Revamping the face of Technical Education in India
3D Systems has partnered with Tata Technologies to upgrade 150 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the state of Karnataka. As a valued partner of the global OEM, Matrixmoon has been responsible for end-to-end implementation of this mega-scale project. To set the stage, this upgrade doesn’t involve squeezing in a few pieces of machinery in an existing workshop and installing some software on outdated computers in the ITI. It encompasses construction of an entirely new building and setting up new labs with brand new workstations that can run the most demanding engineering applications.
It also involves equipping existing classrooms with state of the art communication systems to enable distance learning.
The new building is equipped with a wide range of equipment from global brands.
Due to this upgrade the ITIs is now able to offer two new two-year courses: (1) Advanced Manufacturing, and (2) Battery Electric Vehicle.
There are some existing workshops in the ITI and students busy working on the existing equipment.
Matrixmoon has successfully created additive manufacturing labs with industrial-grade 3D printers at each of these ITIs. Our contribution does not stop at providing hardware and related software licenses. We are also implementing well-curated train-the-trainer (TTT) program across all 150 ITIs wherein we have placed and are training a manpower base of 300 people, which in turn ensure that the ITI students are skilled on global-level technology.
While these basic manufacturing skills serve to give students hands on experience and understand the concepts, the way the world manufactures things has changed drastically. Large scale production no longer happens by cutting tools operated manually by humans. Instead, humans program CNC machines to cut metal accurately and efficiently. Companies no longer wish to put their workers in harm’s way to perform dangerous jobs. They use robots instead.
Companies are looking at new manufacturing technologies like 3D Printing to completely reinvent their design and production workflows. So, if a country like India with a young and energetic workforce needs to compete on the global scale and truly become a manufacturing powerhouse, our future manpower needs to be trained and certified in the use of these advances Industry 4.0 technologies like IOT, robotics and Additive manufacturing.