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Indian manufacturing is going through a very dynamic phase. On one hand it needs to provide employment to hundreds of thousands of young people (who are either unskilled or semi-skilled) and at the same time it needs to adopt advanced technologies like automation and robotics to stay relevant and competitive.

How can these two seemingly opposite aspects be balanced? "I think they are complementary rather than contradictory. It's not one or the other; it's both of them simultaneously," he believes.

He thinks that the abundance of young people is a big advantage that India has over many other countries. It means easy availability of work force that's relatively cheap on the global scale. So for labour intensive operations, India is the place to be. At the same time you have the IITs and the IIMs that are producing world class talent. Given the overall scenario, I think both labour intensive operations and advanced automated operations can co-exist in India," he adds.

The problem, he says, is with poor infrastructure. "Without good infrastructure and availability of basic utilities, ‘Make in India' will not work the way it is expected to. Equally important is to tackle the bureaucratic obstacles and the corruption resulting out of it," he cautions.

How do you marry lean with ‘Industry 4.0'? "Lean is creating value through strategic elimination of waste. The idea is to get rid of processes or steps that are not adding value. Industry 4.0, with use of technology and artificial intelligence, also works towards the same goal. So they are complementary," he says.

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