Check Credit Score
Check Credit Score
HomeNewsTrends

Make in India, Digital India: Two sides of the same coin

Technology can be a great catalyst for putting India back on the global manufacturing map. When you plug in tech-progress, you automatically switch on productivity and differentiation

December 19, 2014 / 02:01 PM IST

If there was a quiz for the two most spotlight-hogging buzzwords of the year, the prize would, hands-down, go to 'Make In India' and 'Digital India'.

Call it poetic irony but the latter, even though it may seem not directly connected at first glance, is actually the real reason that the first buzzword not only seems believable but feasible in a short span of time.

The dream of picking a legacy of conventional processes, an old-economy mindset, labyrinthine government interventions and a tad-out-of-kilter ecosystem; and then pushing these towards a big mercilessly-fast world of international trade out there; can actually be a nightmare too.

India is no Detroit, no Tokyo, to be candid. We are not exactly those mould-breaking pioneers that the global ladders of manufacturing are used to. If we really want our international counterparts to sit up and take notice of how well, how much, how fast and how superior we can export; we really need to get our act together on the inside-front first.

We cannot dream of winning this really cut-throat race without pausing, looking down and fixing some loose show laces down there.

Remember the poignant comment made by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan recently, where he urged 'Make-In-India' policymakers to look inward as much as they're looking outward to strengthen the Indian economy?Well that kind of makes sense. We need to put our interiors in order before aspiring outwards and that would mean a lot of plumbing work on the digital front as well.

Most countries around have already started pulling out their heads and are quickly ceasing to be technology-ostriches.

Let's first warm up to the idea of technology's new face in manufacturing.

The new manufacturing world is about advanced analytics, CRM-pushed R&D, cutting-edge plant maintenance, ahead-of-the-curve design and inventory cycles, faster-smarter supply chain management or a field force fuelled with the powers of cloud and mobility.

This is a world, for example, where 3D printers are available in even a consumer's hands for as low as $1000 and making a prototype is not as cumbersome or financially-clunky as it used to be just some years back.

The 3D Printer market is already slated to double every year between 2015 and 2018, with worldwide shipments forecasted to reach more than 2.3 million, as per Gartner's estimates.3D prototyping is enabling organizations to mitigate the risks associated with the design, form and functionality of products in research and development programs.

Such technologies are helping to support new manufacturing processes, and cutting down new product development schedules. Perhaps, that's why by 2017, digital spends outside IT can be as high as 50 percent and we may see digital startups sit inside an organization itself in marketing department, in HR, in logistics or sales.

Gartner has already hinted that 50 percent of all technology sales people are actively selling direct to business units, not IT departments.

So a simple technology change like 3D printing or advanced CAM or cloud-enabled collaboration can redefine manufacturing innovation piece like never before.

Digital forces are filling many gaps around demands on quality, budget, timely delivery, production downtime and a lot more, with practical answers.

Capital-intensive segments like Air and Defence are also seriously considering using Cloud, Mobile, Big Data, and Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities for weaving the manufacturing function together with a 'digital' thread.

From design, prototyping, engineering, supply chain, production, quality, to delivery, service; the availability of real-time and contextualized insights is helping manufacturers leapfrog from their existing inertia to a new game of competitiveness. PLM, actionable dashboards, faster/predictive forecasting, SCM, and ERP on Cloud are no more alien-sounding terms in manufacturing circles.

Today 'digital' is everywhere on and around the factory floors. Like smart machines which can perform a wide variety of work, of both the physical and the intellectual kind. Or robotics, that is bringing a new relief wave on costs and risk-cutting for high-stake industries. Gartner has augured that by 2018, digital business will drive a 500 percent boost in digital jobs.

Now that we have a glimpse of what new-world manufacturing sounds like, let's ask ourselves something. Won't all this utterly-new fuel need a proper pipe before it can propel the big machine forward?That is where the success of 'Digital India' would act as a key precursor and foundation before 'Make-in-India' can actually roll up its sleeves.

The world of manufacturing is not for the old suits any more. It is a place rife with innovation mushrooming everywhere, patents popping and disrupting market segments and a DIY breed of entrepreneurs creating the next big product at breakneck speed and jaw-dropping quality. But there is more to technology than just making assembly-line RFID-enabled or making product-design CAD-ahead. There was a World Bank report as early as 2009 itself that showed that in low- and middle-income countries such as India, every 10% increase in broadband penetration could increase GDP by 1.4 percentage points.

Wiring manufacturing interfaces, functions and re-inventing processes would need a core change for all that surrounds India's shop floors and labs. Be it a large businessman or a new product-prototype; they cannot achieve global standards if the fundamentals are rickety and digitally-hollow.Ideas like 'e-kranti' with ambitious broadband goals that provide digital access to all citizens are not a standalone or faraway goal of the government. They co-incide strongly with what manufacturers and innovators need to run at the same speed as global rivals.

Similarly, the government's attempts at never-before modernization, moving governance online, closing the digital divide, expanding rural internet coverage to 250,000 villages by 2017 from the existing 130,000; transforming 150,000 post offices into multi-utility centers and liberating people from digital exclusion across the length and breadth of country are all small rivers which would intersect well with the road that is running towards a global manufacturing hub.

Superior factories armed with 3D printers or RFID cannot function when neighborhood villages are bereft of connectivity; smart or analytics-powered field force will falter miserably when infrastructure bottlenecks play party pooper, robots will not walk well if the men around do not have the language and skills to talk in tandem, and world-class products cannot come out of a country that is struggling with archaic bureaucracy and remains still digitally not-so-literate.

Made-In-India will really sound tempting on global tables, the precise way we are dreaming – but only when it is Made-in-Digital-India.

first published: Dec 19, 2014 01:39 pm

Discover the latest business news, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!

Advisory Alert: It has come to our attention that certain individuals are representing themselves as affiliates of Moneycontrol and soliciting funds on the false promise of assured returns on their investments. We wish to reiterate that Moneycontrol does not solicit funds from investors and neither does it promise any assured returns. In case you are approached by anyone making such claims, please write to us at grievanceofficer@nw18.com or call on 02268882347