QuPID Strikes Grand Success with Its Inaugural Edition; Becomes a Truly National Event

#QuPID #QuPIDAwards #Awards #QuPIDConferenceandAwards

Niranjan Mudholkar

The QuPID Conference & Awards 2023 function held on 22 November in Pune set new benchmarks and standards on how the industry should connect, how it should exchange ideas as well as best practices and how it should recognise and celebrate the remarkable work done by manufacturing plants spread across the nation.

December 2023 : India is steadily moving ahead on the ‘Manufacturing Excellence Highway’ fuelled by demographic advantages, and the push from various Government initiatives the PLI Scheme, the Make in India initiative and the Atmanirbhar Bharat programme. Today, Indian manufacturing organizations are scaling new heights of progress and growth. And we are loving it. The QuPID Conference & Awards programme conducted successfully on 22 November 2023 at Pune has been our way of expressing our love for the manufacturing industry in India! Inspired by the Roman God of Love (Cupid), the name QuPID represents the key factors that drive the manufacturing industry: Quality, People, Productivity, Innovation and Digital Transformation.

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New Benchmarks
Nominations were invited in nine categories from manufacturing plants operational in the country. The entries were rightfully categorized under Large Enterprises as well as SMEs. Moreover, they were further segmented under either discrete industries or process industries. The objective has been to ensure that there is a level playing field. It is a practice that will continue for the years to come.
With 732 nominations representing more than 300 manufacturing plants from across the country, not only has QuPID set new benchmarks but has also announced itself to be a truly National Event of immense significance for the Indian manufacturing industry. It would be appropriate to say that QuPID is also the culmination of the knowledge and the network, the ideas and insights as well as the expertise and experience that Team Pro MFG Media has acquired through more than 60 conferences and several other initiatives organized successfully over the last three years across the length and breadth of the Indian Manufacturing industry!

Enriching Conference Programme
The QuPID Conference programme provided practical insights and strategies for top manufacturing professionals through three insightful panel discussions and four engaging presentations. More than 180 senior delegates from the manufacturing industry attended the Conference programme with active participation of many audience members through questions for the panelists as well as through participation in the active listener contests.
The three panel discussions included 1. Manufacturing Leadership: “Charting the Future of Manufacturing: Strategies, Innovations, and Collaborations for India’s Global Impact”, 2. Sustainable Manufacturing - Business with Purpose, and 3. Reinventing Manufacturing with New Age Technologies.

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Partners who stood by us
We are truly grateful to all our partners without whose support this event would not have been possible. Our ‘Powered by Partner’ was IDFC First Bank, our ‘Quality Partner’ was Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, our ‘Automation Partner’ was Mitsubishi Electric and our ‘Silver Partner’ was Atlas Copco. Our ‘Knowledge Partners’ were the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Development Centre – IIT Madras and the Drishti CPS Foundation – IIT Indore. And the Centre for Industry 4.0 Lab and the Automotive Research Association of India came on board as the ‘Supporting Partners’.

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Grand Jury Meet – The Foundation
The Grand Jury Meet of the QuPID Conference and Awards 2023 was conducted successfully on 28 October at the Centre for Industry 4.0 Lab in Pune. What truly impressed the Grand Jury Team was not just the overwhelming response in terms of the number of entries received but also the quality and the depth of the nominations. “It will set new benchmarks in the Indian manufacturing industry,” they collectively said. Team Pro MFG Media whole heartedly thanks all jury members for their time, their dedication and their expertise in evaluating the nominations and in enabling us to arrive at the results.
The Members of the Grand Jury Team included Sandhya Pande, Senior Director & Site Director, Philips; PC Jayan, Head Technical Centre, Tata AutoComp; Dr. Anant Sardeshmukh, Management Counsel, Former DG – MCCIA, Kiran Mahajan, Group SCM Head, Alicon Castalloy Ltd.; Shrikant Savangikar, Consultant & Ex Director - Business Excellence SKF; Pushpendra Singh, Executive Coach – Mimamsa; Rashmi Urdhwareshe, Independent Director, Kinetic Communications & UNO MINDA Group; Sreedhar Kumar Mogulluri, Director- Engineering, TAFE; Dr. Sadashib Padhee, Director, Center for Industry 4.0; and, of course, our Editorial Director, Niranjan Mudholkar.

The Results
The Pro MFG QuPID Awards platform recognized and celebrated achievements of top manufacturing plants across the country at the awards function. This included 39 plants winning in nine different categories. What makes this awards platform truly significant is the national representation in terms of the winning plants.

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Winners in the Quality Category
Large Discrete: Caterpillar India Pvt. Ltd., Thiruvallur, and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (Digital Manufacturing), Chakan
Large Process: Envalior India Private Limited, Ranjangaon, Pune
SME Discrete: Sundaram Auto Components Limited, Mysuru
SME Process: NDDB-DS, Rahuri Semen Station.

Winners in the Productivity Category
Large Discrete: Ashok Leyland, Hosur, and Argo-Hytos Pvt. Ltd., Coimbatore
SME Discrete: BGauss Auto Pvt. Ltd., Pune

Winners in the Digital Transformation Category
Large Discrete: TVS Motor Company, Hosur, and JK Tyre & Industries Ltd., Kankroli
Large Process: Century Enka Ltd (Aditya Birla Group), Pune, and Jindal Stainless Limited, Odisha
SME Discrete: Cooper Corporation Pvt Ltd. (E1 Plant), Satara
SME Process: Supreme Treon Private Limited, Sanand

Winners in the Product Innovation Category
Large Discrete: Steelcase Asia Pacific Holdings India Pvt Ltd. - Pune
Large Process: AM/NS India, Khopoli
SME Discrete: Sundaram Auto Components, Hosur
SME Process: XPRO India Limited, Barjora Unit II

Winners in the Process Innovation Category
Large Discrete: Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited, Kagal
Large Process: Godrej & Boyce - Shirwal, Satara
SME Discrete: thyssenkrupp Industries India Pvt. Ltd., Pune
SME Process: Virtuoso Optoelectronics Limited, Nashik, and GK Industrial Components LLP, Rajkot

Winners in the HSE Innovation Category
Large Discrete: GKN Fokker Elmo India Pvt. Ltd., Pune
Large Process: AM/NS India, Odisha Asset
SME Discrete: Cooper Corporation Pvt Ltd. (E1 Plant), Satara
SME Process: Axalta Coating Systems – Vadodara

Winners in the Supply Chain Innovation Category
Large Discrete: Faurecia, Chennai
Large Process: Dalmia Cement Bharat Ltd., Dalmiapuram, Trichy, and SRF Limited - SEZ Unit, Indore
SME Process: Supreme Treon Private Limited - Sanand

Winners in the People (L&D) Category
Large Discrete: RSB Transmissions (I) Ltd. Unit-3, Jamshedpur, and Mahle Anand Thermal Systems Pvt. Ltd., Pune
Large Process: Deepak Phenolics Limited, Dahej
SME Process: Sabarmati Ashram Gaushala Bidaj - NDDB-DS, and Roop Polymers Limited - Pantnagar

Winners in the People (Diversity) Category
Large Discrete: John Deere, Dewas
Large Process: SRF Limited, Gummidipoondi
SME Process: Roop Polymers Limited, Pantnagar

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Recognising the Pillars of the Industry
Besides recognizing the excellence achieved by various manufacturing plants, the organizers of the QuPID Conference & Awards also believe that it is equally important to recognise and celebrate great institutes and great leaders that build our industry. That’s why, they have the started the Institute of the Year award and other leadership awards. This year’s winners under this ‘Editorial Choice’ segment included the following:

CEO of the Year - Kishore Jayaraman, Rolls‐Royce - India & South Asia

Hall of Fame - Dr. Pramod Chaudhari, Praj Industries Limited

CIO of the Year - Bhuwan Lodha, Mahindra & Mahindra (Automotive)

Plant Head of the Year - Sunil Beloshe, Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd

Institute of the Year - Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune