The Hindu Business Line : Phoenix Mecano sets up facility in Pune

HAVING completed a decade of operations in India, the Phoenix Mecano (India) Ltd, a Indo-Swiss joint venture, has set up its manufacturing plant at Pirangut industrial estate in Pune. The Switzerland-based Phoenix Mecano AG has 96 per cent in the venture, and Mr Shrivastava, the only Indian shareholder, has the remaining 4 per cent.

Talking to presspersons, Mr R. Shrivastava, Managing Director, Phoenix Mecano (India) Ltd, said the facility is spread over 1.25 hectares of land and has taken an investment of Rs 2.2 crore. With this new facility in place, the company would be moving from its Mumbai headquarters to Pune, he said.

The new facility would also have an electronic contract manufacturing division apart from its existing enclosures manufacturing division and mechanical division. He said the electronic contract manufacturing division has already received its first contract from the Mumbai-based Quantum Designs, a software solution provider in telecommunication, hospitality, networking and tracking.

The division would be manufacturing the GPS devices for Quantum Designs, who are currently providing real time tracking solutions to a couple of banks in the country. Quantum Designs would specify the basic design and Phoenix would complete the job, he said. The company is targeting manufacture of about 6,000 GPS units, which would be valued at Rs 10 crore during its first year of operations, he said.

Mr Shrivastava noted that the company was also planning to take over the sales of the tracking solution for Quantum Designs apart from the manufacturing of GPS devices, and noted that the basic design would be manufactured in such a manner that it would be flexible for other applications.

Started as a purely trading operation in the country, Phoenix now has a portfolio where approximately 60 per cent by volume and 40 per cent by value came in from indigenously manufactured products, he said.

He noted that the thrust for the Indian manufacturing unit would be to combine the imported components with the local contract manufacturing to offer turnkey solutions to the Indian customers.Mr Benedikt A. Goldkamp, Board Member of Phoenix AG said the company was looking at the Indian operations to become a hub by itself and cater to the needs of other countries, not catered to by the European operations. The Indian operations are witnessing a compounded annual growth rate of close to 20 per cent.

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