ZF To Set Up First Technology Centre In Hyderabad, India

The ZF Group, which is a German automotive parts manufacturer, is setting up a technology centre to take care of the company's software and mechanical engineering and the R&D department in Hyderabad. This will be ZF's first centre in India.

As per reports, the ZF technology centre is expected to start operations by January 1, 2017, and will employ 2,500 engineers by the end of 2020. The ZF Group currently has more than 100 development locations around the globe and 17 out of that are primary development centres that have more than 13,800 engineers who are working with the company's R&D department. Surprisingly, this centre is not ZF's first investment in the country; the manufacturer already operates a production facility in Pune and a joint venture plant in Oragadam in Kanchipuram.

Dr. Stefan Sommer, CEO of ZF Friedrichshafen AG said “This new facility is a significant investment for ZF in India. We are harnessing the skilled talent pool that India has to offer in order to develop superior technology solutions for our global as well as local customers.” He also added “As demand for software engineering grows, we will exponentially increase our capacity to help meet our customers’ growth aspirations. With this Technology Center, we are reinforcing our global R&D footprint as well as our commitment and investment in the rapidly emerging Indian market.”

The ZF Group has even launched technologies like the electric parking brake (EPB) through its Pune plant. The company also caters to R&D in the fields of driveline and chassis technology. Carmakers that use ZF’s products include BMW, Jaguar Land Rover(JLR) and Renault. The company is also a part of ZF Hero Chassis Systems, a 50-50 joint venture between ZF India and Hero Motors conceived in 2010, which caters to carmakers like Ford, General Motors, and Mercedes-Benz.