OMRON automation business put up its booth at the popular industry event – Automation Expo which took place starting from Aug 16 to 19 at Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon, Mumbai. Sameer Gandhi, MD, OMRON Automation, India told TimesTech about their key focus area, their product, long-term vision, etc.
Read the full interview here:
TimesTech: Please tell us more about OMRON’s new long-term vision for its automation business in India.
Sameer: The vision, called Shaping The Future 2030 (SF 2030) takes into cognizance the fast-changing, dynamic, diversified, and complex world of manufacturing led by Industry 4.0 & digitization. The company believes that with its unique automation capabilities based on human-machine harmony, it will be able to contribute towards the creation of sustainable and innovative factories coexisting with the environment and well-being of people. Based on its global vision for the industrial automation business – “Enriching the Future for People, Industries and the Globe by Innovative Automation”, the company aims to translate it into the country by working together with the customers and partners to solve the issues of the manufacturing industry.
TimesTech: What are going to be the key focus areas under this vision?
Sameer: Strongly believing in creating human-machine harmony at the shop floors, OMRON has been continuously working on bringing in advanced ILOR+S (Input, Logic, Output, Robotics and Safety) solutions based on its futuristic concept of innovative automation for solving innumerable issues at the shop floor ranging from productivity to quality; speed to safety.
Looking at the next ten years, we aim to go a level up and reinvigorate our innovative-automation concept. Renewing it and labeling it as the next phase of innovative automation, we aim for on-site innovation by embodying three capabilities: “Autonomation beyond human abilities,” “Advanced collaboration between people and machines,” and “Digital engineering transformation” in automotive with a focus on environment-friendly/ new energy vehicle, digital, medical, F&C, logistics and infrastructure segments.
Strongly believing in OMRON’s founder Kazuma Tateisi’s management philosophy, “To the machine, the work of the machine, to man the thrill of further creation”, looking ahead, OMRON will strive to maximise human potential through collaboration with machines.
TimesTech: How will it help in solving the challenges of the shop floors in India as well as the issues impacting the adoption of automation by the manufacturing sector?
Sameer: Providing solutions to make the factory floor more efficient, safe and flexible has long been one of OMRON’s core competencies. In recent years we’ve worked to automate manufacturing by “integrating” high-speed and high-precision control application technologies, making full use of IoT and AI to create “intelligent” equipment and production lines, and achieving “interactive” harmonization between people and machines. These strategies will help OMRON Shape the Future of how India makes things by contributing significantly towards solving the challenges impacting the adoption of automation in the manufacturing sector such as lack of skilled resources, and misconceptions around automation technologies replacing humans on the shop floor, etc. The next decade promises to be an exciting one as a combination of India’s rising manufacturing growth trajectory and OMRON’s focus on anticipating and resolving new & existing issues.
The vision also underlines the significance of sustainability by sharing how automation technologies can help in balancing productivity and energy efficiency to enable environmentally sustainable and flexible production.
TimesTech: What did the company exhibit at the recently concluded Automation Expo in Mumbai?
Sameer: This time we went for a niche showcase of our solutions rather than products. Comprising of integrated automation solutions & varied robotics offerings, the display personified the company’s thought leadership and long-term vision – Shaping The Future 2030 .
