AM is enabler for digital manufacturing which has capability in producing products directly from design data by adding layers of material to obtain the final shape with minimal waste, supporting Industry 4.0. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has initiated a Centre of Excellence on Additive Manufacturing at Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET), Pune in collaboration with Central Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology (CIPET), Bhubaneswar. The objectives of the centre are to support Indian Additive Manufacturing Eco-system through focused and coordinated research, design and development in collaboration with 3 participating industries. The centre is expected to achieve self-sustenance and focus on developing indigenous materials and machine technologies for electronics manufacturing sector. In current phase of the project, 4 technologies with 4 different machines, 13 materials and 4 different electronics application products are slated to be developed.
The project is also bringing opportunities for Indian companies to develop their own AM material and machine technologies for global market at much reduced R&D cost for any sector (not limited to electronics) such as aerospace, medical, automotive etc. The centre is also training manpower to support growth of AM economy in India.
