The Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (CODISSIA) is scheduled to organise an international industrial trade exhibition titled ‘Intec 2010’ in Coimbatore from September 1-5, 2010 in a bid to promote mechanisation of SMEs. The event will also seek to address the labour shortage issue, which is one of the major problems faced by SMEs in the region.

Speaking to a Bizxchange correspondent,  CODISSIA president M Kandhaswami, said, “This is one of the biggest events that CODISSIA has organised in recent times. Besides manufacturing units from South India, SMEs from all over the country are likely to participate in this event. We are also expecting visitors from countries such as Korea and other East Asian countries to take part in Intec 2010.”

Significantly, sophisticated and power-efficient machinery, which can help to improve the efficiency of SMEs, will be displayed at the event.

According to S Ramachandran, owner of Sriram Kasthuri Electrical, a small-sized unit in Coimbatore which manufactures and supplies electrical components, “It is essential to upgrade plant and machinery from time to time so as to avoid any sort of depreciation in product quality or of the machines. As far as labour shortage is concerned, there has been a decline in the number of migrant labourers coming to work in south Indian states in recent times.”

Incidentally, Atlanta-based firm MFG.com which offers an online sourcing marketplace to manufacturers in search of custom parts has launched a new product for Gujarat-based manufacturing SMEs which is expected to be a faster and more efficient application to source products than by displaying the same at trade shows.

Sreemita Bhattacharya