Detroit-based automotive seating developer Adient today announced it has broken ground on a new automotive seating prototyping and testing facility in Pune, India. Scheduled to open in late 2018, construction on the facility marks a major expansion of Adient’s existing technical center in Pune, which operates the largest workforce among the company’s global network of technology centers.
The new facility will provide physical testing to augment the capabilities of the existing technical center, which currently include: computer-aided engineering, computer-aided design automation, and finite element analysis simulation expertise. First established in 2000, Adient’s India Tech Center currently employs around 1,000 engineers, with 850 based in Pune and an additional 150 stationed at Adient locations throughout India on global assignments.
Located on a more than 215,000 square foot site near the existing tech center, the new prototyping and testing facility have full-scale prototyping, testing, and trim capabilities, enabling Adient to conduct full product verification in India to global customer and regulatory standards. The facility will also house a fully hydraulic acceleration sled test system, offering precision pulse matching, full payload capability, and high-speed video capture from onboard cameras.
“As well as underscoring our long-term commitment to India, this investment of more than $30 million is an important milestone for Adient as we optimize our engineering footprint around the world to deliver global standard product development and innovation capabilities wherever our customers are,” says Detlef Juerss, vice president of engineering and chief technical officer at Adient. “With this new facility, we will be able to fully execute product development including design and product validation for global and local launch programs right here in Pune, all backed by cutting-edge infrastructure that will be truly unrivaled in India’s automotive industry.”
Adient first established operation in India in 1995 through the formation of Tata Johnson Controls, a collaboration with Tata Automotive Components. Adient currently employs 2,500 at its wholly owned subsidiary Adient India.
