We plan to set up a mfg and fabrication unit in India
As a strategic move to position ourselves for the construction boom in India, DCS has recently added the tower crane division and the drilling/piling division to complement our existing business activities and broadened our services further to the construction sector, says Rajeev Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, DCS Crane Division in an chat with Equipment India. Excerpts from the interview.

Tell us about DCS, its core strengths and competencies.
DCS Trading & Services, established in 1997 and headquartered in Hyderabad, has extended its foothold regionally in all major cities in India. Our comprehensive service runs from initial consultation to dismantling, and encompasses all aspects of crane management advice and site visits to determine exactly which cranes will best suit our clients' requirements. Being in equipment and spare parts sales for construction and infra industry since long time, we know that business needs are never static. This is the reason people look at DCS today as their provider of choice and the company they can trust. We take pride from the fact that we have established, administered and serviced over 600 companies and trusts across India from our well-spread offices and take pride in giving value and personal service to clients and professional associates.

What was the performance of DCS over the last couple of years and what sort of growth are you looking at?
Over the years, we have grown beyond being an importer and distributor of various earthmoving, road and mining equipment spare parts, cleaners, attachments to a diversified one-stop integrated service solutions. As a strategic move to position itself for the construction boom in India, DCS has recently added the tower crane division and the drilling/piling division to complement the company's existing business activities and broadened our services further to the construction sector. We offer lifting solutions (self-erecting hydraulic cranes, tower crane and luffing cranes) to meet a wide range of demands, including sites with restricted access. We also provide solutions for customised drilling/piling applications.

What made you choose FM Gru and how do you look at the market potential for tower cranes?
The market in the near future is keep growing and in this market, one needs to choose their principal partner very carefully. DCS are exclusive distributors for the FM Gru brand tower crane from Italy, established in 1920 as a family-run company. During the 1950s, when
farming economy was converting into industrial and manufacturing economy, FM Gru was already working in the welded construction and metal structural sector: road bridges, prefabrication moulds, farming machines, pylons to convey electricity, presses and an appreciable range of fork lifts.

Crane production began in 1963, when the company invested all its financial and human resources in this activity, the target being to reach the highest level of specialisation in the lifting field. Nowadays, thanks to the careful planning and use of the most innovative technologies, FM Gru is a leading company in crane production, able to resolve every problem concerning lifting on the modern building sites.

How do you ensure safety - please tell us about the inbuilt safety features in the range, and the initiatives taken to impart training for the safe operation of cranes.
In any lifting equipment, safety is a major concern and the control on the quality plays the first and major role towards safety. To comply with the highest safety standard, all FM cranes are CE and ISO marked. Every steel and other mechanisms are tested before dispatch to ensure the better safety.

All mechanisms of FM cranes are controlled by frequency drive which ensures the better safety of the machine. Along with that, we keep updating our clients with different safety measures by the way of training and the launching of white papers, and circulating them time to time.

The competition in the TC segment is quite high with domestic and international players in the market. What makes your stand apart from the competition?
That's true. But despite high competition, our speedy response and 4S standard will keep us ahead in the market. We are working on 4S standard for speedy and satisfactory service to our existing and future clients. In fact, we feel good that now so many Indian and foreign players are directly or indirectly in India, and we are sure that our 4S service standard will take us ahead in this race. We feel proud to introduce a strong team spread across India, ready for product discussion and smart before and after sales services for our customers.

What is the market potential for spare parts?
As there are already several cranes working in India, a lot of spare parts requirement is already prevailing in the market. If the spares are available locally, then the downtime for the service will increase. This is the need of the present market.

The concept of specialised equipment and attachments have not really caught on in India. What is your take on this? How do you strategise your move to increase the awareness level?
We provide the Italian tower crane, patented and with very innovative attachments, at a very competitive price. We believe that every company should use these kinds of attachments for more leverage towards safety standards at the work site. We offer lifting fork lifter, mat and steel bags to lift various materials at site, as also lifting material and man cages for tower cranes for work at sites like dams, chimneys, water tanks, etc.

As a service provider, what are the challenges you face, especially during import of machinery?
Since a long time, we are in imports, and we don't face any major problems there. The government is very cooperative and is increasing its flexibility day by day.

What are the quality checks put in place while importing machinery and spares and attachments?
Initially, for all tower cranes, our engineers visit the FM factory before the dispatch and are involved in all testing and packaging so that we can pass on more comfort and confidence to our client. We believe in customer delight. We also maintain all the necessary spares in our stock so that we can deliver speedy after sales services whenever required.

Is there any investment on the anvil, or any new product line to be launched?
We are shortly planning to establish a manufacturing and fabrication unit in India in association with our principal and along with that, the Uniqe 4S Service centres across India in the near future.

How do you look at the company's future prospects?
The future seems to be very bright. Although the margin for error facing the construction industry is razor thin, the ability to adapt quickly to changing condi?tions can mean the difference between success and failure. In this industry, mostly people are importing cranes from Europe and China. The major challenge is customer awareness. As of now, there is no major threat to any sales or man?ufa?cturing company as this ind???u?str?y is continuously growing and at least for next five to ten years, the trend will continue.