Indian engineering firm picks Columbus for 500-worker headquarters

A Bangalore-based engineering firm that announced plans in November to open a $10 million North American headquarters in Indiana has chosen Columbus for the facility, state officials announced Wednesday in conjunction with company officials.

Axiscades, which provides product engineering to businesses in a variety of industries, including aerospace, defense, heavy engineering, automotive, energy, medical and health care, said it expects to hire 100 employees in Indiana within a year of establishing operations and 500 workers by the end of 2023.

The company said it will initially lease space at 810 Brown St. in Columbus, within three blocks of Cummins Inc.’s corporate headquarters.

The company also plans to establish satellite offices in Indiana for engineering teams. It will also locate employees at client facilities to better work with those customers.

Axiscades already employs more than 1,900 workers across North America, Europe and Asia, including 250 engineers in North America stationed at the company's offices in Peoria, Illinois, and Montreal, Canada, and on-site at client facilities. It plans to begin hiring in Indiana in the spring.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp., pending approval of its board of directors, plans to offer Axiscades up to $4.3 million in conditional tax credits and up to $500,000 in training grants based on the job-creation plans. The incentives will hinge on the company’s ability to reach hiring goals.

The IEDC will also consider additional incentives of up to $1 million through the state's Industrial Development Grant Fund to support infrastructure needs.

The City of Columbus has offered up to $50,000 of performance-based incentive support from its Economic Development Income Tax fund, to be used for relocation and start-up expenses.

Axiscades, which has 14 engineering centers across the globe, has many corporate heavyweights as clients, including GE, Caterpillar, Bombardier, Airbus and Siemens.