NEW DELHI : The government is considering overhauling India’s patent rules to spur innovation and research and development (R&D), union minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal said, as he sought suggestions from industry and stakeholders to revamp the country’s legal framework.
“We are looking to improvise on the patent laws so that we can invite more R&D, more research, more innovation to India,” Goyal said at the ‘Mint Zetwerk Smart Manufacturing Summit 2023 on Thursday.
NEW DELHI : The government is gearing up to introduce updated vehicular speed limits as India’s new highway and expressway network is capable of handling faster speeds, according to Union minister for road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari.Lower limits in new highways meant for mobility at higher speeds pose challenges for commuters, Gadkari said at the Mint Zetwerk Smart Manufacturing Summit 2023 on Thursday.
New Delhi: India’s manufacturing ecosystem should shift towards integrated platforms which can drive efficiency and economies of scale by providing all elements of the supply chain under one umbrella, said industry executives. They added that component manufacturing through government incentive schemes would help India become self-reliant and an alternative to China for global supply chains.
NEW DELHI : The government is working on a scheme to produce bio-bitumen from rice straw for use in road construction, Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said at the Mint Zetwerk Smart Manufacturing Summit 2023. He said his ministry would introduce the scheme in the next three months to provide tractor-mounted machines for the production of bitumen from rice straw or stubble. The government will purchase the bio-bitumen produced with these machines for road construction. Common bitumen derived from crude oil is used for its adhesive properties in the construction of roads and highways. The measures will be part of the country’s efforts to achieve its ambitious climate targets and to reduce import dependence.
In 2018, four IIT graduates got together to build a marketplace for custom manufacturing to connect SMEs with mid-large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) operating across a range of industrial sectors. Soon, the manufacturing services platform expanded its footprint to the US, Mexico, and the Middle East. About three years after it received seed funding of $1.5 million from Kae Capital and Sequoia Capital in August 2018, the company hit the $1 billion valuation mark to become the 25th unicorn of 2021.
This is the meteoric rise of Zetwerk and its five founders Amrit Acharya, Srinath Ramakkrushnan, Rahul Sharma, Vishal Chaudhary and Ankit Fatehpuria, a story that started with a shared interest for solving some of the imbalances in the largely unorganised manufacturing ecosystem.
IT’S VITAL for a start-up to be agile and try new things. But operating in a legacy sector such as manufacturing also means striking a fine balance between the old and the new. “We try not to benchmark ourselves against any traditional organisation,” says Ginu Nair, vice president, HR, Zetwerk.
With manufacturing likely to add nearly $1 trillion to India’s GDP over the next decade, as per a recent report by Matrix Partners India and McKinsey, business-to-business (B2B) manufacturing marketplace unicorn Zetwerk is already in a sweet spot. It’s no surprise then that unlike traditional manufacturing companies which focus on engineering talent, Zetwerk draws people from diverse backgrounds to bring in fresh perspectives. “Today we have been able to hire the best of folks from traditional set-ups, people from the start-up ecosystem who never had a manufacturing or industrial background, and B2C people on the product engineering side,“ says Nair.
The India-based company is a manufacturing partner for aerial vehicles, defence systems, aircraft parts, rocket casings, and other critical components. The five-year old company currently has a workforce of about 2,200 employees across India, US, Singapore and UAE.
Zetwerk has developed a solid project planning, execution muscle in a short period. Right from identifying & developing local RM vendors across various states to having strategic tie-ups with significant steel suppliers on a pan-India scale, we have developed a strong RM supply network. We have additionally developed a network of local labour & machinery contractors to augment our execution muscle.
We provide financial & technical assistance to them & use our in-house project management & planning technology to avoid any execution-related delays. Our in-house quality control team ensures that the work executed is as per quality parameters defined by the client & thus avoids reworks. Our in-house project management tool, Ziso, helps us keep track of project progress & provides transparency to the client. We have a very experienced design team which has worked with significant tendering bodies in the past & can get approvals in a smooth & timely manner.
We at Zetwerk are a one-stop solution for all our partners. With customer-centricity at core, we have central planning, management, and process excellence teams to oversee projects and a robust supply chain with pan-India coverage; our team consists of industry experts from top companies in the domain; we have our in-house project management tools such as ZISO and OMS, enquiry management system EQS, last but not least, a solid financial & project execution capabilities
Information is the cornerstone of any system’s improvement. A data-driven procurement approach is centered around this principle, utilising big data and analytics to enhance processes at every stage of the supply chain. Various technologies contribute to this effort, including interconnected IoT sensors and warehouse robots. For instance, a data-driven warehouse employs actual performance data to determine the optimal way to integrate a robot into its operations. Such data-driven solutions are precisely what the supply chain requires in today’s world.
The production of an abundant and sustainable energy supply for future generations is feasible only with renewable energy. Before the awareness that renewable energy had the potential to improve our level of energy independence, it was a resource that mainly went unused for a long time India has stepped up its efforts to reduce the nation’s overall carbon footprint and fulfil its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)commitments, which it made as part of the Paris Agreement, in its quest to reach the $5 trillion economy goal by 2024–25 and rise to the third-largest economy by 2030
Energy independence and indigenizing renewable manufacturing in India have become key priorities in pursuing sustainable development. India is one of the world’s economies, expanding quickly, with a population of more than 1.4 billion. Due to its fast industrialization and urbanization, India increasingly depends on imported fossil fuels to satisfy its rising energy needs. This dependence not only exposes the nation to shifts in the price of oil on a global scale but also causes considerable carbon emissions that fuel climate change. To attain energy independence and advance sustainable development, India must concentrate on growing its renewable energy sector and indigenizing its renewable manufacturing sector.
