The Ford Business Services Centre (FBS) in Chennai has become the ‘centre of gravity' for US auto major Ford Motor so much so that it was even involved in cost reduction for Ford North America during the downturn. Some of the processes were even moved to Chennai from there, according to a senior company official.

The FBS does nearly 650 virtual functions, such as support services and engineering services that form a part of Ford's core operations globally. Has it reduced the time for Ford in bringing out new products? “Absolutely,” said Mr Joginder P. Singh, President and Managing Director, FBS Centre, without divulging any data. “We are using the time zone to our advantage and are able to standardise a lot of functions for Ford globally,” he said.

Mr Singh said FBS provides support service to Ford's various global operations in areas such as accounting, information technology, engineering services, including vehicle design, and transactional work for Ford Credit.

For instance, said Mr Singh, the FBS is involved in ‘closing the books' for Ford globally. “We are helping chief financial officers across Ford units globally with high-end analysis, data mining and market research. Chennai has become very critical for Ford by offering good-quality financial people out of India,” he told Business Line recently.

FBS has nearly 800 employess doing only accounting work for Ford globally. It also has engineering service, which is another growth driver for the company. The centre uses computer-aided design and computer simulation techniques in designing Ford products, he said. “We do not call ourselves a business process outsourcing company but a support service centre due to critical functions involved,” he said.

The FBS is the second part of Ford in India employing nearly 5,000 people. This is in addition to another 5,000 employed in the manufacturing facility at Maraimalai Nagar near Chennai. It has three facilities in Chennai and one in Coimbatore.

The Ford technology services in India has now become the second largest application development centre for Ford outside the headquarters and second major vertical after accounting services within FBS, he said.

Expansion

Mr Singh said the company would expand its Coimbatore operations with plans to add nearly 375 people by the end of the year taking the total number of employees there to around 500. The seating capacity in Coimbatore is 750 seats, he said. The Coimbatore facility is to provide back-up and business continuity from a remote location. It also has marketing, sales, people support for Ford globally, he said.

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