Keeping in mind a target of Rs 1,000 crore revenue in next three years, technology company Panasonic has announced its plans to ramp up its smart factory solutions business in India. Panasonic India said it had integrated its welding business and Surface Mount Technology (SMT) equipment business to consolidate its software and hardware capabilities. Thus it has become an end-to-end integrated Smart Manufacturing Solutions company.

With the smart factory solutions, Panasonic said, it aimed to be the one-stop solution for all SMT, welding and digital manufacturing needs. “The smart factory solutions proposition will enable Panasonic to deliver broader, high value-added, smart solutions and services along with world-class hardware to the manufacturing industry,” it said. The company targets to achieve Rs 1000 crore in revenue from its smart factory business in the next three years, with solutions and digital manufacturing expected to contribute 15% to the total smart factory business revenue.

In a statement, Panasonic said it planned to open a technical centre for its smart factory solutions which would act as a strategic base validating smart factories with customers and be used as a training centre where customers can learn the skills required to operate a digital factory. The company said it was focused on building India as its innovation hub.

Commenting on the launch, President & CEO of Global Panasonic Smart Factory Solutions Hiroyuki Aota said, “Our legacy and heritage of producing cutting edge technology for more than 100 years gives us a unique advantage. Companies not only in India, but globally are increasingly focussed on automating processes in their manufacturing plants and bringing in solutions, which are more digitally enabled. India is adopting new age technologies such as 5G, IoT, AI and others at a rapid pace and we will only see more investment in these technologies as we move forward. To be able to cater to these growing demands, having the right and smart capabilities in manufacturing will be key, and this is what we are addressing today.”

Manish Sharma, President & CEO, Panasonic India, said: “India is today at the helm of digital transformation and ramp up of manufacturing capabilities, smart factory solutions are an imperative. Today, manufacturers require improvements not only in process automation but also in productivity and quality across the entire production cycle and factory as a whole. The key technology to realise a Smart Factory is to connect various equipment through the Internet of Things (IoT), to synchronise them and collect and control data from the equipment in real time for entire production processes.”