Dana Holding Corporation, a world-leading supplier of driveline, sealing, and thermal-management technologies that improve the efficiency and performance of passenger, commercial, and off-highway vehicles with both conventional and alternative energy powertrains, has inaugurated its new technology center in Pune. The 8,000 square meter center is home to more than 240 engineers with the facility strategically equipped and located to offer world-class engineering capabilities to original equipment manufacturers throughout the region. “The Dana India Technical Center is the company’s 13th facility in India, further expanding Dana’s footprint in the region to support future growth,” said George Constand, Chief Technical & Quality Officer, Dana Holding Corporation.
While Dana has always had a technology center in India for many years, its role was limited to designing the prototypes while the actual making of the prototypes and their testing would be done overseas. Now, the new facility will make it possible to conduct all the operations in India. “It wasn’t too cost-effective to do the testing elsewhere. Also, with India now being a major automotive hub, it does make sense to have everything under one roof,” Constand said, while interacting with the media after the inauguration. “India is a vital market that propels economic growth throughout the Asia Pacific region, and our investment in that country over the past half century demonstrates our commitment to and confidence in the region. This center now allows us to offer our customers unmatched local technical expertise and a direct connection to our industry-leading global engineering resources,” he added.
Dana’s customers in India include Ashok Leyland Ltd., Caterpillar India, Deere and Co., Force Motors, Ford India, General Motors India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Mahindra Trucks and Buses Ltd., TAFE, Tata Motors, and VE Commercial Vehicle Ltd. Its export customers include Caterpillar, Ford, Land Rover, Nissan, Renault, Still, and Toyota.
The center combines design, finite element analysis, and testing for all of Dana’s product groups under one roof. The new lab in Pune features the latest testing equipment for axles, transmissions, materials, NVH, prototyping, inspections, and machining to ensure that products engineered and manufactured by Dana in India meet the company’s highest standards for performance and durability. This equipment includes dynamometers, a rotating bending test stand, a beam fatigue test stand, a multi-axis spin stand, rotary actuators, and linear actuators.
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