Mahindra & Mahindra opens technical centre in Troy, Michigan

Mumbai: In order to tap into highly skilled automotive talent pool of United States, India's largest utility vehicle and tractor maker has started a technical centre in Troy, Michigan to leverage on the regions design and consulting service resources.

M&M intends to use this centre to support the company's automotive and tractor engineering requirement in India. This new facility will initially employ 25 engineers and has been designed to accommodate double that number in the future.

Rajan Wadhera, chief executive — technology, product development and sourcing, Automotive & Farm Equipment Sectors, Mahindra Group said, "This new Technology Center will serve as a base for Mahindra to address the engineering demand for our automotive & farm engineering requirements together with our Global Development Center in India. The Troy Center is the latest addition to our 'neural network' of innovation which also comprises of our other research facilities in India, US, China and Korea."

Rajan Wadhera, chief executive — technology, product development and sourcing, Automotive & Farm Equipment Sectors, Mahindra Group inaugurated the facility along with Micheal Finney, president & CEO, Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Janice Daniels, Mayor, City of Troy and Prashant Kamat, CEO, Mahindra Engineering, India.

"Mahindra is a global provider for automotive engineering services, and we are thrilled with the company's decision to locate its first North American technical center and new jobs in Troy," said MEDC President and CEO Michael A. Finney. "This investment shows our highly competitive business climate and tremendous workforce capabilities mean real opportunities for leading-edge companies."

"Our number one goal is to help new and existing businesses locate, grow and expand within the City of Troy," Troy City Manager Mike Culpepper said. "This is testimony to the fact that Troy is Michigan's top location for Automotive Research and Development facilities due to the presence of local talent, our business friendly policies, and proximity to important markets in the northeastern United States."

According to Kamat, the technical centre in Michigan will enable M&M to leverage local R&D talent to deliver innovative solutions to its customers in the region.

"We also plan to scale up the Center in due course and will establish a dedicated recruiting department in the US office to meet this goal. We currently have a workforce of about 100 in North America with over 60% comprising US nationals hired locally. Hence, wherever we are located, our priority is to contribute to the local community and economy," said Kamat.

Mahindra & Mahindra already has a significant presence in North America with businesses ranging from IT to tractors to aerospace.

M&M had set up its tractor subsidiary in continent called Mahindra USA way back in 1994, and over the past decade its IT companies, Mahindra Satyam, Tech MahindraBSE 0.73 % and Bristlecone have made deeper inroads in the IT sector providing variety of solutions ranging from Enterprise Business Solutions, Testing, Infrastructure Management Services, network security, Value Added Services and Application Development Maintenance and Support (ADMS) Solutions.