Govt commissions IIMA to carry out survey on manufacturing sector

New Delhi, Apr 6 (UNI) The government has commissioned the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIMA) to carry out the third National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) survey of Indian firms, to assess the competitiveness of the Indian manufacturing sector.

The survey, to be sponsored by NMCC, will highlight areas of policy intervention for enhancing competitiveness of the Indian manufacturing sector, particularly the enterprise segment.

A proposal by Professor Pankaj Chandra of IIMA, was approved by the NMCC, as the survey, which will lay emphasis on ''innovation and technology,'' will help Indian firms that compete worldwide, to become part of the global supply chain as well as galvanise research and development networks.

The survey will be based on certain questions affecting manufacturing firms across different sectors in India and will look into the hurdles to establishing mass manufacturing in the Indian manufacturing sector.

It will also look into what policy initiatives would facilitate removal of hurdles or enhance the capabilities of firms to make the sector more competitive, official sources said.

An understanding of mapping innovation activities across sectors including the extent of investment, products, processes and practice innovations, background of people involved, stock of technology, manufacturing performance, etc, will be provided.

The survey will also look into government policies that support and create obstacles, innovation regimes in other Asian countries, strengths and weaknesses in the technology regime of the sector, strategy of firms in that sector, and the future technology trends and current tools of production of that sector.

It will identify partners of manufacturing practises that lead to competitiveness, and identify policy initiatives that will facilitate the adoption of these practises and processes and provide ways to reduce costs and enhance reactiveness in global markets, the sources added.

The survey, which will take into account NMCC's specific requirements, will use the 'competitiveness framework' developed by IIMA to undermine the role of product capability, managerial regime, nature of competitors, firm's customer and service processes, technology processes, skills, talent and renewal processes, among others.

This will be the third survey carried out by the IIMA in the past ten years. In 1997, IIMA conducted the first national survey with a focus to understand actions of Indian firms to increase ''productivity on the shop floor.'' In 2001, the second survey looked at the extent of ''coordination of the supply chain'' affecting manufacturing competitiveness.

UNI RA SS ND1334