Tecumseh expands Hyd manufacturing plant

Tecumseh Products India, which supplies air conditioning and refrigeration compressors, has expanded its manufacturing facility by setting up a rotary compressors plant in Hyderabad for an investment of Rs 100 crore.

The installed capacity of the manufacturing plant, expected to commence production in two months, is 750,000 compressors per annum.

This is in addition to the existing reciprocating compressor plant, which has a capacity of 900,000 units per annum.

Tecumseh's other manufacturing plant (compressors for commercial refrigeration), in Ballabgarh (Haryana), is equipped to produce 2.4 million units per annum.

A subsidiary of Tecumseh Products (USA), the Indian operations came through the acquisition of manufacturing plants of Sriram Refrigeration in Hyderabad and Whirlpool in Ballabgarh in 1997.

"The Indian subsidiary is now the fastest-growing unit, contributing about 12 per cent to our global sales of $1.5 billion. We see a tremendous opportunity to further our business as the Indian economy is growing at a faster rate. We expect India to drive growth as more projects in the real estate are being commissioned," said Tecumseh vice-president (sales & marketing) William J Merritt Jr.

He said the company would introduce the latest products in the Indian market.

"We are keen on expanding the manufacturing plants in India further to produce the latest products like scroll technology-based compressors locally. The financial details are being worked out. We have similar plans for Brazil, France and North America. But the focus will be on India," he added.

Tecumseh India MD Prabhakar Kadapa said the company will also introduce high efficiency compressors and higher capacity air conditioning compressors in the domestic market.

"India is also emerging as a major hub for export of all our products," he stated.

Tecumseh India exports over 60 per cent of its products to South Africa, West Asia, China and Turkey.

In India, Tecumseh has partnerships with major brands like LG, Whirlpool, Voltas, Electrolux, Fujitsu, Blue Star and Videocon.

World over, Tecumseh has multiple manufacturing plants producing 70,000 compressors every day.