Shell Lubricants hosted the fourth edition of global lecture series in association with IIM Bangalore to discuss future energy shifts in industry and transport with experts across the industry. A report...

Shell Lubricants organised the fourth edition of its Global Lecture Series at IIM Bangalore to envision and deliberate on ?Preparing you for the Future Energy Shifts in Industry & Transport?. The discussions emphasised on the importance of technological collaboration while chalking out solutions for the energy challenges and adapting a cohesive approach towards the development of new grade technologies and equipment.

Addressing the event, Nitin Prasad, Managing Director, Shell Lubricants India, said, ?The Shell Lubricants Global Lecture Series is a unique platform to collaborate across industry and academia; it is an initiative driven by our core philosophy of innovation and collaboration. With this edition of the global lecture series, we have established it as an annual property of Shell Lubricants India. This year the focus has been on highlighting the connect between global energy efficiency and adoption of fuel-efficient practices on a daily basis. We believe that the right set of lubricants can not only bring efficiency to an industrial unit but in due course of time, to an entire industry.?

The event was attended by leading experts from automotive, power, construction, mining and manufacturing industry in India along with IIM Bangalore faculty and students. Distinguished speakers present at the event discussed across sectors? specific energy challenges and solutions. These included P Panda, Sr Vice President (Product Development), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, KK Gandhi, Executive Director (Technical), Society of Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Dr S Gomathinayagam, Director General, National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), M Rajagopalan, Market Development Director, Middle East and Asia, Wartsila India Ltd, Rajendra Petkar, Head - Power Systems Engineering, Tata Motors, and KS Venkatagiri, Executive Director, Confederation of Indian Industry, to name a few.

Dr Cameron Watson, General Manager - OEM and Direct Sector - Commercial Technology, Shell Global Solutions (UK), while commenting on Shell?s technical partnerships in India and abroad, said, ?The scale of our energy challenges is such that a run-of-mill approach cannot make a difference. At Shell, we aspire for continuous improvement in efficiency; by taking an innovative and collaborative approach towards our products. We actively invest in R&D and creating collaborative platforms and avenues for our leading OEMs and academic institutions. Such initiatives help keep us abreast with the trends specific to various sectors, their consumers and to the global energy scenario.?

?The global energy landscape today is marked with numerous challenges. Depleting resources, increased energy demand and wasteful use of fuel are some of the key concerns that tend to lower the output of our industries, equipment and machinery. The need for judicious use of energy resources and maximisation of fuel economy across application streams is the need of the hour. Lubricants are an important element in the larger picture of energy efficiency. Keeping this in mind, at Shell, we give complete consideration to the energy scenarios and carefully design our lubricants,? said Dr Felix Norman Guerzoni, Product Application Specialist-Team Lead, Shell (Shanghai) Technology Ltd.

On the technological aspect, Akhil Jha, Vice President - Technical, Shell Lubricants India, said, ?The global energy scenario today is influenced by multiple factors, both technological and non-technological. Some of these issues are product and hardware technologies, application and process engineering, rapidly increasing demand and shrinking supply base of conventional sources of energy. Political, economic, social and environmental factors also cast an influence on these. A comprehensive thought leadership forum such as Shell Lubricants Global Lecture Series, provides the best of the minds from diverse sections of the industry to come together and debate future possibilities to address these challenges.?

Prof Padmini Srinivasan of IIM Bangalore said, ?We are happy to host an important event like the Shell Lubricants Global Lecture Series. Events such as these provide students a great platforms where they get a chance to interact closely with industry experts.?