Economy & Market
3i EXPO & Conference gets a rousing response from the manufacturing industry; IPF presents awards to 19 SMEs from across India
3i EXPO & Conference – hosted by Industrial Products Finder (IPF) from May 20-21, 2022 in Mumbai – received an arousing response from the Indian manufacturing sectors with senior representatives from some of the leading companies like Emerson, Godrej & Boyce, Aditya Birla Group, Reliance Industries, Mitsubishi Electric, etc visiting the event.
Mr Sanjay Bhatia, Upa-Lokayukta, Government of Maharashtra, inaugurated 3i EXPO & Conference; Consul Generals of Sweden, Mauritius, South Africa, Hungary, Indonesia & Brazil participate in 3i EXPOWith 40 exhibitors and over 35 speakers in conference, 3i EXPO witnessed 1,167 visitors over the two daysSenior Representatives of leading companies like Emerson, Godrej & Boyce, Aditya Birla Group, Tata Technologies, Reliance Industries, Mitsubishi Electric, Schneider Electric, Yokogawa, Wipro PARI, Thyssenkrupp, Sanofi, Hitachi Vantara, etc visit 3i EXPOIn the presences of who’s who of the industry, Industrial Products Finder (IPF) presented the 6th IPF Industrial Excellence Awards to 19 SMEs across various industrial sectors
23 May 2022, Mumbai
3i EXPO & Conference – hosted by Industrial Products Finder (IPF) from May 20-21, 2022 in Mumbai – received an arousing response from the Indian manufacturing sectors with senior representatives from some of the leading companies like Emerson, Godrej & Boyce, Aditya Birla Group, Reliance Industries, Mitsubishi Electric, etc visiting the event. During the event, Industrial Products Finder presented the 6th IPF Industrial Excellence Awards to 19 SMEs across various industrial sectors.
The 3i EXPO (which stands for IPF for Industry 4.0 & Innovations Expo) was inaugurated by Mr Sanjay Bhatia, Upa-Lokayukta, Government of Maharashtra, in the presence of Ms Anna Lekvall, Consul General, Consulate General of Sweden; Mr Mike Pal, Trade and Commercial Attache, Consulate General of Hungary; and Mr Pratap Padode, Editor–In-Chief, Industrial Products Finder (IPF), and Managing Director, ASAPP Info Global Group (the publisher of IPF publication).
Highlighting the significance of 3i EXPO, Mr Pratap Padode, “MSME units are capable to become a critical part of the manufacturing supply chain and be globally competitive because of their diverse offering ranging from intermediate to final products. The Ministry of Heavy Industry & Public Enterprises, Government of India (GoI), has launched Smart Advanced Manufacturing and Rapid Transformation Hub (SAMARTH) Udyog Bharat 4.0 to facilitate and create an eco-system for propagation of Industry 4.0 in the Indian manufacturing sector. Now, the stage is all set for the adoption of smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0 technologies with the government actively supporting the cause. Industrial Products Finder has completed 50 years in 2022 and is proud to present its first edition of 3i EXPO in the quest to help MSMEs scale the next industrial revolution.”
Speaking at the inauguration, Chief Guest Mr Sanjay Bhatia stressed on the need for digitalisation for the industry as well as government agencies. “Introduction of digital technologies in government departments like port, town planning, railways, etc has brought in immense amount of efficiency in terms of planning and execution of projects. Adoption of modern technologies are must to raise the productivity.”
While Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) was the Presenting Partner of 3i EXPO and Conference, Union Ministry of MSMEs and National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) were the Supporting Partners of the EXPO. IFM and Robro Systems were the Associate Partners of 3i EXPO.
Various industry associations and organisations extended their wholehearted support for the event. While Automation Industry Association (AIA) was the Knowledge Partner of 3i EXPO, CareEdge and T Hub were Analytics Partner and Start Up Partner, respectively. Other associations like PPMAI (Process Plant & Machinery Association of India), ITAMMA (Indian Textile Accessories and Machinery Manufacture Association), MAIT and Association of Multi-Modal Transport Operators of India (AMTOI) also participated in the event.
Showcasing technology prowess
With 40 exhibitors displaying more than 100 innovative products for automation and modernisation of the Indian manufacturing sector, 3i EXPO witnessed 1,167 visitors over the two days.
Exhibiting companies showcased their innovative products and solutions that can help Indian manufacturing sector to gain competitiveness. Exhibitors were happy as they could showcase their latest products and technologies to visitors which included top management and senior representatives of some of the leading companies like Emerson India, Godrej & Boyce, Aditya Birla Group, Tata Technologies, Reliance Industries, Mitsubishi Electric, Schneider Electric, Yokogawa India, Wipro PARI, Thyssenkrupp, Sanofi, Hitachi Vantara, etc.
Visitors gained knowledge on the most trending technologies and engineering processes for meeting the need of automation and Industry 4.0. Exhibitors included companies from sectors such as automation & robotics, additive manufacturing (3D printing), Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML), Augmented Reality (AR)/ Virtual Reality (VR), connectivity modules, data analytics, electronics components, industrial IoT solutions, sensors, motors & drives, rapid prototyping & tooling, and vision systems, among others.
Some of the exhibitors were IFM Electronic; Robro System Pvt Ltd; Bohmen Industries; Steam Solutions; Varay Image Runners; Avcon Controls; Subtronics India; Surface Modification Technologies; etc.
Session on “Manufacturing Innovation Hub” – in partnership with T-HUB – presented a platform to the young entrepreneurs and start-ups who showcased their innovative solutions for the industry.
Discussion the future of manufacturing
During the 2-day 3i Conference, about 35 Industry Leaders deliberated on the future course of the manufacturing sector and how modern technologies can play a big role in achieving the goals of making “Make in India” scheme. Topics such as India’s journey towards Manufacturing 4.0, implementation challenges for advanced technologies and probable solutions to overcome challenges, policy supports required for making India the next manufacturing hub of the world, etc were discussed during the multiple panel discussions.
Some of the speakers who presented their views during the 3i Conference included Mr Anil Bhatia, VP and MD, India Automation Solutions, Emerson; Mr Zurvan Marolia, Senior VP, Godrej & Boyce; Mr N C Chakrabarti, VP & Head – Smart Manufacturing, Reliance Industries; Mr Sunil Mehta, GM – e-F@ctory Strategic Planning, Mitsubishi Electric; Mr Vivek Bhatia, MD, thyssenkrupp Industries India; Mr Priten Bhadrakumar Bangdiwala, Sr. VP & Head – Industry 4.0, Aditya Birla Group; Mr Sajiv Nath, Managing Director, Yokogawa; Mr Deepak Panda, Senior GM, Schneider Electric; Mr Sandeep Shukla, Regional COE Head – Digital Manufacturing, Tata Technologies; Mr Sanjeev Dharwadkar, Sr. Director – Manufacturing, Sanofi India, Mr Nandakumar K, CMD, Chemtrols Industries; Mr Rajeev Solanki, DGM – Manufacturing Technology & Process Development, Schneider Electric, Mr Khushal Kalra, Head – Smart Factory, Wipro PARI; Mr Harshit Sureka, Founder & CEO, ROBRO Systems, etc.
Stating that it was important to start the investment in digital transformation, Mr Anil Bhatia, VP and MD, India Automation Solutions, Emerson, said, “You do not need huge investment for adopting digital solutions. The company can opt for solutions based on their needs and objectives. But it is imperative to embrace digital as it can take your business to the next level.”
Mr Zurvan Marolia, Senior VP, Godrej & Boyce, emphasised on the need for the industry (especially the MSMEs) to take baby steps while adopting automation to deliver better results. “Automation is a double-edged sword. If done properly, it will give you rich dividends. If not, it can give you a cut. Each enterprise automation is need is unique. So, choose automation appropriately to achieve the desired objective.”
IPF Awards: Rewarding the performers
On the second day of 3i EXPO and Conference, the 6th IPF Industrial Excellence Awards were presented in categories like Fastest Growing Manufacturing Companies; Product Excellence; and Entrepreneur of the Year (Male & Female).
For “Fastest Growing Companies” Awards – given to listed companies based on their growth performance of sales and profits – are presented in 3 categories of Small (for companies having revenues of upto Rs 100 crore or below), Medium (Rs 100 crore to Rs 250 crore), and Large (Rs 250 crore to Rs 500 crore). The winners of “Products Excellence Awards” were selected after evaluating the products on parameters like novelty, green or sustainability, USPs, etc.
In the presences of who’s who of the industry, IPF Industrial Excellence Awards 2022 were presented to 19 SMEs across various industrial sectors.
Next: A grandeur show in 2023
The first edition of 3i EXPO & Conference was launched with an aim to provide a collaborative platform to accelerate adaption of modern manufacturing technologies for companies to gain competitive edge globally. With the maiden edition receiving good response from the participants, the scale and scope of the next edition of 3i EXPO & Conference will be grandeur. See you next year.
List of winners of the 6th IPF Industrial Excellence Awards
IPF Female Entrepreneur of Year: Dr Dnyanada Bandodkar, Director, Hindustan Monomers Pvt Ltd
IPF Male Entrepreneur of Year: Shreekant Patil, Founder, Paramount Enterprises
Winners of IPF Product Excellence Awards 2022
| Categories | Winner |
| Building & Construction Material | JSW Steel Coated Products Ltd for its High Tensile GP for torque tube used in mounting of Solar panels |
| Machine Tools | Maharashtra Engineers for its 7 Axis 2 Spindle CNC Horizontal Machining Center (HMC) |
| MRO & Consumables | Hindustan Monomers Pvt Ltd for its patented product – 2,4’ – dihydroxydiphenyl sulfone (24BPS) |
| MRO & Consumables | Minimac Systems Pvt Ltd for its special Coalescer purifiers used for lubricating oil and transformer oils |
| MRO & Consumables | PGE Industries Pvt Ltd for its unique Fluid Sealing Solution that can handle both dangerous acids and gases effectively |
| Testing & Measuring Instruments | Subtronics (India) Pvt Ltd for its breath alcohol analyser Alco-Booth Pro (for Truck Management Software use) |
Winners of IPF Fastest Growing Companies Awards 2022
| Categories | Winner |
| Agri & Food Processing (Small) | Alfavision Overseas India Ltd |
| Auto Ancillary (Small) | IST Ltd |
| Auto Ancillary (Medium) | Hindustan Composites Ltd |
| Engineering (Large) | Pix Transmissions Ltd |
| Engineering (Small) | Thejo Engineering Ltd |
| Fertiliser and Chemical (Large) | Aries Agro Ltd |
| Pharma (Large) | Kwality Pharmaceuticals Ltd |
| Pharma (Medium) | Syncom Formulations India Ltd |
| Plastic, Paper and Packaging (Large) | Mold-Tek Packaging Ltd |
| Plastic, Paper and Packaging (Medium) | Hindustan Adhesives Ltd |
| Steel and Non-Ferrous Metals (Small) | Raghav Productivity Enhancers Ltd |
About Industrial Products Finder (IPF):
Industrial Products Finder (IPF), launched in 1972, is today one of the oldest and most trusted brands in the industrial publication space in the country. It is one-stop-shop solution provider for all the sourcing/procurement needs of the Indian manufacturing sector. Published by Asapp Info Global Group, IPF offers a comprehensive coverage on industrial & engineering products services and provides manufacturers a dual forum (print and online) to display their all latest, innovative solutions. IPF is the country’s true pan-India publication with presence in all major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, etc.
Every month IPF reaches more than 100,000 readers through its magazine and website which offers an assortment of news, views/interviews, technical articles, product information, etc. IPF is widely circulated to manufacturing sectors including automobile and auto components, electrical & electronics, machine tools, hydraulics & pneumatics, printing & packaging, plastic processing, chemical & pharmaceuticals, mining & steel, FMCG, and general engineering industries. The magazine reaches out to various government institutions for their sourcing requirements including Defense, Railways, Science & Technology, and Research & Development.
Jignesh Kundaria, Director and CEO, Fornnax Technology
India is simultaneously grappling with two crises: a mounting waste emergency and an urgent need to decarbonise its most carbon-intensive industries. The cement sector, the second-largest in the world and the backbone of the nation’s infrastructure ambitions, sits at the centre of both. It consumes enormous quantities of fossil fuel, and it has the technical capacity to consume something else entirely: the waste our cities cannot get rid of.
According to CPCB and NITI Aayog projections, India generates approximately 62.4 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, with that figure expected to reach 165 million tonnes by 2030. Much of this waste is energy-rich and non-recyclable. At the same time, cement kilns operate at material temperatures of approximately 1,450 degrees Celsius, with gas temperatures reaching 2,000 degrees. This high-temperature environment is ideal for co-processing, ensuring the complete thermal destruction of organic compounds without generating toxic residues. The physics are in our favour. The infrastructure is not.
Pre-processing is not the support act for co-processing. It is the main event. Get the particle size wrong, get the moisture wrong, get the calorific value wrong and your kiln thermal stability will suffer the consequences.
The Regulatory Push Is Real
The Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules 2026 mandate that cement plants progressively replace solid fossil fuels with Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF), starting at a 5 per cent baseline and scaling to 15 per cent within six years. NITI Aayog’s 2026 Roadmap for Cement Sector Decarbonisation targets 20 to 25 per cent Thermal Substitution Rate (TSR) by 2030. Beyond compliance, every tonne of coal replaced by RDF generates measurable carbon reductions which is monetisable under India’s emerging Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS). TSR is no longer a sustainability metric. It is a financial lever.
Yet our own field assessments across multiple Indian cement plants reveal a sobering reality: the primary barrier to scaling AFR adoption is not waste availability. It is the fragmented and under-engineered pre-processing ecosystem that sits between the waste and the kiln.
Why Indian Waste Is a Different Engineering Problem
Indian municipal solid waste is not the material that imported shredding equipment was designed for. Our waste streams frequently exceed 40 per cent to 50 per cent moisture content, particularly during monsoon cycles, saturated with abrasive inerts including sand, glass, and stone. Plants relying on imported OEM equipment face months of downtime awaiting proprietary spare parts. Machines built for segregated, low-moisture waste fail quickly and disrupt the entire pre-processing operation in Indian conditions.
The two most common failures we observe are what I call the biting teeth problem and the chewing teeth problem. Plants relying solely on a primary shredder reduce bulk waste to large fractions, but the output remains too coarse for stable kiln combustion. Others attempt to use a secondary shredder as a standalone unit without a primary stage to pre-size the feed, leading to catastrophic mechanical failure. When both stages are present but mismatched in throughput capacity, the system becomes a bottleneck. Achieving the 40 to 70 tonnes per hour required for meaningful coal displacement demands a precisely coordinated two-stage process.
Engineering a Made-in-India Answer
At Fornnax, our response to these challenges is grounded in one principle: Indian waste demands Indian engineering. Our systems are built around feedstock homogeneity, the holy grail of kiln stability. Consistent particle size and predictable calorific value are the foundation of stable kiln combustion. Without them, no TSR target is achievable at scale.
Our SR-MAX2500 Dual Shaft Primary Shredder (Hydraulic Drive) processes raw, baled, or loosely mixed MSW, C&I waste, bulky waste, and plastics, reducing them to approximately 150 mm fractions at throughputs of up to 40 tonnes per hour. The R-MAX 3300 Single Shaft Secondary Shredder (Hydraulic Drive), introduced in 2025, takes that primary output and produces RDF fractions in the 30 to 80 mm range at up to 30 tonnes per hour, specifically optimised for consistent kiln feeding. We have also introduced electric drive configurations under the SR-100 HD series, with capacities between 5 and 40 tonnes per hour, already operational at a leading Indian waste-processing facility.
Looking ahead, Fornnax is expanding its portfolio with the upcoming SR-MAX3600 Hydraulic Drive primary shredder at up to 70 tonnes per hour and the R-MAX2100 Hydraulic drive secondary shredder at up to 20 tonnes per hour, designed specifically for the large-scale throughput that higher TSR ambitions require.
The Investment Case Is Now
The 2070 Net-Zero target is not a distant goal for India’s cement sector. It starts today, with decisions being made on the plant floor.
The SWM Rules 2026 are already in effect, requiring cement plants to replace coal with RDF. Carbon credit markets are opening up, and coal prices are not going to get cheaper. Every tonne of coal a cement plant replaces with waste-derived fuel saves money on one side and generates carbon credit revenue on the other. Pre-processing infrastructure is no longer just a compliance requirement. It is a business investment with a measurable return.
The good news is that nothing is missing. The technology works. The waste is available in every Indian city. The government has provided the policy direction. The only thing standing between where the industry is today and where it needs to be is the commitment to build the right infrastructure.
The cement companies that move now will not just meet the regulations. They will be ahead of every competitor that waits.
About The Author
Jignesh Kundaria is the Director and CEO of Fornnax Technology. Over an experience spanning more than two decades in the recycling industry, he has established himself as one of India’s foremost voices on waste-to-fuel technology and alternative fuel infrastructure.
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