Dana Holding Corporation (NYSE: DAN) today dedicated the company’s 8,000 square-meter (90,000 square-foot) technology center in Pune, India. Home to more than 240 engineers, this facility is strategically equipped and located to offer world-class engineering capabilities to original-equipment manufacturers in the light-vehicle, commercial-vehicle, and off-highway markets in India and 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. Dana employs more than 2,900 people in India, including those operations in which the company holds a joint interest.
“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,” said Dana President and CEO Roger Wood. “The Dana India Technical Center allows us to offer our customers unmatched local technical expertise and a direct connection to our industry-leading global engineering resources.”
Dana customers in India including 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. Export customers include Caterpillar, Ford, Land Rover, Nissan, Renault, Still, and Toyota.
Devoted to the research, design, development, and testing of drivetrain, sealing, and thermal-management products, the Dana India Technical Center is fully integrated into Dana’s global research and development system to support new products from concept development through launch, as well as to adapt technologies developed elsewhere in the world for the specific needs of the Indian market.
The center combines design, finite element analysis, and testing for all of Dana’s product groups under one roof. It includes an electronic controls lab, a testing area, a materials development lab, a prototype area, and an NVH and performance analysis lab for product development.
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.
“For decades, we have worked side-by-side with leading vehicle and equipment manufacturers in India, and by locating a full range of engineering resources here, we can deliver drivetrain solutions as much as 12 months quicker than our competitors,” said George Constand, Dana’s chief technical and quality officer. “With this new facility, we can rapidly deliver customized solutions that accommodate local needs and requirements for optimizing total cost of ownership, enhancing vehicle efficiency, and addressing environmental concerns.”
Dana has demonstrated the value of local engineering and OEM support through the development of the Spicer® Rui Ma™ brand of off-highway transmissions and axles. Supported by the Dana China Technical Center in Wuxi, Spicer Rui Ma drivetrain solutions provide an optimized blend of product features, performance, dependability, and cost demanded by purchasers of the majority of construction and other off-highway vehicles manufactured in China today.
Likewise, the Dana India Technical Center will offer advanced technologies and product lines designed in India for India.
The Dana India Technical Center is the latest step in the company’s increasing commitment to customers in the region. Last May, Dana expanded its Victor Reinz India (VRI) joint venture with Jayant Group to include heat exchanger technologies. The agreement leverages Dana’s existing technical knowledge and manufacturing capabilities with Victor Reinz India’s customer relationships and physical infrastructure to expand the company’s reach and product offerings in India, including engine oil coolers, fuel coolers, transmission oil coolers, and power steering oil coolers.
In November, Spicer India, Dana’s joint venture with Anand, opened a new manufacturing plant in Lucknow, India, to supply propeller shafts for buses and trucks to Tata Motors assembly facilities in Lucknow and Jamshedpur.
Dana’s service to its Indian customers has garnered accolades. In 2013, the Spicer India Ltd. facility in Jodalli, India, earned the D.L. Shah Quality Award for excellence in manufacturing. The Shah Quality Awards recognize successful projects of an organization that have resulted in continuous improvement in delivery of products or services and demonstrate efficient and effective operations, as well as increased stakeholder satisfaction.
In 2013, Dana operations in India also received the Best Supplier Award from Mahindra & Mahindra in the vehicle proprietary category, as well as the Best Supplier Award for overall performance from Tata.
The Dana India Technical Center is one of three brand new research and development facilities for Dana. Last year the company opened a comprehensive technical center in Wuxi, China, and in May it plans to dedicate a technology center to develop continuously variable planetary (CVP) technology for use in light-vehicle and certain off-highway transmissions. In all, Dana will have 16 global technical centers operational by mid-year.
