Reiterating the company’s commitment towards Engineering Tomorrow’s India and realising India’s vision to emerge as the ‘food factory of the world’, Danfoss Industries Pvt. Ltd., an industry leader in food, infrastructure, climate and energy efficient technologies unveiled its first Centre of Excellence in Cold Chain Technology Management at the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM).
The state-of-art lab and training centre was inaugurated by Smt. Pushpa Subrahmanyam IAS, Secretary MOFPI & Chancellor NIFTEM, in the presence of Dr. Chindi Vasudevappa, Vice Chancellor, NIFTEM, Mr. R S Sodhi, Managing Director, Amul, Ravichandran Purushothaman, President, Danfoss India.The MoU to set up the Danfoss Centre of Excellence in Cold Chain Technology Management was signed between Danfoss and NIFTEM, earlier on the side-lines of World Food India 2017, wherein a joint commitment was made to address the persistent skill gaps in the Indian cold chain sector, spread awareness amongst stakeholders and reduce food loss in the country.
The salient features of the Danfoss Centre of Excellence at NIFTEM includes a pilot solar-powered Cold Room that is set to revolutionise the food processing industry by transforming the energy savings potential of the Cold Chain Sector. Apart from being equipped with Danfoss’ latest technologies in the cooling sector, cut-sections, e-learnings, etc. Danfoss has also set up a bulk-milk cooler application with its condensing unit to familiarise students and industry to novel technologies that can be used for increasing energy efficiency in the dairy sector.
Speaking on Danfoss’ Centre of Excellence in Cold Chain Technology Management, Mr. Ravichandran Purushothaman, President, Danfoss India said, “Even as India continues to remain an agrarian economy with notable contributions to the Indian GDP, over thirty-five percent of India’s agricultural produce is wasted due to the lack of cold storage infrastructure.
This presses the need for the industry to address the technological accessibility and the skill gap in the sector, thereby aiding farmers in achieving better price realisation for the produce and raising awareness towards making India food sufficient. We believe that the Centre of Excellence in Cold Chain Technology Management will help in enhancing India’s skill & capacity building and work towards developing new Business Models to support FPOs and APCs to enable doubling Farmer’s incomes.”
Apart from extending its’ global expertise in energy-efficiency and food processing sectors, this centre of excellence will also enable more food-related studies, research and innovations among entrepreneurs, cold chain operators/technicians & students alike who are keen on developing India’s food chain. It will also enable knowledge-sharing on the latest industry and technology developments including the usage of low GWP or natural refrigerants and energy efficient technologies in cooling systems.
Danfoss & NIFTEM will host periodic training sessions to bridge the industry-academia skill-gap with various training sessions, certification courses and thought leadership initiatives. NIFTEM, Kundli, being situated in the centre of a huge cold chain belt in the area, this training facility will be beneficial for all members of the local community who wish to acquire knowledge and exposure to the sector.