India: Nokia Chennai is Goin' and Blowin'
25 million handsets shipped in 1st year and still ramping.
>> Nokia's Manufacturing Unit in India Completes One Year
IT News
2007-03-12
itnewsonline.com
Nokia announced that its handset manufacturing unit in India has completed one year and is progressing ahead on its four year commitment of $150 million. The unit reached a shipment volume of 25 million handsets as of December 2006. The manufacturing plant currently employs 3800 people, as against the projected 2000, in the beginning of 2006.
As a part of the $150 million announced earlier, the factory is expanding the current floor space from 30,000 sq. meters to 53,000 sq. meters to cater to the growing needs of the Indian market.
Nokia India also announced that it has named Sachin Saxena as Director - India Operations for the Chennai manufacturing factory. He takes over from Jukka Lehtela, who has played a pivotal role in building the Nokia Telecom Park as well as the telecom ecosystem in Sriperumbudur, Chennai. Sachin, who has over 17 years of experience in manufacturing and operations, previously served at LG Electronics. Before that he was at Hindustan Lever and Whirlpool.
"Nokia has played a pioneering role in driving the adoption of cellular technology in India. Over the years we have consolidated our presence and our success today is a demonstration of our long term commitment to India," said D. Shivakumar, Vice President and Managing Director, Nokia India.
"It is a moment of great pride for all of us at Nokia, especially for me, personally, to have been instrumental in creating a robust manufacturing facility in Sriperumbadur. Today the manufacturing ecosystem in the Nokia Telecom Park is coming together with several global component manufacturers expected to start operations by mid 2007, " said Jukka Lehtela.
"Over the last 15 months we have developed a strong team and we are confident that, Sachin, with his rich experience will lead our India operations to its next logical high," added Lehtela.
"I am excited in taking on this new responsibility as it will help me draw from my previous experience and apply it to leading Nokia's efforts in telecom manufacturing. Nokia is seen as a pioneer in bringing high-end manufacturing in India and I look forward to an exciting phase ahead," said Sachin Saxena.
The Nokia manufacturing facility was formally inaugurated in March 2006. The Nokia Telecom Park is spread over 210 acres and has 7 global component manufacturers already signed up and expected to commence operations within the Park by mid 2007. These include Salcomp, Aspocomp, Foxconn, Perlos, Laird, Jabil and Wintek. Nokia currently uses 80% of the production for domestic consumption. The Nokia Telecom Park has the potential to employ 20,000 people by 2008 when it is fully operational.
Nokia has taken a number of Community Involvement initiatives at the grass root level looking into the country's heterogeneous community and societal landscape. These include the Chennai Factory Fence Line School Improvement Plans where it is working with students in and around Sriperumbudur to impart IT education programs and life skills.
India is currently the third largest market for Nokia in terms of volumes and is expected to emerge as the second largest market by 2010 or even sooner. Nokia is the first equipment vendor to begin commercial production of both devices and network equipment at its 15th global manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur, Chennai. ###
- Eric - |
