Dana Holding Corp. has broken ground for a $20 million technical center in Pune, India. The new facility, Dana’s 15th technical center globally, will enhance the company’s engineering capabilities in India by providing design, testing and analytical support for each of Dana’s primary markets – automotive, commercial vehicle, and off-highway – all under one roof. The facility is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2011.
“A groundbreaking is typically about putting down roots,” says George Constand, Dana chief technology and quality officer. “But given our widespread presence in India, today’s ceremony is really about extending our local roots. This new technical center will enable Dana to serve the expanding needs of one of the world’s strongest growth markets.”
BD Singh, Dana’s managing director of India, says that with as many as 550 engineers on site when fully operational, the new technical center will more than double Dana’s engineering presence in India. “Along with serving the local market, it will also provide an essential complement to our existing engineering resources at technical centers strategically located across four continents,” Singh says.
Dana says the Pune technical center will bolster its engineering capabilities in India and enhance customer responsiveness by providing full in-region engineering, testing and analysis capability for local markets; supporting 24/7 engineering capability for Dana global products, which will accelerate development time and lower total development costs; and promoting enhanced interaction and knowledge sharing among engineering teams.
The new center will be part of Dana India Technical Centre Pvt. Ltd., a wholly-owned Dana subsidiary, and will encompass 125,000 square feet on a 4.75-acre lot located adjacent to Dana’s existing off-highway axle facility. The center will house engineering design activities and a test laboratory equipped to support Dana’s Light Vehicle Driveline, Commercial Vehicle, Off-Highway and Power Technologies product group requirements. The center will include performance, structural, environmental, metallurgical testing and oil flow and lubrication, as well as noise, vibration and harshness testing capabilities.
The technical center groundbreaking is the second this year for Dana in India. In February, Spicer India Ltd., a Dana majority-owned venture with Anand Automotive Systems, broke ground for a 50,000-square-foot hypoid gear manufacturing facility in Chakan, India; the new gear facility is expected to begin production in the first half of 2011. The addition of these two new facilities will bring the number of Dana operations in India to 12. Dana and its affiliates employ about 2,000 people in India, and the company anticipates 2010 sales of more than $200 million in the country.
