Renishaw recently opened its first dedicated demonstration and training centre for the Indian market at its main office in Pune. The new 200 square metre facility houses CNC machine tools and co-ordinate measuring machines (CMMs) from local Indian manufacturers, which together with supporting seminar rooms, will allow Renishaw to meet the increasing need for training and support being generated by its rapidly expanding customer base within India.
Formally opening the new facility, Ben Taylor, Renishaw's Assistant Chief Executive, said, "This investment marks a further chapter in Renishaw's ongoing commitment to the Indian market. We have been trading in India for more than 25 years, and in 2000 created Renishaw Metrology Private Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary based in Bangalore. Today, I am proud to see the contribution we are making to the growth of Indian manufacturing, assisting companies to raise quality standards and productivity levels."
The new demonstration and training centre will offer technical support to both OEM customers and end-users for Renishaw's wide range of market leading metrology products, including CMM probe systems, touch probes and laser tool setters for CNC machine tools, linear and rotary encoders for position feedback, calibration systems for machine performance analysis, and Raman spectroscopy systems for spectral analysis.
In recognition of Renishaw's vast experience within India, the UK Government's Trade & Investment organisation (UKTI) invited the company to speak about its experiences of India at the Advanced Engineering Summit which took place in New Delhi in January. At this event, Ben Taylor outlined Renishaw's history of investments in India including the creation of the wholly owned trading company, and the company's recent investment in a 100% Export Orientated Unit (EOU), located at the same site as the demonstration centre in Pune. The latter manufactures a limited range of components that were previously procured, and products where assembly costs are critical to competitiveness.
Within India, Renishaw has also set up a procurement operation to directly source high quality components from Indian vendors, whilst a development team specialising in metrology software has also been formed. The sales and marketing operation for India is focused in Bangalore, with regional offices in Delhi (Gurgaon) and Pune, supported by resident sales engineers in other important industrial centres. Total employee numbers within India now exceed 100.
The Renishaw Group currently has operations in 30 countries, with total employee numbers now over 2,100. For the year-ended June 2007, worldwide sales totalled £180.9 million (US$360 million).