On 5 May 2018, Process Division India have organised a panel discussion on "Challenges & remedies for process division in India" at Mumbai. The panel comprised a perfect blend of representatives from government, industry and academia who had rich experience in the process industry.
The panelists for this event belonged to different areas of process industry in India:
- Dr. Rakesh Kumar, Director CSIR-NEERI
- Mr. Rajesh Kakkar, Director Offshore – ONGC board
- Mr. Narayan Madhav, AGM Xylem Water
- Mr. Chole, Vice President Life Sciences, BVG.
Mr. Mahesh Shinde, Secretary of the Process Division India Technical Centre welcomed the gathering and set the context for the event. Dr. Milind Atrey, Chairman of the Process Division India Technical Centre, and Mr. Ravi Raghavan co-chaired the event. Dr Atrey briefed the gathering about the importance of process industry, especially in India, a rapidly growing country, and introduced the panelists. The hall was packed with 60+ would-be IMechE members and 25+ members.
Mr. Rajesh Kakkar suggested that maintaining supplies of oil and gas and meeting the increasing demands will be challenging. The reservoir depletion, and therefore the rate at which we can pump out oil and gas, is one more challenge. To counter these challenges, many schemes such as redevelopment of existing plants, reservoir pressure maintenance etc. are in place in addition to erecting plants in new oil fields. Overcoming policy challenges, through continuous improvement, ONGC is aiming to meet the Prime Minister's challenge to reduce import dependency by 10%.
Dr. Rakesh Kumar stated that setting correct targets and formulating ACTs to control pollution, considering the dynamics as well as balancing economic growth and its impact on environment, are few challenges NEERI is helping to resolve.
Mr. Narayan Madhav suggested that to ensure drinkable as well as industrial water supply to meet the increasing demands becomes challenging, especially because not enough importance and priority is given to treating waste water. One solution to the mindset problem in spite of availability of technologies could be giving incentives to industries for adopting technologies to treat and reuse waste water.
Mr. Chole spoke about the lack of awareness and limited percentage of processed food. Even the infrastructure provided by the government for farmers, like cold storage etc. are instead being used by middle men, food processing units etc.
Technical lecture in Bangalore
On 21 May 2018, a technical lecture was organised by Atkins, Bangalore in collaboration with IET.
IMechE supported the event through Mr Ravi Shanker Kochak, CEng, FIMechE, FIE, Vice Chairman, IMechE Southern Asia Region, who delivered the lecture.
Around 60 employees of Atkins, including some 20 IMechE members were present or participated through the online Skype platform within Atkins. Vijay Raman, Southern India Panel Chairman, was also present.
In “Development of Rolling Stock through virtual prototyping” the important role played by simulation in rapid prototyping of 6 different rolling stock designs of Indian Railways was discussed. The designs were optimized before manufacture of physical prototypes. Virtual simulations give the designer confidence to undertake laboratory and field tests. Results were mostly consistent with design expectations.
Improving the value of a product
On 30 June 2018, the Southern India Panel of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers India Branch organised a workshop at Bengaluru. It was sponsored by the India Branch and the India centres of the Railway and Process Industries Divisions. Thirty one people, including 18 IMechE Members, attended the event. C S Sundaresan, a specialist in value analysis and value engineering delivered the workshop on “Improving the Value of a Product”.
The workshop was interactive workshop spread over five hours, excluding time for refreshments. Mr. Sundaresan discussed the theory and practice of value engineering in five sessions. There were lively discussions throughout the workshop.
The workshop ended with the preparation of a case study, where the workshop participants applied the principles learnt that day.
The event concluded with Vijay Raman, Southern India Panel Chair, summing up the principal lessons and presenting a memento to Mr. Sundaresan. There was a vote of thanks by Magdhum Basha, Treasurer, Southern India Panel.