Pune, Maharashtra, November 16, 2017
Adient, the global leader in automotive seating, will invest $30 million to set up a state-of- the art automotive seating prototyping and testing facility in Pune that will be the largest of its kind ever to be built in India. Construction of the new facility marks a major expansion of Adient’s existing technical center in Pune, already a world-class facility with the largest workforce among the automotive seating supplier’s global network of tech centers.
“This investment of more than $30 million is an important milestone for Adient as we optimize
our engineering footprint around the world to deliver global standard product development and
innovation capabilities wherever our customers are. With this new facility, we will be able to
fully execute product development including design and product validation for global and local
launch programs right here in Pune, all backed by cutting-edge infrastructure that will be truly
unrivaled in India’s automotive industry,” said Dr Detlef Juerss, Vice President, Engineering & Chief Technical Officer at Adient.
The new facility, which is scheduled to open in late 2018, will provide physical testing to
augment the capabilities of the existing technical center in Pune, a global Center of Competence
at Adient for computer-aided engineering (CAE), computer-aided design (CAD) automation and
finite element analysis (FEA) simulation expertise. First established in 2000, Adient’s India Tech
Center today has a total headcount of approximately 1,000 engineers, which consists of roughly
850 engineers based locally in Pune and a further 150 engineers stationed at Adient locations
outside India on global assignments.
“Adient has for many years benefited from its strong focus on design in India, a dynamic
environment that is rich in talent and creative inspiration. Our India Tech Center team already
plays a vital role in Adient’s global industrial design operations, providing designs to support our customers today and imagining concepts that will shape the experience of mobility in the future. I am very excited about the potential we can unleash in Pune as we accelerate our design and innovation processes here,” said Richard Chung, Vice President, Innovation at Adient.
Situated near the existing tech center, the new prototyping and testing facility will boast full-
scale prototyping, testing, and trim capabilities, enabling Adient to conduct full product
verification in India to global customer and regulatory standards. The facility will house a fully
hydraulic acceleration sled test system, offering precision pulse matching, full payload
capability, and high-speed video capture from onboard cameras. A 6-axis shaker table at the
facility, complete with semi-anechoic chamber, will enable NHV (noise, vibration and
harshness) analysis and road durability testing.
Speaking on the occasion, Murali Rajagopalan, Director and Country Manager, Adient India,
said, “India is phasing in new safety regulations for which development activities need to begin
now. As far as Adient is concerned, the timing could not be better. When this new facility opens
we will be able to support our customers on an entirely new level, so I see this as an exciting new chapter for Adient India.”
Adient (then a division of Johnson Controls) first established its operations in India in 1995
through the formation of Tata Johnson Controls, a collaboration with Tata Automotive
Components. Adient, which recently celebrated the first anniversary of its spin-off as an
independent automotive supplier, today has more than 2,500 employees at its wholly owned
subsidiary Adient India. Adient recently received a Best Supplier Award for Quality from Tata
Motors, adding to a long list of supplier awards it received in 2017, which include the Toyota
Regional Contribution Award, the Honda Supplier Development Award, the Nissan Supplier
Quality Award (for the fourth consecutive year), and the Nissan Global Innovation Award.
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