Institution news
IMechE India Branch's Annual General Meeting 2018
IMechE India Branch, organised its 10th Annual General Meeting on 12 January 2018 in Mumbai for Members of all grades including Affiliates, Associates and Fellows. Delegates from IMechE HQ, Dr Tim Fox, Mr Sam Perera and Mr Simon Edwards were also present along with the staff members of IMechE in India, Mr Prabal Sharma, Mr Allwyn Peter and Ms Alisha Fernandes.
Mr Sharma opened the meeting, welcoming all the committee members and branch members. He It was a matter of pride to launch the newsletter for 2017 on this occasion. This was followed by the Secretary’s and Treasurer’s report, which included details of the 75+ events that IMechE India have arranged during 2017, a total of which they are extremely proud.
The meeting agenda and reports included:
- the election of the new branch committee; new Chairman is Mr SK Tripathi; Mr Piyush Sethi was elected as new Chairperson for Young Member Panel, IMechE India
- the branch is supported by a group of Young Members; the Young Member Panel have successfully inaugurated three student chapters in India in 2017.
- the photography competition was organised successfully receiving a good number of participation entries
- the rate of conversion of members from Affiliates to Associates has reached 15%.
Technical Lecture on "Role of Insulation in Industrial Applications"
On 1 December 2017, the Southern India Panel, IMechE India branch at Chennai, organised a technical lecture series on the “Role of Insulation in Industrial Applications”.
The event, which began with a welcome address by Mr.Ravikumar Manuel IEng FIMechE (Project Engineering Manager, Wood), featured two presentations:
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Ms. Nisha Alexander, Head, Technical Specifications, Rockwool India discussed in detail about the advances in mineral wool insulation production and its related applications with case studies
- Dr. G. Sivakumar Dy. General. Manager, in Marketing and Technical Department, Lloyd Insulations (India) Ltd., Chennai, gave an overview on about currently used insulation building design and construction and its evolution during the past ten years. He also discussed one case study carried out for an industrial building, comparing the use of polyurethane and other materials.
Industrial visit to Carrier Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Ltd
An industrial visit was organised by IMechE Dronacharya Student chapter on 16 November 2017 for thirty mechanical engineering students.
Carrier Group is the world largest refrigerator and air conditioner manufacturing company.
Assistant Professor, Mr. Vijay Raj Pilania accompanied the students. Mr. Venkatesh Hejib, General Manager (HR), Carrier Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Ltd. explained the company’s manufacturing and assembly shop. He explained about the production, manpower, rules and carrier. Later he answered questions from the students before giving the students a tour of the company’s manufacturing, assembly shop and inventory shop. The students were shown the different components and parts manufactured, which helped in broadening their understanding of the refrigeration and air conditioning industries and the operations carried out in the assembly line. We thank Carrier groups for conducting such an informative and motivating visit.
Technical Visit to ITI Limited, Bengaluru
IMechE’s Southern India Panel conducted a technical visit to Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) Limited, Bangalore on 18 November 2017 for 15 engineers and students, in conjunction with Atkins. This visit was an opportunity to witness the production of some of the most critical components and systems presently used in the Indian telecommunications industry.
This Government owned company was a monopoly provider of telecommunication equipment and systems for four decades. It has adapted well to market competition from the 1990s onwards and is now working in AM. IoT, the provision of integrated services and secure communications to customers. It is also a major contractor in a current project to provide broadband connectivity to rural India.
After a briefing, the group visited the Additive Manufacturing (AM) 3-D printing facilities, the pick and place machines for surface mount technology, the printed circuit board manufacturing plant, quality testing machines, Internet of Things (IoT) development and the Science and Technology Centre. The visit gave members an understanding of the various current technical, engineering and manufacturing processes used at ITI and the developments taking place in AM and IOT.