To give boost to its business and Make In India initiative of Government of India, leading Chinese brand Lenovo has announced today that it has already started contract manufacturing of Motorola Moto E smartphone in its Sriperambudur, Chennai manufacturing facility in India. The first lot of Moto E 4G made in India, was delivered to their marketing partners in India around ten days ago. The K3 Note smartphone will also be rolled out from this facility soon and these products are being assembled by world-renowned Flextronics under contract manufacuring arrangement. Chennai facility is the only plant outside China that will manufacture smartphones for both the brands – Motorola and Lenovo.
According to Lenovo, they plan to roll out 6 million units together of Moto E and K3 Note in this finacial year and will add on more products for local assembly depending upon the market requirements. Lenovo has refused to divulge the details of investment for this assembling activity in India. Currently, all the components are being imported and they have also plan to source maximum components from India in due course of time.
“Lenovo is not new to manufacturing in India. We recognized the potential of India and we invested in PC manufacturing several years ago. Lenovo’s investment in the new manufacturing plant represents the potential we see in the Indian market and our long term commitment to our customers,” said Chen Xudong, President MBG Group, Lenovo and chairman Motorola Mobility Operating Board. “In the past ten years, our brand has grown manifold in India. We are excited to expand our presence and tap into India’s competent talent pool that will enable us to develop cutting-edge products for our customers across the world.”
The current manufacturing facility is spread over 40,000 sqf and will house 1500 employees for manufacturing lines, quality assurance, product testing, etc. Both Lenovo and Motorola will have separate manufacturing lines at the same facility, but the products will be assembled under the same roof, so to speak.
“The Indian Government’s thrust on ‘Make in India’ has opened up a plethora of opportunities for organizations looking to conduct business in India”, said Amar Babu, COO, Asia Pacific & Chairman, Lenovo India. “Currently for smartphones, India is the third largest smartphone market in the world, according to IDC and we believe this an opportune time. Lenovo is transforming into a global consumer technology brand by differentiating itself on innovation and design. Today’s announcement reiterates India’s strategic importance in Lenovo’s global strategy and we are confident that this will propel Lenovo to its next phase of growth, diversifying beyond PCs into smart connected devices.”
The Lenovo and Motorola brands have seen huge success in India and have come back to manufacture in India in support of the ‘Make in India’ initiative. Both companies have started integrating the manufacturing and supply chain operations and are working towards to combining many back-end operations as well.
