Rockwell Automation Invests in India as Manufacturing Hub

Anaheim (California), Dec 12 (PTI) 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.

The US-headquartered automation major has started work on a factory in Chennai that will get commissioned in two phases, its president for Asia Pacific region Scott Wooldridge told PTI on the sidelines of the company's automation fair here.

"…both for software development and for manufacturing, we see India is going to be a very important hub for Rockwell," Wooldridge said at a time when the country is trying to increase the contributions of the manufacturing industry in the overall economy.

The company 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.

It can be noted that many global companies have been looking at the 'China plus one' strategy, which aims to reduce the reliance on India's northern neighbour.

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 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.

The company 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 company in the country witnessing rapid urbanisation, he said, specifying that the work includes monitoring of supply, bettering pumping systems and leak detections.