Automation Industry Association of India (AIA), the forum representing Industrial Automation companies in India has offered to share its expertise with government and engineering colleges in establishing global working quality Centres of Automation.

Speaking at an Industry –Academia Interface meet co-organised by AIA in partnership with Ghaziabad Management Association and Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College, Ghaziabad. Mr Sunil Khanna, President, AIA, said " Automation is a well-established technology both in the manufacturing sector and infrastructure. India’s hopes of emerging as an economic super-power depends a lot on how we groom our engineers to leverage this technology. By transferring global quality learning processes we can convert a much larger percent of the emerging manpower to a more enriching careers. ”. The event was part of a recently launched initiative by AIA called Campus Connect.

Speaking about the urgency in bridging the technology gap to meet the demands of Industrial Automation and Robotics the Chief Guest Mr M S Vijayaraghavan, Advisor Information Security Government of India, & Executive Director Society for Electronic Transactions & Security (SETS) said “that while the concept of Industry - Academia partnership is picking up with TIFAC's Mission Reach initiative, industry must realise that the primary role of academia is to encourage innovation. Our educational Centres of Excellence should be developed to create new applications rather than be seen as a low cost substitute to solve routine technical problems”.

Since inception, AIA has been working towards the goals of increasing awareness and acceptability amongst users on cutting edge automation technologies to aid the Indian industry leverage these for greater productivity, efficiency, quality, safety and consistency – parameters that form the key to global competitiveness today. “The association has also taken initiatives to foster best practices within the automation industry by encouraging innovation to promote the cause of Indian industry. Now we are turning our attention to upgrade the way automation is taught and learnt in colleges” Mr Khanna added.

Globalisation is impacting the demands placed by industry on engineers across the board: Aeronautical, Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Electronics, Instrumentation, Information & Communication, Mechanical, Textile etc. Leading academia, industry and HR stalwarts attending the meet emphasized that understanding principles of Automation will enable these engineers to demonstrate new competencies that global leadership demands, such as:

• Asset Management

• Production Engineering & Simulation

• Energy Conservation

• Material handling & Packaging

• Mechatronics

• Material & Human Safety

• Quality of Work & Environment

• Tracking & Tracing Systems

While making the announcement Mr Khanna said "We have a choice of several models between the producer consumer model, continuing Education model, research, High level technology alliance, & the consultancy model on which we can build a collaborative framework”. Quoting various reports he added that only 25% of the 600,000 engineering graduates are ready to be deployed by this industry and efforts to increase this percentage need to be made.

The event was supported by Noida Management Association.

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About Automation Industry Association

Automation Industry Association (AIA) was founded in 2004, by leading automation technology players in the country. It is a vibrant forum for all automation companies in India spreading knowledge and creating awareness levels that make a vital difference to the global competitiveness of Indian industry. AIA founding members include ABB, Emerson, Honeywell, Invensys, L&T, Rockwell, Siemens and Yokogawa. The association currently represents 50 high tech companies delivering technology products and integrated automation systems. For more information on AIA please visit http://www.aia-india.org/