Industry 4.0: Centre taking steps for smart manufacturing, says official

The heavy industries and public enterprises ministry is supporting setting up of four centres in the country to facilitate SMEs implement Industry 4.0, a senior government official said on Friday.

N Sivanand, Joint Secretary in Department of Heavy Industry, said these four centres will come up at institutes, including IIT Delhi; Central Manufacturing Technology Institute, Bengaluru; and IIT Mumbai.

These centres would be set up this year. Industry 4.0 is the next level of industrial revolution encompasses use of robotics, artificial intelligence, smart manufacturing and increasing digitisation.

He said the ministry is taking several steps to increase awareness about these sectors as it would help boost growth of manufacturing in the country.

The term Industry 4.0 is synonymous with smart manufacturing and it is revolutionising the way manufacturing is done worldwide, he told PTI.

These centres would create awareness on the relevant smart manufacturing technologies, application of which would lead to increased efficiency and productivity, he added.

It encompasses cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things, cloud computing and cognitive computing.

The opportunities and efficiencies that smart manufacturing offers can help the industry in increasing its competitiveness, he said.

The centre in Pune has come together to create awareness, skill training, consultancy support and R&D for 5,000 companies for faster adoption and integration of new modern technologies in automobiles and machine tools sector.