SKF sets up application development centre in Bangalore

Bangalore: The SKF Group opened its Application Development Centre (ADC) here on Thursday. While declining to reveal investments, company officials said the new centre would become a full-fledged R&D centre for the company over the coming year.

Initially, ADC will focus on developing competencies in application engineering, product and system design, advanced calculation and simulation, manufacturing of prototypes, testing and validation.

Tom Johnstone, president and CEO, SKF Group, said, "We have invested Rs700 crore in our Indian facilities till date and the investments put in the new centre reinforce our commitment to the Indian market. India, along with China and Latin America, is our priority market and this is one of the key reasons for us to open the centre here. We expect the Indian operations to increase exports going ahead."

In order to ramp up business further, the group will focus on bearing and bearing units, seals, mechatronics, services, consultancy and lubrication systems, and is actively looking at acquisitions. Johnstone said the SKF group is "currently evaluating candidates which can strengthen our offerings in these platforms and the (target) companies are located worldwide including India."