Ford expanding business in India, but for a different reason

Ford exited India in 2021 but it has not completely left the country. Infact, Ford India is now in an expansion mode but in a slightly different context.As per a report in the Times of India, Ford is expanding its Chennai tech hub and is planning to hire an additional 3,000 employees in the next two to three years to develop electric vehicle (EV) applications for its global EV platforms. The Chennai hub currently has 12,000 employees.

The Chennai teams are responsible for designing and building new manufacturing lines for EVs. They utilize virtual reality and augmented reality technology to model and simulate assembly line flow for the new EV platform manufacturing. This includes creating floor plans, managing the flow of materials, setting up assembly lines, and organizing tool stations.

“We’re building and designing new manufacturing lines for electric vehicles in Chennai which will use VR/AR to model and simulate assembly line flow and this is being done for our new EV platform manufacturing,” said Mike Amend, Chief Enterprise Tech Officer of Ford Motor Company.

Amend said that Ford is investing in various EV-related capabilities, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, customer relationship management, digital commerce, data analytics, cyber security solutions, and general software development. Over the past five years, Ford has already invested approximately $250 million in the Chennai centre, and they plan to continue this momentum of investment in the coming years.Ford intends to focus on cloud engineering, software reliability engineering, development engineering, and building advanced platform capabilities in Chennai. They are currently working on a cloud-based commerce platform that will serve as a global platform for customer-dealer interactions, including parts, accessories, and merchandise.Chennai is playing a significant role in Ford’s EV-related work. The Chennai teams handle consumer-facing software related to vehicle theft, charging solutions, Ford Pro commercial vehicle fleet management, vehicle health surveys, and vehicle uptime monitoring. Amend mentioned that they are expanding these capabilities and adding more EV-related work in Chennai.