For the Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in the manufacturing sector, one of the business compulsions due to spread of COVID-19 that has turned advantageous is stepping on to the digital platform, even if it is only for minor purposes.
According to K.V. Karthik, vice president of Southern India Engineering Manufacturers’ Association, all meetings, including branch and business meetings, are web-based now. “I feel that in future too, travel will be minimum and meetings will continue to be online,” he said. There is also scope for a lot of businesses happening on the digital platform, provided there are right steps taken for it, he said.
R. Ramamurthy, president of Coimbatore District Small Industries’ Association, said small and medium-scale manufacturing industries have switched over to webinars and video calls. The penetration of online communication is more than 60 %. Though industries are not operating to full capacity, there is no supply chain disruptions now only because of the online communications and use of video calls. No one visits the industries now. Some industries have employees who focus on this task. If the Government extends support to MSMEs to adopt more digital tools now, it would be an opportunity and encouragement to the units to go in for solutions such as enterprise resource planning.
However, micro units have not seen significant transition to online platform. “We have three dimensional pictures of components, etc.. But micro unit owners use a smart phone and there is nothing beyond that. We need to visit larger units to discuss and take up job works,” he added.
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