The Hindu Business Line : GE Healthcare moving more projects to India

GE Healthcare has started moving more projects from its US and Japan centres to Bangalore, where it has the Jack Welch Technology Centre with nearly 5,000 engineers working.

The idea is to leverage the multifold strengths offered by India to develop affordable healthcare solutions to the global markets, according to Mr Dilip Sawhney, Vice-President (Sales), GE Healthcare.

Also, the expertise available with big suppliers and the large pool of researchers provides for opportunities to get a number of works transferred to India strategically.

Giving an example of the significant contributions from India, Mr Sawhney cited the MRI System (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). While the magnets for the MRI systems are designed in the US, the entire patient positioner design and manufacturing for some of the MRIs are being done in India.

Transfer of work

On the reasons for transfer of works to India, Mr Sawhney said it has been based on the availability of competency and skills. In the MRI scanner, there are several components – a magnet, table, workstation, accessories and a number of software.

What GE has done is to tap into India’s huge IT talent pool and transfer the entire software-related work to India. A number of software works which will include Workstation software and speciality clinical software such as 3D re-constructions are now done out of India.

On the other hand, the material for producing the external system is economical to do in China, and therefore, some of these works are transferred to China, Mr Sawhney explained.

Another important task for the India Group is the design of a specialised vascular four-way tilt table called Elegance. This table/patient positioner is used during vascular surgeries, where usually the patients are obese in nature.

On the importance attached to this strategy, he said at least 1,000 engineers in Bangalore are exclusively focused on healthcare and in developing cost-effective technologies and products.

India is the second largest engineering base for the global technology operations of GE Healthcare. It focuses on the development of product software, clinical applications, hardware and so on, for global customers.

The $250-million Wipro GE Healthcare is a joint venture between GE, US (51 per cent) and Wipro Corporation (49 per cent).

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