The Use of Simulation in India

Having recently returned from the International Simulation Conference of India, Geoff Hook looks at the different ways simulation is being used.

We have recently attended the International Simulation Conference of India held in Chennai. This is an annual event organised by PMI (Production Modelling of India) and this year was held at the Research Park of the IITM (Institute of Technology Madras).

There was a good mix of industry and academia attending, with some excellent presentations of real projects as well as theoretical presentations by a number of PhD students. Whilst the event was not wholly focussed on discrete event and process simulation, that is of course where my attention was drawn and I was struck by the emphasis on Optimisation, particularly from the academic research side.

Dr Jayendran Venkateswaran, Assistant Professor IIT Bombay, and Dr. Chandrasekharan Rajendran, Professor at IIT Madras, both presented very authoritatively about the use of different Optimisation techniques to identify the best solutions to manufacturing problems using simulation. The conference began with a presentation concerning the growth of the Indian economy, business and the infrastructure developments, which are fundamental for this potential to be realised, Sanjay Upendram, Amarthi Consulting, CEO & Co-Founder, was very convincing in his portrayal of the bright future for India and how this will translate into a greater uptake of process simulation.

The event was truly international; Sheldon Bailiff, Senior Director of Supply Chain Solutions at Ryder, described how they use simulation to underpin proposals for 3rdparty logistics solutions for their clients and how this was unique in their industry. The event was very well run and it was evident the tremendous amount of work that had gone into this by Sandeep Soni and Ravi Lote and their team at PMI as well as IITM who hosted the event.

On a personal note this was my first visit to India, a country which has been on my list of places to visit for many years. It is no doubt a complex country, the roads were chaotic and there were a number of strikes whilst I was there. On the other hand the internal flights seemed well run, taxis and hotel service superb. I will remember India for the number of times I was called ‘Sir’, the popularity of moustaches and not least meeting Ravi Shastri in the hotel bar as my trip coincided with the first cricket test against Australia that India won handsomely.