As Tamil Nadu gears to become a trillion-dollar economy, state-of-the-art industries will form the base. A unique aspect about the state is the strong MSME sector that forms a backbone. During technological leaps, they are often left behind. To address this gap and to offer cutting-edge technology to all, the state has established the Tamil Nadu Smart and Advance Manufacturing (TANSAM) centre of excellence in partnership with Siemens.
“The industry is transforming rapidly. Industry 3.0 was to do with automation, 4.0 is smart automation and now 5.0 is all about sustainability. There are several companies still struggling to implement industry 3.0 and as a centre of excellence, formed by the government, our interest is to help them implement it,” explained Sukhpreet Singh, CEO, TANSAM Centre of Excellence.
The centre employs around 60-70 engineers who visit sites across the states, ranging various sizes and try to understand their problems. Based on the field visit, they suggest simple automation solutions to optimise processes. TANSAM has a tie up with Siemens and this facilitates access to their software at competitive rates. “As we are a government entity, several players ranging from OEMs, startups and MSMEs reach out to us for solutions and our cost is very nominal,” highlighted Singh.
Well-equipped to suit different needs
This centre has something to offer for everyone. When a startup approaches them, along with access to technology, TANSAM offers mentorship. For an OEM, their concerns are with copyright issues and TANSAM signs a NDA with them. Being a government agency the trust on them is more. Singh explained how a startup was nurtured and grown from their premises “A venture working on electric tractors approached us. Their strength was in robotic operating systems but they knew less about reverse engineering and user interface. In both these aspects our centre supported them and in next two years, the company has the potential to be evaluated at Rs 200 crore.” This shows the government’s commitment to nurture a thriving startup ecosystem and supporting them to expand.
Incase of OEM’s, explained Singh, “Ford, Caterpillar, Flextronics and few other companies which have requirement on 4.0 and 5.0 have reached out to us. Their interest in a government facility stems from the fact that we help in protecting their IP.” While on one hand, the government offers subsidies and waivers for industries, but centres as such shows the commitment of the state to foster and enhance industrial growth. Such an infrastructure helps to upgrade competitiveness and provides an edge to companies in the state.
“The software that we house cost more than Rs 15 lakh a year. This is the kind of amount that small scale industries will not be able to afford. If they come to us, they can use the software as per their requirement. We do not have any restrictions and in fact our personnel will train them to use the products,” said Singh and welcomed small industries too.
Training students
This young centre was inaugurated in November 2022 and has so far received more than 50 plus work orders. While housing latest technology, the centre has also taken steps to skill talents. Around 30,5000 students from Anna University affiliated programmes have been trained in these. “The idea behind this is, as the industry becomes smart, it will require engineers who are well-equipped,” explained Singh. Even today, industry prefers ITIs and diplomas over engineers. Upskilling engineers to latest trends will add value both to the individual and the ecosystem. TANSAM currently offers 11 credit-based programmes and plans to increase it further. There are plans to extend this to diploma colleges too.
Singh himself comes from an education background. He is an electrical engineer and had managed a similar set up in NIT, Kurukshetra. He points to this centre to being one of its kind as it is a partnership between the government and an organisation. Delegations from Australia, Germany, Japan, Singapore, US, UK have visited the centre. It provides a sneak peek on the capability of the state and gives them confidence to invest here.
Satellite centres in manufacturing clusters
In today’s world of fast changing technology, the industry support from Siemens plays a major role to always stay ahead of the trend. They provide the centre with latest technology. “Even recently, a new product was launched by Siemens in Germany. It will take few years to come to India but we were one of the first few to be informed. This partnership helps our engineers to always be ahead of the trend and explore effective solutions to our problems here,” explained Singh. The centre also has access to Siemen’s digital library which has several self-learning modules. “It is called as an accelerator where one can learn various things by themselves. These are expensive licenses but we extend it to students, startups and anyone who is willing to upskill themselves,” said Singh.
The centre has gained wide popularity across the state too. Four manufacturing clusters have reached out to them to understand their operations and have also requested to set a satellite centre at their clusters. For two of them, detailed reports have been prepared. The centres would be cluster specific like EV in Hosur, small machinery in Ambattur, defence and aerospace in Coimbatore, etc.
TANSAM is registered as a Section 8 company and the initial capital to set up the center was from the government. But now the company has started to turn in revenue to manage its expenses. “I want to ensure that this company expands and we are hungry for more projects. We have added more people to go out on field and understand real world problems. Organisations have also understood our value and reach out to us,” explained Singh. Recently TANSAM has received CSR certification and now bigger companies can extend their CSR to them and it will add value to their portfolio. “Our larger interest is enablement through technology across the entire ecosystem of manufacturing,” added Singh.
The vision of Tamil Nadu as a smart manufacturing hub is enabled through centres like these that service various touch points in the eco system.
A tour of TANSAM
The COE houses seven different lab under a single roof, all powered by Siemens. It ranges across electrical, electronics, mechanical, mechatronics, automobile, design and other state-of-the-art technologies.
As we entered, an engineer explained about the brake shoe component that he was working with. “We first scan the part using a calibration scanner and we receive the output as a CAD file. This CAD file is compared with the original CAD file of the component. The deviations between the two helps to understand how much the component gets altered after continuous usage,” said the engineer and continued, “It is useful to reverse engineer components too.”
This section also houses a filament type 3D printer that supports materials like stainless steel, copper, inconel, A2 and D2. Instead of showing paper samples, this centre supports the creation of component using 3-D printers. “When the supplier shows a sample component, it is easier for the client to understand better about it and it helps them to fetch orders,” explained Natesh, Manager, Marketing and Operations. The 3D printed parts then go to a washer and sinter.
An AI and ML based inspection machine helps with quality control and quality assurance. Powered by Siemens Mendix, the program has all the actuals of a component. As the component moves through the conveyor, the software checks for any defect and then passes it, if all is fine.
A collaborative robot that can work alongside humans is on display. It is trained to pick bottles from one section and place it in another. When there is any human interference, the robot stops. “This is can be used in factories and also in medical field for assisted hand movement, leg movement and physiotherapy. Next, is an automatic gated vehicle. It is used in large warehouses where containers can be moved from one place to another. It is controlled using a mobile app.
A sample factory setup shows how different sections can be controlled and monitored through a mobile app. A small defect in any part of the factory would immediately be alerted.
Using hologram contemplation in Augmented Reality, the team has developed a simple application that is used to assist in servicing an engine. The AR glass provides step by step instruction through a video and at the same time, the object is visible in the real world. Following the video, the person can perform the steps in the r
eal engine. Once the step is performed correctly, only then, the AR video of the next step would be played. “Apart from functioning as a service guide, this can be used in remote assistance,” said the engineer. This application can be extended to visualise the interiors of a room and also to guide someone in a large indoor space.
The VR section hosts an experiential learning of the human body. Each layer of the body can be segregated, zoomed and interacted with further for better understanding. Medical colleges have enquired for this particular application and it is also in high demand among schools.
