Dr Tim Fox visits IMechE India Branch

This January, former IMechE Head of Energy and Environment, Dr Tim Fox C.Eng FIMechE conducted a number of high profile engagements in India on behalf of the Institution.

During his visit, Tim gave a series of lectures and addresses, held meetings with Fellows and Members of IMechE India Branch based in New Delhi, Vadodara and Mumbai, and undertook industrial liaison activities in association with the IMechE’s India-based Business Development Team.

By way of a precursor to the visit, in a previous trip to India Dr. Fox had worked on the ground with the Institution’s Principal Regional Advisor for South Asia, Mr Prabal Sarma, to explore future opportunities for IMechE, including establishing a Process Industries Division Technical Centre locally to serve the large engineering community associated with this important industrial sector in India.  The new India Technical Centre was formally launched in Mumbai during Tim’s latest visit to the country.

Tim's first engagement, a prestige guest lecture on the newly emerging ‘Cold Economy’ to around 150 students, staff and invited dignitaries was held at the Noida Institute of Engineering & Technology (NIET); Noida- North India, where IMechE has recently set up a student chapter.

Tim described the substantial global challenge of future energy provision to meet the exponential growth in worldwide demand for cooling, driven by mass urbanisation, growing affluence and climate change, and outlined the Institution’s pioneering thought leadership work in this area to develop new approaches to cooling and encourage the adoption of sustainable solutions.  This was followed by a similar address to a gathering of 30 practicing professional engineers from WS Atkins and Flour at Gurgaon in Haryana, who were joined via the web by colleagues from offices across the world.

While in New Delhi on 9 January, Tim gave the opening keynote address on behalf of the Institution  at the 1st International Conference on New Frontiers in Engineering, Science and Technology, organised by Delhi Technical University, in which IMechE was the knowledge partner.

Attended by aninternational audience of leading scientists, engineers and technologists, the lecture highlighted the substantial levels of food loss in supply chains across India and the sustainability and engineering challenges associated with tackling the nation’s food storage and transport infrastructure deficit.

Tim went on to describe the particular need for a focus on perishable produce, such and fruit, vegetables, meat and fish, and the critical importance of providing innovative sustainable solutions in  cooling technology, cold transport and data tracking for deployment at scale in India. He then concluded with an overview of the opportunities for greater collaboration between the UK and India in this field and the Institution’s leading role in helping facilitate closer working relationships in this area.

The next stop an address to students and staff of the National Academy of Indian Railways (NAIR),in Vadodara, a joint event between IMechE’s Process Industries Division and Railway Division’s new India Technical Centre. India has one of the largest and most established rail networks in the World, stretching over 40 thousand miles and employing 1.3 million people, and the Academy is the gateway to a professional career in this key national asset. Indian Railways carries over a billion tonnes of freight per year, but despite high levels of road congestion across the nation, rail has been losing market share to lorries: rail carries just 36% of freight in India compared to 50% in the US and China. Tim discussed the ‘Cold Economy’ approach to cooling provision and how rail based sustainable cold chain development offers an opportunity to help reverse this trend, while simultaneously reducing time to market for produce, maximising food volume throughput and increasing financial returns to farmers, producers and distributors. The audience included 40 officers and probationers of the Indian Railways mechanical engineering services. Manish Agarwal, Senior Professor (Mechanical Engineering) and Swayambhu Arya Professor  Management Studies welcomed Dr Fox to the Academy and thanked him for an inspiring talk that provided a glimpse of the future for this area of mechanical engineering

At his final stop in Mumbai and in his role as incoming Chair of the IMechE’s Process Industries Division Board in the UK, Tim formally launched the Division’s new India Technical Centre on 12  January. The Process Industries Division is a focus for IMechE members and national and international bodies who are concerned with or working in the process industry and associated sectors.  The launch of the centre is a historic milestone for the IMechE in India and its presence will be a driving force for Indian members to organise and attend a range industry specific events, including seminars, lectures and networking interactions. It will additionally act a hub for like-minded individuals who take a keen interest in Process Engineering to influence Indian Government policy in this area of industrial activity, as well as to participate in major international process industries initiatives where the Institution provides thought leadership.

Subsequent to the launch, at the invitation of Dr. Asha Ingle, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at  Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering (affiliated to NMIMS University in Mumbai), Tim gave an invited lecture on the ‘Cold Economy’ to students, faculty and invited guests as part of the College’s 13 January founding day celebrations.

With over 120,000 members in 140 countries, the Institution has been at the heart of the mechanical engineering profession since 1847, with over 4000 active members in India.