Siemens to drive skill up-gradation across industries in India

Siemens in India is strengthening initiatives for skill up-gradation of the industrial workforce in 
India. In line with this, it recently signed two separate Memorandums of Understanding (MoU)–one with the Ministry of Industries and Mines, Government of Gujarat, and the other with Steel Authority of India Ltd. Additionally, Siemens has partnered with industrial bodies such as Automation Industry Association (AIA), Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers Association (IMTMA), CII, etc. to impart technical education.

Skills and knowledge are the driving forces of economic growth and social development for any country. An economy like India requires a large and skilled workforce to achieve the ambitious plans of Government of India (GoI) to raise the share of manufacturing from current 16 to 25% of GDP by 2025. This goal can be achieved only when the companies adopt high end and innovative technol-ogies. However, the availability of limited skilled workforce creates a roadblock in the adoption of newer technologies. Subsequently, a gap exists between the growing demand for and the scarce supply of skilled personnel across sectors. This gap, if not addressed quickly, will have a strong bearing on the productivity and competitiveness of the sector itself. While the current capacity of the skill development program is 3.1 million, India has set a target of skilling 500 million people by 2022.

Speaking on the initiatives,  Mr. Bhaskar Mandal, Sector Cluster Lead, Industry Sector, Sie-mens South Asia, said, “Closing the gap in skill development is a vital bridge to ensure that we gather momentum in reviving the manufacturing growth of the country. As an organization, our strength lies in innovations, the intelligent use of new technologies and our century old partnership with the Indian Industry. We are extremely proud of initiatives like this that help to strengthen the long term manufacturing competency of our nation.”

MoU with Government of Gujarat

Siemens Industry Software (SISW) Pvt. Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of Siemens AG involved in providing Product Lifecycle Management solutions, signed a MoU with the Ministry of Industries and Mines, Government of Gujarat, for the establishment of five Centers of Excellence (CoEs) across the state. First of its kind in the country, these CoEs will address diverse industry segments such as Automotive, Industrial machinery, Industrial automation, Aerospace & defense, and Shipbuilding. Siemens will manage the CoEs for two years and then will entrust it to the state government.

Speaking on the occasion, Honorable Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Narendra Modi had said, “The agreement signed with Siemens for five Centers of excellence is not just an academic activity, but an initiative to meet the emerging education needs and aspirations of not only Gujarat, but also our country as a whole”. Commenting on the need to improve the quality of learning, he added, “This initiative with Siemens will help make our fresh Engineering graduates employable and productive.

Equipped with the latest design, digital manufacturing, simulation, and lifecycle management soft-ware from SISW, and state of art industrial equipment from Siemens Industry, these CoEs will have the latest computerized numerical controllers (CNC), programmable logic controllers (PLC), computer integrated manufacturing unit (CIM) comprising of CNC milling and turning machines, automatic guided vehicles (AGV), industrial robots, automatic storage and retrieval systems, vision inspection system for quality control, CIM controllers and software, rapid prototyping machines, etc., all integrated using Siemens Total Integrated Automation (TIA) portal. Each of the CoEs will have 7 fully-equipped laboratories that will be staffed with instructors trained and certified by Siemens. The COEs are being set up at a cost of Rs. 489 crores through the Public-Private Partnership model.

Mr. Suman Bose, Managing Director, Siemens Industry Software India, said, “We wish to congra-tulate the Government of Gujarat on their foresight and commitment to industrial development and thank them for providing us an opportunity to be a partner in this strategic initiative. We firmly believe that focused skill development initiatives like these are essential to sustain and enhance India’s manufacturing competitiveness in the long run. These COEs will be the first of their kind in the country and will go a long way to further enhance the industry readiness of Gujarat.” 

Three year MoU with Steel Authority of India Ltd.

This MoU comes on the back of another significant Siemens partnership with Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL), India’s largest steel producer, to enhance the technical skills of SAIL’s work force. According to the MoU signed recently, Sitrain, a Business Unit within the Siemens Industry Sector that imparts industrial training services, will provide training to SAIL personnel involved in projects, maintenance and other technical departments of SAIL’s plants. This MOU is valid for a period of three years and is the third consecutive pact signed with Siemens.

Partnerships with Industry associations

According to National Skills Development Policy, the government of India aims in skilling 500 million people by 2020 by upgrading government ITI’s. Using core competencies such as innovative technologies and technical know-how, Siemens supports Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in the ITI up-gradation initiative to produce skilled technicians who are “Industry Ready”. Under the Corporate Citizenship initiative, Siemens is currently identifying ITIs from Aurangabad and Baroda to roll out the same. In another partnership with the Automation Industrial Association (AIA), Sie-mens provides various training packages to colleges including IIT Chennai in addition to actively contributing in developing courses on automation along with the college academicians. With the Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers Association (IMTMA), Siemens provides technical training to various levels of participants both from Industry and institutions. Additionally, training kits are also provided to IMTMA Technology Centre, Bangalore.

For more information, visit  www.siemens.co.in

Contact for journalists:

Siemens Ltd, Corporate Communication 
Ms. Ashwathi G. Athilat
Phone: (022) 33 26 5249 
E-mail: ashwathi.athilat@siemens.com