Adient has broken ground on a cutting-edge automotive seating prototyping and test facility in Pune – which according to the company, will be the largest of its kind in India. It is scheduled to open in late 2018.
The new center will sit on a 20,000m² site near the company’s existing tech center and will be outfitted with the latest test equipment as well as facilities for creating full-scale prototypes. This will include a fully hydraulic acceleration sled test system providing precision pulse matching, full payload capability, and onboard cameras for high-speed image capture.
A six-axis shaker table at the facility, complete with semi-anechoic chamber, will be used for NHV analysis and road durability testing.
“As well as underscoring our long-term commitment to India, this investment of more than US$30m 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,” said Dr Detlef Juerss, VP 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.
Murali Rajagopalan, director and country manager for Adient India, added, “India is phasing in new safety regulations for which development activities need to begin now. As far as Adient is concerned, the timing could not be better. When this new facility opens we will be able to support our customers on an entirely new level, so I see this as an exciting new chapter for Adient India.”
November 29, 2017