German auto ancillary supplier, ZF will reinforce its base in the Indian market towards which it has kicked off the ‘Wind of Change’ campaign.

The company has targeted €100 million worth of export from India by 2017. This announcement was made on the occasion of the ZF India Supplier Day in Pune recently.

“We want to develop India to become a global sourcing hub for ZF. It has always had an advantage of a good supplier base, technical capability and availability of skilled talent,” said Wilhelm Rehm, Member of the Board of Management of ZF.

As part of this drive, ZF India has set up a global purchasing office in the Chakan plant. According to a press release, this will help local commodity managers engage in deeper interactions with the supplier base. In turn, suppliers will have a window to understand a global organisation offering multi-product opportunities.

The team will also function as a regional commodity office allowing ZF to develop a quality portfolio of products for the Indian and overseas markets. The organisation is streamlining operations to create a real time link with strategic suppliers to support the global purchasing office. “ZF aims to further strengthen its presence in India and endeavor to seize any prospects related to castings, forgings and stampings while going forward with value added products and assemblies”, said Horst Wiedmann, Executive VP and Head of Strategic Materials Management & Central Services, ZF Group.

At present, ZF is exporting to the tune of €35 million from India and aims to increase this to €100 million by 2017.

“We at ZF have always realised that the Indian market makes international quality products. We aim to position the country as a major sourcing hub which can further help our presence on a global scale,” said Suresh KV, President for ZF in India.