The Higher Education Review

Manufacturing plays a vital role in shaping a country's economy and its overall development. For a successful manufacturing, we need a thriving machine tool industry. This is so since machine tool industry is considered to be the backbone which supports manufacturing and spurs it to greater heights.

"IMTMA through its training programmes conducted at its Tech Centres in Bengaluru, Pune, and Gurugram imparts skill development in young engineers and working professionals"

Indian machine tool industry is today at crossroads. As per Gardner's 'World Machine Tool Output Survey 2018', India stands 8th in consumption and 10th in production of machine tools in a global list of world machine tool consuming and producing countries. To improve further in the rankings, machine tool industry needs a trained workforce. In short, manufacturing can give the desired outputs only if machine tool industry employs skilled workforce.

This expertise and the ability to do well come from practical knowledge and experience. Manufacturing requires certain skills while the education imparted in various technical institutions including diploma and engineering colleges come up short. Students who pass out from these institutions with degrees find themselves all at sea when confronted with the realities that industry demands.

The primary reason for this is the overarching bent towards theory with almost 'zero' exposure to the practical know-how. Institutions do not churn out industry-ready graduates who could be employable. Industry sources, on the other hand, maintain that they find it tough to retrain workforce as they do not have allocated budgets and time for the same. Everybody talks

about this. But, how do we fix this when neither industry nor academia could help fix the problems? This is where the think tanks of Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers' Association (IMTMA) stepped in, to make life easy for the industry by providing them with trained workforce besides preparing job aspirants to face the challenges of working in the industry.

IMTMA through its training programmes conducted at its Tech Centres in Bengaluru, Pune and Gurugram imparts skill development in young engineers and working professionals. The Association acts as a catalyst in bridging the gap between academics and manufacturing industry requirements.

Throwing light on IMTMA's training programmes, IMTMA President P. Ramadas said, "IMTMA training programmes comprise 3 elements, i.e. Productivity Institute, Short-term Training Programmes for Industry Professionals, and Design Institute."

Speaking about the infrastructure and facilities of these centres he added, "The centres are equipped with world-class training facilities including CNC turning and machining centers, metal forming presses, CAD/CAM/CAE, CMM, and Metrology equipment, cutting tools and other accessories for imparting hands-on training."

Ramadas further added, "The training programmes conducted by IMTMA are a practical effort towards knowledge upgradation and skill development. It is a mix of classroom theory and practical hands-on experience needed to work in manufacturing industries."

Ramadas further said, "The Productivity Institute at Bengaluru runs a 4-week Finishing School to give mechanical engineers hands-on training on Production CNC machines, CAD/CAM, metrology equipment, tooling and work holding systems and related accessories. The course enables fresh engineers and new recruits to become industry ready with practical knowledge to take on production responsibilities. IMTMA's Finishing School has completed more than 35 batches of training since it was founded."

Elaborating further he said, "IMTMA also runs short duration training programmes on more than 60 technical

topics specifically meant for industry professionals. Every month about 12 programmes are organized at IMTMA Tech Centres in Bengaluru, Pune, and Gurugram. While the Tech Centre at Bengaluru focuses on imparting training in metal cutting, the Tech Centre in Pune focuses more on metal forming. On the other hand, IMTMA has set up a Design Institute, which imparts training in the design of machine tools and its sub-systems. IMTMA's Design Institute runs very comprehensive training programmes on Machine Tool Design - Mechanical (an 8 weeks course) and Machine Tool Design - Electrical (of 4 weeks duration). These courses inculcate design skills in engineers."

Speaking about the milestones achieved by the Association, Director General& CEO, IMTMA, V. Anbu expressed, "It is a matter of satisfaction that pan-India, IMTMA Technology Centres organized 16, 476 man-days of training during 2017-18 including short-term programmes and long-term courses. The training imparted at our centers benefited 3059 professionals from various industries."

Talking about the selection of faculty members, Anbu said, "The training programmes are conducted by industry experts who have been working in manufacturing industries for decades together and have rich experience in the subject. The faculties are screened and shortlisted by eminent panels in IMTMA so that the training imparted is in harmony with the requirements of the industry."

Anbu further elaborated that companies also prefer hiring individuals trained at IMTMA Tech Centres since they would be able to deliver the goods from Day One. Participants who have undergone training at IMTMA Tech Centres have been absorbed by various industry sectors such as machine tools and accessories, automotive industry, IT-enabled engineering services, aerospace, and so on.

Commenting on the future course of action, Anbu told that IMTMA in 2018-2019 will focus on industrial automation and implement Industry 4.0. at IMTMA Tech Centres. IMTMA is also introducing a Foundation Course in Industrial Automation for imparting hands-on training in the entire automation domain.