How do you look at the Indian plastics industry in terms of adoption of new technologies such as automation and Industry 4.0?

Plastic industry is already using dedicated controllers for operations of machine and the same are connected on serial communication like Can open, Ether cat, Modbus, etc. It is also possible to connect all machines, and data like production, preventive maintenance schedule, predictive maintenance, energy consumption, etc. can be monitored remotely e.g. plant head or owner of the company can monitor data in the plant located across the country while sitting in his office in Mumbai. This system enables generating MIS reports at regular intervals for monitoring. In fact, data can be monitored through a mobile app. Also, machine diagnostic can be done remotely, which can help reduce downtime. We at Bharat Bijlee are ready to offer Industry 4.0 solutions for the plastic industry covering all mentioned facilities. Together with Industry 4.0, we offer bundled solutions along with drive and  new motor technology like torque motors and IE4 super premium efficiency motors for energy saving. Torque motors can replace gear box and motor combination in extrusion machines to save energy and reduce maintenance cost of gear mechanism. IE4 motor can give efficiency in line with standards IEC 60034-30-1:2004. Both motors are developed by our motor design team.

What is the demand for drives and how do you foresee it growing further?

There is high demand for servo solutions in plastic injection moulding machines as awareness about this technology is high. As the plastics industry is growing rapidly, the growth of drives also looks promising. At the same time I would like to draw attention towards low-end manufacturers, who dump low-quality servo solutions in the market. Unfortunately, such servo solutions do not last long and ultimately the end-user suffers.

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