GE’s FirstBuild India hub to come up at T-Works

City selected after evaluating multiple cities, says company

GE Appliances-backed co-creation community FirstBuild has decided to set up its India hub at T-Works, the makerspace coming up in Hyderabad.

On Saturday, an agreement to this effect was signed by Director-Electronics in the IT, Electronics and Communications Department Sujai Karampuri and chief information officer of GE Appliances India Chandramouli Vijjhala, in the presence of IT Minister K.T.Rama Rao.

FirstBuild India (1B India) intends to focus on IoT and business processes in appliances and manufacturing. It seeks to engage with T-Works and the maker community in knowledge sharing, skills development and community driven open-platform innovation, a release from the Minister’s office said.

Synergy in vision

Stating that FirstBuild has decided to set up its India operations in Hyderabad after evaluating multiple cities, the release said GE Appliances COO Melanie Cook had in September led a high-level delegation to the city and discussed the collaboration. She had highlighted the importance of the maker culture and synergy in the visions and values of FirstBuild and T-Works.

Based out of Louisville, Kentucky, FirstBuild is a global co-creation community that harnesses the brainpower of the maker movement to change the way major home appliances are conceived, designed and manufactured. It speeds products from mind to market and enables customisation through small batch production, without the costs and risks of traditional mass manufacturing.

Game-changer

An invitation was extended to Mr. Taraka Rama Rao and his team to experience first-hand the capabilities and maker culture at GE Appliance’s FirstBuild facility in the US, the release said.

Earlier this week the Minister, addressing a CII Summit, said at 250,000 sq ft T-Works will be India’s largest makerspace. Work has begun and facility would be ready by December 2018.

“I believe it is going to change the way we do business with respect to design in hardware space in India,” he had said, pointing out that it has been conceived on a collaborative platform comprising the State government and private sector partner institutions. The tools, software and equipment are to be provided by the latter. The facility will house $20 million worth equipment.