Faridabad, November 02, 2015: A Centre of Excellence aimed at providing students with the desired exposure to cold chain technology was inaugurated at YMCA University of Science and Technology, Faridabad by Danfoss India, a leading provider of industrial refrigeration and cold chain solutions. This initiative will equip students with hands on experience on energy efficient solutions for the cold chain industry that is pegged to grow at a CAGR of 27% by 2019.

Equipped with new technologies from the Danfoss portfolio, students at YMCA Faridabad will now have the opportunity to gain practical knowledge by studying performance characteristics of products that are used to save energy in the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning space. Additionally, the live testing labs will enable students to relate theoretical knowledge with practical functioning and better understand applications of the equipment.

Speaking on the occasion, Peter Taksøe Jensen, Danish Ambassador in India said “Skill and Capacity building is the need of the hour in India. Air-conditioning and refrigeration, that are major growth drivers and contributors to GDP, account for the majority of the electricity consumption and hence we need to ensure that the right technology is adopted and run by capable hands who have both environment and productivity in mind. It is important for universities and industries to work together in developing the right talent to cater to these industries enabling sustainable development. Such initiatives ensure that the next generation is aware of the importance of energy efficiency.”

Danfoss products such as scrolls, valves, reciprocating compressors, automatic controls, plate heat exchanger, electronic controllers and industrial refrigeration controls will be available for students to experiment with in the lab. The Centre of Excellence will also be accessible to Danfoss employees and customers for training and learning purposes and create opportunities for industrial partner trainings.

This initiative comes at a time when the cold chain industry is emerging as a fast growing business sector in India. Increasing consumerism has seen the food processing sector and organized food retail boom backed by government initiatives and increasing investments as consumers are now willing pay a premium for higher quality of food products. However, extensive industry research carried out by various authorities in recent years suggest interventions are required to bring down operating costs, to improve quality of end produce, for adoption of new technology solutions and most importantly training of manpower to handle these technologies to speed up their adoption. In this context, the Centre of Excellence will be an enabler in the faster adoption of these technologies by future talent.

Throwing light on the initiative, Mr Ravichandran Purushothaman, President, Danfoss India said, “With national thrust on skilling India, it is vital for industry academia collaborations which will form the foundation for developing talent for the industry. There is a dire need for skilled talent in the Cold chain industry in as its weathering challenges to grow and skilled talent who can influence positive change in the operations by their adaptiveness to new and efficient technologies is the need of the hour. This Centre of excellence is yet another opportunity the students at YMCA will have to explore their own technical abilities within an academic framework and better understand the working of future technologies.”

Students and faculty at YMCA University will also have access to Danfoss’ online training platform: Danfoss E-Learning where they can enroll for courses and receive certificate as a value addition.

Speaking at the occasion, Dr Sandeep Grover, Vice Chancellor, YMCA University of Science and Technology said, “We would like to acknowledge the support that Danfoss has extended towards expanding the academic resources of the University. The proposed Center of Excellence will open new vistas for our students and definitely equip them with a more practical learning experience and make them technically sound and industry ready. It will give our students an edge through the practical knowledge bank that Danfoss plans to set up”.