German company to set up training centre in Bangalore

Bosch Rexroth will set up centre in association with Visvesvaraya Technological University

German firm Bosch Rexroth, a world leader in drive and control technology, is setting up a world-class training centre in Bangalore, in association with the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU).

This will be world's third such project after South Korea and Singapore. Inclusive of land, the cost of the project is Rs 12 crore. Equipment and training part will cost Rs 4.5 crore.

The international centre, conceptualised as world-class and a state-of-the-art with wi-fi enabled network, digital library, e-learning facilities and the most modern laboratories, is expected to fulfil the requirements of different industry sectors as it will offer hands-on training and research facilities for faculty members of VTU and other institutes/universities in India and overseas students and staff from universities in Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Mexico and Indonesia.

The project, expected to be completed by December 2006 will also benefit local industries for training purposes, as it will cover hydraulics, pneumatics and PLC by March 2006 and mechatronics and robotics by the end of 2006.

One-third of the funding for the project will come from Bosch Rexroth and the rest is expected from the government of India and industries like MICO, VTU vice-chancellor K Balaveera Reddy told Business Standard.

"The centre is going to be very important for the country and more so for the automobile sector. Automation technology is still nascent in India. To reach the objective of becoming a developed country by 2020, bold initiatives are required to introduce automation technology at university level."

"So far, training has been theoretical in professional institutions. The centre will provide hands-on training in latest advanced technologies, including robotics. This will meet the industry's need for expert automobile engineers," he said.

"The centre will be the best not only for India, but even for other south-east Asian countries as it will cater to their requirements also. Besides training, our interest is to help the fast growing automobile industry. Most of the manufacturing concerns have welcomed the proposal for which an MoA has already been signed," the V-C said.

VTU special officer G L Shekar said Bosch experts are coming to India for selecting the first batch to be trained in Germany in February. In the first year alone, the centre will train around 150 candidates.

According to Bosch Rexroth India Ltd Didactics & Training general Santosh Kelshikar, steel, ports, automobile, infrastructure, machine tools and plastic injection moulding, and general industry are witnessing fast growth in India. They will demand trained manpower especially in 'automation technology.'