Turbo-charging Industry 4.0 in India

The Perfect Opportunity 

India has traditionally been known to provide high-quality and affordable IT and process offshoring services for Western economies. However, global events and government policies have created new opportunities for Indian companies – Manufacturing!

China’s dominance as the “manufacturer of the world” supported by highly efficient and optimized supply chains is not easy to emulate. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the fault lines in these supply chains. “Resilience” emerged as the key supply chain theme and “efficient” was just not enough.

Two key examples of Indian policies are:

• Make in India makes it easy for companies to manufacture in India with the aim of increasing the manufacturing sector’s contribution to India’s GDP (from 17% in 2021 to 25% in 2025). The focus is on industries like automobiles, electronic consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, defence systems, aviation
• Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) focuses on developing home-grown industries and pillars such as the economy, infrastructure, system, vibrant demography and demand. The government has pledged up to 10% of India’s GDP as funding for the programs

And you know that the wheels are turning when global leaders like Apple want to manufacture 25% of their phones (up from 5-7%) in India.

Role of Industry 4.0

These next-generation manufacturing juggernauts will need intelligent mega-factories to realize this vision. Industry 4.0 is the foundation of all intelligence and automation. Powered by 5G and Cloud Technologies, Industry 4.0 is set to transform the landscape like never before.

At SAP, we believe that the power of Industry 4.0 is fully harnessed when it connects well outside the four walls of the factory. We have been building solutions that connect the shop floor to the top floor so that our customers can realize the full value of Industry 4.0.

Home of Innovation 

Bengaluru is fondly called the Silicon Valley of India and is home to many innovative companies, both large and small. SAP Labs Bengaluru stands tall among these innovators with its majestic campus in Whitefield. Along with its partners, SAP brings cutting-edge innovation to its customers.

India’s focus on manufacturing presents a unique opportunity for our partners to drive Industry 4.0 powered by SAP solutions. And we could not think of a better location than SAP Labs to host the Industry 4.0 Summit, India where we brought partners and SAP innovators together!

SAP Labs Bengaluru hosting the Industry 4.0 Summit India (6 Dec 2022)

Industry 4.0 Partner Landscape

Over 75 partner leaders from 37 partners were present at the event. Around 50% of them had flown into Bengaluru, especially for this event. It was humbling to see such outstanding support from our partners and is a testament to the opportunity they see in Industry 4.0. It is important to note that both experienced and aspirational, broad and niche partners were present at the event.

Industry 4.0 Summit Partners

The event was specifically designed to serve the following goals:

• Align on the market opportunity in India
• Understand SAP’s vision & strategy for Industry 4.0 in India
• Build relationships with key market & product experts

Industry 4.0 Summit Venue

Manufacturing & Design pillars were the key focus of the Summit. These solutions are part of SAP’s Digital Supply Chain (DSC) solution portfolio.

I had the privilege of anchoring this important event.

Anchoring the Summit

Part 1: The Opening

The Summit was opened by Rateesh Trakroo (SAP DSC Sales Lead for India) and Sanjay Makhijani (SAP DSC Partner Lead for Asia-Pacific).

The key messages were as follows:

• Till a few years ago, Supply Chain Planning dominated DSC revenues in India
• But now, other pillars like Manufacturing, Design and Assets are also contributing fairly to the DSC revenues
• Therefore, this is the right time for partners to double down on the opportunities in these Industry 4.0 pillars in India

Opening by Rateesh and Sanjay

Summit Participants

Part 2: Industry 4.0 Definition & Trends

In this segment, KG Chandrasekhar (Head, Digital Manufacturing Engineering, SAP Labs) gave the following key messages:

• SAP has a strong Cloud-ready Industry 4.0 architecture for Discrete and Process industries enabled by key solutions in each of the areas
• Using technologies such as AI, there is an opportunity for partners to enhance the solutions to fit client needs e.g. visual inspection, route planning etc.

Industry 4.0 Overview by KG Chandrasekhar

Following that, Girish Dhondge (Head, Digital Supply Chain Solution Engineering, India) further doubled down on the opportunity in India:

• Design and Manufacturing pillars are growing at over 22% CAGR in India
• Leading industries in India for Industry 4.0 include: Automotive, Industrial Machinery & Components, Energy & Utilities, Metals & Mining, Consumer Goods and Life Sciences
• Key use cases include EV adoption, Modern cell-based manufacturing, Digital Twin etc.

Part 3: Cloud for Manufacturing & Design?

SAP has a razor-sharp focus on Cloud solutions across its solution portfolio – right from its ERP to Industry 4.0 enabling DSC solutions. Our solutions like Digital Manufacturing and Digital Products are built Cloud-first as well.

In this segment, Sandeep Mandhana (Digital Supply Chain, Solution Advisor, India), Sumanta Chakraborty (Chief Product Owner, Digital Manufacturing), Anshuman Prakash (Digital Products, Centre of Excellence) and Saurabh Chaturvedi (Head, Digital Supply Chain Planning, SAP Labs) addressed “myths” around SAP’s Cloud solutions and positioning in Discrete & Process industries.

• Addressing near-machine requirements using Edge computing along with Cloud management for Discrete industries
• Scalability & extensibility in delivering automation at scale with concrete customer examples
• Addressing readiness in regulated industries like Pharma and Life Sciences
• Scheduling using Manufacturing Planning & Scheduling
• Strategic partnership with Siemens to deliver an end-to-end digital twin including:
  • Teamcenter managed cloud offering
  • Standard integration between Teamcenter and S/4HANA
  • Comprehensive solution including Enterprise Product Development and Project & Portfolio Management

Presentations by Saurabh, Sumanta, Sandeep & Anshuman

Part 4: Inspiring with Innovation

In this section, we had two sub-segments:

• A presentation and demo on the Industrial Metaverse demo by TeamViewer (an SAP Endorsed App partner). Rupesh Lunkad (Head, TeamViewer India) and his team showcased how AR/VR technologies are being used by enterprises in processes such as warehousing, asset management etc.

• A virtual tour of SAP’s very own Industry 4.0 Innovation Hub that brings SAP’s Design to Operate story to life. Representing real-life scenarios where design, manufacturing and selling happen in different parts of the world, SAP Industry 4.0 experts Matthias Deindl (Head of Industry 4.0 Innovation Hubs – EMEA and India), Anshul Sahu, Saurabh Kumar, Kiran Shet, Selvakumar Shanmugham and Yuan Yao engaged the audience in an immersive demo.

SAP Industry 4.0 Innovation Hub Virtual Tour

Next Steps

We finally got a chance to take a picture with (most of) the participants.

SAP & Partner Leaders

I left this event feeling energized about the Industry 4.0 opportunity in India! Collectively, the business value that SAP and its partners can unlock for its joint customers is tremendous! For our customers, “seeing is believing”, so let’s inspire them with our end to end vision!

We look forward to further engagements with partners in driving this important topic in India and globally!

The Organizing Team

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You may also be interested in the following blogs :

• Stronger together: SAP Industry 4.0 Ecosystem Summit SEA Edition
• A futuristic experience with SAP and Deloitte at the Smart Factory @ Wichita
• TCS CPG SAP Innovation Hub now ready to inspire!
• Supply Chain optimization is the Cornerstone of Sustainability Improvement

Read many more SAP Supply Chain Management blogs and ask questions about SAP Supply Chain Management.