Ahmedabad– AOTS, Japan( Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships) and Confederation of Indian Industry, India (CII) organized a Technical Seminar and Workshop on High Precision Arc Welding Technology at Ahmedabad on 23-24 Oct 2018. The seminar was organized at Hotel Hyatt Regency, Ahmedabad and the practical demonstration of Japanese latest welding technology was conducted at Gujarat Technological University (GTU), Ahmedabad on both the days. This training program at Ahmedabad was funded by Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry, Japan (METI). There is 3^rd and last such METI supported training program scheduled in this this year –in Jamshedpur (13-14 Dec 2018). First program in this series was held at Chennai (22-23 Aug 2018). Panasonic Welding Systems was an Industry Partner by providing lecture and practical demonstration on latest welding Equipment and Robot technology to improve productivity of Indian metal fabrication industry. Other industry partners were Kobelco Welding, Japan (welding consumables) and Iwatani Corporation, Japan (shielding gas). The seminar served as an opportunity to promote welding technology which remains the most critical for industrial sectors required to assure long-term reliability across applications such as Fabrication of Building, Bridges, Process Plant Equipment, Manufacturing of Automobiles, Railways, Ships, etc.

Some of the key dignitaries present at the occasion were (Chief Guest) Mr. Masahide Sato(Dy Chief of Mission, Consulate General of Japan in Mumbai) , Mr Rajendra Shah (Vice Chairman-CII Gujarat State Council & Shairman ,Harsha Engineers Ltd) , Mr Hisashi Kanda (General Manager, AOTS-India), Mr Dharmendra Mishra (Group Executive Director, Kataria Automobiles Pvt Ltd) , Mr Masafumi Himeno (Divisional Director-SFS Division, Panasonic India Pvt Ltd) and Prof (Dr) S.D. Panchal ( Registrar, GTU) .The seminar served as a platform to promote Japan’s latest high-precision welding technology into India. The eminent faculty included Prof. Fumiyoshi Minami (Joining & Welding Research Institute –JWRI, Osaka University, Japan),who delivered valuable lecture on “Welding Mechanics and Design for Smart Manufacturing”.and Mr Masaharu Sato, (Japan Welding Engineering Society-JWES ,Japan), who covered topics on “Importance of International Standards on welding quality  control and qualification of welders”. With an aim to support ‘Make in India’ vision, this initiative is expected to foster the growth of personnel engaged in the manufacturing sector, Welders and Welding Technologists in particular.

Expressing his views on the occasion, Mr Masahide Sato referred to Japanese Prime Minister Mr Abe’s visit to India on 13-15 Sept 2017 & re-iterated Japan’s strong support for initiatives such as “Make in India”, “Digital India”, “Skill India”” and “Start-up India”. He also said “Strong India benefits Japan and Strong Japan benefits India”. Japan has already started taking significant measures to improve the human resource in India and we shall continue to support such kind of initiatives in India.”

Mr Hisashi Kanda, AOTS, India stated “AOTS Japan promotes technical cooperation of Japan with other countries and sends experts from Japan to these countries in order to upgrade human resources there. AOTS is already actively working in 43 countries having offices there and has plans to expand to many other countries.”

Mr Rajendra Shah said, “We truly acknowledge the contribution of welding to manufacturing sector. This workshop is 2^nd in the series of 3 such workshops funded by METI. Japanese manufacturing technology is far ahead that of India. We acknowledge the support of Japanese experts to support upgrade Indian manufacturing.”

Masafumi Himeno said, “This training program supports the concept of “Make in India” it means India need to be able to increase export of India manufactured goods and for which latest Japanese technology Welding machines and Robots can support Indian industry to upgrade to international level.”

Prof (Dr) S.D. Panchal added that “Welders build the world we live in. Many of you may be knowing that America has dedicated one full month to welding called –National welding month which is April month .Welding is an essential part of everyday life. From cars to high rise office buildings, airplanes to rockets , pipelines to highways , none of it would be possible without welding.”

This Technical workshop and seminar is attended by more than 130 nos. of participants from many sectors like Automotive Industry, Energy sector, Plant assembly, Oil upstream and Downstream, Transformer manufacturing, General fabrication etc and Educational institutes like Gujarat Technological University, PDPU, Rai University ,International Automobile Centre for Excellence , Japan India Institute of Manufacturing etc .