The Chief Minister said the state is setting up infrastructure for the manufacturing sector to prepare it for Industry 4.0. This would also benefit small and medium enterprises

CHENNAI: In a further push to the state manufacturing sector's transition into a fourth industrial revolution, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday inaugurated Tamil Nadu Advanced Manufacturing Centre of Excellence (TAMCOE) and Tamil Nadu Smart and Advanced Manufacturing Centre (TANSAM). He also released a fresh Aerospace and Defence Industrial Policy 2022, which aims to woo Rs 75,000 crore worth of investment in the next 10 years besides generating 10 lakh jobs.

Speaking during the occasion, the Chief Minister said the state is setting up infrastructure for the manufacturing sector to prepare it for Industry 4.0. This would also benefit small and medium enterprises.

He said that TAMCOE being set up by Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) and GE aviation at an outlay of Rs 141 crore will enable research and prototype making using additive manufacturing technology while TANSAM being set up by TIDCO and Siemens at an outlay of Rs 251.54 crore will cater to sectors like aerospace, electric vehicle (EV), marine, green energy, biotech, industrial automation, robotics and others.

TAMCoE will work towards the technology development of aviation engine parts such as compressor heat exchangers, combustor components, casing, frames, gears, and splines. It will also take up projects in the development of predictive analytical solutions for additive manufacturing (AM) for Industry 4.0. Metal Additive Manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is a scalable manufacturing technology whose adoption is being deployed at scale across many industries, globally. Additive manufacturing innovation is being led by the aerospace and defence, healthcare, and automotive sectors, which were early adopters and are now super users of the technology.

The 150,000 square-foot facility in Chennai's Tidel Park, Taramani is expected to harness the potential of additive manufacturing in Tamil Nadu and support India's national additive manufacturing strategy by creating a hub for the generation and dissemination of knowledge, as well as transferable skills for supporting local industrial ecosystem development in Tamil Nadu. It will also develop and share process knowledge using additive technologies for key growth industries-primarily aerospace, but also medical and orthopaedic and automotive sectors.

TANSAM will provide support to build entrepreneurship. The centre will work for innovations and product development and will bring more patents for Tamil Nadu. Also, it will be aligned to state education policy and adhere to the national skill qualification framework to provide job-oriented training to the learner. It will support advanced skill development to build a future skill-force, which can meet the global technical manpower requirements. The TANSAM Centre of Excellence has seven specialised centres at TIDEL Park Chennai. These are the Innovative Manufacturing Centre, Smart Factory Research Centre, Augmented reality | virtual reality Research Lab, Centre for Asset Performance Management (IoT), Research Centre for Product Lifecycle Management, Product Innovation Centre and Centre for Predictive Analytics.

The Chief Minister also launched the Tamil Nadu Aerospace and Defence Policy, 2022, which supersedes the one launched in 2019. The policy, which is valid till March 31, 2026, aims to attract investments worth Rs 75,000 Crore ($ 10 Bn) and generate one lakh jobs over 10 years. The focus of the new policy is to bring investments in aircraft standard parts and drones, armoured vehicles, tanks and specialist vehicles, aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), missiles, rockets and ammunition, sensors, radars, communication and electronic warfare, small arms and assault rifles, space and shipbuilding.

Meanwhile, TIDCO also signed an agreement with Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi and DE Drone for setting up training centres for drone pilots in Coimbatore and Madurai. The training centres were inaugurated by the Chief Minister. Around 200 students will be trained to operate unmanned aerial vehicles. The initiative will generate 2,500 jobs a year. This would also give a chance for those in the rural areas to become UAV pilots, Stalin added.