Turning Shopfloor Experience into Scalable Intelligence: Inside Coimbatore THINK TURF 2026

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September 2026 : Coimbatore, long celebrated as a power hub of engineering excellence and manufacturing grit, recently hosted a pivotal industry gathering. The Coimbatore Manufacturing Leadership THINK TURF 2026 - presented by PRE6.ai, and held in association with The Institute of Indian Foundrymen (IIF) and powered by - Pro MFG Media, brought together foundry owners, industrial leaders, and technology pioneers to tackle a critical question facing modern industry: how to convert tribal, shopfloor experience into scalable institutional knowledge.

As host Sai Kumar from Pro MFG Media emphasized during the opening, the forum bypassed generic technology buzzwords. Instead, it focused directly on practical, measurable operational outcomes: moving from individual dependency to scalable systems, from siloed expert intuition to institutional knowledge, and from slow decision-making to rapid manufacturing responses.

The evening commenced with a Welcome Address by Mr. V. Sivaprakash, Chairman of the IIF Coimbatore Chapter, setting a collaborative tone for the gathering.

V. Sivaprakash, Chairman of the IIF Coimbatore Chapter

Highlighting community leadership, Mr. Rishi Kedia, Co-founder at PRE6.ai, felicitated key IIF Coimbatore Chapter representatives on stage: Chairman V. Sivaprakash, Vice Chairman Hari Viswanathan, Hon. Secretary A. S. Shivakumaran, and Hon. Treasurer E. Rajkumar.

The centerpiece of the evening was a high-impact leadership panel titled "The Competitive Foundry: Overcoming Tribal Knowledge, Delays & Slow Decision-Making," moderated by Mr. Manish Kulkarni, Co-Founder & Director of Pro MFG Media. The panel tackled urgent operational friction points, including RFQ response delays, repetitive engineering documentation, and the risk of losing decades of unwritten expertise as senior engineers retire.

An esteemed panel of industrial leaders provided grounded, actionable perspectives: A.S. Shivakumaran (KOSO India Private Limited), Dr. Nithyanandan Devaraaj (SAA Enterprises), Elangovan Gurunatha Pillai (Global Cast Solutions Pvt. Ltd.), K. Veluswami (Marks Engineering Works Pvt. Ltd.), M. Ramesh (Alpha Craft Pvt. Ltd.), M. Vijayakumar (Roots Group of Companies), and Vinodh Gopinath (G-Plast Pvt. Ltd.).

Following the panel, Mr. Pallab De, Partner at PwC India and Leader for Manufacturing & Operations Consulting across India & Bangladesh, delivered the Keynote Address, offering insights on global and local market dynamics on foundry industry. He also highlighted the need for adoption of digital technologies, such as AI for improving operations.

Pallab De, PwC India

Transitioning from operational hurdles to actionable technology, Mr. Amod Malviya, Co-founder of PRE6.ai, presented a masterclass titled "Frontier AI in Manufacturing - A View." He outlined how deployment of AI can eliminate engineering chores, streamline complex drawing reviews, and automate manufacturability checks without displacing human judgment.

Amod Malviya, Co-founder - PRE6.ai

The event concluded with an interactive open house titled "Your Foundry in 2030." Audience members voiced real-world challenges- from decision delays caused a shortage of key experts to time lost manually bridging disconnected engineering, costing, and quality systems.

Following a Vote of Thanks proposed by Mr. Rishi Kedia, delegates continued discussions over dinner and cocktails. The landmark event made one message resoundingly clear: the competitive edge for Indian foundries over the next decade lies not merely in physical shopfloor capacity, but in the speed, accuracy, and scalability of their decision-making systems.

Rishi Kedia, Co-founder - PRE6.ai

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