In order to support its expansion both domestically and internationally, Rockwell Automation is constructing a new manufacturing plant in Chennai, India. India is an important component of the company’s talent strategy and is viewed as a critical worldwide market.
On the sidelines of the business’s automation show here, Scott Wooldridge, president for Asia Pacific, told PTI that the automation-focused company has begun construction on a factory in Chennai that will be put into service in two stages.
After utilising India’s strengths in IT and software for its global operations, Rockwell Automation is betting on turning India into an important manufacturing hub, a senior company official has said.
Rockwell Automation had taken initial steps on manufacturing in the country about two years ago and the Chennai plant will be an extension of the same, he added.
Notably, the ‘China plus one’ plan, which seeks to lessen dependency on India’s northern neighbor, has drawn the attention of numerous international corporations.
Wooldridge said it is looking to start production from the new manufacturing facility in Chennai, where it intends to employ 230 people, from May next year.
He, however, was quick to add that the focus in research and development where India produces software and hardware for Rockewell’s global operations, also continues in parallel.
The company’s overall employee base in India has grown to over 4,000 from 1,000 four years ago, its Managing Director for India, Dilip Sawhney, said, adding that the country is home to the largest employee base outside the US.
“We see that India is a strategic global market for us and we build a credible footprint there. But we also equally see India as a very strategic component of a global talent strategy,” Sawhney said.
At present, the company has campuses in Delhi, Pune, and Bengaluru, Woolbridge said, adding that there are team expansions happening across locations.
He also said while the company is making its maiden foray on the manufacturing front with its own facility in Chennai, it has been working with Indian manufacturers like Mahindras, Tata group, Apollo tyres, and MRF for a long time.
The first phase of the Chennai facility will be focused on the semiconductor sector, Sawhney said.
In the second phase, the Rockwell Automation factory will focus on the data centres front, where there have been very high investments in recent years as the digital focus in the country grows.
“We don’t make data centres, but we make stuff that goes into data centres. So similarly, we make stuff that goes into tools that are required for semiconductor fabs,” he said.
He said manufacturing’s contribution to the GDP needs to grow to at least 20 per cent from the present 15 per cent, and doing so will help create more number of jobs for the youngest country in the world.
“One way to make it (manufacturing) more competitive is by making sure that you are adopting smart manufacturing techniques, which make you much more agile, nimble, connected from the plant to your business side of the house,” he said, adding that the company can help in these efforts.
Rockwell Automation is also helping India deliver on its sustainability and environment goals, he said, pointing to work on solar panels and batteries for electric vehicles in the country.
The water sector is also an important part of the services extended by the Rockwell Automation in the country witnessing rapid urbanisation, he said, specifying that the work includes monitoring of supply, bettering pumping systems and leak detections.
The story has been developed with the inputs from REDIFF
