Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation’s three Centres of Excellence (CoEs) are accelerating the State’s advanced manufacturing capabilities, Industry 4.0 adoption and the overall R&D competency of the State, said industry minister TRB Rajaa.
Chief Minister MK Stalin on June 24, 2022 inaugurated the Tamil Nadu Centre of Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing (TANCAM) in collaboration with Dassault Systemes at a cost of ₹212 crore with Dassault Systèmes contributing ₹182 crore.
The Tamil Nadu Advanced Manufacturing Centre of Excellence (TAMCOE) was built in collaboration with GE Aerospace at a cost of ₹141.26 crores with a ₹57.8 crore contribution from GE Aerospace. The Tamil Nadu Smart and Advanced Manufacturing Centre (TANSAM) came up in collaboration with Siemens at a cost of ₹251.54 crore with Siemens contributing ₹211.54 crore. Both these centres were inaugurated by Stalin on November 8, 2022.
Catering to MSMEs
The CoEs cater to the requirements of MSMEs and start-ups in product design, simulation, rapid prototyping, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), additive manufacturing, digital twins, and more. They are equipped with hardware and software infrastructure, offering expertise in various sectors, including automotive, aerospace & defence, construction, electrical, electronics, healthcare, textiles, and more, all under a single roof.
For instance, V Sivaraman of Trichy Aerospace uses the design solutions of TANCAM to build an electronic boat that can be used for fishing. Similarly, V Aravindhan and S Janaki of Government College of Sculpture & Architecture in Mamallapuram built 3D models of various temples in Tamil Nadu.
In just about a year since their inauguration, all three CoEs have gained tremendous traction within the advanced manufacturing, Industry 4.0 and R&D community of the State. This demonstrates how a progressive government, through its initiatives and prudent management, can facilitate close collaboration between industry, academia, and startups, thereby advancing the sustainable and technologically advanced industrialisation of Tamil Nadu, Rajaa said.
A release says that TANCAM has been providing design solutions to about 54 companies, comprising 33 industries and 21 start-ups. As many as 42 MoUs including agreements with four industry associations have been signed during this period.
The TANSAM has received problem statements from 16 small and large enterprises. In-house skill training and project work on Mendix were provided to 70 students for a month. Additionally, over 500 undergraduate students participated in a one-day centre orientation tour.
Discussions are on with Flextronics in Bangalore to initiate a debugging and service engineer placement programme at TANSAM under CSR, and for Flex to set up a lab in TANSAM for hands-on experience.
The Highways department has engaged TANSAM to develop and deploy an Artificial Intelligence-based PCU calculation model at multiple sites, the release said.
TAMCOE has completed two software R&D projects related to digital and also implemented continuous print monitoring to enhance the performance of the TAMCOE additive manufacturing process, the release said.