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Automobile companies are displaying an increased thrust on creating more skilled hands, for their rising needs at workshops and factories.
Maruti Suzuki, the largest carmaker, has an ambitious target to sell two million cars annually by 2020, about 40 per cent more than in 2015-16. This, it has decided, must be backed by large numbers of trained personnel, especially at dealer workshops, to service the vehicles. It is setting up a Japan-India Institute of Manufacturing (JIM) in Gujarat, for an investment of Rs 3.2 crore, the company said last month. This follows an agreement between the governments of Japan and India to train 30,000 youths over a decade in the manufacturing sector here.
Pankaj Narula, senior advisor (service) at Maruti, said JIM will be on the lines of existing Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) but cater exclusively to the automobile industry. With at least 30 teachers, this institute will train 300 students a year in manufacturing and service, once ready in August next year. “Once this is established, we can replicate it in other states,” he said. JIM will be managed by Maruti and initially offer seven technical courses. Those who graduate from here will be recruited for plants and workshops.
Maruti already works with ITIs to train youths in the automobile trade; it has widened the initiative. It has tied up with 10 additional ITIs this year, taking the total number to 141. Every year, Maruti adds about 200 sales and service points; on an average, needing 6,500 additional technicians. Of these, 3,500 freshers are absorbed from ITIs; the rest come from the industry. Narula said the annual requirement could grow to 10,000 technicians by 2020.
Each ITI in question is transformed into a model workshop by Maruti with an investment of Rs 20 lakh. These offer practical training on Maruti cars and assemblies, with a dedicated trainer from the company. Nearly 300 teachers have also been trained.
Korea’s Hyundai, second biggest car maker in this country, has tied up with 38 ITIs and five polytechnic institutes.
