Make more in India: Lenovo-Motorola start manufacturing smartphones in Chennai

Lenovo, the Chinese multinational computer technology company announced at a city event on Tuesday that it has started local manufacturing of smartphones in Chennai, in keeping with the government’s ‘Make in India’ campaign.

Titled ‘Make more in India,’ Lenovo which had acquired Motorola Mobility last year, launched the 40,000 sq. feet manufacturing facility located in Sriperambudur, Chennai. This plant is set to roll out two successful models of 4G smartphones- The Moto E and the Lenovo K3 Note.

Talking about what triggered the idea of local manufacturing of smartphones, Chen Xudong, President MBG group, Lenovo and Chairman, Motorola Mobility Operating Board, said, “According to IDC, India is the third largest smartphone market in the world, and we are excited to expand our presence in the country at a time like this. Lenovo’s investment in the new manufacturing plant represents the potential we see in the Indian market and we hope to tap into the country’s competent talent pool to develop cutting-edge products for our customers.”

The Chennai plant has already started rolling out Moto E phones, while the K3 note is set to follow soon. Amar Babu, COO Lenovo, Asia Pacific and Chairman, Lenovo India claimed that the first batch of shipment has infact reached their sales partners.

The plant, for which Lenovo has entered into a contract agreement with one of its global partner, Flextronics, will employ 1500 employees’ for manufacturing lines, quality assurance, product testing etc. These employees also have the task of helping the company generate 6 million units for the Indian market in this financial year.

The Chennai plant also holds the distinction of being the only plant outside India to manufacture products of both brands.

Sudhin Mathur, Director of Smart Phone Business mentioned that their Chennai plant could not be termed as just an assembly unit as it was 'somewhere in the middle'.

Additionally, the company also has plans to locally source 30% of the components required in the manufacturing process and are optimistic that it will be ‘a matter of months’ before they achieve that target with the support of its partner. “We are also in talks with the government to improve availability of components locally to heighten the total value of devices.”

Elaborating on the company’s future plans, Amar Babu said that the company looks forward to generating 12-14 million units from the Chennai plant, next year and the focus at the moment is on stabilizing the process of ramping up. “We haven’t launched SmartTV in India, but launching the smartwatch is a possibility in the near future,” he added.

Incidentally, this is not Lenovo’s first foray into manufacturing in India. The company boasts of a PC- manufacturing plant in Pondichery since 2005 and is looking to set in stone their integration with Motorola through this plant.

“Lenovo and Motorola will have separate manufacturing lines at the facility but it should not be forgotten that they both belong to one company.” Amar Babu explicitly stated.

Lenovo also said that they have grown 330 percent in India from last year, according to IDC estimates and stated that they plan to make future investments in the country.

The event was also attended by Ajay Kumar, Additional Secretary, Department of IT and Electronics and Debjani Ghosh, President of Manufactures Association for Information Technology (MAIT).