American industrial automation major Rockwell Automation is strengthening its manufacturing presence in the Asia Pacific region with a new facility in Chennai. 

The company is setting up a 98,000 square feet factory in the coastal city with an eye to strengthen its supply chain in APAC region . The investment in the new facility was not disclosed.

The facility will be located in Oragadam in the outskirts of Chennai and will be alongside Rockwell’s CUBIC manufacturing facility. Rockwell acquired CUBIC, a company that specializes in modular systems for the construction of electrical panels, in 2022 and has a facility in Chennai as part of that deal.

The new facility is expected to open in the first half of 2025 and will employ about 230 workers by the end of the year with scope for further expansion.

Dilip Sawhney, Managing Director- India, Rockwell Automation, told businessline that the facility will make equipments to world-class standards for exports to global customers and key objective of the investment is to build a resilient supply chain in the entire Asia Pacific region. “We chose Chennai for its proximity to the port and also for its strong talent pool. The location will also help us create synergies with our existing CUBIC facility and increase agility and productivity in the region,” he added.

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Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, Rockwell Automation employs approximately 29,000 people across 100 countries. The company helps manufacturing and industrial sectors digitise with hardware and software. Rockwell started India operations in 1983 as Allen-Bradley Control and has one manufacturing unit in Noida and its R&D and software development centres in Bengaluru and Pune. The company has over 4000 employees in India and has doubled headcount since 2021.

Writing on X (Twitter), TN Industries Minister TRB Rajaa said that this was “just the beginning of a stream of new AdvTech investments Tamil Nadu is going to witness in the advanced manufacturing sector in the coming years.” He also noted that Rockwell’s expansion was a result of interactions the State delegation had with global CEO Blake Moret at the TN Pavilion at Davos in January 2024.

Published on April 30, 2024