By Bhargav TS
Parker Hannifin, manufacturer of filters, seals, motion and control technologies, recently inaugurated its first green field manufacturing facility in Mahindra World City near Chennai. With this facility, which will produce Filtration, Drives & Electromechanical, Seals & Sealing products, Parker Hannifin India plans to double its revenues within the next five years. The company has so far invested Rs 100 crore in setting up the facility to manufacture broad range of products and systems for segments such as automotive, off highway, telecom, oil and gas, mining and primary metals. In terms of filters, Parker Hannifin will supply filter products to Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), Volvo-Eicher Commercial Vehicles (VECV) and MAN Trucks India. The Chennai plant will manufacture and supply air and fuel filters to DICV for use in both the Light Duty (LD) and Heavy Duty (HD) trucks of the BharatBenz trucks, and will also supply fuel filters that meet Euro 6 emission norms to Volvo in Bangalore. Parker Hannifin Corporation’s Executive Vice President and Operating Officer Tom Williams said, “Our new facility will enhance our ability to support our customers locally here as we build our presence in new markets in India. For us, India is an important market in Asia-Pacific, which currently contributes 14 per cent of its sales and we target to grow by 20 per cent in the region in next five years.”
Parker Hannifin is committed to investments and long term growth in India. As part of the growth strategy, Parker has made five strategic acquisitions in India in the past two years and nine since 2005. In order to enhance its filtration business in India, Parker Hannifin acquired the filtration business of John Fowler (India) based in Bangalore and the Indian filtration division of the UK-based Dominick Hunter Group. Apart from these, Parker Hannifin also acquired hydraulics manufacturer Olaer Group, which included Olaer’s facility in India.
“Expanding business in Asia, and specifically India, represents a significant aspect of Parker’s future growth strategy. A significant portion of our growth efforts in the region will be focused on India, as this country will play a critical role in our success in achieving these goals,” Mr Williams added.
The Rs 71,500 crore company, is also in talks with domestic engine manufacturers to supply their components and currently supplies to Simpson, Caterpiller and Cummins. Apart from this it will also manufacture fuel lines, fuel conveyance products, and pneumatic door closers for bus and metro trains from its Chennai facility. Arijit Sen, Country Managing Director, Parker Hannifin India said, “The investment in the new Chennai Parker India plant has established a strong foundation for our future success in India.
Additional manufacturing capacity at Chennai will help the company to cater to the demand for high quality products, engineering solutions and systems in India. We have currently only built the first phase of the project in Chennai of 166,000 square feet and we expand further by 100,000 square feet in the second phase.”
The Chennai facility is designed as a Green Building and is in the process of being LEED certified. This emphasises Parker’s commitment to providing a comfortable and healthy working environment and to using eco -friendly material and improved water and energy efficiencies.
Parker India currently has seven manufacturing facilities across India and employs over 1,500 people and will recruit an additional 300. Besides the established markets in off highway mobile, oil and gas/CNG, mining, primary metals and automotive, the company would also focus on fast growing markets in power generation, renewable energy, railways, defence, and life sciences, which represent strong growth opportunities as India continues to build its infrastructure.
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