Centres of excellence in manufacturing sectors soon: Satheesh Reddy.

The Central Government is in the process of firming up the establishment of an unspecified number of centres of excellence in different fields of the manufacturing sector across the country, primarily aimed at showcasing the country’s ‘Make in India’ programme to the world.

The welding industry had grown over the decades - from a simple weld of metal with metal using a common arc welding process using tungsten electrodes, to a stage where composite alloys and materials had to be used, from metal on glass, composites to metal and the like, said Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister G. Satheesh Reddy.

He was addressing a focussed group of technocrats from the welding industry, research scholars and engineering students at the 6th Welding Research and Collaboration Colloquium, an event put together by the International Institute of Welding and the Indian Institute of Welding (IIW) that is celebrating its Golden Jubilee Year now.

The IIW-Hyderabad chapter, he said, was just two years old and in normal circumstances parents put their two-year-old child in play or prep school.

“But here we have a situation where a two-year-old IIW chapter gears up and displays the wherewithal that it can successfully host an international colloquium and that is appreciable,” Mr. Satheesh Reddy said, much to the glee of the organisers.

Twenty of the 100-odd participants were from different countries, including Australia, Brazil and Germany. IIW President R. Srinivasan said the quest for newer, lighter material was never-ending.

The IIW was working in collaboration with the defence forces on developing the use of lighter metals and composites for use on armoured vehicles, aeroplanes and for naval ships. “The logic is simple. Lighter armoured cars can be made to run faster, planes with composites can be made to fly faster and ditto with ships and welds are the key,” he summed up.

The Hindu