Rolls-Royce sets up design unit

India's success as the growing powerhouse in the field of IT and high technology industries has been further strengthened with engineering and manufacturing sector chipping in.

This is evident from the signing up of a partnership agreement by the world's leading power giant, Rolls-Royce with Quality Engineering and Software Technologies (QuEST).

Rolls-Royce, the UK-based 6 billion pound global power system company and a key player in aerospace, defence, marine and energy sector, on Friday said that it has entered into a partnership with QuEST, a Bangalore-based $28 million, global engineering solutions provider and a key player in engineering design outsourcing.

Under the partnership the Quest will provide Rolls-Royce with a range of solutions in engineering designs and development for its products across all platforms.

With the increased volume of engineering work sub-contracted to the country, Rolls-Royce also announced that it is establishing a wholly-owned subsidiary Rolls-Royce Operations India Pvt Ltd (RROIPL).

This will employ 100 locally employed engineers to meet the need for greater engineering capacity over a range of its new programmes. The company also plans to double its headcount by 2006.

RROIPL will direct engineering work packages to QuEST and this is following an 18 month pilot programme with it to gain a first hand experience of the operational, commercial, financial and cultural requirements for successfully sub-contracting engineering work to India.

John Rose, chief executive officer, Rolls-Royce said: "India, after the opening up of the markets has given greater opportunity for the company in the aerospace, defence, energy sector."

He added that the company has 25 per cent of its revenues from civil aerospace and has invested about 1 billion pound in acquiring latest technology and research and development.

Rolls-Royce has more than 1,000 aero engines in service in India and has a licence manufacturing partnership with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). In the marine sector, there are more than 60 Rolls-Royce designed vessels and the recent orders include Suncrolift shiplift for the new Naval base at Karwar.