Plastic is a magical material that has transformed many industries. In case of automotive, it has changed more than the look and feel of the vehicle. On this backdrop, The Economic Times Polymers, a sister magazine of The Machinist, recently held a daylong conference - Global Conference on Plastics in Automotive (GCPA) 2017. The conference program in its second edition, received grand response from the industry. After the first successful edition in Mumbai, GCPA was organised in Pune - an automotive hub of India. The mere reason to shift the venue was to being closer to the industry to know what exactly it's looking at. And the CEO Panel Discussion at the event was held on the same topic - What Auto Industry Wants? In this panel, Gajanan V. Gandhe, VP South Asia/Africa & MD, IAC Asia Ltd; Sonam Kumar Sinha, CEO - Interior Plastics Division, Tata AutoComp Systems Ltd; BP Shiv, Chief Marketing & Programs Officer, Plastic Omnium Auto Exteriors India and RK Sharma, Co-Founder & Managing Director, Daejung India threw light on needs and requirements of the industry with regard to use of plastics. Here, it was discussed that going forward the collaboration of OEMs with Tier I and Tier II suppliers will offer innovative solutions. Similarly, Varun Gupta, Director, Calco Poly Technik made a presentation from a material perspective. He mentioned that selection of material should happen at early stage of product development, taking material supplier into confidence.
In the process of product development in the automotive industry, consideration of safety of the vehicle and passengers is of paramount importance. Discussing on the same, Sonam Kumar Sinha, CEO - Interior Plastics Division, Tata AutoComp Systems Ltd; Prashant Rashinkar, Product simulation Manager and Safety Specialist, Faurecia Interior Systems and Asmita Sathaye, Deputy General Manager, Polymer Engineering and Environmental management, R&D, Tata Motors talked about various aspects related to safety. They presented their point of views on changing norms & regulations, customers' perspective towards safety and cost efficient solutions.
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