SKF India to invest Rs 450 crore in 2 plants

SKF,which recently bagged Rs 11 crore worth bulk order from Indian Railways,will be manufacturing large size bearings from the Ahmedabad plant while Haridwar will be the hub for small-size bearing used in the automobiles.

Speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration of its new solution factory in Chinchiwad on Tuesday,SKF Group president and CEO Tom Johnstone said the company would also establish a Global Technical Centre in Bangalore with an initial investment of Rs13 crore.

“The solution factory opened in Pune will give customers around the world access to a unique process and wide range of application knowledge. The network of SKF Solution Factories around the world is growing with seven established so far- two in China,one each in Sweden,Brazil,Italy,South Africa and now this one in India. The plan is to establish some 10 of these factories in 2009 to serve customers in every continent. More locations will be added in the coming years,” Johnstone said.

Rakesh Makhija,managing director,SKF India said a new facility to manufacture application for automotive sector will be opened inside its facility in Pune.

“It will be exclusively for truck wheel application and wheel and truck steering application. Ahmedabad and Haridwar plant will be opened in the first quarter of 2010. The Centre coming up in Bangalore will have engineering,testing and laboratory,” he said.

The SKF group with production sites in 28 countries reported lower sales this year against the backdrop of significantly lower sales intends to layoffs. The company has laid off 160 employees in India. “Restructuring and cost reduction efforts already launched combined with short-time working are providing good results.

During the third quarter, sales and manufacturing were positively impacted by the development of our automotive business driven primarily by the government incentives.

Our industrial business continued to weaken,” said Johnstone. The fourth quarter will see sequential improvement,but year on year it will be significantly down.