Honeywell charts $50m India plan

BANGALORE: The $24-billion Honeywell has redrafted its India strategy. The company has earmarked around $50 million for expansion plan in the next two years.
During this period, the company will crank up its headcount by 1,000 engineers from the current strength of 2,025 people. About 70 per cent of this recruitment will happen at its software solutions lab in Bangalore which houses around 800 professionals.
Honeywell has two other Indian subsidiaries — Honeywell International in Gurgaon and Tata Honeywell in Pune. Honeywell has interests in aerospace, speciality materials, transportation and power equipment, among others.
Last month, a high-powered team comprising the company''s global technology heads visited India to crystallise the new plan.
"Instead of merely using India as a software development base, it was decided to tap the local talent and build full-fledged products, including those which require hardware expertise. Our software solutions lab will also conceive new technologies apart from working on existing ones," Mikkilineni Krishna, MD and country head, said.
Apart from using India as a low-cost manufacturing base, Honeywell also plans to widen client base.
Recognising the potential of its staff here, Honeywell''s top management led by its chairman Dave Cote, is putting in place a strategy to identify the more competent people and prepare them for bigger roles in the company. In the last three months, the company has hired 150 engineers specialising in embedded systems.
The company''s Madurai lab will be used to train and acclimatise these new recruits in Honeywell''s evolved technology standards.
"Another initiative of the Indian arm will be research and market speciality materials. Honeywell''s reputed Spectra fibre is considered to be among the world''s strongest and lightest fibres. Spectra is used in numerous high-performance applications, including police and military ballistic-resistant vests, helmets and armoured vehicles," Krishna said.
After the September 11 catastrophe last year, there seems to be a huge demand for the Spectra fibre which Honeywell is unable to meet. The idea is to try and use India as a manufacturing base, apart from finding new applications for the product.
"A coating of Spectra on gas cylinders will make them safe, while being transported in the roughest of conditions," Krishna added.