Wipro, Kawasaki tie-up plans major expansion

Wipro Infrastructure Engineering, the hydraulics business arm of Wipro Limited on Tuesday said, it has signed a joint venture contract with Kawasaki Heavy Industries. According to the new agreement, the company will set up a manufacturing facility for the manufacture of hydraulic pumps for excavators, Wipro said in a press release.

The statement also said, the joint venture will be called Wipro Kawasaki Precision Machinery Pvt Ltd and will entail an investment of Rs 50 crore. Kawasaki’s Precision Machinery Company is part of the $16 billion Kawasaki Heavy Industries Group and manufactures hydraulic components and equipment used in construction machinery as well as motorcycle, aircraft, rolling stock, ships, industrial robots, plants and equipment. The facility will have an initial capacity of 4,000 pumps which would be augmented to 15,000 pumps by 2015. “Kawasaki is an established global leader in the hydraulics industry. We are excited with the partnership which will help us jointly bring leading edge technology products to our customers in this very promising growth market,” Pratik Kumar, President of Wipro Infrastructure Engineering said.

Further, he said: “With this partnership, we will be able to expand our product portfolio in the hydraulic segment. The localisation will offer improved time to market advantage and enhanced customer service.” The new manufacturing unit to be set up at Bangalore will be Wipro’s eleventh manufacturing location globally. The company also said the overall construction equipment market in India is likely to grow to $20 billion by 2020-21. The manufacturing facility will produce hydraulic pumps for excavators catering to a range varying from 7 tonne to 20 tonne excavators, the statement added.

Makoto Sonoda, President of Kawasaki Precision Machinery Company said: “We are very happy to partner Wipro in this venture. India is a very important growth market for us. Wipro and Kawasaki will together bring its combined strengths to bring superior hydraulic products to our customers in this region.” The plant located at Bangalore will start operation in July 2012 and will localise the production of the hydraulic pumps to a large extent.