward to spin off cloud connected machines of the future, across sectors ranging from agriculture to heavy machinery,” added Dr. Rajendra Machavaram, Assistant Professor with the Department of Agricultural & Food Engineering. 

Prof. Surjya Pal from the Department of Mechanical Engineering & the Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technologies, who is associated with Hub mentioned his recent AI-based innovations of friction stir welding technology in collaboration with TCS and real-time metrological inspection which are significant steps in India’s journey towards Industry 4.0.

“Such AI-based innovations are the way forward for high-quality affordable products by means of minimizing production losses, production time and human intervention,” he said.

Over 80 Faculty members from diverse disciplines of the Institute in driving the Hub’s establishment. Their R&D work will have close collaboration with over 50 companies and PSUs who are engaging early on, scouting for potential technologies. Research collaborations are also being discussed with over 30 global research partners towards furthering the objective of a unifying effort to converge the world in building AI for industries of the future across sectors ranging from agriculture to heavy machinery. 

About AI 4 ICPS

AI4ICPS is a special purpose vehicle instituted for translation of academic research, generally available at proof of concept level to industrially scalable products and processes for Cyber-Physical Systems. Focus is on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies applied across industry sectors like healthcare, precision agriculture and nutritional security, manufacturing, transportation, environment and pollution, infrastructure and energy, education, judiciary and legal, and communication. AI4ICPS engages in innovation translation through the Industry-Academia-Hub co-working product engineering group (PEG), and beyond it also promotes human resources and skill development for making available trained manpower for industry adopting such new technologies, promote entrepreneurship among the youth to facilitate new venture creation for technology production and new job creation, and collaborate with renowned groups to complement technology development through international cooperative research programs. The IIT KHARAGPUR AI4ICPS I HUB FOUNDATION is established as a Section 8 company with an assured investment of Rs. 170 crores by the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. The hub closely collaborates with 25 other hubs across the country for building a salubrious ecosystem for CPS industry in the country. 

For more information visit www.ai4icps.in

Media Coverage:

Hindustan Times EdEx Yahoo News
Analytics India India Blooms ABP Education
Outlook The Week NDTV
Dainik Jagran

Contact:

For project information: Prof. Debdoot Sheet, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence

Principal Investigator, AI 4 ICPS – Technology Innovation Hub on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems

Email: debdoot@ee.iitkgp.ac.in, project-director@ai4icps.in

For media queries:

Shreyoshi Ghosh, Executive Officer (Media & Communication), E: shreyoshi@adm.iitkgp.ac.in | shreyoshi.iitkgp@gmail.com

Follow us on social media: Facebook:@IITKgp | Twitter: @IITKgp | Instagram: @iit.kgp

 

Stepping up Industry 4.0 Manufacturing

Novel Industry 4.0 Technology Jointly Developed by IIT Kharagpur and TCS to Set New Trends in India’s Advanced Manufacturing Sector

In an industrial collaboration with Tata Consultancy Services, IIT Kharagpur has developed novel Industry 4.0 technology for remotely controlled factory operations and real-time quality correction during industrial production. 

At this time of pandemic when staffing has restrictions due to hygiene and social distancing norms, cloud infrastructure, remote and real-time operations systems hold the key to maintain effective industrial operations. But the benefits of controlled operations have a bigger impact especially in the context of Atma Nirbhar Bharat in delivering quality output at low costs. The present innovation upgraded the industrial process of friction stir welding to a multi-sensory system of  Industry 4.0. It has not only set the course for remotely controlled operations in the Indian industrial sector but has enabled real-time quality check and correction during the production process. This will make it possible for industrial houses to achieve standardized quality goals throughout the production process and reduce rejection hence lowering the cost of production.

Emphasizing on the need for such technologies to achieve the ‘Make in India’ goal, Director Prof. Virendra K Tewari remarked, “While we are aiming to boost indigenous production and exports, our primary goal should be quality output with minimum disruptions. Be it, consumers, in India or abroad, these are two basic needs our industrial sector must address for procuring orders in large volumes. At IIT Kharagpur’s Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology, we have set our target to bring to the forefront indigenously developed industry 4.0 technologies to support our industrial sector to achieve this goal.”

The innovative technology developed by Prof. Surjya K Pal, professor in-charge at the Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology in association with TCS will acquire real-time information about the welding process through multiple sensors and enable online control of weld quality by means of cloud-based communication with the friction stir welding machine.

“Welding is at the heart of any industrial operations. If we can improve the weld quality in real-time during batch production we can reduce rejections in post-production sample checks,” opined Prof. Pal.

Explaining the new technology, he said, “Our multiple sensor process involves various signal processing and machine learning techniques to predict the ultimate tensile strength of the weld joint is fabricated. This technology is connected with a vast experimental knowledge base to conform to a standard system and prediction of the weld joint strength. Any defect identified during the monitoring procedure is corrected in real-time by sending modified parameters to the machine thus ensuring the standardized quality of the process.”

The concept of this technology can further be evolved for real-time control of other industrial processes and such work will be carried at the Centre with other industrial partners soon, Prof. Pal confirmed. The data from multiple sensors further improves the accuracy of the industrial production process, he affirmed. The technology has been jointly patented by IIT Kharagpur and TCS.  The innovation has also been reported in the CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cirpj.2020.03.004]. This project was funded by the Department of Heavy Industry, Govt. of India and TCS.

Industry partner TCS views such innovation as an enabler of technology-based transformations in the country, especially in overcoming challenges called out by the pandemic.

“The remote friction stir welding machine quality control via multi-sensor fusion developed by Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Advanced Manufacturing Technology at IIT Kharagpur is a case in point,” said K Ananth Krishnan, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer.

“The Embedded Systems & Robotics, IoT and ICME platform teams from TCS Research and Innovation are working closely with IIT Kharagpur’s CoE towards AI-driven prediction/control of weld strength using a scalable and robust platform. Academic partnerships are an important part of TCS Research and TCS CoInnovation Network (TCS CoIN) in creating real-world solutions with scientific rigour,” he added.

The Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology was set up through the support of the Department of Heavy Industry of the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Government of India, along with a consortium of top six industry members with the aim to stimulate the innovation in advanced manufacturing for boosting the capital goods sector. Tata Consultancy Services is a key industry partner at the Centre.

Talking about Centre of Excellence, Director, IIT Kharagpur, Prof. V K Tewari said, “This is the way forward, not only in the new normal situation due to the pandemic but with the increasing adoption of automation, digitization, IoT and Cyber-physical Systems applications in the industrial sector as part of Industry 4.0. Our Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing Technology with its industry collaborations has immense scope in facilitating this transition not only through innovations but also upskilling the workforce for using such technologies and innovative processes. You will witness the germination of a new industrial culture from centres such as ours towards Atmanirbhar Bharat.”

Cite Paper: Mishra D., Pal S.K., et al. Real time monitoring and control of friction stir welding process using multiple sensors, CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, Volume 30, August 2020, Pages 1-11, doi.org/10.1016/j.cirpj.2020.03.004

Project Contact: Prof. Surjya K Pal, E: skpal@mech.iitkgp.ac.in

Media Contact: Shreyoshi Ghosh, E: shreyoshi@adm.iitkgp.ac.in

Follow IIT Kharagpur on Social Media: Facebook: @IIT.Kgp; Twitter: @IITKgp; Instagram: @iit.kgp

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.”