(DIYA TV) – In the age of companies outsourcing jobs to India, one South Asian company has found a home in one of America’s most downtrodden cities-Indian automaker Mahindra has outsourced its key automotive engineering roles to Detroit, despite the fact the company does not sell vehicles in the United States.
When Mahindra & Mahindra sought to expand its global vehicle development capabilities, company executives had enough foresight to recognize there wasn’t sufficient enough talent in India. They toyed with the ideas of creating technical centers in Germany, Italy, England, California and others before finally deciding on Detroit. The same intellectual wit which saw them look outside of India was the same which brought the company to The Motor City-widely considered the epicenter of the world’s automotive industry since its inception.
The Mahindra North American Technical Center is located in Troy, Michigan, and employs a staff of about 80 employees, mostly engineers, with further plans to grow. The company also has an electric scooter manufacturing plant in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which launched in November of last year. Collectively, the two centers have made an investment of $30 million in Michigan’s economy. Manufacturing and machining centers like these would do well to stay up-to-date with all the latest technological advancements to ensure that they’re keeping up with and pulling ahead of the competition. Take a look at this article to learn about the sophisticated products and solutions making their way into the industry that can really revolutionize the way that such plants operate – https://www.werkstatt-betrieb.de/a/fachartikel/jongleur-der-massen-212033.
Even greater, Mahindra is in the running for a $5 billion contract to supply the U.S. Postal Service with 180,000 vehicles a year for five years. Though just one of 15 companies bidding for the contract, but they have a step ahead of the competition, thanks in part due to the construction of their vehicles.
“We are pursuing the contract because we have righthand-drive, rugged vehicles,” said Richard Ansell, vice president of marketing at the Mahindra North American Technical Center.
Ultimately, the Mumbai-based automaker hopes to become an industry titan, said CEO of the North American center, Richard Haas-past goals to begin the mass-production of SUVs and pickup trucks for the U.S. market by 2010 were not met, in part due to issues with the company it selected as a distributor.
Haas, a Detroit native, worked for Ford at multiple outposts around the world before heading west to Palo Alto and a position with electric carmaker Tesla. He left Tesla in 2011 to work for Mahindra and ran an engineering facility in Chennai. He recognized and was attracted to Mahindra’s desire for global expansion, but also saw the challenge which came with it facing the company: India’s strong manufacturing base might not be enough to promote a car culture or vehicle development singlehandedly.
“We needed to do something,” said the engineer. “We could bring in lot of experts from around the world but that would be a difficult task and could be a hard sell.” Those efforts continue, but plan B was to locate a tech center in another country.
The importance of placing the company’s technical center in Detroit was viewed as one paramount to the further development and growth of Mahindra in the U.S., said Ansell. The biggest reason to move the company to America is because this is where they want their products sold, he added.
“Most companies locate R&D in India. We’re doing the opposite by putting it in the U.S.”
Mahindra is currently best known for its production of tractors-starting in the 1960s, the Indian company is now the largest tractor manufacturer in the world. Its North American headquarters, Mahindra USA, are located in Houston. Aside from the manufacturing of vehicles, Mahindra is focusing on strengthening its technology presence in both India and the U.S. as well. Tech Mahindra has five development centers in the U.S., including Silicon Valley. There is even a small aerospace presence in the U.S.
“This is the most interesting thing I’ve ever done in my entire career,” Haas said of working for the multifaceted company.