Mr Amish Panchal, Partner of Kastwel Foundries, Ahmedabad took over as a President of IIF for 2017-18. Other office bearers for the year 2017-18 are : Mr Shashi Kumar Jain, Chairman of Diwan Chand Suraj Prakash Foundry, Agra as Vice President, Mr Vijay Menon, CMD of Menon & Menon Ltd., Kolhapur as Hon Secretary and Mr S Kuppusamy, Vice President, PSG & Sons’ Charities-Foundry Division Hon. Treasurer.
Outgoing President Mr Anil Vaswani spoke briefly on the achievements of the year gone by including the very successful 65th IFC and IFEX 2017 held in Kolkata, finalisation of long-term exhibition agreement, continued foundry education and training under Yogyata Vikas, foundry sand testing by CRRI for construction of rural roads under NRDA, successful holding of CEO Meets, etc.
Mr Amish Panchal, President, 2017-18 began his address by reminiscing of his childhood association with IIF when he would attend IIF meetings with his grandfather in the hope of picking up pieces of coloured chalk and drinking a glass of Coca Cola!
In his address, he stressed on team effort during the year and highlighted the qualities of his team. He also highlighted some of the major problems of the foundry industry such as:
• Price realisation and orders
• Dearth of skilled manpower
• Raw mater price variation
• Pollution
• Technology adoption and resource availability
Mr Panchal said that with changing beliefs, come changing practices and together foundries must create newer options, challenge conventional thoughts and learn to turn roadblocks into future opportunities of growth. He said that while we have no power to change yesterday, we can decide today what IIF and the foundry industry will be five years later.
President Mr Panchal announced the theme of the year as: Let’s Cast it Together – Mission Zero Defect.”
President announced the following Work Plan for 2017-18.
- Commercial: Development of Pricing Index, Cast Source Meet, GST Task Force – Troubleshooting sessions at Chapters and Foundry Biz Mantraz
- Indian Foundry Apps: Foundry TechMate, Indian Casting Finder, Foundry MatQuip Finder These free apps can be download the “Indian Foundry Apps” from Google Play Store & Apple Store.
- Mission Zero Defect Campaign: Defects Clinic, Study Tours, Tech Support Groups
- Green Foundry Drive: Urja Sanchay project, energy audits, drawing & photo competition on environment & energy conservation for members and their children
- Skill Development & Technical Programme: Yogyata Vikas, Foundry Innovation & New Tech. Summit,
- Foundry Excellence Workshops
- Communication & Membership: One IIF One Brand Campaign, social media updates, Daily Inspiration, membership kit and a responsive Secretariat
- Administration: My IIF Team Workshops, My IIF Doodle Diary for ease of day-to-day working.
Mr Panchal concluded his address by requesting all past presidents present on the occasion to launch the Indian Foundry Apps, Foundry Biz Mantraz and MyIIF Doodle Diary and dedicated these services to the IIF members and the Indian foundry fraternity.
Mr Vijay Menon, Hon Secretary, IIF offered the vote of thanks.
Representatives of various organisations, who witnessed the change of guard, felicitated the new president, Mr Amish Panchal and other office bearers.
