New Delhi, Oct 25 (KNN) There is a need for MSMEs to be interconnected and technically agile to be globally competitive and support the Indian industry, said NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant.

He said productivity, cost, employment, after sales services, logistics and others facets of production are now integrated on real time basis with adoption of smart technology.

To shape the transformation, NITI Aayog has also introduced robotic technologies in the incubation centers / labs in 500 schools to promote smart manufacturing, Kant said.

While addressing the 2nd Smart Manufacturing Conference recently organized by CII and NITI Aayog, Kant said smart manufacturing practices will increase productivity and the quality of employment opportunities.

He emphasized that Indian manufacturing sector has to adopt advanced technologies to survive in a highly competitive environment.

Kant highlighted that productivity and efficiency are critical for the growth of Indian industry. Industry needs to produce high quality products at a competitive price to withstand the global competition. Manufacturing unit shop floors are now as fashionable and automated as any other industry and consumers are now directly influencing the shop floors. Collecting and processing data coupled with cutting edge technologies will enable shopfloors to respond to the rapidly changing consumer demands, according to him.

He informed that amalgamation of 9 systems - robotics, big data, 3D printing, analytics, additive manufacturing, automation, electronic system, design, IOTs will lead to Smart manufacturing 4.0. Globally, countries are looking at manufacturing sector for driving their GDP, Europe will be investing over 40 billion Euros in the next 5 years in manufacturing industry.

He urged industry to focus on quality and productivity as essential pre-requisites for increasing exports.