SKF India to anchor group's global plans

Bearings major SKF India is set to play a major role in the SKF Group's global business plans. This will include manufacturing of the products from SKF's global portfolio in India and also offer training to the company's employees in the latest technologies.

Inaugurating the SKF College Campus within the premises of the company's manufacturing facility 20 km from here, SKF's Global President and CEO Tom Johnstone said the company is moving in the direction of becoming a "knowledge engineering company" and intends to pass on to the customers the expertise earned over a 100 years of its existence.

"SKF College Campus will help us connect closer and translate our vast learning experiences for both our customers and employees through varied learning programmes," Johnstone said.

The centre will draw its faculty from SKF establishments in India as well as elsewhere in the world.

Similarly, the participants will comprise SKF employees or customers in India or overseas. "The training programmes will be on all the five platforms that form the company's business, including bearings and units, seals, lubrication systems, services and mechatronics," Johnstone explained.

SKF has customers in a variety of areas including automobile, steel and metal or paper, he added.

This is the second SKF College after the one established in Netherlands in 1987. The company has also set up an applications development centre in Bangalore to work on two wheeler segment.

SKF India's Managing Director Rakesh Makhija said the company has been growing at a steady 20 per cent for the last few years and the pace will be maintained.

"In addition to our existing businesses, we anticipate a major opportunity in the area of wind energy as we have developed products that enhance the performance of the wind turbines. There is a significant interest in India in wind power generation and we look forward to find customers who erect windmills here," he said.