Key automotive logistics seminars to be held in Pune in early December

The fifth edition of the annual AMS India Conference is to be held at the Hyatt in Pune from December 3-5, 2012. Hosted by Automotive Manufacturing Solutions, the summit will have quality in the spotlight as carmakers meet global suppliers.

Improving quality of build while retaining the flexibility to meet changing cycles of demand are just some of the manufacturing challenges facing India’s auto companies. In addition, rising labour rates, in part illustrated by recent unrest, mean carmakers must constantly re-assess the cost and efficiency balance between the capital cost of automation and their current expenditure on labour. As if that were not enough, India’s supplier base at Tier 2 and below is in general not yet able to provide the unvarying quality needed for today’s vehicle production standards. The issue is particularly acute for foreign OEMs seeking to introduce global platforms with no allowance for local variations in build. Dealing with these challenges will bring delegates together at this year’s international conference on vehicle manufacturing and assembly, which sees domestic and foreign OEMs and Tier suppliers, plus the providers of the equipment and technologies used in vehicle production, meet to share knowledge and techniques.

The conference will be a mixture of discussions between high-level executives, technical presentations, networking and social activities. A site visit to Volkswagen’s Chakan plant is a part of the event.

“Excellent forum to get an insight into manufacturing technology development in an interactive way,” said head of corporate project engineering at Mahindra & Mahindra, Sudhir Jaiswal, after last year’s event, held in Delhi.

“AMS India is a forum where you can get to know the emerging technologies and solutions,” said Amit Sharma, senior manager for supplier quality assurance at Maruti Suzuki. “Very informative, took us to the future and helpful to plan own capacity,” added Sivaraman Margabandu, general manager of Tier 1 supplier Delphi TVS Diesel Systems.

Speakers for AMS India 2102 include Satkar Grewal, senior production manager, of Maruti Suzuki; Piyush Arora, technical director of Mercedes-Benz India; and C R Ravi, general manager for project planning at Ashok Leyland. For more information and to register to attend the conference, go to http://india.amsconferences.com

Logistics forum will drive debate on growth

The upcoming automotive Logistics India conference in Pune (December 5-7) will bring together all parties to focus on the theme of 'The big win for logistics: Strategies to move automotive India into the premier league’.

The conference typically is attended by executives from OEMs, Tier suppliers and service providers, along with government officials. It creates networking and allows informal discussion as well as providing formal presentations with a Q&A session. “An enriching experience,” commented Ravi Singh, GM of logistics at Maruti Suzuki, after the 2011 event held in Delhi.

Last year, almost 300 delegates heard then that considerable investment, partnership and patience are all needed for logistics to keep up with market demand which is expected to see car sales double to six million per annum by 2015-16.

The 2012 event will see both global and Indian players present, from both customers and suppliers. Included will be senior executives like Prem Verma, CEO of TML Distribution (the logistics arm of Tata Motors), who is also co-chair of the logistics committee of SIAM; Shailesh Hazela, director of the global supply chain for General Motors India; Achal Paliwal, head of logistics and export at Honda Cars India; and Joerg Biesemann, director of automotive logistics for Asia Pacific for Tier 1 supplier Continental .

The conference will delve into areas like warehousing, IT, packaging, inventory management, synchronised delivery, truck capacity, rail, multimodal transport options and also finished vehicle logistics.

Automotive Logistics India is part of a global series, which sees other annual events in the USA, Europe (held in Germany), Russia, China and Brazil. At each one, regional issues are addressed in the vital context for the automotive industry, of increasingly-global vehicle platforms and already-global supply chains. For more details and registration, log onto www.automotivelogisticsindia.com

Autocar Professional is the media partner for both the AMS India and Automotive Logistics conferences.