Pre-Cast Technology Proves To Be The Game Changer In Construction

By Manu Sharma

Pre- cast technology or prefab has revolutionized the way builders are constructing today. As against popular belief, pre cast construction is as sturdy as conventional construction and results in huge savings in terms of time as it ensures faster delivery of homes. Manu Sharma, Editor, Silicon Village caught up with Darshan Govindaraju, Director, Vaishnavi Group regarding pre cast technology being deployed in their residential and commercial projects and Safarulla Azeez, Director, Techno-Commercial, Katerra, a company that engages in manufacturing of pre-cast structures, to get insights into the technology behind pre fab structures.

Q. How has prefab structures helped build new hospitals and quarantine facilities across India in record time through the covid-19 pandemic?

Darshan Govindaraju: Whenever there is large requirement with less manpower and less time, standardization of construction elements and size, modular system comprising Precast  elements, MEP , finishes etc prefab is best the option to build  hospitals/quarantine facilities in less time due to very less activities at site

Q. How much cheaper are prefab homes compared to other homes? Please justify with numbers.

DG : Prefab homes are known for their better quality, faster timelines and accuracy and precision in dimensions, however the same can be deemed economical when there is a mass construction involved with considerable repetitions. And when compared with the return on investments, time benefit analysis and long maintenance, etc, offsite manufacturing could be cheaper on a larger picture.

Q. How does your manpower, who are well versed with the old/traditional building technologies cope with this technology? Is there any training involved or you employ only those with knowledge on this technology?

Safarulla Azeez: We at Katerra has a mix of both skilled and relevant experienced manpower and also the people proficient in traditional construction methodology who were open for learning and evolving over time. Katerra however provides an extensive training during the induction period for all the employees to cope with the precast and prefabrication technology.

Q. How durable are prefab homes compared to the traditional ones?

SA: Precast homes are much more durable than conventional homes as predominant material is RCC in case of precast while it is still brick and motor in traditional methods. At Katerra our precast building components are from a bare minimum of M40 grade up to M60 as per the design requirement, which induces additional strength and durability. Also the precision of the reinforcement laying, stirrups, cover maintained, uniform compaction  ,  concreting in controlled environment , strict quality check at factory & curing and mould finish are few value additions which eventually help in enhancing the structural durability of the homes.

Q. Are prefab energy efficient? If yes please justify the claim?

SA: Precast technology is definitely energy efficient approach during construction as there would be limited manpower, minimum water consumption as it is artificial curing using steam chambers, carbon footprint for production is less when compared to traditional methods, etc. Katerra has executed projects for Infosys, Microsoft, BOSCH, etc which are LEED/IGBC rated which shows the impact of energy efficiency during execution. Offsite manufactured buildings are also energy efficient during life cycle, as plastering is completely eliminated there is no requirement of regular maintenance to avoid shrinkage cracks, factory produced components have minimum rate of corrosion as cover is maintained accurately. Also, RCC in general is a better energy efficient material over traditional brick and motor.

Q. Why aren't prefabricated homes still not popular in India?

SA : Construction has always been the biggest unorganized sector in India making it difficult for adopting global technologies. However, India is continuously evolving in terms of construction technology and in fact precast/offsite manufacturing has penetrated in the last decade. Currently all the government construction authorities are making steps towards developing special codes for precast/offsite manufacturing which will eventually pave path and encourage more precast homes and buildings in India. With the evolving market the limitations in flexibility for changes or modifications are eliminated and making the precast homes more popular in the urban market. The other reason was technology through right equipment and machineries were not in place, and as Katerra we have implemented new technology and equipment from different part of the world which enhance the prefabrication and precast technology more popular in India.

Q. One of the disadvantages of prefabrication has been promoting repetitive, monotonous patterns, or series in order to be economically feasible. How to overcome this challenge?

SA : It is a misconception that precast need to adopt monotonous patterns, with the efficient design for manufacturing and assembly (DFMA) we need to ensure the repeatability of the building components without compromising on the architectural layouts, variations and patterns. Repeatability to be achieved by standardizing the building heights, lift and staircase cores, wall panel dimensions, etc but simultaneously providing flexibility in the floor layouts, room dimensions, window & door openings, etc. Katerra is equipped with an inhouse design team to support for the probable design value additions in a much early stage to maintain repeatability without limiting developers to monotonous box designs.

Q. Since the slabs, pillars are others have been constructed in large numbers at an offsite location, transportation is another major problem in the prefab modules and might be hard to manoeuvre to reach locations in a city. How is this being handled?

SA: In our precast approach 80 percent of the precast components are manufactured in our factory and transported to site for installation. As per our past project experiences and analysis we realized there would actually be a reduction in the vehicular movement to construction site due to transporting finished components rather than the raw materials like cement, sand, aggregates, steel, etc or the concrete RMC mixers on a daily basis. Moreover, most of the transportation shall be undertaken during night abiding by the regulations which will not impact any traffic movement in and around the construction site. Katerra has executed complex projects in the most congested areas of the Bangalore like Electronic city, Bellandur, Embassy Golf Village, Embassy Tech Park. We have also executed a project with just in time approach due to unavailability of stockyard space at site. Precast technology adoption would be much more advantages at such sites as most of the activity is completed at site.

Q. How have your customers' responding to this kind of homes? Will you be building more apartments/homes using this technology in the future?

SA : There are lot of enquiries from different customers and very positive response also. Yes, Definitely Katerra will be interested in building more apartments and homes using this technology. We are in to more innovation and R&D in this sector like volumetric construction etc…

Ashok Soota Commits Rs.200 Cr Investment By Launching SKAN Medical Research Trust For Ageing And Neurological Disorders

Ashok Soota has announced the creation of SKAN, probably India’s first not-for-profit entity in the private sector, exclusively for medical research.

The research for the projects will be done through reputed partners, and directly in-house.  The strategic partner for Neurological research is the Centre for Brain Research (CBR) at Indian Institute Science, Bangalore (IISc).  CBR is putting together a consortium to handle the first project on Parkinson’s disease.  The strategic partner for Ageing is the upcoming St. John’s Geriatric Centre (SJGC), to be located on the St John’s Hospital campus. Soota has agreed to fund the setting up of the Centre for Research in Ageing and Geriatrics (CRAG) at the SJGC and to support joint projects.  In Ageing, the approach will be to go wide into relatively under-researched areas and will include the establishment of a large community-based research cohort.  For Neurological research, the plan will be to go deep into select areas like Parkinson’s disease, Bipolar disorders, Strokes and other Cerebrovascular disorders.

For problems related to both ageing and neurological disorders, the philosophy of the research will include searching for kinder, gentler therapies; delaying the onset and slowing down the progression of the disease and providing persons a better quality of life even as they live with the illness.

Soota also announced funds commitment of Rs.200 Crores for SKAN.  Out of this, Rs 100 crores is earmarked for partners such as St John’s, Centre for Brain Research (CBR), IIT-Roorkee, NIMHANS and any new partners which may be added.  Rs.100 crores is earmarked for investments in SKAN and direct projects within SKAN.

Ashok Soota said “it will take 10 years to build a world class institution for Ageing and Neurological research.  I am grateful to two eminent leaders who have agreed to take charge as Chairpersons for the two divisions in case of an exigency to me if line leadership is not ready to take charge. I have had this exigency-based arrangement in every organization I started, be it MindTree or Happiest Minds.”

SKAN is on the lookout for talent including CEOs for the Ageing and Neurological divisions and many other positions. Applicants can visit SKANrt.in for the positions to be filled and send an email to Talent@SKANrt.in.

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Will Hold Global Conference On Cybersecurity - ShaktiCon From April 9, 2021

* In the run-up to the event, a 36-hour, women-only Capture the Flag (CTF) contest would be held from April 3-5, 2021 

The focus of the Conference is fixing the gender gap in cybersecurity and showcase the next generation of offensive and defensive security technologies 

More than 3,000 women hackers from India and around the world are expected to attend Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham’s three-day global conference on cybersecurity called ShaktiCon that begins on April 9, 2021. In the run-up to the event, a 36-hour, women-only Capture the Flag (CTF) contest would be held from April 3-5, 2021, in which contestants will face challenges from the fields of cryptography, reversing, forensics, Pwn and web exploitation.  

ShaktiCon is a completely free global conference focused on inspiring, training, and upskilling women in the field of cybersecurity. It offers training programmes to nurture women talent in the field, a global cyber-security conference with talks and panel discussions by leading women professionals in cyber-security, and a women-only CTF hacking contest to showcase talent and win prizes and scholarships. The event is organized by Team Shakti, India's first and top-ranked women-only CTF team of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. 

The pre-conference global cybersecurity contest held in December 2020 attracted more than 1,500 women hackers with 828 teams from five continents. The participants, which have now grown to more than 3,000 women, received free access to premium learning platforms such as TryHackMe and PentesterLabs, practice challenges and training videos. They will be attending the upcoming ShaktiCon conference and participating in the CTF hacking contest.  

Said Prof. Vipin Pavithran, Assistant Professor, Amrita Center for Cybersecurity Systems & Networks, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, who is the organizer of ShaktiCon: “Cybersecurity is considered a masculine domain and most women don’t see it as a viable career path. The cybersecurity industry needs more women, and alsohas to open up for them. Demand is outstripping supply in this field. In the next five years, the number of jobs in cybersecurity will triple. Over 3.5 million new cybersecurity jobs would be created in 2021 alone. Despite this, women comprise only 20% of the total workforce in cybersecurity, and only 1% of them are in top leadership positions. The future of the cybersecurity industry depends on its ability to attract, retain and promote women, who represent a skilled and under-tapped resource.” 

He added: “The focus of our annual conference ShaktiCon is advancing the leadership and professional development of women in the field of cybersecurity and showcase the next generation of offensive and defensive security technologies. ShaktiCon offers a platform for female researchers and hackers from around the world to close the skills gap with men and help fix the gender gap in cybersecurity.” 

The keynote address at the ShaktiCon would be delivered by Rinki Sethi, VP and Chief Information Security Officer at Twitter Inc., followed by talks and training by eminent women cybersecurity experts such as Sung Lee from VMware, Sanju Misra from Linde, Mina Sheikhalishahi from Eindhoven University of Technology, Allison Marie Naaktgeboren from Portland State University, Bhavna Soman from Microsoft and SreepriyaChalakkal from Siemens. 

Team Shakti is India's first and only women CTF team consisting of budding young female minds who want to make a difference in the field of cyber-security and fix the gender gap. The team participates in “Capture The Flag” competitions and provides training to school and university students, conducts CTFs, develops cybersecurity tools and participates in bug bounties. “Team Shakti has become one of the leading women-only CTF teams in India within just two years” said Prof. Vipin Pavithran, the founder and mentor of Team Shakti. The Club, based at the varsity’s Amritapuri campus, is run by the students themselves with the help of research scholars, alumni, and faculty members. 

About Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham 

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham is a multi-campus, multidisciplinary Institution of Eminence accredited by NAAC and ranked the 4th Best Overall University in India in the 2020 National Institution Ranking Framework (NIRF). The university is currently spread across six campuses in three states of India—Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka—with the institution’s headquarters at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Amrita partners with academic, industry, and governmental institutions across the world to accomplish human-centered, translational, and groundbreaking research. To date, Amrita has more than 500 collaborations from more than 200 signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs). Some of Amrita’s partners include Harvard University, Columbia University, King’s College London, KTH - Royal Institute of Technology, VU Amsterdam, the British Geological Society, University of Oxford, Italian National Research Council, Deakin University and the University of Tokyo. Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma) is the founder and Chancellor of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. A world-renowned humanitarian leader, Amma is the guiding light of Amrita. Amma’s words, thoughts, and vision for education and research have shaped the university’s mission and vision. 

Apollo LogiSolutions Signs Partnership With Indigo Airlines, StaTwig For India’s First Vaccine Platform Solution

* Collaborates with supply chain’s major players for transparency and better tracking and tracing of Covid-19 vaccines 

The platform is expected to bring vial level visibility on track and trace, chain of custody management and temperature continuity  

Apollo LogiSolutions (ALS), an Integrated Logistics solutions provider, has announced that it is collaborating with leading players across technology, cold chain warehousing, pharmaceutical, healthcare, airline and airport sectors for its new ‘integrated vaccine delivery platform’. Apollo LogiSolutions aims to enhance the current Covid-19 vaccine distribution model in India with its new solution and has already onboarded UNICEF backed blockchain technology firm StaTwig for technology capabilities; Coldman, Kool Solutions and other major companies for effective cold chain warehousing of 70,000+ pallet capacity at 10 locations in India and GMR-Hyderabad airport and Indigo airlines for air transportation.  

IndiGo, India’s leading airline is amongst fastest growing low-cost carriers in the world which has been playing a pivotal role in India’s inoculation drive by transporting vaccines within the country. By collaborating with IndiGo, Apollo LogiSolutions plans to bolster its initiative of contributing towards world's largest vaccination drive. 

Apollo LogiSolutions’ ‘integrated vaccine platform solution’ is designed to address the end-to-end supply-chain related challenges and bring more transparency and effective tracking for effective Covid-19 vaccine distribution in the country. 

Announcing the new solution, Raaja Kanwar, Vice chairman and Managing Director, Apollo LogiSolutions said, “It’s a proud moment for everyone at Apollo LogiSolutions to have been able to build a solution that will help India in its mission to immunize its people against Covid-19. We have already partnered with some of the most trusted names in the industry and will continue to add more to make the platform more robust as part of our commitment in creating an effective end-to-end distribution platform for the Covid-19 vaccine.” 

He added, “As India grows, the logistics segment will need to scale, adapt and transform itself to the needs of businesses and consumers. Apollo LogiSolutions is aggressively working towards introducing innovative technologies, tools and operational excellence to streamline the fragmented sector, make it future ready and drive better efficiency.” 

Sid Chakravarthy, founder of StaTwig mentioned that “India manufacturers 60% of global vaccines by volume. With this integrated solution that ensures quality and safety of the vaccines both in domestic and international supply chains, we can make Indian vaccines market much more resilient and sustainable.” 

In addition to the current partners, Apollo LogiSolutions is also engaging with major players in the healthcare and pharma sector alongside various local and central government authorities and ministries to get them on-board.  

About Apollo LogiSolutions 

Apollo LogiSolutions as one of India’s leading end-to-end, logistics service provider. The company has Pan India presence with services across transportation, warehousing and distribution. The company controls a warehousing space of 1.5 mn sqft at 30 locations, a fleet of 600+ vehicles and owns dry port and CFSs at key container ports in India. 

Aegon Life Introduces Work From Anywhere (WFA) Policy For All Its Employees

* Extending the benefit of working from a safe and comfortable environment 

Aegon Life, India’s leading digital life insurance company, is leaning in to the new normal by introducing a “Work from Anywhere (WFA)” policy effective April 2021. With the introduction of this practice, all Aegon Life employees will have the flexibility and convenience to work from anywhere in India and contribute to organisational growth.  

Sunita Rath, Chief People Officer at Aegon Life shares, “We have always held the belief that people are our key assets and emphasized the need for the right practices that can empower our people. The WFA policy that we have introduced upholds this belief.”  

She further adds, “We have constantly redefined the sector in which we operate, right from being the pioneers of online term plans in India, to becoming the leading digital-only life insurance company in the country. We are not only the first life insurance company but are amongst the first organisations in the country to formally adopt a fully WFA work policy. Needless to say, we will still have our office space to enable employees to meet, brainstorm, connect and collaborate. With WFA as our new normal, we will adopt other suitable digital tools and solutions to engender a culture of agile policies and proactive support.” 

This holistic and well-thought-out approach to work is designed to protect people interests and provide necessary leverage to achieve organisational goals. Salient features of this practice include: 

Flexibility: Work from home, or from any location within India, on an ongoing basis, irrespective of the location of work mentioned in the terms of employment. 

Introduction of core working hours: To help strike an optimal work-life balance, we have brought in the concept of core working hours. All managers and teams are encouraged to plan e-meetings and con-calls at specific times during the day to ensure that hours outside of these timeslots are used to balance their family and work commitments.  

Introduction of a ‘No Meetings Day’: The second Wednesday of every month has been designated as ‘No Meetings Day’, with no prescheduled calls and meetings. This will enable uninterrupted work and focus on projects. 

Support to enable WFA / Home Office: A one-time reimbursement for setting up one’s home-office. Further, necessary technology will be made available to all employees to enable a seamless and secure working environment.  

Focus on emotional well-being: Recognising the challenges that one can face while working from home, employees have been requested “not to be apologetic” for inevitable disturbances (of being at home) during official meetings/calls. Further, regular online wellness sessions are organised to support mental and emotional well-being. 

About Aegon Life :  Aegon Life, India’s leading digital life insurance company, was the first life insurance company to launch Online Term Insurance Plans in India. By focusing on innovative digital-first solutions, its vision is to enable customers to lead tension free lives and be the most recommended new age Life Insurance Company. The company’s Direct to Customer focus establishes a direct dialogue with the customers enabling  greater clarity and transparency. Being the online protection specialists, Aegon Life has a dedicated customer service team that is geared to provide superior customer experience.  

Paytm Achieves Over 1.4 Billion Transactions In March, Leads Digital Payments With Wallet, UPI, Cards & Net-Banking Services

 

- Establishes itself as the largest enabler of digital payments in the country with over 20 million merchants on its platform, aims at 50 million merchants over the next few years

- Maintains the highest market share in offline merchant payments with 15% M-o-M growth recording the most number of transactions among all digital payment platforms

- Leads offline payments as more retail stores adopt IoT based payment devices such as All-in-One QR, All-in-One POS and Android Smart POS

- Planned deployment of over 5 million IoT based payment devices for the benefit of merchants in smaller cities & towns

India's leading digital financial services platform Paytm today announced that it has achieved over 1.4 billion monthly transactions in March, led by the massive growth in offline payments and financial services. With over 20 million merchant partners on board, the company maintains the highest market share in offline payments and continues to register 15% M-o-M growth. It is the only platform in the country that promotes all digital payments services including Paytm Wallet, UPI, Paytm Postpaid, cards & net-banking. Paytm is aiming to enable 50 million merchants with IoT-based payment devices including All-in-One QR, All-in-One POS, Android Smart POS, and Soundbox over the next few years.

Paytm which is on a mission to empower businesses with digital payments & reconciliation services continues to lead with the highest market share in offline merchant payments with 15% M-o-M growth. It is aiming to equip 5 million businesses with Paytm Soundbox 2.0, Paytm All-in-One EDC devices as well as its newly launched innovative Paytm Smart POS for Android phones that transforms a smartphone into a device that accepts debit & credit card payments just like a normal card swiping machine.

The company empowers users with multiple services including Paytm Payments Bank, Paytm Payments Gateway, Paytm Payout, Paytm Money for democratizing wealth creation, Paytm Insurance, Paytm Postpaid, Paytm Credit Cards as well as utility bill payments, offline merchant payments, content & gaming services.

Narendra Yadav, Vice President Paytm said, "Paytm is the only company that provides the widest range of options to both merchants and customers which has helped us to achieve over 1.4 billion monthly transactions. Consumers can pay from Paytm wallet, UPI, Paytm postpaid, credit or debit cards, and bank accounts. Similarly, merchants can accept payments into their wallet or in any bank account. Paytm has the widest network of merchants in the country with over 20 million merchants partners. We want to serve all spectrum of merchants, from street vendors to large retailers as we continue our efforts to enable them with IoT-based digital payments services. " 

Amit Chadha Takes Charge As CEO & MD Of L&T Technology Services

Amit Chadha has taken over as CEO & Managing Director of L&T Technology Services (NSE: LTTS) effective April 1, in line with previous disclosures made to stock exchanges dated October 19, 2020. Prior to his elevation, he was serving the company as Deputy CEO & Whole-Time Board Member. 

Amit joined LTTS in 2009 and has been a core member of LTTS’ executive management team, closely involved in the company’s listing on stock exchanges in 2016. Subsequently, he progressed to assume charge as President, Sales and Business Development, where he was responsible for helping global R&D customers and Fortune 500 companies leverage LTTS’ digital engineering offerings for their strategic differentiation and product development.

On his appointment, Amit commented, “The ER&D services sector is poised to play a critical role over the next decade as confluence of engineering and technology reshapes the products and services of the near-future. Against this backdrop, the multi-vertical engineering expertise that LTTS has demonstrated makes it stand apart as a leader in pure-play ER&D services. I see it as a big responsibility to lead the pack of over 16,000 bright and committed LTTSites. I am confident that together we will make the company reach newer heights and milestones.”    

Amit’s overall career spans over two decades in core engineering & information technology outsourcing. He has managed P&L for multiple business units, spearheaded organization-wide strategic initiatives and led business development and relationship management activities worldwide.

Amit is an electrical & electronics engineer who has done his Global Business Leadership Executive Program with Harvard Business Publishing. He has also done an Advanced Management Program in Business Leadership from INSEAD, France. Amit is currently based in Washington DC.

About L&T Technology Services Ltd

L&T Technology Services Limited (LTTS) is a listed subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited focused on Engineering and R&D (ER&D) services. We offer consultancy, design, development and testing services across the product and process development life cycle. Our customer base includes 69 Fortune 500 companies and 53 of the world’s top ER&D companies, across industrial products, medical devices, transportation, telecom & hi-tech, and the process industries. Headquartered in India, we have over 16,000 employees spread across 17 global design centers, 28 global sales offices and 62 innovation labs as of December 31, 2020.