Jatinder Kaul, Sales Head for Compressed Air Systems and Services business of Ingersoll Rand India, elaborates on the market for portable air compressors and the company?s plans.

How do you visualise the current market scenario for stationary and portable air compressors in India?
Stationary air compressors have been major revenue contributors constituting a good percentage of the total market revenue in compressor market. Industries like textile, pharma, automotive and general engineering have wide-scale applications of these compressors. Happily, the Indian economy has started showing signs of gradual improvement with business expectations, exports and industrial production recuperating. This more favourable outlook reflects stronger sentiment resulting from the new government?s promise to prioritise economic reforms and enhance the country?s business environment.

What are your market growth expectations during FY 2016-18 in terms of capacity, numbers and value of this business?
Ingersoll Rand which had announced its investment of Rs 100 crore to upgrade its manufacturing facility in Naroda, near Ahmedabad, is seeing successful progress and the phase-I and phase-2 of this project are completed. This strategic investment reinforces Ingersoll Rand?s overall growth strategy in India that is focused on driving innovation, technology and product development and is a reflection of its long-standing commitment to the country. With this, we continue to invest in customer-centric innovations, partner with our customers to make them successful in their business. The simple philosophy is that if we help our customers be successful and grow, we automatically will grow and be successful.

What is the current product range of IR?s compressed air solutions? Which of these solutions are bestsellers? Could you share the sales trends in number of units over the past six years?
Ingersoll Rand offers a wide range of compressors from 0.75 to 4,500 kW and has several firsts to its credit, including its distinction of being the first company to introduce centrifugal compressors to the country. Besides compressors, Ingersoll Rand offers the widest range and technologies for air treatment and filtration solutions - air dryers, filters; positive displacement blowers and centrifugal blowers; storage solutions - air receivers; energy saving control solutions like system pressure and flow controllers, variable speed drives, remote monitoring as well as the energy saving compressed air modular piping and distribution solutions for increasing the overall efficiency of the entire system (demand, supply and distribution side), besides reducing the maintenance costs and downtime. The plant audit solution services deliver a unique combination for overall optimised efficiency, reliability and operations.

As we have shared earlier also, Centac?, our centrifugal compressor range, has been our flagship product in our industrial compressor range.

In light of the numerous infra developments initiated in North-Eastern states, rural and far flung sub-Himalayan regions, what is the change in sales trend you predict? Market opportunities are governed by the mega trends that define the economic progress. Growing population and scarcity of power become the basis industries in all verticals like FMCG, F&B, Pharma, and Power coming up with strong growth potential. Air compressors being one of the most ubiquitous industrial workhorses energising modern day factories, hospitals, workshops and residential complexes, their demand is expected to be recurrent.

There is a greater demand for energy-efficient (low life cycle cost or operating cost) and minimum maintenance (high reliability) machines. Today, the purity of air has become the most important element if you have critical oil-free applications which are catered to by our Class 0 range of oil-free compressors for rotary screw and centrifugal technologies. Similarly, if you have a multiple-compressor installation, advanced controllers - coupled with extensive system audit services enable our customers to have optimum air efficiency, consistent flow, pressure and extended life of system components.

What is your take on the market potential and the expected business growth drivers in the above regions?
The focus of the industry is moving towards the quality of air considering critical applications in certain industrial sectors. As this requirement becomes critical in deciding the selection of the air compressor, our best-in-class oil-free technology provides customers with the peace of mind that they look for. Also, the industry has moved towards higher energy efficiency (low life cycle cost or operating cost) and lower maintenance (high reliability), for offsetting the capital cost which is incurred on the machines. The new wave in the market is the heat recovery unit which is gaining importance due to its feature of recovering the heat energy from the compressor to generate hot water for various applications like boiler pre-feed, space heating, sanitary purposes and any other process applications.

Some forums have mooted the concept of opening equipment banks in these regions, to cater to a new breed of small and medium contractors. Do you perceive any benefits of implementing this concept? If yes, in what way and if No then why?
The objective with which equipment banks are introduced is a great concept and support tool for development in the North-Eastern region. This thrust on equipment and technology to make them easily available for local economic development will go a long way in improving the economic condition of the region.

How do your products contribute to energy efficiency? Could you explain with some concrete examples?
Over the past few years, we have been consistently investing in initiatives that have improved our productivity and this continues to be the journey of operational excellence. Ingersoll Rand is at the forefront of customer-centric ?Innovation? and we are constantly innovating products and solutions that are relevant to the Indian market and our customers. To sum up, our innovative approach, customer-first and solutionising mind-set has driven us into the position of market leaders.

What is your vision 2020 and key focus areas to achieve the same?
Our Vision: A world of sustainable progress and enduring results. Ingersoll Rand is committed to India and is implementing strategies for product and design innovation for Industrial Technologies; Food Safety; Energy Efficiency and Sustainability. Our strategy has been to understand customer needs based on the quality of compressed air needed, which varies for from industry to industry for eg what is right for steel or textile industry may not be the right solution for power industry and so on. The focus is and will always remain ?Product Improvement? which is a continuing goal at Ingersoll Rand and this is not done in isolation. We are continuously engaged with our customers through ?Voice of customers?, survey and interviews to find out their exact requirements and unmet needs.