When COVID-19 broke out, the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) sent a health advisory to its 830 personnel team. Weeks later, they are back on the drawing board, chalking up guidelines to figure out how to deal with a post-quarantine world.
Since then, the scale of infections has ballooned, not only in India but in the entire world. After getting out of this pandemic, some systems of various organisations in the different industry would need a drastic change. For example, they are separating the working stations on the shop floors of manufacturing plants and fumigation the plants once every few hours. The number of workers ferrying on the buses also need to be capped. Managing the shifts of the employees, their lunch hours and even the cutlery they use would require a drastic change.
Vinnie Mehta, the director-general of ACMA, said that one of the solutions they are working on requires them o figure out how one person can manage multiple machines. She said that industry would need various systems in place that can enable remote monitoring of those processes and consequently, machines. This means, more automated vehicles would now be spotted in the plants.
Adopting automation did not come easy to the Indian manufacturers. The balance that needed between people and machines was very vague, partly because the capital costs of automation is very high, and cheap labour is in abundance. Now with COVID-19, these limitations have been challenged. Labour on the shop floor would soon be replaced with machines.
The stakes are very high. Even if one labour was infected, the entire plant had to be sealed. These component makers are suppliers for large bikes, cars and tractor manufacturers. Production of the automobile industry can come to an absolute standstill within a night. Therefore, securing the people and the plants are essential pillars in the business continuity plan of every company in the times of coronavirus.
The Big Plan
Almost all the firms are in the middle of ‘scenario planning’. Automation is on the cards; however, this is one long-term goal. Right now, the companies are focused on fixing the supply side of the industry. They are in the middle of strategy building to secure raw materials, manage costs, up-skill their workforce, and to get back the labourers who went to their villages.
Depending on the sector, the demand could take another quarter or more to revive.