Nokia's Chennai unit reaches 350 mn handsets

MUMBAI, INDIA: Nokia, recently announced that its manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur, Chennai has crossed production volumes of 350 million handsets.

This milestone was achieved in April 2010, over four years of operation of the facility, the company said in a press release.

The facility also added another milestone to its local operations by starting exports to North America and Europe, taking its total export markets from India to 70, said the release.

The facility has the distinction of achieving the fastest ramp-up across all Nokia’s manufacturing plants globally. The current production is supplied to both the domestic market as well as exported to countries in the Middle East and Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, besides North America and Europe.

“Achieving production volumes of 350 million and exporting to some of the world’s biggest mature markets in a short span of time is testimony of the world-class manufacturing operation that Nokia runs in India and reflects our commitment to establish India as a global telecom manufacturing hub,” said Sachin Saxena, operations director, Nokia India.

Saxena added that they are also working closely with the relevant authorities to provide necessary impetus to the local electronic component manufacturing ecosystem to ensure more and more localization in finished products — telecom and beyond.

The Chennai facility currently employs 8000 people of which 70 per cent are women. Besides providing a huge employment opportunity, Nokia has also established its foundation and endeavored to empower its employees and the region with better livelihood and socio-economic conditions.

Nokia is also involved in various community programs in the region such as Factory Fence Line School Improvement, Village Upliftment Program, Nokia Helping Hands, among others.

The Nokia Telecom Park also houses five global component manufacturers that include Salcomp, Foxconn, Perlos, Laird and Wintek, the release added.