CII Southern Region has embarked on a three-year initiative called MADE (Manufacturing & Digital Excellence Initiative) to drive digital adoption among manufacturing companies across  sectors. “If companies don't adopt digitisation now, they will not be competitive. Adoption of digital is  critical for us to drive efficiency within manufacturing,” said B Santhanam, President and Managing Director, Saint-Gobain India, and Chairman, Manufacturing & Digital Excellence Sub-Committee - CII, Southern Region. In the first phase of MADE, a detailed survey is being done on the industry's readiness on digitisation. A report based on the survey will be released on March 23 at MADE in South India  seminar at Bengaluru, he told a group of select newspersons. CII, nationally, is involved in manufacturing and have been pushing this at a policy level. “But, we felt since a large number of CII members are in Rs 50-500 crore revenue range,  we need to  provide them information on understanding of what is digital, where they are in digitisation and hand-hold with them in adopting digital manufacturing. It is CII's job to do this. Our members are also seeking help in this,” he told newspersons. This is one of the first such surveys undertaken to understand preparedness of companies in digital manufacturing; he said. Santhanam said narly 30 digitalisation partners, including companies like GE, Bosch, Siemens,  Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant and Tech Mahindra, are working with CII in this  initiative. Digitisation and automation will not lead to job loss. In fact, digitisation for entry level workforce will be 'liberating and enhancing', he said. Southern region (in terms of CII) is leading in new thoughts and ideas such as quality and green revolutions. In digital manufacturing too, the region can take a lead. Digital manufacturing is a huge opportunity, and it is now the right time to implement it, else it will be too late, he said. "We will adopt a cluster-based approach in spreading digitisation in the region," he said. While large companies would have moved in to digital manufacturing, it is medium and small companies that are yet to move. It was a 'deep dive' survey with interviews of CEOs and head of IT and manufacturing in company, he said.

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