LiuGong is a leader in the design and production of wheel loaders. Excavators, bulldozers, motor graders, skidsteers, etc are other major equipment ranges. The company places intense emphasis on quality and aftersales service. It is evident from the responses from its two major customers.

Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd
Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd (BPSL), is a fully integrated 2.3 million tonne per annum steel manufacturing company and is certified to ISO 9001:2008 and TS-16949 quality standards and ISO 14001:2004 environment management standards. BPSL is a leading manufacturer of flat and long products and have state-of-the-art plants at Chandigarh, Derabassi, Kolkata and Odisha. These plants manufacture value added products covering the entire steel value chain right from coal mining to manufacturing pig iron, DRI, billets, HR coils, CR coils, GP/GC sheets, precision tubes, black pipe/GI pipe, cable tapes, tor steel, carbon and special alloy steel wire rods and rounds conforming to IS and international standards. We are producing steel through the base root, iron ore and coal. It started business on January 1, 2003.

There are various construction equipment deployed at its sites. BSPL majorly uses wheel loaders for iron ore and the majority of them are sourced from LiuGong. We also have 27 excavators of various tonnage, bulldozers, vibratory compactors, dumpers, etc,? says VP Chadha, Vice President, BPSL. The steel plants cannot run without these equipment and therefore they run for 16 hours a day.

When asked why LiuGong, Chadha said, ?They approached us and we gave them a trial order in 2008. We found their products very satisfactory and so, we made a repeat purchase of their products.

BSPL purchased 12 products in the 5-10 tonner range and recently added a couple of skid steers to its fleet. All of them are working at one location, Odisha steel plant. ?We went for this brand because of the excellent service support that they were offering. Being a newcomer in the market, they attended to all our grievances.

Simultaneously, they also upgraded their products which matched our requirements. The engines powering their models are sourced from Cummins which is an added advantage,? Chadha explains.

BSPL is planning to increase the number of equipment in future. ?As we are expanding, we will be ramping up our fleet size. We are planning to expand capacity to 3.2 mtpa and we would be adding a few more equipment to our fleet to handle the raw material.

According to Chadha, LiuGong has been able to maintain stranglehold in the market because of its good service support. Moreover, Liugong has been able to reasonably price its products. ?We have recommended LiuGong to many companies such as UltraTech Cement, Hindalco, etc,? a confident Chadha says.

Chadha finds the advantage of having LiuGong range in his fleet of equipment citing various reasons. He says, ?I think their products are maintenance-free. Their parts availability is also not a major problem. The only problem is the availability of their products.

LSC Infratech Ltd
LSC Infratech is into mining and stone crushing business since early 1990s. Although not into infrastructure sector, its products are the raw materials for infrastructure development. The company is based at the mineral rich Rudrapur in Uttarakhand and has six operations comprising units in Haldwani, Bajpur (2), Sitarganj, Sharanpur, and Bharatpur. Similar units are being setting up in Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.

As into mining and stone crushing, LSC Infratech has backhoe loaders from JCB, wheeled loaders from LiuGong, and excavators from multiple brands. For crushing also, the company has multiple brands. ?We have a total fleet size of 50 which will be doubled in the next few years. This is because we are witnessing a huge surge in our business from next year onwards as we are building more plants,? says Saurabh Agarwal, Director, LSC Infratech. According to him, all these equipment are used used for 15 hours a day and are in use for at least 330 days in a year.

Elaborating on his association with LiuGong equipment, Agarwal says, ?LiuGong dealers approached us in 2009-10 and so far we have bought 20 wheeled loaders from them. By the end of this calendar year, we might induct another 15-20 more such products in our existing fleet. They are deployed across our six plants and will be done so in our upcoming plants too.? He adds, ?Ever since our first purchase five years back, we made repeat purchases on a regular basis. So this is our 15th order in 5-6 years.

What really motivated LSC Infratech to gravitate to LiuGong at a time when there were other players too? Agarwal says, ?Before LiuGong, there were hardly any genuine loaders which could serve our needs. To put it the other way, LiuGong basically filled the white space between 3-tonner loaders in the range of Rs 25 lakh and 5 tonners which were priced at Rs 1 crore and above. As our capacities required a product with a 5-tonner product at a reasonable price, we went for it. So in a way, it was a value-for-money proposition for us.

Agarwal feels that LiuGong products are world class. He adds, ?The aggregates of the machines are excellent like Cummins engine, ZF transmission, etc. While their after-sales support is very satisfying, their spare parts availability is also good. Moreover, they are building the machines locally to demonstrate its commitment for the Indian market.?

Agarwal is so confident on the quality of the equipment when he says, ?I have been an indirect contributor for them selling at least 50-60 machines across the country.?