Panasonic ramps up smart factory solutions business in India

The company has integrated its welding business and SMT (Surface Mount Technology) equipment business to consolidate its software and hardware capabilities and become an end-to-end integrated Smart Manufacturing Solutions company. The smart factory solutions proposition will enable Panasonic to deliver broader, high value-added, smart solutions and services along with world-class hardware to the manufacturing industry. The company targets to achieve 1000 Cr in revenue from its smart factory business in the next three years, with solutions and digital manufacturing expected to contribute 15% to the total smart factory business revenue.

Panasonic plans to open a technical centre for its smart factory solutions which will act as a strategic base that validates smart factories with customers and be used as a training centre where customers can learn the skills required to operate a digital factory. The company is focused on building India as its innovation hub for the globe, and create a strong ecosystem of component and automated manufacturing in the country.

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Hiroyuki Aota - President & CEO, Global Panasonic Smart Factory Solutions said, "Our legacy and heritage of producing cutting edge technology for more than 100 years gives us a unique advantage. Companies not only in India, but globally are increasingly focused on automating processes in their manufacturing plants and bringing in solutions, which are more digitally enabled. India is adopting new age technologies such as 5G, IoT, AI and others at a rapid pace and we will only see more investment in these technologies as we move forward. To be able to cater to these growing demands, having the right and smart capabilities in manufacturing will be key, and this is what we are addressing today."

The smart factory solutions are for manufacturers looking to take a forward leap in smart manufacturing through solutions such as integrated line management system (iLNB), automated process tracker, digital reporting system and more. Panasonic's recently introduced solution, iLNB can communicate with the entire line of machinery and can automate up to 70-80% of manual processes, thereby improving productivity ensuring quality control and supporting actual production process. Similarly, the digital reporting system allows real time access to information helping build agility and overall transparency of systems.

Mr. Manish Sharma, President & CEO Panasonic India said, "India is today at the helm of digital transformation and ramp up of manufacturing capabilities, smart factory solutions are an imperative. Today, manufacturers require improvements not only in process automation but also in productivity and quality across the entire production cycle and factory as a whole. The key technology to realise a Smart Factory is to connect various equipment through the Internet of Things (IoT), to synchronise them and collect and control data from the equipment in real time for entire production processes. We are extremely focused on building solutions that cater to the real needs of our customers and will aggressively ramp up our portfolio of smart factory solutions."

The growth of this market is propelled by the evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT), increasing use of enabling technologies in manufacturing, rising adoption of industrial robots in manufacturing sector driven by collaborative robots, and connected enterprise, along with mass production to cater to rising population.