The Yamaha Motor NTTF Training Centre was inaugurated at the company’s Chennai facility on Friday. It saw 40 students across the age group of 18-21 years admitted for the first academic year.

Over the course of the four-year programme, students will learn practical skills in Japanese-style manufacturing, covering nine main areas: motorcycle assembly, parts control, paint, welding, casting, machining (in both aluminum and steel), quality control, and utility techniques.

This is the first centre opened as part of the Japan-India Institute for Manufacturing (JIM) initiative, according to a statement uploaded on the Yamaha Motor website. Japanese companies will be a key part of the public-private sector manufacturing skill transfer promotion programme which will strive to establish their manufacturing shopfloor working methods and skills in India.

The governments of Japan and India aim to train 30,000 Japanese standard shopfloor leaders and engineers over the next decade. A JIM accreditation ceremony was held in Japan last month where four companies, of which Yamaha was one, were certified as members.

The Yamaha initiative clearly shows the importance of India in Japan’s automotive roadmap. It is already the largest producer of two-wheelers globally and on its way to reaching the third spot in cars after China and the US.

In Yamaha’s case, India is only behind Indonesia and Vietnam in sales and could overtake both by the end of this decade. It is also a vital sourcing hub for components which are shipped to other Yamaha operations. Likewise, Honda has India as top priority in its two-wheeler business with a traditional favourite like Indonesia facing growth headwinds.

One of the biggest success stories from Japan here has been Maruti Suzuki which has been around for over three decades and the clear market leader in cars. Toyota, Honda and Nissan are also keen on growing their presence while Mitsubishi (in which Nissan took control last year) could play a key role after 2020.

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