Digital Overhaul Helped Factory Recover Losses:

Having bypassed efficiency benchmarks, the Siemens’ facility now manages plants in other countries too. 

In Kalwa, circa 2015, the suburb of Mumbai, Siemens factory plunged in choppy waters. Its principal electrical item faced a severe market crunch, as global competitors were ahead in the race. 

Clearly, the crisis was grave and their very survival was questioned. 

They planned to launch a product to cater to the local demand. Within 2 years time, the strategy was set into motion. 

Digital Facelift in 2017:

Digital touch touched the factory units deeply and Siemens claimed that the factory “is proof of how adopting digitization will help Indian industry, especially the small and medium enterprises achieve manufacturing excellence”.

Production Got A Digital Boost:

The machinery fueled by automation rustles out an item in 9 seconds while before it, it took 21 seconds, while each production line crafts 180 product variants. 

Its current capacity is 5 million devices every year and majority of the output is shipped overseas thereby earning India a great wealth of forex.

Media Toured The Facility:

A prominent media house was obliged for a brief survey of the sprawling facility and they spotted the ambiance of a typical college compound, with hopes and enthusiasm flying higher. 

The roads are wide alongside the rich thick greenery (say about 1500 trees among which some species are said to be vulnerable to extinction.

Low-voltage switchgear is their main harvest. An anonymous executive hails the factory as India’s star showcase on the grounds that “we did everything just to survive, but now, it is an example for digitalization”.

The plants have products which interact with the machines and push the processes ahead with IT control well-consolidated and this entails dim chances for failure. 

The Fact That Stands Tall:

Any brownfield site can be tinkered and tinctured with prime digital technology and the myth that one would need to redesign the factory from scratch, evaporates.

Challenges Aplenty:

Siemens’ men confronted some roadblocks too, in the beginning. They struggled to bring together certain aspects which are critical and also contradictory to each other, i.e. speed, flexibility, quality and efficiency. 

At this juncture, the Siemens’ engineers looked towards digitalization as the saviour of their competence with the touch of new-age sophistication. 

Simulation OF Process:

Before digitizing their factory, they felt the need for simulating the manufacturing processes in a typical digital environment. 

They mingled minds to draft the blueprint of automation, studied it, authenticated it and finally, legalized it.

Simulation Hit Bottleneck:

Initially, as they set out to digitize, they confronted hardships and the anonymous exec puts forth, “For example, we wanted a 9 second cycle time but we got 12 seconds.”

Here dear reader, the cycle time indicates the time a machine takes to complete the product manufacture.

But they did not bog down. They harped upon sequential processes which pulled data from the real world and transformed it into digital simulation and this process lasted till the oddities were fixed and the desired performance was achieved. 

The exec puts, “That is how we achieved every thing in less than 2 years time.”

Not Just A Mere Manufactory:

Not just a plant is housed in Kalawa factory, which is digital-twin enabled. There is also set-up a global data monitoring and remote assessment point which they call G-Avatar and this keeps an eye on 1300 Siemens’ locations dispersed across the world.   

Interestingly, the G-Avatar was set-up on a foreign turf and not in India. 

As its critical use-case, it kept records of energy and carbon data in a single dashboard which is user-friendly too. 

Groundwork was prepared with the influx of refined version of AI and which signals the plant in case of any irregularity.

Siemens Tech Academy To Train Young Guns:

Inside the facility, a section is dedicated to impart first-hand training to youngsters, integrated on German Dual Vocational Education and Training (VET) model.

No doubt, this institute is said to be the flagship centre in the country to impart such value-added training. 

As is pretty clear, the “dual system” is a standard vocational training and education framework in Germany which enjoys a wider acclaim for synergy comprising theoretical classroom tutorials with practice, first-hand and on the job, and as a culmination of such nip and tuck, we find explicit output at the Kalawa facility. 

Apprenticeship Course For Young Minds With A Spark in Learning Electronics:

With the duration of 2 years, they offer apprenticeship courses in electrician and fitter (mechanical) and 108 seats are given every year in which 72 become electricians and 36 are reserved for fitters. 

They give preference to those hailing from low socio-economic backgrounds and the academic qualification is put at the minimum at 10th pass. 

Students Revel And Reveal To Media:

The youngsters feel thrilled as they see and examine the prime tech frameworks that run Siemens ahead and which is equally shared by other companies too. 

The course honed their skills and they got a welcome admiration from companies on completing the course and they got easy placements. 

Then, the most promising aspect is that they lean and practice everyday during their training what industry expects of them in real-time. 

One of the learners opens up, “This is the best option for us, better than a normal college.”

Siemens Technical Academy Underpinning Hope:

The company is hugely tilted towards the academy as it aims to rally young minds towards the glitzy and glamorous tech world.

Finally, the spokesperson steps forward to articulate the company’s view, “A lot of people take up the STEM domain and then get into the financial domain, landing up with a bank job, or with a consultancy job, which is primarily non-technical. Once you have the manufacturing sector, you have so many avenues and things to do.”

Undoubtedly, dear reader, the company’s bid to invest in training and upskilling has gathered widespread acclaim from every quarter of society as this acts like a factory of tomorrow’s technical workforce.