Freudenberg Group to open new facility in India
June 15, 2015 - India
Freudenberg Group is opening a new production facility of Chem-Trend and Klüber Lubrication in Mysore, India that will officially open in August 2015.
This was informed at a press conference organised by the Freudenberg Group at Bengaluru on June 11, 2015.
"India is a market of considerable potential for the Freudenberg Group," Dr. Jörg Matthias Grossmann, regional representative India, said.
"India makes considerable contribution to the Freudenberg Group's innovative strength and so we are committed to investing in this region over the long-term," Grossmann added.
In 2014, the Germany based Group made investments totaling to Rs. 97.6 crore in India.
The Group has invested around Rs. 135 crore in the facility of Chem-Trend and Klüber Lubrication and is one of the largest investments in the Asia-Pacific region of the Freudenberg Group.
More than 20 products will be developed and manufactured for customers in South East Asia and Pacific region.
The new Freudenberg plant has a built-up area of 17,000 sq. metres and also hosts product development facilities and major tribology testing facilities with equipment such as an FZG test rig.
FZG which stands for Gear Research Centre is the only one within Klüber outside Munich, and the only one in India until now.
At the start of the year, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies, which is present in India through its joint venture Sigma Freudenberg NOK (SFN) in Mohali since 2001, opened a second facility in Basma.
According to a Freudenberg press release, this highly modern production facility has been set-up on more than 23,000 sq. metres at a cost of more than Rs. 155 crore.
The new plant will primarily produce radial shaft sealing rings and O-rings for the automotive sector and general industry.
“The growing demand in a number of industries, made the construction of a second production facility essential,” Freudenberg added.
"Our R&D and manufacturing activities as well as various other initiatives foster our long-term commitment," Grossmann informed.
"Make in India has been our strategy for more than a decade and Freudenberg's presence in India is founded on business ties spanning almost a century,” he observed.
At the new SFN factory in Basma, more than 2,000 employees, half of them women, will manufacture seals for the Indian market and for export.
In 2014, the Group generated overall sales of Rs. 1,497 crore, up 32.8 per cent over 2013 in India.
As of December 31, 2014, Freudenberg employed 2,800 full-time associates at around 50 locations in India including four R&D centres and 14 production sites with state-of-the-art shop-floors.
Total global sales of the Freudenberg Group amounted toRs. 56,860 crore or €7,039.1 million in 2013 as against €6,662.5 million in 2013, representing growth of €416.6 million or 6.3 per cent.