Scores of exhibitors showcased cutting-edge technologies during the roadshows for Automation Expo 2024 held at Chennai, Delhi and Bharuch.

As a run-up to the 17th edition of Automation Expo scheduled from August 21st to 24th, 2024 at Mumbai, a series of roadshows were planned in Chennai, Delhi and Bharuch, to offer glimpses of what to expect this year at India’s largest international automation trade show. Roadshows are traditionally held as teaser events to drum up support for the main show, and the venues were chosen carefully to cover a vast geography that covers all the main industry clusters of the country. For the organisers, these were pivotal events in the annual calendar of trade shows, drawing attention from across the country. The trio of events showcased the latest technological advancements and solutions shaping industries worldwide. With each roadshow, the Automation Expo 2024 sparked inspiration, ignited ideas, and helped whet the expectations of what’s in store for a future powered by automation.

The first of the series of roadshows was held in Chennai on May 3, 2024, at the Chennai Trade Centre, which attracted 1,145 attendees passionate about automation. The event was graced by eminent personalities from the industrial automation domain spanning both process industries and discrete manufacturing.

The inaugural function was honoured by the presence of:

Dr B R Mehta, Director Projects, Waaree Group

Dr Thampy Mathew, Managing Director, Pepperl+Fuchs (India) Pvt Ltd

Dr V P Raman, Engineering Consultant

Mr V B Srikar, Chairman – Nagman Group

Mr Milan Desai, VP – Control & Industry Solution, Phoenix Contact India

Mr Mohit Kumawat, IIoT Sales Director, Advantech Industrial Computing India Pvt Ltd

Mr Sai Ramesh – Sr Vice President (Retired), Technip

Mr Sudarsan Surendran, GM Projects – Process Automation, Schneider Electric Systems India Pvt Ltd

Mr Sunil Mehta, Chairman, CLPA India, Mitsubishi Electric India Pvt Ltd.

These eminent speakers enlivened the proceedings by offering rare insights into the evolving scenario in industry in general, automation in particular.

A total of 24 exhibitors, who are participating in Automation Expo 2024, had put up booths at the Chennai Roadshow, offering a preview of what to expect at the grand Mumbai show. These were:

·         Nagman Instruments And Electronics Pvt Ltd

·         Axis Solutions Pvt Ltd

·         Hexagon Technologies

·         Alstrut India Pvt Ltd

·         VEGA India Level and Pressure Measurement Pvt Ltd

·         Mootek Technologies Pvt Ltd

·         Yokogawa India

·         JUMO India Pvt Ltd

·         Atreyo Research & Development LLP

·         Pepperl+Fuchs India

·         Neilsoft Engineering Services

·         SVE Instruments & Systems Pvt Ltd

·         Multispan Control Instruments Pvt Ltd

·         Laser Technologies

·         Krishna International

·         Controlsoft Engineering India Pvt Ltd

·         Excel Instruments

·         Pune Techtrol Pvt Ltd

·         Process Precision Instruments

·         3M Robotics & Automation

·         Trinity Touch

·         EATON MTL

·         Phoenix Contact India Pvt Ltd, and

·         Jeet Engineering Store.

The companies who attended the Chennai Roadshow were pleased at the outcome, and the overwhelming visitor turnout for the day long event. “I would like to thank IED Communications, the organisers of Automation Expo, for conducting this roadshow as it gives us a lot of inputs and customer meetings as a warm up for us for the actual exhibition in the month of August,” said N Ramesh Kumar, Sales Manager, Alstrut India Pvt Ltd. The company has a long history of providing automation solutions to the Indian industry and is a leading channel partner for Universal Robot in India, recently awarded ‘Platinum Distributor in India’, having sold over 400 collaborative robots or cobots in India. Alstrut also runs a training centre in Chennai to train users in collaborative robots and their applications.

Prakash Rao, Director, JUMO India, a German company with a presence in India for over 15 years, said, “We are in the field of process automation. We manufacture sensors and automation related products for the process industry – temperature, pressure, flow, humidity, level and liquid analysis products. Under liquid analysis, we have pH, conductivity, chlorine, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and many other liquid analysis products in our range. Coming to automation, we have PID controllers, multi-channel controllers and recorders, and also a PCS system which can be connected to the cloud. Then we have smartware SCADA and cloud solutions. So we are evolving from regular sensors up to cloud platform, which means if you look at this pyramid, we have the base level and then the field sensor actuator level, control level and then the supervisory level – a one stop solutions provider for customers. We are excited to be here at this roadshow and then at Automation Expo 2024.”

During the Chennai Roadshow the organisers also announced the schedule for Automation ExpoSouth 2025 in Chennai, which will be held from March 20-22, 2025, at the Chennai Trade Centre, bringing together diverse fields from process industries to discrete manufacturing, to explore transformative automation solutions.

The Delhi roadshow

Next, it was the turn of Delhi to host the roadshow, which took place on 29th June 2024, at The Lalit, Barakhamba Avenue, unveiling the future of automation. Like the Chennai event, Delhi also witnessed a total of 532 visitors, and a presence of several leading industry experts, including:

Dr B R Mehta, Director Projects, Waaree Group

Dr Ravinder Goyal, Managing Director, EIP Enviro Level Controls Pvt Ltd

Dr Ashish Manchanda, Managing Director, Finder India Pvt Ltd

Dr V P Raman, Engineering Consultant

Mr V B Srikar, Chairman – Nagman Group

Mr Shyam Warialani, SAW Process Solutions & Resident Director, Telsonic India Pvt Ltd

A total of 28 exhibitors participated in the Delhi event, companies who are confirmed participants at Automation Expo 2024. Together, these companies offered glimpses of new technologies they are bringing to the 17th edition of Automation Expo in Mumbai.

These were:

·         Nagman Instruments And Electronics Pvt Ltd

·         Elite Instruments

·         Edmund Optics

·         BASE Automation Technologies Pvt Ltd

·         Arista Automation Pvt Ltd

·         FLIR/Teledyne

·         PI Controls Instruments Pvt Ltd

·         Phoenix Contact

·         Alstrut India Pvt Ltd

·         Yokogawa India

·         JUMO India Pvt Ltd

·         Pepperl+Fuchs India

·         Murr Elektronik

·         Pune Techtrol Pvt Ltd

·         Process Precision Instruments

·         EC Box India

·         Select Controls Pvt Ltd

·         MTL Instruments Pvt Ltd

·         SVE Instruments & Systems Pvt Ltd

·         Multispan Control Instruments Pvt Ltd

·         Atreyo Research & Development LLP

·         Elpis IT Solutions Pvt Ltd

·         Hyperreality Technologies Pvt Ltd

·         Icotek India

·         WiseAir Technologies India LLP

·         Mootek Technologies India Pvt Ltd

·         Axis Solutions Pvt Ltd, and

·         Advantech. 

A first time participant at Automation Expo icotek India Pvt Ltd was present at the Delhi roadshow. icotek is a German company manufacturing cable entry solution products. While the parent company in Germany is a 30 years old company with 9 subsidiaries around the world, the Indian subsidiary was launched in November 2023. “We are basically a cable entry solution product manufacturer to all industries – automation, railways, and windmills, among others. We have all kinds of approvals, i.e., ULs, pneumatic approvals, FTA and various railway approvals. These products you can use for your cable entry systems. Instead of cable glands, these give a very compact solution for your cable entry products,” said Vignesh M, Territory Manager, Icotek India Pvt Ltd.

One of the interesting participants at the Delhi roadshow was Hyperreality Technologies, an XR company offering premium VR solutions. “We are focused on creating solutions for the manufacturing industry. One of our flagship products is basically a VR training platform which manufacturers can use to train their technicians even before they are introduced to the workplace, you know, when they join as new employees. So with this platform, the manufacturing companies can train their technicians much faster, safer and in a much more effective manner. Other than this, we also have a product for maintenance and digital operations, the digital twin,” said Sobin Thombra, Founder, Hyperreality Technologies.

The Bharuch roadshow

The final of the three roadshows was held at Bharuch in Gujarat, at the Hyatt Place, on 5th July 2024. With over 600 attendees, this event had 21 participating companies. The inaugural function was graced with the presence of:

·         Dr Keyur Vora, VP/HoD (C&I), Adani – Petrochemical Business

·         Mr Jagdishchandra Pranami, Associate VP Elect & Inst, SRF Ltd

·         Mr Kartik Fojdar, VP & Head of CoE Engineering, Reliance Industries Ltd

·         Mr Milan Desai, VP – Control & Industry Solution, Phoenix Contact India, and

·         Mr Shyam Warialani, SAW Process Solutions & Resident Director, Telsonic India Pvt Ltd.

The following companies participated in the Bharuch roadshow:

·         Nagman Instruments And Electronics Pvt Ltd

·         BASE Automation Technologies Pvt Ltd

·         Multispan Control Instruments Pvt Ltd

·         Phoenix Contact India Pvt Ltd

·         Alstrut India Pvt Ltd

·         Pepperl+Fuchs India

·         JUMO India Pvt Ltd

·         Yokogawa India

·         Process Precision Instruments

·         SVE Instruments & Systems Pvt Ltd

·         EATON MTL

·         Excel Instruments

·         Cautoni Swastik Instruments India Pvt Ltd

·         Ovistech Systems

·         Laser Technologies Pvt Ltd

·         Neilsoft Pvt Ltd

·         Testo/Umiya Instruments

·         Atreyo Research & Development LLP

·         Reynolds

·         PI Controls Instruments Pvt Ltd, and

·         VEGA India Level and Pressure Measurement Pvt Ltd.

“We have showcased a new technology product that is called PLCnext technology with cyber circuit PLC. We have been receiving more enquiries for this product for digital factory applications and other VMM for infrastructure, power T&D and process automation,” said

Anandakumar K, Business Development Manager, Phoenix Contact. With a presence in India for 31 years, Phoenix Contact is a German company with a history going back over 100 years. The company participated in all the three roadshows. “We are a Rs 1000 crore company in India. This roadshow is a good opportunity for us and our customers – a sort of get together, with other industry colleagues as well – to discuss various solutions,” he added.

“We deal with the explosion protection equipment, which goes predominantly into all process industries like oil and gas, refineries – the pipelines everywhere. And

we believe all our products are into different types of protection, ensuring the productivity increase in process industries,” said Gopinath P, Senior Manager –

Southeast India, at Pepperl+Fuchs, Process Automation Division. “What we have on display here is the latest state-of-the-art technology for Ethernet based communications. This is Ethernet APL technology where we were trying to bridge the field devices and the IT systems together, which means IT and OT on the same platform. This product is totally into the Ethernet IoT of things. And we also have our mobility products like the tablets and the smartphones, which would enable again to digitise the processes being done. Then there is the latest electrical range of products that help convert conventional systems into the most modern, with advantages like lightweight and other design features,” he added.

Summing up, the roadshows leading to Automation Expo 2024 were a huge success that provided participants and visitors an immersive experience, featuring diverse exhibits, demonstrations, and expert presentations. From robotics and artificial intelligence to industry-specific applications, attendees gained valuable insights into the transformative potential of automation technology. Engaging kiosks, table top displays, and interactive sessions provided a comprehensive understanding of the latest innovations shaping various industries.

Automation Expo, the 17th International Exhibition & Conference, will be held from 21st to 24th August 2024 at BEC, Nesco, Mumbai, featuring over 500 stalls and 800+ companies. 

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