Allison Transmission Inc. Opens State-of-the-Art Manufacturing Facility in Chennai, India

CHENNAI, India, May 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Allison Transmission Inc., the premier global provider of commercial and military duty automatic transmissions and hybrid propulsion systems, today announced the opening of a new multi-purpose operations facility which is located on the outskirts of Chennai.

Members of Allison Transmission's senior leadership team traveled to India to join its local Indian workforce, government officials and representatives from neighboring business organizations for the grand opening ceremony of the new and impressive 203,000-square-foot operations facility.

Allison Transmission Chairman and CEO Lawrence E. Dewey extended his personal gratitude and thanks to the Indian government and local officials for their warm welcome and continued support of the company's initiatives in India.  Dewey remarked that the opening of the Chennai operations facility helps Allison Transmission expand its global footprint as well as its presence in India, where demand for Allison's fully automatic transmissions is steadily growing.  City transit bus and off-highway construction vehicles equipped with a broad range of Allison products are presently in service throughout India and are rapidly growing in numbers. In addition, the company is seeing increasing interest from Indian OEM's for additional On- and Off-Highway vehicle applications for Allison transmissions.

The central location of India, along with its availability of developed airports and seaports, makes it an ideal site from which Allison Transmission can continue to grow globally, Dewey said. "In India, we see a transportation industry that continues to develop, embraces the latest technology and a country that is upgrading its transportation system in all facets.  The future here is very bright," Dewey told the gathering.  Members of the international media, the design team, engineers and construction workers who were instrumental in finishing the project safely, on time and on budget were also in attendance.

In addition to being capable of manufacturing vehicular drive train components, the state-of-the-art facility will also serve as the regional headquarters of Allison Transmission India Pvt. Ltd., housing its executive and regional sales offices. The facility also incorporates design features which will allow it to expand quickly as future marketing opportunities develop. Approximately 300 employees are expected to be employed by the facility once it is fully operational.

During the ceremony, Managing Director of Allison India Pvt. Ltd. Ram Amarnath and Allison Transmission Inc., Vice President of Operations David Parish also gave remarks.

In his comments, Amarnath noted that the company's association with India dates back more than 50 years when Allison began serving transportation companies in the country's mining and oil field industries. Allison's presence in India also helped the company establish a network of distributors to support the large volume of its off-highway transmissions imported by global OEMs.

Amarnath also pointed out that Allison Transmission decided to better meet the demands of modernization in India by establishing permanent offices in India in 2007.  During his remarks Amarnath said, "It is our intent to expand into the medium and heavy duty bus and truck segments" utilizing our comprehensive product line.  Allison Transmission's growth in India has been propelled by fitting automatics into low-floor CNG and diesel buses in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Nagpur and other Indian cities.

David Parish, who oversaw the construction of the state-of-the-art facility, described the outstanding safety accomplishments of everyone involved in the project during the ceremony.  Parish said, "We should all be humbled and proud that we achieved our greatest goal. No one was injured in the construction of this magnificent facility."  The facility, Parish added, is designed to be flexible in the products that it is capable of producing, allowing Allison Transmission the ability to respond quickly to changing market opportunities as they develop globally.   The plant was also designed with themes of energy efficiency, environmentally clean, and meets the criteria to be classified as a zero discharge facility, a facility that completely recycles all water used from all the plant processes.

Allison also has manufacturing and customization facilities in North America, Hungary, Netherlands, Brazil, China and Japan. As with all its operations — whether in North America, Latin America, Europe, or Asia — delivering on the Allison Brand Promise of an automatic experience with an unrivalled combination of Quality, Reliability, Durability, Vocational Value, and Customer Service is of paramount importance, company officials said.

About Allison Transmission, Inc.

Allison Transmission, Inc. (Allison) is the premier global provider of commercial duty automatic transmissions and hybrid propulsion systems. Allison products are specified by over 250 of the world's leading vehicle manufacturers and are used in many market sectors including bus, refuse, fire, construction, distribution, military and specialty applications. Founded in 1915, the Allison business is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A. and employs 2,900 people. Regional headquarters with dedicated support staff are located in China, The Netherlands, Brazil, India and Japan. With a global presence in 80 countries, Allison has over 1,550 distributor and dealer locations. More information about Allison is available at www.allisontransmission.com.

SOURCE Allison Transmission, Inc.