The sixth edition of the National Foundry Conclave is expected to be different from the earlier editions in more ways than one. The organisers – CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) and The Institute of Indian Foundrymen have involved the steel and aluminium industry to participate on the one hand and decided to give a tablet (eReader) to each of the delegates on the other.
“This tablet would be loaded with information. It would serve as a handbook, a guide,” said C.R. Swaminathan, Chairman, National Foundry Conclave and Past Chairman of CII, Southern Region.
The organisers are expecting at least 500 delegates to attend this event, which is slated for March 1 and 2 at the Le Meridien here.
Briefing presspersons about the forthcoming event, Swaminathan said that the theme of the event this year would be ‘Prospering in the new abnormal’.
Explaining the necessity for such a theme at this juncture, Swaminathan said, “foundry industry being a mother industry to many important manufacturing sectors such as automobiles, pumps, railways, power, valves, compressors etc., is directly impacted by the performance of all these sectors. Other challenges like power, lack of skilled labour, varying raw material cost, infrastructure support etc adds as additional factors that results in creating an ‘abnormal environment’. The industry, despite such challenges, has huge opportunities for growth in terms of technology and business. And this is exactly what the conclave aims to address.”
National and international speakers have been invited to participate in the event.
M.M. Murugappan, Vice-Chairman, Murugappa Group, is to inaugurate the conclave, while Harsh K. Jha, President, Institute of Indian Foundrymen and Managing Director, Tata Metaliks Ltd, is to deliver the keynote address.
A spokesperson of the aluminium industry observed that the basic requirement of the foundries had changed completely over the years in terms of technology and production quality. “The industry is trying to design castings based on next level technology,” M. Ramesh, Managing Director of Alphacraft Pvt Ltd