A visit to MMS 2013 Day of visit: 23-08-2013 time of visit : 1:00-3:00 PM

Introduction:
The increasing cut-edge competition in the manufacturing sectors have derived company and various international player to use state of the art technology to survive in the market. The imposition of various norms and other regulations by environmental authorities have influenced them to take green steeps towards the problems. This is the backdrop where production management come into picture with all its interventions. The branch teaches us the demand and supply, trends and forecast, and planning and strategy to enhance production. Various companies have come up to showcase their innovations and USP (unique selling points) in Modern Machine Shop (MMS) 2013 held in Pragati Maidan here in New Delhi. The MMS 13 focuses on metal working machinery, low cost automation, material handeling and quality control systems and equipment, together with off-the-shelf production aids, accessories, consumables, software and consultancy.

Trends :

Flexibility :

The flexibility in simple language is the change that a machine/system can accommodate without much configuration change. As explained by Starrng India Pvt Ltd, director Mr. Chandramouli, the more will be the flexibility the more option will the customers have for different jobs. But increasing flexibility bring low production rate with it, as the flexibility increase the time to process one component will increase due to complexities. So there is a trade-off between flexibilities and production rates. The moment you introduce flexibilities to your system the system, become sophisticated. Here are some of the view and findings : 1. There is a huge blow in control program flexibility due to more emphasis on reduction In wastage and economy of scale advantages. Thats why the companies like Lamba PS has incorporated various control option inside their machines. Various software and program packages have been developed as suggested by salesperson to achieve the accuracy and quality that is demanded. These program checks human interventions and control all things themselves. The increase in the electronics and control automation system use would made machines Universal. The rapid tube bending machines can be used for economical, small batch to high volume mass production. The range include PLC servo tube bending machine with all production related features, online diagnostics and user friendly software package. 2. Operation Flexibility: The main second most deepening emphasis is on operation flexibility, As the rigid systems like special purpose machine has become obsolete the operation flexibility has gained ground in modern systems. Manufacturing cell employed by Orcan for parts manufacturing of vices use operation flexibility in greater details. The interaction of manufacturing machines with the CAD package provide huge flexibility and control to operations. Various CAD packages simulate the manufacturing of parts already and one can change the pattern and see the impact on cost and time. 3. Machine flexibility: The current manufacturing system with high use of robots and automation introduce high flexibility. The robotics system give high degree of freedom to products motion and hence dont require any set-up change and disassembling.

Challenges
Todays industries faces numerous challenges that can be explained as follows : 1. The increasing competition and decreasing support from governments: Lets understand this problem with a live example in Indian context. Vedanta, the leading aluminium producing firm planned to set up its plant in Oridisa Niyamgiri hills in 2003. Being obsessed by the thought that the government will never deny the company for production, without even clearing the environmental clearance they set up smelters and powerplant in area. But after SC intervention, the company couldnt provide the right to mine hills for bauxite and hence has to leave. Giving a wrong message to other investors in the same sector. The companies rushing here and there across the globe to find cheap labour, raw material and infrastructure. 2. Unskilled labour: Most of the companies claim that they couldnt get people they want. The companies want highly qualified and goal oriented people that boost in innovations in the system and hence provide a lead. 3. Keeping revenue and handling costs: This is where economics come into play. The balanced sheet of industries contain various data inflow , outflow of assets etc. The main cost to companies are provided by energy requirement as many of the aluminium and steel industries need such an intense energy source that they cant afford to depend on government for electricity, they have to setup their own small Power plants to run industries.

Application of Various techniques : 1. TPM : TPM stands for total production management. This is a strategy that ensure the total production resource and maintenance is utilized to its full capacity. The main indicator of this strategy is efficiency and effectiveness of any manufacturing process. TPM basically follows three goals : zero accident , zero product defects and zero equipment unplanned failure. The TPM contain a whole lot of stuff from time and shift utilization to identification of faults and problems in machines their rectifications/installation within a time frame. In short TPM is the quality management at the machine level by diagnosis. Being a proactive approach it rectify and correct problem as soon as possible before mishap. Various companies in MMS have equipped their products with automatic diagnostics tools that give a signal in the form of alarm if the process deviate from its original behaviours. For example the CNC machines by Mori-Shekhi have equipped its Ecoline with automatic switch off in case of emergency . The attached CAD interface provide user interface to change the process. Most of the companies couldnt afford the infrastructure and investment that is required by TPM to establish. TPM require huge participation along with a team of experts so that the process could be controlled at each minute level. 2. TQM : TQM basically stands for Total Quality Management. It aim at increasing and improving quality of products and processes. This is a customer satisfaction centred approach. Many processes can be linked to TQM such as TQM in supply chain, TQM and Six Sigma etc. Most of the companies are following total quality management strategy in their processes and products. The implementation of TQM need a fair response record system from customers.