Are Indian SMEs CAD/CAM ready?
The entry of major global players and the fast growing domestic industry have led to an increase in the level of productivity. According to experts, this is an opportunity for the Indian component providers, mostly SMEs to be a part of this growth story. But for the same, they have to be on the same page, technology-wise.
In order to deliver the right product, you need to have the right technology – from designing to manufacturing process and the end product. While developing a product, design in not only the initial part but also an integral part that defines the performance of the end product. The SMEs have to provide the right solution using the right technology, in this case proper CAD/CAM technology.
SMEs play an important role adding to the country’s GDP and are the pillars supporting the manufacturing industry. To stand by their role, the SMEs have been upgrading themselves technologically, instead of using technology as just an option for cost-effective mass production; SMEs these days have started to focus on design and innovation.
It was not long ago when the Indian SMEs faced rejection, it was then that they realised the necessity to upgrade and adopt technology and solutions. This change in mindset helped them match steps with their foreign counterparts. The SMEs do not hesitate to give due credit to CAD/CAM solution providers who recognised the demand and came up with the most cost effective solutions for them. Also, this led to a healthy competition among the CAD/CAM solution providers and resulted in a variety of cost effective solutions.
“CAD/CAM technology evolution and its demand in India have come a long way. The technology made its way into the Indian market in the late 90s. In those days, this software’s were considered to be suitable for the MNCs who could afford them. They were expensive not just infrastructural set-up wise, but training adequate number of employees to use these software was also not possible for many, hence were expensive for the SMEs,” says Vikas Khanvelkar, MD, DesignTech Systems Ltd.
Current Trends
The SMEs have now aware of the importance of sophisticated technologies in order to cater to the special requirement of their clients. They do not hesitate to adopts the latest technologies, rather keen to adopt them in order to reduce cycle time and achieve greater productivity.
As the demand for high end solutions increase, more and more SMEs are looking at adopting CAD/CAM solution to cater to them. This has led to a tough competition among the SMEs in order to provide a cost effective end product. Though there has been a steady rise in the adoption of such technologies, there are still some SMEs who are shying away from using the latest design solutions.
Future Outlook
There has been continuous debates among the industry enthusiasts if the industry is ready to adopt CAD/CAM. While some feel SMEs are ready to adopt the latest solutions, there is a section that still stands by the fact that the awareness level among the SMEs is not up to the mark.
To summarise, it can be said that in order to compete with its global counterparts, SMEs need to adopt latest technologies in order to achieve better productivity levels. In the near future, it is predicted that a larger chunk of the Indian SMEs will come forward to adopt the latest technologies like the CAD/CAM solutions, which will encourage the solution providers to invest more in R&D.
nishant@mfgtechupdate.com
