GE Fanuc to ratchet up presence, headcount

GE Fanuc Worldwide, the $700 million factory automation services provider arm of General Electric (GE), is looking at setting up software development distribution cells in India through its Asia Pacific division.

Also, it is planning to increase its headcount by 50 per cent to over 400 technical and non-technical people within the next one year.

"At present, we provide facilities like integrated facility monitoring system, programmeable logic control and embedded control systems for companies but we lack proper software distribution system. So GE Fanuc is looking at such a service in India and it could be a hub to serve the whole of Asia," George Theriault, president and CEO of GE Fanuc Automation (Asia Pacific), said.

Refusing to comment on the kind of investment that would go for the distribution network, he said that India and China are prime on the list of the company's investment destinations and nearly 50 per cent of the total investment earmarked for GE Fanuc's expansion would go into the two Asian countries.

"Our other two prime markets have slowed down like the North American market is flat and European market is showing marginal growth. We expect the Asian market for automation services to grow at the rate of 35-40 per cent year on year which is why we are directing a huge chunk of investment into the region," Theriault said.

For the Indian market, the company is also looking at resource expansion in terms of adding more people to the GE Fanuc operations in the regional centres in India.

"We have about 40 technical people working for the manufacturing automation services while there are another 200-250 sub-dealers across the country. We would be increasing it by nearly 50 per cent this year ," he said.