T-Works, India’s largest hardware prototyping centre, will be officially launched on March 2nd, 2023, by Young Liu, Foxconn’s Chairman. T-Works Foundation is a registered not-for-profit company wholly owned by the Government of Telangana. The facility is spread across 78,000 sq ft and will enable anyone – innovators, startups, SMEs, and corporate – to walk in with an idea and walk out with an industry-grade physical product. This infrastructure will be supported by a team of over 100 engineers, designers, technicians, and support staff along with ecosystem partners and collaborators to help build better products and solutions.
T-Works is an end-to-end rapid product prototyping and development facility, which will help startups and industries to be more competitive. Apart from this, T-Works will also accelerate development of breakthrough solutions in socially important sectors such as affordable and accessible healthcare, innovation for agriculture, and environmental sustainability.
Capabilities covered by over 250 major machines range from plastics and composites fabrication, advanced CNC machining to rapid PCB fabrication and assembly, all under one roof allowing for end-to-end rapid product prototyping and development. The overall plan for T-Works is a 250,000 sq ft center. Phase-1, the current facility, has 11.50 Cr worth of equipment. This will grow by ten times over the next 6-12 months.
The T-Works facility is divided into three floors, namely X, Y, and Z. The X floor has a metal shop, PCB fab, finish shop, plastics and composites, garage, cafe, and woodshop. The Y floor has laser cutting and engraving, an electronics lab, testing lab, 3D printing, a pottery studio, library, textile studio, collaboration spaces, cabins, and a retail store. Finally, the Z floor has an event room, staff workspace, library, collaboration space, cabins, meeting room, and training room.
The values of T-Works are collaboration, fair, non-discriminatory access to all, no mass manufacturing, no equity, and IP facilitation. The priorities of T-Works are prototyping, sourcing, mentoring/collaboration, talent development and upskilling, incubation, and funding.
T-Works caters to a wide range of users, including students, hobbyists, tinkerers, children, makers, innovators, startups, MSMEs, and corporations. Users can engage with T-Works through services, workshops, training programs, events, and competitions, make-a-thons. They can make the most of T-Works through equipment rental, prototyping services, and collaboration. Users must undergo relevant safety and machine operation training in order to be eligible to rent and operate equipment.
Users come to T-Works through multiple channels, including the website, email, references from partner incubators, academia, and industry. To approach T-Works, users can send an email to solutions@tworks.in.
In conclusion, T-Works is a much-needed facility for India’s hardware prototyping and development ecosystem. It has the potential to empower startups, MSMEs, and corporates with the tools and resources needed to bring their innovative ideas to life, leading to more breakthrough solutions that will have a significant impact on society.
