Wipro, Kawasaki enter into a joint venture

BANGALORE, INDIA: Wipro Infrastructure Engineering, the global hydraulics business of Wipro Limited, on Tuesday announced that it has signed a joint venture (JV) contract with Kawasaki Heavy Industries in India to set up a large manufacturing facility for the manufacture of hydraulic pumps for excavators.

The JV will be called Wipro Kawasaki Precision Machinery Pvt. Ltd. and will entail an investment of Rs 500 million, with an initial capacity of 4,000 pumps which would be augmented to 15,000 pumps by 2015.

Wipro Infrastructure Engineering is an independent manufacturer of hydraulic cylinders. The new manufacturing unit to be set up at Bangalore will be its eleventh manufacturing location globally.

Kawasaki's Precision Machinery Company, part of the $16 billion Kawasaki Heavy Industries Group, manufactures hydraulic components and equipment used in construction machinery as well as motor cycle, aircraft, rolling stock, ships, industrial robots, plants and equipment etc.

Kawasaki manufactures a wide range of products, from hydraulic pumps, motors, actuators, valves and other hydraulic components, to hydraulic systems for machines and plants of all kinds, as well as hydraulic deck machinery, electro-hydraulic steering gear, hydraulic fishing machinery, and various other applications.

Commenting on this partnership Pratik Kumar, president of Wipro Infrastructure Engineering said, “Kawasaki is an established global leader in the Hydraulics industry. We are excited with this partnership which will help us to jointly bring leading edge technology products to our customers in this very promising growth market.”

“With this partnership,” he added, “we will be able to expand our product portfolio in the hydraulic segment. The localization will offer improved time to market advantage and enhanced customer service.”

Makoto Sonoda, president of Kawasaki Precision Machinery Company said, “We are very happy to partner with Wipro in this venture. India is a very important growth market for us — Wipro and Kawasaki will together bring its combined strengths to bring superior hydraulic products to our customers in this region”

The overall Construction Equipment market in India is likely to grow to $20 billion by 2020-21. Wipro and Kawasaki intend to tap the growth potential in the Indian market with multiple mega-infrastructure projects planned by various public-private sectors, making high quality excavator pumps available at a competitive price.

The manufacturing facility will produce hydraulic pumps for excavators catering to a range of 7 ton to 20 ton excavators. The plant located at Bangalore will start operation in July 2012 and will localize the production of the hydraulic pumps to a large extent.