An Interview with Mr.Girish Alawe(Head – tec.nicum Division) Schmersal India Pvt Ltd.

1. Share your roles & job profile at “SCHMERSAL”.
My Current Role within Schmersai India is a Business Head for the tec.nicum division which include overseeing the operation of this entire tec.nicum division. Establish tec.nicum brand in the market as an independent machine safety consultant to support Industries with various safety services like Academic courses, safety Engineering service which includes design, implementation & Validation to make a safe working place for the operator. We design their machines and workplaces to be compliant with the set of safety standards. I am able to manage with my 12 years of working experience & expertise in the field of man and machine safety, out of total 14 years of working experience in my professional career as well as a long association with Schmersal for 10 years.

2. Tell us more about tec.nicum division?
The tec.nicum division of Schmersal Group is devoted to man-machine and plant safety. We have extremely skilled employees who are practiced in the field of safety technology. Their experience comes from having been a part of several successful projects with machine constructors & machine users. Our team designs and implements safety solutions in various phases of machine development, manufacturing, sales, operation, modernization (retrofitting) and decommissioning of machines and systems; throughout the world. Functional machine safety
consultants at tec.nicum are certified by TÜV to form a supportive global network of proficient advisers. Tec.nicum is responsible for implementation in accordance with global safety standards, Indian standards prepared by BIS and customers in house safety standards. There are four major verticals in tec.nicum– Academy, Safety Consulting, Safety Engineering and Safety Projects.

3. What kind of training does tec.nicum academy provide?
Tec.nicum offers different levels of standard training in line with ISO / Indian Safety standards like Basic, Intermediate and advanced training. As Machine safety training & awareness is a very important part for all Industry segments to operate machines in safe mode, we arrange different types of training for different levels of the team in each industry like Operator level, middle level and top-level management as well as customize training for some specific customers as per their specific requirements. We do arrange different webinars, seminars & safety workshops to enhance the machine safety knowledge of all users in each industry. This kind of activity is being

done together with different agencies & associations like DISH, BIS, VDMA and other Industrial associations.
Some of Tec.nicum training modules have been indicated below to impart knowledge on:
• Basics of machinery safety,
• New regulations in India, which are in implementation phase by Bureau of Indian standard and in cooperation with Ministry of Heavy Industry,
• Design of safety Guard as per ISO standard
• Process to carry a risk assessment in line with EN ISO 12100 or IS16819:2018
• Design of a safety circuit as per required performance level inline with EN ISO 13849-1 or IS 16810:2018
• SISTEMA Software (To determine achieved safety level with the help of a
special software)

4. Tell us more about your engineering and consulting services and how effective is it in providing safety to man and machine?
Safety engineering and safety consultation services play a significant role in man and machine safety. It is important to be aware of and document the severity of hazards and risks posed by a machine when it is under operation. Risk assessment helps in identifying the hazards and the severity of the risks associated with the machine. This is performed by our TUV Certified Safety Consultant in accordance with relevant safety standards. A team of application engineers from the engineering department works in close collaboration with the safety consultant to mitigate the risks identified during the assessment to ensure the highest level of safety. Engineering and consulting services warrant the prevention of direct and indirect losses to the employees and the company. We offer services to prepare a customer-specific safety manual that can work as guidelines for a company & their machine suppliers.

5. What are the challenges that tec.nicum faced during the pandemic?
To conduct audits for the effective implementation of safety control measures and to minimize the associated risks, to impart training and for similar such requirements, tec.nicum requires visiting the customer site. The pandemic restricted tec.nium from making these important physical visits to our customer sites. However, we utilized this opportunity to share our knowledge with our valuable customers. We conducted more than 300 online training and connected with over 1800 participants from various customers across India. We conducted virtual risk assessments for machine manufacturers with the assistance of their design team and document drawings. We are also working with food pharmaceuticals and hygiene product manufacturing companies, ensuring their machines never break down or cause accidents because lack of safety measures. Whenever we had the chance, we made certain that our consultants and application engineers visited our customer sites to check whether the safety services were being
implemented in the right way. We understand the threats posed by the pandemic and did not ask the employees to
visit our customer sites. However, our teams are highly dedicated to their jobs and understand the significance of overseeing the customer sites, the pandemic did not sway them from doing their jobs.

6. What are your goals for 2021?
Our Safety services division ”tec.nicum” support to the market & customers with the necessary knowledge and skills, to impart services such as academic activities under awareness program, Various safety consulting services like Risk Assessments, CE conformity, Safety Logic, engineering services, validation, preparation of safety document/safety manual and offering Safety Solutions including integration in a turnkey project. Our current focus is to strengthen our “tec.nicum” division in the market with the effective brand image as an independent machine safety consultant, with acceptance to the market and customers to recognize like trustworthy partner for enhancing their level of safety.

7. Does the tec.nicum team wish to convey a special message to their readers?
The pandemic has led us in realising the significance of documentation. Just like the doctors check and document our health parameters before providing a custom treatment plan, checking and documenting the safety parameters of machines is also significant for their safe operation. This helps in minimizing risk for both man and
machine.
Team tec.nicum is at your disposal to provide you with our knowledge and support
on improving the safety of machines.