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US automaker Ford is setting up a ₹1,300-crore ($195 million) Ford Global Technology and Business Centre at Chennai.
The centre will serve as a hub for product development, mobility solutions and business services for India and other markets globally.
William Clay Ford Jr, Executive Chairman, Ford Motor Company, who was in Chennai to make the announcement said a new product development centre integrated with Ford Global Business Services will come up on a 28-acre campus at Sholinganallur in Chennai by early 2019. The new design and product development operations will hire 3,000 people, including engineers, scientists and skilled workers over the next five years.
GBS operations, started in 1998, are now spread across six different facilities in Chennai employing about 9,000 people. It provides business solutions to every Ford location around the world in the areas such as IT, finance and accounting, manufacturing, marketing, sales and service and data analytics.
“Chennai is Ford Motor’s home away from home. It will be our third global product development centre in Asia Pacific. It will serve as a hub for our product development, mobility solutions and business services for India and also for the world,” he said.
“With about 12,000 employees in total, the Chennai facility will become the second largest centre of employment globally outside the US,” he added.
In the first phase, the new centre will feature labs and testing facilities for Ford vehicles and components, enabling Ford to conduct extensive tests in India.
“We are going to add design and development operations to the already flourishing ‘Make in India’ story,” said David Dubensky, Executive Director, Global Business Services, Ford Motor Company.
Earlier, Ford and his team of senior officials called on state government representatives and met with Industry Minister M C Sampath and senior officials.
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