Automation Industry Association (AIA) launches a national educational initiative with engineering colleges, to nurture competency building for manufacturing competitiveness

Dilip Chenoy, NSDC says, “India’s dream of being a world-class industrial competitor is feasible with appropriate automation technologies”

College of Engineering, Pune (COEP); Vivekanand Education Society's Institute of Technology (VESIT), Mumbai; Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College (AKGEC), Ghaziabad and The National Institute of Engineering (NIE), Mysore are the colleges that AIA has tied up with

Competency Development Centres offer a contemporary integrated learning environment based on industrial sensors, actuators, HMI and motion controllers for latest innovation and development of industrial solutions

July, 2014; Ghaziabad: The Automation Industry Association (AIA) recently launched a national initiative for the education in industrial automation. This will be an industry guided program for the students of science and engineering and will help academia to better educate, properly train and enrich the human capital of our country that would be deployed by factories of the future. The launch ceremony was held at AKG Engineering College, Ghaziabad. The Competency Development Centre at the AKG Engineering college was inaugurated by chief guests Mr. Dilip Chenoy, MD & CEO, NSDC & Mr. Surendra Prasad, Chairman NBA & Ex Director-IITD.

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From L to R : Prof. Surendra Prasad, Chairman-NBA; EX-Director-IITD and Mr. Dilip Chenoy, MD & CEO - NSDC inaugurated the centre in the presence of other distinguished members including Mr. K. Nandakumar, President– AIA & Chairman & Managing Director-Chemtrols India, Mr. Dilip Sawhney, Vice President-AIA & MD, Rockwell Automation India

Automation Industry Association (AIA) is India’s apex body of automation technology companies. It has been at the forefront of creating new platforms that impact the nation’s competitiveness in manufacturing and infrastructure.

“I am extremely delighted that the Automation Industry is collectively building formal linkages with academia, supporting global training standards and creating a pull for aspiring youth to build value for themselves and the nation”, said Mr. Dilip Chenoy, Managing Director and CEO, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), while delivering the keynote address at the National Launch of Campus Connect Program of AIA and inaugural function of AKGEC-AIA ‘Centre for Integrated Automation’ at the AKGEC Campus in Ghaziabad.

AIA ‘Campus Connect Program’ offers two levels of engagement at undergraduate and during post graduate engineering studies. The program envisages establishment of “Competency Development Centers (CDC)” for training in the state of art automation technologies for proliferation and promotion of contemporary education in automation.

Mr. K. Nandakumar, President, AIA said “Over the next two decades, the continuing demographic dividend could add about two percentage points per annum to India’s per capita GDP growth. This depends on the ability of the economy to absorb & productively employ human capital through adoption of appropriate technology and required skill. This is yet another initiative from our end to bridge the gap between the industry and the academia. We thank NSDC for encouraging us in this endeavour.”

Mr Ravi Agarwal , Director, Pepperl+Fuchs India ,one of the sponsors for Campus Connect Initiative said, “ An Industry leader can share the excitement of new technologies but ultimately it has to be the teacher who has to connect with students and keep his interest alive. The network of CDCs under AIA Campus Connect will be instrumental in the training and development of the new generation.”

AIA is helping the Partner Institutions to establish state-of-the-art integrated labs that allow the trainees to gain practical experience of working on the key sub-systems that they would actually encounter in the industry. It includes emerging Sensing technologies, Motion control, HMI, SCADA and Actuators. Existing labs can also be hooked up with the new equipment.

Industry leaders like Siemens, B&R, Festo and Pepperl + Fuchs have come together to build a contemporary and relevant training curriculum that is brand-agnostic. This kind of collaborative initiative is unique and attempted first time anywhere. More industry partners are expected to join.

The program also featured a panel discussion on ‘Realizing and Shaping Competency Centers’. This session chaired by Mr. Chenoy and co-chair by Mr. Nandakumar along with other eminent panelists including Mr. R.C. Joshi, Managing Director, Festo Controls, Mr. Sunil Khanna, Managing Director, Emerson Network Ltd., Mr. Suman Bose, MD, Siemens Industry Software, Mr. Ravi Agarwal, Director, Pepperl+Fuchs India and Mr. Munish Vasudeva, Head (HR), Siemens Energy. The group recommended that AIA should create a scalable model for 400 CDCs focused on training, skilling and certification, so that the disparities between employability and industry needs are reduced.

About National Skill Development Corporation:

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), which was formed under the Ministry of Finance, is a one of its kind public-private partnership with 51 per cent equity held by private sector and the balance 49 per cent by the Union Government. Formed in 2010, NSDC is a professionally run not-for-profit company that includes 31 Sector Skill Councils and 136 training partners with over 2500+ training centres spread across 366 districts in the country. NSDC is mandated to skill 150 million Indians by 2022.

For more information on NSDC kindly visit our website, and Facebook page:www.nsdcindia.orghttps://www.facebook.com/NSDCIndiaOfficial

For further information from AIA

Neha Singh Automation Industry Association

Tel: 91-11-41659981 Mob: 91- 8860291265 Email: aia.program@gmail.com W: www.aia-india.org

For further information from NSDC Garima Misra+91-9910106993Garima.misra@ogilvy.com

Niren Yadav+91-8800447367Niren.yadav@ogilvy.com