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To handle mechanical engineering services

DEDICATED CENTRE: Mr Mike Taylor (right), Vice-President, Supply Chain Management, Smiths Aerospace, and Mr Ramesh Pillai, Head of Aerospace and Automotive Practices, HCL America, at a press conference in Chennai on Tuesday. - Bijoy Ghosh

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Chennai Feb. 27 Smiths Aerospace, a $2.4-billion transatlantic aerospace systems and equipment company, has opened its dedicated centre here through its partner HCL Technologies. It is also likely to involve HCL Technologies as a `collaborator' in developing software solutions for aircraft, according to Mr Michael W. Taylor, Vice-President, Supply Chain Management, Smiths.

HCL Tech would provide 60 employees at the new centre for engineering services and the number would be ramped up to around 150 in the next 18 months. Depending on the nature of work and skillset, Smiths would get 25-40 per cent cost saving by outsourcing work to HCL Technologies, he said.

For Smiths, the Indian software company has been doing software verification and validation since 2005 and went on to higher value work such as design and development.

"We had some discussions on the long-term collaboration with HCL Technologies. We are looking at a co-development type of activity and work on a revenue sharing arrangement. HCL Technologies will not only give us software support, but also help us in deciding the best solution for software application. We may start the joint work with the Boeing 737 RS (Replacement Study), which is the next generation project initiated by Boeing," he told newspersons.

HCL Technologies would be involved in a series of initiatives, including software development for Boeing 737 Flight Management System and Boeing 787 Core Computing System. "HCL will now be an extended arm of Smiths'," said Mr Taylor.

Mr Ramesh Pillai, Director, Aerospace Practice, HCL America, said the dedicated design centre — at Ambattur industrial estate — would cater to Smiths Aerospace's global mechanical engineering services. Around 1,000 employees of HCL work in the aerospace space, he said.

In India, Smiths also works with Qwest (for mechanical design) and Silver Software (for software development) on project-based, said Mr Taylor.

Mr Taylor, who is responsible for sourcing suppliers for Smiths, said the company also plans to source components from India; sell products in the local market and use India for `after market' repair operations in the Asian region. Smiths had supplied its display systems to Jaguar aircraft and Hawk jets. Smiths, which has a large presence in the US and Europe, has identified India and China as the two biggest markets, he said.

Mr Taylor said there would not be any effect on the relationship with HCL even after Smiths Aerospace is sold to GE.

On January 15, Smiths Group announced the sale of Smiths Aerospace to GE and this is subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals. "We operate independently, and would continue to remain so even assuming the sale is through," he said.

More Stories on : Alliances & Joint Ventures | Software | HCL Technologies Ltd | Airlines

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