All set to roll out its first "Made in India" car in 2012, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) is on a manhunt to find 30 engineers and automotive designers to complement its existing talentpool of 970 professionals who would create the small wonder from its Gurgaon facility.
The company had, in 2005, set a target of creating a pool of 1,000 professionals in its Engineering, Research, Design and Development Division by 2010 who would establish it as the designing and manufacturing hub for small cars for the ASEAN region.
Aiming for its first accomplishment in terms of developing a car from the drawing board to the final manufacturing stage by 2012, the company is just 30 short of achieving its target of having 1,000 professionals and is aggressively looking for talent not just within the country, but even elsewhere to fill the gap by March 2010. In the next fiscal, we will recruit 200 more professionals to take the strength to 1,200," SY Siddiqui, managing executive officer Administration (HR Finance and IT), MSIL told ET.
"A separate HR team is supporting our R&D & Engineering team on required HR processes to facilitate this ambitious growth plan whereby we would design new products for the Indian market while working alongside Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) R&D and Engineering team on future global projects," he added. MSIL R&D will work not only for the Indian market, but also for the ASEAN region while SMC would focus on R&D for Japan, Europe and US and on new automobile technology like hybrids, electric vehicles et al.
Looking back, the strength of the MSIL R&D team was just 175 in 2003 when it was engaged in working on live projects like co-designing with SMC for Swift, Swift Dzire, Estilo, KB engines, working on facelifts & conceptualising, designing & developing small cars for India.
"While facelifts and new model activities will continue in future to take care of the large portfolio, the scope will broaden. In future, we would complement the SMC R&D in Japan to meet the global requirements," added IV Rao, managing executive officer (engineering), Maruti Suzuki India Limited.
He added that even in the midst of global economic crisis, hiring had continued with special focus on R&D & Engineering talent. "That was the best time to pick up talent. We recruited two foreigners and five Indian migrants with a vast experience in automotive sector who were looking for an opportunity to relocate during the crisis," Mr Rao said.
Maruti however, will continue recruitments and will not stop at 1,000, Mr Rao added. "While, the Indian team has developed the capability to start design of a new product for India, the capacity needs to be augmented to work on multiple projects concurrently.
As the Indian market grows, the requirements of new products suited for India will also increase. In such a scenario, both MSIL and SMC R&D will have to complement each other to meet the Indian market requirements of future. With the company conceptualising Vision 2015, we would need a vast talentpool," he reasoned.
"While we would need fresh graduates who would give us fresh inputs, we would need skilled veterans to guide the team that is expected to conceive, design and manufacture the first model at Gurgaon by 2012," he said.
MSIL's proposed R&D facility at Rohtak, which is the sole such facility by SMC outside of Japan, will see MSIL putting in an investment in the range of Rs 1,000-1,500 crore By virtue of multiple test tracks and facilities, the 700-acre Rohtak project will have crash test facility, emission labs, wind tunnel testing, durability testing facilities as well as performance evaluation facilities for components will also be set up.
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