The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
NEW DELHI; JANUARY 17, 2024
On National Start-up Day, Vedanta Aluminium, India’s premier aluminium producer, is celebrating its dynamic collaboration with nearly 60 cutting-edge technology startups across 90 diverse projects. Going beyond conventional manufacturing approaches, the company is harnessing Industry 4.0 technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning (ML), Drone Technology, Computer Vision, and Robotics, to drive operational excellence and foster innovation throughout its operations.
In celebration of National Start-up Day, Vedanta Aluminium hosted a comprehensive knowledge-sharing session, inviting leading startups to showcase the successful outcomes of their collaboration. The event highlighted the impact of emerging technologies on critical operations such as smelters, alumina refineries, power plants, mines, material handling, supply chain, and HSE (Health, Safety, and Environment) practices.
In line with the ‘Startup India’ and ‘Make in India’ initiatives, this initiative is an integral part of Vedanta’s program, Vedanta Spark. This global corporate innovation, accelerator, and venture program empower startups to create large-scale impact by leveraging transformative technologies to address business challenges at scale. Under Vedanta Spark, Vedanta Aluminium has cultivated partnerships with deep tech startups for projects like predictive and prescriptive analytics, IoT solutions for continuous monitoring of critical production parameters, advanced modeling for quality control of finished goods, startup optimization of power plants, AR/VR/XR simulations for safety training, drone-based surveillance, and more.
Addressing the occasion, Vedanta Aluminium CEO John Slaven stated, “The rise of India’s economy to global prominence is fuelled by itsyouthful dynamism and unwavering entrepreneurial zeal. The nation is home to one of the world’s most thriving startup and entrepreneurial ecosystems. As India’s largest producer of aluminium, Vedanta Aluminium complements the relentless drive radiating from these startups, leading to collaborative efforts for global excellence. With aluminium emerging as the cornerstone for a sustainable future, our path to exponential growth relies on being digital-first and future-ready. Therefore, we actively collaborate with tech startups, infusing cutting-edge technologies and global expertise to elevate our manufacturing and operational excellence.”
Reflecting on the collaboration, Glovision Techno Services Pvt. Ltd. Founder & Director Raju Yadati, said, “At Glovision, we develop cutting-edge cloud-based IoT applications for Vedanta Aluminium to optimize logistics and transportation, contributing to safer and more productive mining operations. It has been our privilege to work with the company.”
Sharing his perspective, ZestIOT Director – Customer Success Himanshu Srivastava stated, “We have deployed our proprietary deep tech AI/ML algorithms at Vedanta Aluminium’s Jharsuguda smelter operations to enhance accuracy and transparency in critical operations. We appreciate Vedanta Aluminium for their invaluable mentorship.”
To foster a culture of innovation and transform employees into intrapreneurs, Vedanta Aluminium has established ‘Innovation Cafés’ across its business units. These vibrant spaces serve as incubators for passion projects, where employees and business partners collaborate to tackle diverse business challenges, pooling internal expertise and producing innovative solutions. Simultaneously, the company actively nurtures an extensive ecosystem of rural and micro-entrepreneurs in its operational regions. Vedanta Aluminium’s expansive value chain, customer network, and supplier network have not only supported numerous MSMEs but have also elevated many to the status of valued suppliers and esteemed business partners, integrating them into the global value chain.
Vedanta Aluminium, a business of Vedanta Limited, stands as India’s largest producer of aluminium, manufacturing over half of India’s aluminium (2.29 million tonnes in FY23). It is a leader in value-added aluminium products crucial to core industries. Vedanta Aluminium ranks 2nd in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) 2022 world rankings for the aluminium industry, reflecting its commitment to sustainable development practices. With world-class aluminium smelters, alumina refinery, and power plants in India, the company fulfils its mission of promoting emerging applications of aluminium as the ‘Metal of the Future’ for a greener tomorrow.
