Kolkata: With India trying to position its manufacturing skills in the world, there seems to be a quiet but distinct divergence that is emerging from the two schools of manufacturing — the Chinese school and the Indian school. China has flourished on state-owned factories, closed systems and centralised control. On the other hand, the Indian model seems to be manufacturing networks that are powered by Edge Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and locally deployed small language models (SLM).
Put in simple words, the Indian model is flexible since unlike the Chinese counterparts, the Indian lack the rigidity of centralised architectures. The manufacturing operations in India are harnessing the power of real-time intelligence which functions locally, remains sovereign but manages to connect effortlessly with global supply chains.
What is the Edge MES + SLM Advantage
Often nations gain competitive advantage by silent transformation. India could be heading that way with the jugalbandi of Edge Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and small language models (SLM). What are the advantages? Let’s see:
Speed: Zero latency for critical decisions
Cost efficiency: 10-30 times cheaper than cloud-based Al solutions
Customisation: Models lend themselves to quick fine-tuning for different processes
Sovereignty: Control over industrial data
Accessibility: More than one Indian language support paves the way for workforce adoption
Analysts are of the opinion that the scalable, affordable and sovereign model of manufacturing is also helping a reverse flow of skilled manpower — people who had left the country are returning. It is often possible for many to tie up capital for deep-tech ventures. The model is not only flexible and intelligent but also helping Indian industry to set up active contacts with the global manufacturing ecosystem. In short, it is helping India integrate with the global manufacturing system on its own terms.
Edge-First Manufacturing Strategy
The government is acting as an infrastructure builder and facilitating the ecosystem rather than trying to control it. A parallel can be drawn with the service sector where ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) is helping the service sector. This too is an open network that is set to revolutionise manufacturing, enabling suppliers and manufacturers to connect instantly. In a sense, the government is building the digital “rails” (standards for Edge MES and frameworks for SLMs), while India Inc will operate and manage the factories.
State-level specialisation
The beauty of the model is that the architecture has been built to suit India’s diversity, allowing each state to create a specialised manufacturing hub that draws on its strengths. For example, in Karnataka aerospace manufacturing driven by Al precision assembly is coming up. For Telangana, it is pharmaceutical production with blockchain-aided technology, in Maharashtra it’s electronics manufacturing with intelligent supply chain coordination while in Tamil Nadu automotive systems are being put in place by SLM-powered predictive maintenance. Gujarat is opting for chemical processes monitored in real time and so on.