ZF deepens India footprint

The Hyderabad tech centre will play a bigger role in the coming years thanks to its competencies in software. Going forward, there will be more satellite offices across small towns and cities in India to increase the talent pool for ZF, says Murali Gopalan in a conversation with the German company's leadership team.

- Murali Gopalan

When Dirk Adamczyk says he is ready to swap places from Germany to India, he is obviously kidding. Yet, there is no denying the fact that ZF's Senior Vice President, Engineering Services and Solutions, Innovation & Technology, is completely bowled over by the recently inaugurated technology centre in Hyderabad.

"The way of designing this tech centre changed from what was originally planned. This is a place for collaboration and a nice environment to exchange ideas," says Adamczyk. The initial design was done before Covid19 made its presence felt here in 2020 and the plans looked quite different then.

"Thanks to the pandemic, it is now a nicer place and I need to move to India because the Hyderabad centre is now the best location for ZF," he laughs. Adamczyk is dead serious though when he says this facility will now be the "role model for ZF" and the design ideas will be used for the German component maker's other tech centres worldwide in the event there is a need for renovation or building new ones.

While Covid-19 ushered in the work from home (WFH) regimen for ZF employees in India, he believes the Hyderabad unit is an attractive reason for people to come to work more often. "WFH has its benefits for sure but it is even better to have an environment where people like to collaborate and exchange ideas," says Adamczyk.

It is a view that is seconded by Krishnaswamy Jambunathan, VP and Head - Technology Centre India, ZF Group in India. "This facility will trigger positivity and help people feel good. While WFH has not impacted productivity, human connect is as critical," he says.

This is especially important when it comes to fresh hires who cannot work in isolation but need the touch and-feel approach. As Jambunathan puts it, domain knowledge can come only from coming to the office and "this is the perfect environment" to make that happen.