The advent of new technology and direct production processes, coupled with a strengthened economy, the manufacturing industry is experiencing a kind of revival. Still, despite all the good news in the manufacturing world, there are still challenges.
Production challenges in India:
Availability of electricity: the main challenge in Indian production is the low availability of energy. Since electricity is not available 24 hours a day, there is a decrease in productivity and efficiency and low production rates. (Talk about renewable energy: how they can alleviate this problem)
Skilled Labor: According to Deloitte, there will be between 2 and 3.5 million unfinished manufacturing jobs by 2025. However, as technology advances, manufacturers will not only need employees but also employees with different skills. As some functions become automated and machine sensors become more common, allowing manufacturers to collect large amounts of data, the composition of manufacturing jobs is changing. Manufacturers now need employees with high-tech skills, mathematics proficiency, and an analytical mind. (Write about skill set and analytical mindset.) As technology becomes more prevalent, the need for a highly productive, often unskilled and skilled workforce is decreasing.
Labor productivity: Labor productivity in India is lower than in many competing countries. This is due to delays in supply chain management, transportation, planning and production management.
Project Management: Marketing specialists must go through a very tight and stressful time to obtain products. In the manufacturing space, projects are often time, cost, and quality sensitive, and as a result, are tightly controlled and rigorous. Manufacturers who avoid deadlines risk losing millions of dollars in revenue and potential profit. Such tight control and rigidity mean less ability to renew coverage or make adjustments as the project progresses. Many of these projects require a design commitment from scratch, with little flexibility to adapt as new information emerges or requirements change. They want to produce the best possible product, but it can be quite frustrating for a team with handcuffs due to deadline restrictions.
Protection and enforcement of intellectual property: Protection and enforcement of intellectual property is expensive and high risk in India. Another challenge with intellectual property rights in India is that India is going through some significant intellectual property reforms, which make things much more complicated and at least now uncertain.
Machine "intelligence": Increasingly, manufacturers are using the Internet of Things (IoT), most companies are already implementing or are in the process of implementing IoT devices and machines. However, collecting data is a relatively easy part. Collecting and analyzing data is a little more difficult.
Businesses may already have smart machines on their store floor, but many of them don't have systems to extract and analyze the data captured by these systems. In this sense, manufacturers miss out on a critical opportunity: leveraging real-time data on cycle times, machine quality performances, production runs, consumption and other measurements. The entire manufacturing industry needs to improve its data mining capabilities so that they can make faster and better decisions in real-time.
Cost and fragmentation of transport and logistics: Transport in India is very expensive and slow. It may take a longer delivery time to get products from some places in India to the coast. Also, logistics is inferior. On the positive side, the Government of India is addressing this infrastructure problem and working to resolve it.
Fortunately, there are ways for manufacturers to address these challenges by taking advantage of the latest advances in technology and maintaining their upward momentum with fewer disruptions. The new government has simplified many compliances and reduced paperwork. This gives young India confidence that we are about to change and helps them focus on managing their business more effectively.