Cluster Coordination Committee meeting

4^th Cluster Coordination Committee meeting

Date: 30^th November 2010

Venue: PHD House, Chandigarh

Mr Girish Sethi, Project Leader and Director IEE, TERI, New Delhi, welcomed the participants and outlined the agenda of the 4^th Cluster Coordination Committee (CCC) meeting. He thanked the industry members and the office bearers of local associations for their continuing support towards the project. Observing that the time period of three years for project execution is quite short, he requested SIDBI to consider extending the project. He also emphasized the importance of making the project activities sustainable, and asked the associations to be more proactive in taking forward the activities started by the project.

Mr Vivek Malhotra, DGM, SIDBI, Chandigarh expressed his satisfaction at the overall progress of the project, and specifically commended the efforts of the project team in promoting lean manufacturing in two clusters in Mohali. He made the following suggestions:

The associations should come forward and nominate more member units to get detailed energy audits conducted.
Work should be expedited in relation to vendor development activity
Efforts should be made to mobilize and upgrade the skills of women candidates in CNC machining.

Mr. Upinder S. Dhingra, Research Associate, TERI described the various activities undertaken by the project and provided an overview of the forthcoming events. The following major issues came up during the discussions that followed:

§ Nomination of units for energy audits: Mr K S Mahal, President, Mohali Industries Association (MIA) said that the lack of nominations is primarily due to the fact that each nominee unit is expected to contribute 30% of the audit cost—which is perceived as very high. He asked SIDBI to consider reducing the unit’s contribution. Mr Anurag Aggarwal, Vice-President, MIA suggested that a slab system can be introduced for energy audits where a unit’s contribution is based upon its power load. Mr Y K Mahajan felt that as most of the units in the cluster are micro in size, the project should consider more subsidy for micro units in order to spur their interest in increasing energy efficiency, Mr Girish Sethi steered the discussions towards implementation of energy conservation measures and provided details on the MoMSME subsidy of 25% that is available on energy efficient equipment installed by an MSME.

§ Skill Development: Participants desired that the project should also focus on training women candidates under its ongoing capacity building programmes. Project officials explained the difficulties they are facing in mobilizing women candidates for training. Dr Gunmala Suri, Reader, UBS, Punjab University, Chandigarh suggested the following measures to tackle the problem:

§ Mobilization through 10+2 government schools and women ITIs

§ Engaging a local NGO that works for women’s interests

§ Existing workers can be asked to nominate their friends and relatives

Dr Suri also offered her personal help to the project team in its efforts to mobilize women candidates. Mr Anurag Aggarwal expressed his interest in conducting capacity building programmes on CNC machines in his factory premises. Mr K L Sarkar from Foundation for MSME Clusters (FMC) appealed to the industry members to come forward in recruiting women in their factories. To this, Mr Mahal added that women are better employees than men and are more sincere towards their work. He said that many industries in Mohali have rapidly started recruiting women in their factories. Mr Vivek Malhotra expressed concern over the safety and security of women workers in industries, and asked the project team to ensure safety and security of women candidates that shall be trained under the project. .

§ Lean Manufacturing: Mr K S Mahal elaborated that MIA, with support from the TERI-SIDBI project, has set up two clusters under its umbrella for availing benefits under the lean manufacturing competitive scheme of MoMSME. This initiative is an outcome of a workshop conducted by the project at MIA Bhawan on 27^th October 2010, followed by a series of meetings with the prospective members. He also mentioned a cluster of bathroom fittings manufacturing units, which are in the process of adopting lean manufacturing.

List of participants

Mr Vivek Malhotra, Deputy General Manager, SIDBI Chandigarh

Prof. P. Thareja, Head Metallurgical Engineering Department, PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh

Dr Gunmala Suri, Reader, University Business School, Punjab University, Chandigarh

Mr K L Sarkar, MSME Foundation, New Delhi

Mr K S Mahal, President, Mohali Industries Association, Mohali

Mr Anurag Aggarwal, Vice-President, Mohali Industries Association, Mohali

Mr Bhushan Kumar, Finance Secretary, Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Panchkula

Mr B.S Jaswal, Managing Director, Autoronica

Mr Arun Mahajan, President, Industries Association of Chandigarh

Mr Y.K Mahajan, General Secretary, Industries Association of Chandigarh

Mr A L Aggarwal, President, Chandigarh Industrial Fasteners Association