Indian forging industry to tap global opportunities
Association of Indian Forging Industry (AIFI) recently hosted the 7th ASIAFORGE 2019 in Chennai. The 2019 edition marked India hosting the industry meet after a gap of 10 years as AIFI had earlier hosted the second Asia Forge meeting in 2008 in Delhi. The event focused on global opportunities and challenges faced by the forging industry.
The two-day event was inaugurated by Sajjan Jindal, Chairman and MD, JSW Group. Dr Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Prof. IIT Madras, delivered the keynote address. S Muralishankar, President, AIFI, R Sivaparasad Reddy, Vice President, AIFI, Abhay Raj Kapoor, Convenor of Asia Forge 2019, and Vikas Bajaj, Co-convenor, along with the Managing Committee Members, were also present at the event.
S Muralishankar said, “Hosting of the 7th ASIAFORGE in India, after over 10 years, is a momentous occasion for the Indian forging industry. Our decision to host the event was to acquaint ourselves with the latest trends and technologies in the global forging industry, to benchmark some of the best practices and to display India’s technological prowess and engineering capabilities to the global experts. The Indian forging industry has to face challenging years ahead and the ASIAFORGE platform will help us to be prepared for future opportunities.”
According to AIFI, the event designed to showcase the latest trends in the global forging industry, gave the participants an opportunity to keep abreast of the new developments and best practices in the forging industry across the globe. It also provided an ideal platform for the Indian forging industry to showcase its technological prowess, network and interact with global experts and to strengthen bonds with international forging associations.
As per a survey, conducted by the forging association in September 2017, the estimated turnover of the 378 functional forging units across India in FY2016-17 was Rs 31,189 crore providing employment to over 200,000 people in the country. According to the report, the installed capacity also increased from 37.6 lakh tonne in FY2014-15 to 38.5 lakh tonne. The overall production of forgings increased from 22.5 lakh tonne to 23.9 lakh tonne. Backed by the surge in overall vehicle sales last year and renewed thrust on infrastructure development, AIFI predicts impressive growth for the Forging Industry and anticipates around 10% demand growth in 2019.
The event witnessed a range of in-depth technical and business programmes, covering topics ranging from tooling to automation, including overviews of the forging industry in different countries in Asia. Participation from over 14 countries, including China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Germany, Italy, France and Belgium among others, was represented at the event
According to AIFI, the Indian forging industry was looking at Asia Forge 2019 and the experience of global experts therein, for answers on evolution, modernisation, technologies and cost rationalisation, to meet the growing demands in the years ahead. Sharing his thoughts R Sivaparasad Reddy, said, “We believe that the ASIAFORGE 2019 has played a critical role in strengthening the bonds among Global Forging Associations. These meetings have always played an important role in the evolution of the forging industry across the world and shall continue to do so by providing collaborative platforms to address the challenges faced by the industry. This was also a recognition of the Indian forging industry’s strong management, engineering and technical capabilities, that have helped us to become established suppliers to the global automotive and other key industries. We now could build on this strong foundation and further consolidate our position.”