Cochin, Kerala, 9 October, 2014 - Aimed to create a pool of talented and skilled professionals for the automobile industry, Ford India has inaugurated its first Automotive Student Service Educational Training (ASSET) Centre in collaboration with Social Welfare Technical School, ITI Cochin.

Through this initiative, Ford will set up an exclusive technical training corner within the premises of the institute to train students on Ford technology as part of Motor Mechanic Vehicle (MMV) curriculum.

The first Ford Automotive Student Service Educational Training (ASSET) Centre in Cochin was inaugurated by Mr P K Umashankar, vice-president, Customer Service Operations, Ford India.

Others present on the occasion were Fr Dr Mathew Kumbackal, Superior General Little Flower congregation, Fr Dr Saji Mathew Kanayakal, Provincial Superior, Mr Anwar Sadath Member of Legislative Assembly and Mr M T Jacob, Municipal chairman & Ford dealer dignitaries.

"We are delighted to partner with Industrial Training Institute, Cochin in our endeavour to provide the latest automotive training to students. With the program, we have truly created an asset that will not only help students with better growth and employment prospects but also the automobile industry with skilled workforce," said P K Umashankar, vice president, Customer Service Operations, Ford India. "We would like Ford ASSET centres to be the primary source of trained pool of technicians for Ford dealers across the country and look to expand the partnership to 10 centres in the time to come."

Ensuring the sustenance of the program, Ford's technical training collaboration will include exclusive Train-The-Trainer (TTT) sessions for institute lecturers as well. The Ford technical training centre will also ensure regular engagement for the students through special sessions from master technician/In-house trainers organized by local dealership, Kairali Ford.

Ford ASSET centre will create multiple avenues of learning and will empower students with training and skills that will certify them to service Ford cars, thus becoming eligible to work in Ford service network across the country.

The ASSET training facility will be a tri-party initiative involving Ford, the dealer and the ITI. Ford will provide world-class technical know-how and the reference aids along with trained instructors. The dealers will set up the ASSET technical training corner and will also provide training with the master technician and in-house trainer. The dealerships will give an opportunity of on-the-job training to the students with Ford vehicles at the dealer workshops.

The company plans to forge partnerships with Industrial Training Institutes in key cities across India as part of the expansion of the ASSET program.