Wärtsilä will extend its range of marine reduction gears and begin manufacturing these products in Khopoli, India. Production will start on the same site as Wärtsilä’s existing factory. The value of the investment is approximately EUR 1 million.
Wärtsilä has designed and manufactured reduction gears since 1990 in Rubbestadsneset, Norway. The new unit in Khopol will have 20 employees and it will operate in parallel with the reduction gear factory in Norway.
The new reduction gears are at the lower end of the output range. Along with the existing gears, the Wärtsilä gear portfolio will cover the whole range of the power outputs needed by the market. The factory in India will allow Wärtsilä to expand its business volume in the growing Asian shipbuilding market.
“Wärtsilä is now able to supply complete the propulsion power train from engine to propeller with our own marine reduction gears also at the lower power end. This enables us to provide a complete optimized propulsion solution from one source, Wärtsilä, which will benefit the customer,” says Executive Vice President Mikael Mäkinen.
Reduction gears reduce the main engine speed to the optimum propeller speed.
Wärtsilä has been operating in India since the 1980s and is very well known in its field. During this time Wärtsilä has supplied power plants totalling 2,700 MW and marine engines totalling 1,100 MW India. Roughly 600 MW of this figure is covered by long-term operation and maintenance agreements managed by Wärtsilä. The company’s annual sales in India amount to roughly EUR 130 million. Wärtsilä’s subsidiary, Wärtsilä India Ltd, has sales and service units throughout the country and a factory in Khopol. Personnel in India totals 850.
For further information, please call Mr Mikael Mäkinen, Executive Vice President, tel. +358 10 709 5620.
Wärtsilä has successfully marketed and sold marine engine reduction gears for 15 years.
