The Hindu Business Line : Defiance Tech plans to expand operations

Chennai, July 2 Hinduja Group Company, Defiance Tech Private Ltd, is looking at expanding its offerings including shop floor automation, digital manufacturing, component sourcing, ERP consulting and deployment and manufacturing.

Till now the company was offering vanilla engineering and design services.

Dr V. Sumantran, Chairman, Defiance Tech, said the company has 120 customers from across the world including about 25 from India in several verticals including automotive, aerospace, defence and machine tool.

“We now intend to expand the scope of operations beyond engineering to technology-enabled manufacturing and enterprise solutions.” It will offer end-to-end solutions to customers.

Mr Subu D. Subramanian, CEO, Defiance Tech, said by amalgamating engineering, manufacturing and enterprise solutions, the company can deliver a product for customers who give just an idea or concept. This is possible because of the capabilities amongst Hinduja companies (Ashok Leyland and Hinduja Foundries), which range from design, engineering, vehicle manufacturing, ferrous and non-ferrous castings, said Dr Sumantran.

This will enable Defiance to cater to a large customer base and in different geographies at competitive cost. The advantages for customers over those offering piecemeal services will be in reduced new product development cycle and cost. He said the engineers in India work for one-eighth of the salaries prevailing in the West.

Ashok Leyland acquired the Detroit-based Defiance Technologies a couple of years ago for $17 million. Last year it merged the company with Ashley Design and Engineering Services, which was part of Ashok Leyland, and spun it off as a separate company – Defiance Tech Private Ltd.

It is setting up a testing facility at Ashok Leyland’s technical centre in Vellivoyalchavadi, about 35 km north of Chennai and commenced moving some equipment from Detroit. “It will be ring-fenced operation with secured client access,” he said.