PM-13 India: An international audience welcomed in Pune
In the first of a series of exclusive reports for ipmd.net, Professor Ramamohan Tallapragada, PM consultant, Mumbai, India, provides an overview of the conference. Further technical reports will look in detail at some of the key presentations made during the event.
The city of Pune provided a warm welcome to around 300 delegates attending the PM-13 Conference and Exhibition. The Powder Metallurgy Association of India (PMAI) had chosen to return to Pune, recognised as one of India’s main ‘auto hubs’, following the successful event held in the city in 2011.
It is clear that the popularity and support for the PMAI’s international conference is growing each year. As well as increased delegate numbers the event was helped by companies such as Höganäs India who organised two pre-conference workshops, one on gears and the other their popular ‘Power of Powder’ seminar. Battelle India also supported the event by inviting PM CEO’s to a pre-conference ‘get together’, panel discussion and dinner on 6th February at the Conference venue. The details of these events will be covered in a separate report.
PM-13 International Conference & Exhibition on Powder Metallurgy for Automotive and Engineering Industries- Precision and Additive Manufacturing
PM-13 was opened with a traditional ‘Lighting the
Lamp’ ceremony. Left to right: Greg Lavallée,
P Ramakrishanan,T R Rama Mohan, Hans Söderhjelm,
Ajit Kumar Jindal, K Murligopala Krishnamoorthy
and P N S Sivan
PM-13 began with Mr P N S Sivan, President of the PMAI, welcoming all delegates, chief guests and dignitaries to the conference. The welcome was followed by the official opening of the event with a traditional ‘Lighting the Lamp’ ceremony.
In the inaugural address by chief guest, Dr Ajit Kumar Jindal, Head of Engineering Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors, the importance of engineering safety into a vehicle was stressed. This, according to Jindal, is best done by the collective participation of all the stakeholders. He also highlighted the importance of technology road maps and invited PM industries to actively participate in technology oriented projects.
During the opening session Hans Söderhjelm of Höganäs AB, Sweden, discussed developments in new powders and highlighted the importance of metal powders in Additive Manufacturing, with special reference to Digital Metal, a division recently formed by Höganäs.
Greg Lavallée of Rio Tinto Metal Powders, Canada, presented an overview of the Powder Metallurgy market and looked at main drivers of worldwide PM growth. In contrast to forecasts of a world automotive CAGR of ~4% (2013 – 2019), the Indian Powder Metallurgy market is expected to have a CAGR of ~9% (2013 – 2019). Further improvements will be seen in low cost export capabilities and increased powder metal content per vehicle, stated Lavallée.
Other positive/negative drivers for PM were identified as: material substitution, performance / relative cost, size of vehicle and evolution of fuel economy standards. Lavallée added that Rio Tinto Metal Powders has a positive long term outlook for Asia, and India in particular, concluding that the future remains bright for low cost, technologically innovative parts & powder producers.
Award presentations
Three prestigious ‘Fellow of PMAI’ (FPMAI) awards were presented at PM-13. Dr Prof Henning Zoz received one for his sustained contribution to PMAI and PM in India, Mr Palwankar for his outstanding contribution to helping small scale PM industry in India and Mr Uddharan Basak for his excellent contributions to PMAI and PM in Nuclear Engineering.
Presentation of FPMAI awards (left) Dr A K Jindal to Mr. Palwankar, (centre) Dr S N Vaidya accepting on behalf of U Basak. and (right) to Prof Dr Henning Zoz
Conference sessions
Around 300 delegates from academic institutes, research and development organisations, PM and end user industries attended the conference. There were some 32 plenary talks on a wide variety of topics made during the conference, along with five focussed talks during the special session on Precision and Additive Manufacturing. There were also over 60 research papers presented in parallel sessions during PM-13.
Further articles will be published on ipmd.net over the coming weeks, reporting on some of the key topics presented at the conference.
Exhibition
The PM-13 exhibition was opened by Dr Jindal. A total of 24 manufacturers displayed their powders, components and equipment, in what was by far the largest exhibition yet organised by the PMAI.
Dr Ajit Kumar Jindal, Head of Engineering Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors, opened the exhibition (left to right) Murligopal Krishnamoorthy, Greg Lavallée, Hans Söderhjelm, T R Rama Mohan , P N S Sivan, P Ramakrishnan and N Chandrachud
Event sponsors
Höganäs sponsored the conference dinner, with
entertainment provided by a live band
PM-13 was sponsored by the following companies:
Dorst GmbH, Germany
East Precision Machinery Co. Ltd., Nanjing, China
Fluidtherm Technology Pvt. Ltd., India
GKN Sinter Metals,
Höganäs AB,
Makin Metal Powders (UK) Ltd., UK
Quebec Metal Powders Rio Tinto, Canada
Shivanshu Sintered Products Pvt. Ltd., India
Sintbush India Pvt. Ltd. India
SLM Metal Pvt Ltd., India
SMS Meer GmbHh, Germany
Speciality Sintered Products, India
Star Group of Industries,India
Swastik Tungsten Pvt. Ltd., India
Timcal Graphite & Carbon, Switzerland
Yangzhou Haili Precision Machinery Manufacturing Co.,Ltd., China
Co‐sponsors included:
Newmet Pvt.Ltd., India
PP Patel & Co Ltd., India
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