SKF's Haridwar plant to cater to bike OEMs.

The last fortnight saw SKF inaugurate two new factories in India – one each in Haridwar and Ahmedabad. While the Haridwar unit will primarily serve two-wheeler OEMs in Uttarakhand and further contribute to the growing vehicle aftermarket in India, the Ahmedabad factory will make medium to large size bearings for the railways, wind and heavy industries.

Tom Johnstone, Group president and CEO, said: "SKF has been present in India for more than 85 years and it is a very important market for us, both in terms of business and for the development of products. These new factories, which means that we now have five factories in India, shows our strong commitment to supporting our growth in India and in Asia"

The opening of these facilities supports the growing demand in India and strengthens SKF’s manufacturing presence in the fast developing markets in Asia. At the end of last year, SKF also inaugurated a Global Testing Centre in Bangalore and a Solution Factory in Pune.

The Rs 150 crore Haridwar factory utilises state-of-the-art machining technology to manufacture Deep Groove Ball Bearings (DGBB) and will have a production capacity of 45 million bearings annually. On the 'green front', SKF has a strong commitment to developing environmentally friendly products and to reducing the CO2 emissions from its factories. SKF has extended this also to the development of its new facilities.

The Haridwar factory is built according to the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), Green Factory recommendations and the Ahmedabad facility according to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standard, both aiming to minimise the environmental impact on buildings and operations of factories.