VIMESH M. R., Deputy Manager, Industrialisation Department in a Leading Aerospace organization

What made you choose welding as a career?

I started my career as a Site engineer with an IBR contractor at Jindal steel and Power plant campus, Raigarh. There I started my journey with welding and fabrication, but my perspectives towards welding really changed when I joined with Syn-ergo Machines which is a Welding Consulting firm, where I learned more about fusion welding, welding automation and welding documentation etc.

This most certainly laid the right foundation for my ongoing career.

How much of total experience do you have?

I have 9+ years of experience in welding including 6 years of experience in Aerospace industry.

Since you hold a vast experience in the welding segment, what is your say on the current aerospace welding market scenario? Is it on par with the international markets?

India is a growing market for aerospace welding with great potential. Many new companies acquired welding NADCAP certification which is a must for welding of aerospace components.

As compared to the international market, one of the major challenges we are facing is the lack of skilled manpower. We most certainly know that we can perform welding on some exotic materials, but what we don’t have is the availability of skilled manpower for that. Most of the time we have to hire someone and train them for the task, which indeed consumes a lot more time, effort and money, hence this lack of skilled human resource pulls us back from taking these challenges.

In the current aerospace market scenario in india, all requirements for precision welding are being imported, from machines to consumables, which is again a time and money consuming process. The reason for this is that we are still not able to adapt the latest technologies available in the international market.

Currently we only have very few approved consumable suppliers in the aerospace industry as well, which can also be considered as a setback

What according to you is required to boost the welding industry in India?

As I mentioned above, India most certainly requires a development of skilled manpower& Indigenous Process-Designers for Automatic Welding.

We should welcome more joint ventures to embrace technological advancements in the field.

In the long run having more consumable suppliers from India can help the market.

What are your expectations from the government for the upliftment of the welding segment?

Even though there are courses that are available to provide training in the welding industry, specified training for aerospace would encourage more talented persons to come to the field.

The government could actively promote the research and implementation of advancements in technology required for the field by recognizing thru awarding of Welding-Development Projects to the Private Sector MSMEs.

What type of projects have you worked upon?

One of the first project I was involved with was boiler construction with Karpara Project engineers in Raigarh. After which I was involved in development of welding SPM’s and welding qualification and documentation for several industries with Mr N. Ramesh Rao, MD of Syn-Ergo machines [www.weldsapp.com]

I entered the aerospace industry with Rangsons Aerospace, here I was leading the welding department, there we developed Titanium welding, Torch brazing and Induction brazing work centerers, and developed a low-cost SPM for Circumferential welding.

At my current company we developed Manual GTA welding setup, including Titanium welding with updated technology and we acquired welding approvals of the prime OEM’s, and NADCAP under the leadership of our Department head Mr. T M Renukaswamy.

Could you brief us on your recent project? What is it all about and your role into the same?

Currently we are welding critical structural engine components, fuselage components, other brackets and sheet metal components for several customers, in these projects I contribute to designing the manufacturing sequences, fixturing, welding procedures, testing, qualification, validation, productionizing, etc.

Tell me about the most challenging engineering project that you have been involved with during the past year.

All the projects I worked up until now were challenging in their own terms.

We recently industrialised a project having around 170+ components which had welding in a very short timeline. This project was indeed very demanding in terms of materials, man power, and documentations, but for sure worthwhile

Talk about your field responsibilities in your current organization?

Currently I am working as a Deputy Manager of Industrialisation department. Here I am responsible for planning and execution of new welding projects, Improvements in the welding workstations, Training and development of welders and welding inspectors, ensuring customer and NADCAP requirements are in place and the like.

What checks and balances do you use to make sure that you don’t make mistakes?

Actually I’m not afraid of making mistakes so long that I can learn from it quickly without impacting the Project. Also, I try to keep myself updated with the current advancements in the field. I also believe that communication is very important to maintain balance in the kind of work we do. Hence, I encourage my team to communicate their concerns with me and I try to do the same with my seniors. As required under our EnggStds, we conduct simulation & mock-up tests, which minimizes the risk of mistakes…

What is your say on safety at work?

Workplace safety is the responsibility of every individual. A safe workplace starts with employees who follow safety requirements and perform their jobs as per the established procedures.

Here at the organization I work at, we have a team for workplace and environment safety and we received EHS Excellence award from Confederation of Indian industry in 5 star rating from last 3 years and received contingency award also.

What new engineering specialty skills have you developed during the past year?

In my current organization we have vast range of processes, and currently I am focusing to learn riveting & assembly, surface treatment and heat treatment processes.

Have you contributed to any cost savings for your company? Elaborate if any.

Cost saving and cost efficiency is one of my major goal. We try to be cost effective from beginning of a project itself, but that does not mean that the quality and the delivery of the product will be compromised.

Low-cost automation is one of the methods I am focusing for cost reduction, from this we can reduce need of skilled labor, time etc. This has proven to work well with some of my previous projects. When I was working with Syn-ergo Machines (welding consultancy), we used to get orders for welding small components, we used to weld those components by creating a small temporary automation set up with the available accessories, Like Magnetic Stand, Slides, turn table etc. From the light of that, we created a welding SPM in Rangsons Aerospace.

Currently we are planning for a welding SPM, the discussions for which is still going on.

Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

The future is not something that I can predict, but I do see a very promising growth for the welding and aerospace Industry in India.  Hence, I hope to master more skills and to see myself as more prominent name in the field itself.