US-based Dana Holding Corporation, supplier of driveline products and power shafts, has broken ground for a Rs 90 crore ($20 million) technical center in Pune.
This new facility is Dana’s fifteenth technical center globally and is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2011. It will have 225 engineers which will be doubled in next two years.
The new centre will enhance the company’s engineering capabilities in India by providing design, testing, and analytical support for each of Dana’s primary markets like automotive, commercial vehicle, and off-highway – all under one roof.
"This new technical center will enable Dana to serve the expanding needs of one of the world’s strongest growth markets. But given our widespread presence in India, this is really about extending our local roots, " said, George Constand, chief technology and quality officer, Dana Corporation.
BD Singh, Managing Director of Dana India added, "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." The Pune technical center will provide full, in-region engineering, testing, and analysis capability for local markets, will support 24/7 engineering capability for Dana global products, which will accelerate development time and lower total development costs and will promote 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 lot located adjacent to Dana’s existing off-highway axle facility at Hinjewadi. The center will house engineering design activities and a state-of-the-art 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, oil flow and lubrication, and metallurgical testing, as well as noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) 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 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.
