1. INDIAN INSTITUTE OF WELDING, COCHIN. National Weld Meet : KOCHI - 2015 One day National Weld Meet was conducted by IIW, Cochin Branch on, Friday, 9 th October '15, at Rajagiri School of Engineering & Technology, Rajagiri Valley, Kakkanadu, Cochin 682039. Inaugural function started at 09.30 am, with participation of 225 delegates & invitees, Cmde. K Subramainam, Chairman and Managing Director, Cochin shipyard Ltd, as the Chief Guest and Sri. R Srinivasan, President, Indian Institute of Welding, Kolkata, Presided over the meeting. Dr. A Unnikrishnan, Principal, RSET welcomed the gathering. In his presidential address, Sri. Srinivasan elaborated about the activities of IIW and its contribution to the development of welding technology in the country and how its acclerate the economic growth of the country. He also stressed the need of implementing Skill Development Initiative which IIW is actively participating in the program implementation of Govt. of India. Cmde. K Subramaniam stated that Cochin Shipyard already initiated action to improve the productivity of welding through imparting continuous training to the welders and introduction new generation power sources. Shipyard being one of the major organizations in the country where welding is the major production process, has to go much ahead in development the technology. He also acclaimed that the the Shipyard made significant improvements in business development, productivity and delivery of orders and customer satisfaction shows a set reply to the critics of those who believe " Nothing happen in Kerala ". The Guest of Honour Rev. Fr. Jose Alex, CMI, Director RSET in his address extended all support to IIW in achieving the goal of propagation and promotion the welding technology which will help the institutions also to grow in the technology development as a whole. Sri. Parimal Biswas, Hon. Secretary General, IIW Kolkata, made a presentation on activities of IIW and its 14 branches spread all over the country.

2. Sri. Jose P Philip, Chairman, IIW, Cochin Branch explained the activities of the branch in developing welding technology among the industries and institutions in and around Cochin as well as Kerala as a whole. He also explained about the implementation of Skill Development Initiative of Cochin Shipyard, in giving training to 60 youngsters of BPL status in association with Don Bosco Tech, Vaduthala. It is also the Endeavour of Cochin branch to expand its activities through starting " STUDENT CHAPTERS " through the engineering colleges for the benefits of faculty and students in acquiring knowledge in the welding technology and related fields. A special address was made by Dr. S Sundareasan, Professor ( Rtd ) IIT, Madras on " The Newer Stainless Steel - alloy & Weldabilty " a research paper on metallurgy. A MoU was signed by Rev. Fr. Jose Alex CMI & Sri Jose P Philip & exchanged between Rajagiri School of Engineering & Technology and IIW, Cochin Branch for mutual cooperation and understanding among two organizations for knowledge sharing. The inaugural session came to a close with a vote of thanks by Sri. P Govindankutty, Vice president of IIW, Cochin Branch. After tea break a special session was alloted to make a ppt. Presentation on NWS & WELD-INDIA EXPO 2015 by DR Hasan Shaikh, Vice President, SR, IIW, Chennai. SESSION I The session was chaired by Dr. Vincent H Wilson, Principal Toc H Institute of Technology. The topic selected was “ AUTOMATION AND MECHANISATION OF HIGH PRODUCTIVE WELDING PROCESSES FOR PLATES AND PIPES IN SHIP BUILDING “. The paper was presented by Dr. A Raja, Retd. Addl. Gen. Manager, WRI, Trichy & Visiting Faculty, Anna University. Session II The sub-theme of this session was “ HYDROGEN ASSISTED CRACKING – LOOKING BEYOND THE STANDARD TESTS “ & the speaker was Dr. Shaju K Albert, Head, Materials division, IGKAR, Kalpakkam, TN. This session was chaired by Prof. MD Mathew, Ph D, MBA,FIE Dean, Post graduate Studies, Saintgits College of Engineering, Kottayam. SESSION III The panel chairman for this session was Prof. KR Rajan, M Tech, HoD ( Mech ) SNGCE, Kadayiruppu. Mr. Dave De Groot, Chief, Technology, HGG Profiling Equipment BV, Netherlands presented a paper on ‘’ CRITICAL SHORTAGE OF HIGHLY SKILLED WELDERS AND HOW THIS AFFECT STEEL FABRICATION COMPANIES “

3. Session IV Dr. Hasan Shaik, Vice President, SR, IIW, Chennai chaired the session and the speaker was Mr. P Arunkumar,Head, Spacecraft Propulsion, ISRO, Trivandrum. He presented a paper on “ MARS ORBITER MISSION “. Session V Mr. R R Mohapapatra, Managing Director, KEMPPI, India, presented a paper on “ TOTAL WELDING MANAGEMENT “. The panel chairman was Dr. PV Sasikumar, Prof. & HoD, Kunhalimarakkar College of Marine Technology, CUSAT. Session VI The speaker for this session was Mr. Cataldo Sposato, International Sales Director, LORCH, Schweisstechmik Gmbh, Germany. This session was chaired by Dr. Shaju K Albert. Concluding Session Mr. MP Dhanuka, Executive Director, Marketting and Sales,GEE Ltd, Mumbai made the concluding remarks about the NWM : KOCHI – 2015 The NWM : KOCHI - 2015 came to a close by 5.30 pm. ****************