Mitsubishi Electric India Opens PLC Automation Training Centre

1 Oktober 2026

Why it matters now: As factories worldwide race toward smart manufacturing, the bottleneck is no longer silicon—it is skills. On 1 October 2026, Mitsubishi Electric India Pvt. Ltd. inaugurated a Centre of Excellence (CoE) at Chandigarh Group of Colleges (CGC) Landran in Mohali, Punjab, designed to close the gap between academic theory and the realities of the shop floor. For a global PLC market worth tens of billions of dollars, the move signals that automation vendors now treat talent, not hardware, as the decisive competitive frontier.

Mitsubishi Electric India Bets on Talent, Not Just Hardware

The CoE is positioned as a hands-on bridge between academia and industry. Students gain access to real industrial automation platforms—the same programmable logic controllers (PLCs), drives and control systems deployed in factories.

The initiative targets factory automation, industrial control and adjacent disciplines. Its stated goal is straightforward: produce engineering graduates who are productive from day one, rather than after months of employer-funded retraining.

Analyst Insight: Vendor-run Centres of Excellence are quietly becoming the industry's most effective recruitment funnel. By embedding its own platforms inside a campus, Mitsubishi Electric India secures three wins at once—brand familiarity among future engineers, a pipeline of certified technicians, and a sticky installed base that graduates will specify years later. This is marketing, workforce development and channel strategy compressed into a single facility.

Inside the Centre of Excellence at CGC Landran

The facility is built around practical exposure rather than slideware. Training is expected to span controller programming, industrial networks, motion control and system integration workflows.

Programme Focus and Facility Snapshot

Inaugurated: 1 October 2026, Mohali, Punjab, India.

Partners: Mitsubishi Electric India Pvt. Ltd. and Chandigarh Group of Colleges (CGC) Landran.

Core disciplines: Factory automation, industrial control, PLC programming and related automation technologies.

Delivery model: Hands-on access to real industrial automation platforms for enrolled students.

Primary objective: Reduce the academia-to-industry readiness gap for engineering graduates.

The Global Automation Skills Gap, in Numbers

The skills shortage is not a regional anecdote—it is a structural feature of modern manufacturing. Retiring expertise, rapid digitalisation and Industry 4.0 investment have all collided at once.

Market Data: Why Automation Talent Is Scare and Costly

Industrial automation market: Estimated at USD 221.64 billion in 2025, expanding toward USD 343.14 billion by 2031—a CAGR of roughly 7.55%.

PLC dominance: Programmable logic controllers held approximately 33.7% of the industrial and factory automation market in 2025, anchored by discrete manufacturing and machinery control.

Control system share: Industrial control systems accounted for about 45.30% of the broader industrial automation market in 2025, underlining their role as the command layer of production.

Hiring pressure: Demand concentrates in specialist roles—PLC programmers, controls engineers, robotics specialists and system integrators—where the talent pipeline has struggled to keep pace.

Market Trend: The economics of the shortage cut both ways. Every unfilled controls role adds cost to system integrators and delays to plant commissioning. When a vendor funds training directly, it effectively subsidises its customers' labour supply—a subtle but potent differentiator in competitive tenders.

Vendor-Education Partnerships: A Global Playbook

Mitsubishi Electric India is following a pattern now visible across Europe, North America and Asia. Automation suppliers are building classrooms, donating rigs and certifying instructors to shape the workforce that will specify their products.

For universities, the appeal is tangible: live equipment and updated curricula. For manufacturers, it means graduates arrive already familiar with the ecosystems running their plants.

What It Means for PLC Professionals and Plant Buyers

For engineers, credentialing is becoming as valuable as a degree. Platform-specific certification increasingly shortens the path into high-demand roles.

For procurement teams, meanwhile, a stronger local talent pool reduces dependence on expensive external integrators and accelerates project timelines.

FAQ: The Mitsubishi Electric India Centre of Excellence

Where is the Centre of Excellence located?
The CoE operates at Chandigarh Group of Colleges (CGC) Landran in Mohali, Punjab, India.

Who is it for?
Primarily engineering students, with a stated aim of producing industry-ready talent for factory automation and industrial control roles.

Why is a PLC vendor funding training?
Vendors face the same labour shortage as their customers. Familiarity with their platforms among graduating engineers supports long-term adoption, service capability and channel strength.

Does this reflect a wider trend?
Yes. Across the industry, automation suppliers are partnering with academic institutions to build qualified workforces for smart manufacturing.

The takeaway is unambiguous. In an automation market compounding toward hundreds of billions of dollars, the decisive investment may no longer be in controllers and drives—but in the people who program them.