We Make-in-India and Help Processors Make-in-India

The entire Indian plastic machinery manufacturing industry comes with a macro agenda on hand. It is currently working hand-in-hand with the upgradation of technology in order to take it to the international level while supporting the Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make-in-India initiatives by the Government of India. Kudos to this spirit!

Another important agenda is to reduce the cost of the machinery. To catalyse that, PMMAI has activated the Joint Purchase Activity, where we work on a single platform and negotiate with the suppliers so that even the smallest of the members can reap the benefits. Through this activity, we aim to provide the benefits of the discount structure to everyone, irrespective of their purchasing power and capacity. It has also brought our costs under control to quite an extent. We started with electrical and electronic components, and we plan to extend this to other components as well.

Third, it’s good practice! The industry has come together for the exchange of new ideas where we regularly discuss the requirements of the customers and how far we can satisfy their needs. A unified approach that helps us stay ahead of the curve.

Strive Towards Industry 4.0

I wish to convey that we should all collectively work towards achieving Industry 4.0, and that too at an economical price. The requirements from different sectors like defence, aerospace, irrigation etc. have changed drastically in recent years. Earlier, all these sectors were procuring from international markets. However, the focus has shifted to procuring these from within India. To fulfill that demand, machinery manufacturers should rapidly work towards developing the required new machine technology as our machines form a part of their primary requirements.

Let’s take the example of the automobile sector which has invested a huge amount of money in India with several premium car companies setting up their manufacturing units here. So, now the Indian plastic manufacturing industry should work towards delivering important components for these car manufacturers, something that they have been importing until now. To enable that, we should be providing them with new, technologically advanced machines that deliver high output at an economical production cost. We must also increase our production capacity to a much larger scale so that our production cost can be reduced. It’s also very crucial to work in collaboration with the processors as they well know the latest requirements from different sectors.

Besides, there are several other factors that the industry needs to take care of. Anti-dumping duty (ADD) is one of them. PMMAI is in continuous talks with the government to discourage the import of injection moulding machines and extruders by reintroducing ADD.

I am so proud that our industry has invested and developed highly advanced machines and moulds so that the processors can benefit from them and develop better quality products with high output and low cost.

Fulfilling the New-Age Demands

The developing industry and new-age demands have also brought about a change in product requirements.

The one that we all should realise is the context of circular economy. Production cost will play a pivotal role in achieving a circular economy. The processor must control its production cost without compromising on the quality. Competition is today global. We have to up our game in order to compete with them and stand our ground. And that can only be done if we provide machines of the highest quality.

Sustainability is a factor that will continue to play an important role in making our industry future-ready. The processors must ensure there is minimum wastage during production and develop a way of using recycled products in an optimised manner.

In all this, PMMAI stands to play a significant role in the way the industry grows and moves forward from here on.

Tushar Parikh,
Chairman, PMMAI