Airport drags Nokia's rapid India ramp-up

Mumbai: Nokia, the world's largest cellphone maker, took a chance in 2006, when it ignored concerns about infrastructure bottlenecks and red tape in India to set up its tenth manufacturing plant worldwide, at Sriperumbudur near Chennai.
Three years on, some of these concerns have reared up, hampering fresh expansion at a production site that has seen the fastest plant ramp-up in Nokia's phone-making history.
The company intends to double headcount this year, but that may not happen.
"Infrastructure is one area where our expectations at the time of investing have not been met," said Sachin Saxena, head of Nokia's Sriperumbudur plant.
His concerns relate to the cargo facility at the Chennai airport.
Nokia, which is estimated to have produced 125 million cellphones from its Indian plant last year, depends on the import of chips and other hi-tech components to keep the wheels at the factory moving.
"...there is not enough storage facility at the Chennai airport. If it's not raining, we can store it on the tarmac," he said.
Part of the reason for the short supply of components may be the incredible ramp up at the India plant.
Starting with just 550 people in 2006, the manufacturing complex, which also includes units set up by Nokia's partners, now employs 14,000.
In terms of production too, from taking two months to produce the first million phones, the plant has accelerated to a rate of 125 million phones per year by the end of 2008, supplying to 50 countries, besides India.
While the government cannot do much about the global recession, Nokia hopes it will help by expanding infrastructure such as the airport cargo facility. "We are in constant touch with the civil aviation ministry and the officials have helped expand the facilities, but the pace at which the infrastructure develops and the pace at which industry develops are not matching," he added.
10/04/09 Sreejiraj Eluvangal/Daily News & Analysis

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports Apr 2009, Cargo Apr 2009