We are looking at tripling our turnover in the next five years
Anand Sundaresanm, Chief Executive Officer, Schwing Stetter India
Cost reduction and indigenisation, with a view to make the product as affordable as possible to the custo?mers, is the key focus for us, says Anand Sundaresan, Chief Executive Officer, Sch?wing Stetter India as he discusses the market scenario with Equipment India, with special stress on the comp?any's renewed focus on environment-friendly products.
After a tough year, how is Schwing Stetter geared to meet the surging demands for advanced products?
Fortunately for us, we did not lay off our employees during the downturn period. Rather, we adopted a different strategy wherein we re-deployed the team on many new projects that focused on concepts of improving efficiency, reduction of waste, and also development of new products which otherwise was not possible during normal times. Therefore, when the market suddenly started improving since the beginning of 2010, at least we had the people in place to meet the surge in demand. We also had very close co-ordina?tion with our major suppliers and business partners who were able to respond promptly to the surge in demand.
How is Schwing Stetter placed, at the end of this fiscal?
The year 2010 definitely was a very good year. We are looking at top-line grow?th of between 60 and 70 per cent over the last fiscal.
What sort of top-line growth are you looking at in the next five years?
We are sure that there will be substan?tial investment coming up from the infrast?ructure segment. The real estate and ready-mix industries are also likely to bounce back in the next couple of years, which will result in increased demand for our existing product range. We are looking at tripling our turnover in the next five years which will be contributed partly by increase in demand within our country. We will also have many new products introduced in the next few years. Besides this, we are also looking at tapping other markets.
How do you look at the threat of imports from LCC?
We do not really foresee a big threat of imports from low-cost countries as we are continuously indigenising our products and so we feel we can compete with them. The other important thing with respect to construction equipment is that the product has to be adequately supported with proper after-sales service and spare parts supply. We are bringing in a lot of value-additions in this area which the overseas suppliers will find difficult to provide.
Is there a move towards more affordable product lines with more value add-ons?
Cost reduction and indigenisation with a view to make the product as affordable as possible to the customers, is key focus for us. We have shown this several times in the last decade of our existence in India. There are innumerous examples where our current products are only 50 per cent of the cost of what they used to be 10 years ago, with better technology and better service.
What steps have you initiated in order to enhance operator efficiency?
Ease of operation of equipment is very important. We keep very close contact with our customers, especially with the act?ual users and try to get feedback from them on the value-adds they look for, in our equipment. This feedback is reported to our design department in the form of engineering change requests, after which, a thorough study is done on our equipment.
How is the export market doing now?
Export was never big business for Schwing Stetter, India. However, a few products were identified for production in India for the world market and we did export quite a good number of equipment to Europe and America just before the recession. Unfortunately the American and European markets have not bounced back. Therefore, exports continue to be an insignificant portion of our total revenue. Of course, various discussions are on and trials are also being undertaken to source certain components from India and to expand the territory of Schwing Stetter India, but this will take some time to materialise.
Tell us about Schwing Stetter's initiatives towards environment-friendly equipment.
The Schwing Stetter Group is investing heavily on making their equipment environment-friendly. Therefore, the the?me for our equipment during BAUMA 2010 was 'Go Green with Schw?ing Stetter Equipment.' As market lea?ders, it becomes our responsibility to adopt certain practices that will work to create a healthier and more sustainable environment. In keeping with this, we have incorporated certain green features in our products. The motto 'Go Green' consciously has a challenging undertone intended to motivate people both within and outside the company to get involved. Schwing GmbH has taken considerable measures to reduce CO2 emissions by 100 tonne annually, for instance. In addition, in-house comm?unications are increasingly in paperless form, shipment of parts extensively takes place using returnable packaging and also compostable plastic film. The high-quality machine paints have been completely changed over to a water-soluble base, thus reducing solvent output by 30 per cent while providing increased covering power at the same time.
The new Schwing SP 2880 stationary concrete pump which was specially designed for large European-type con?struction sites is based on the forward-looking design of the modern plastic casing, entirely in line with the Go Green initiative since the significant weight savings lead to substantially lower fuel consumption during transport. We have done away with the installation of an energy-consuming changeover block for the changeover from the piston to the rod side. We are known to offer products that are exceptionally energy-efficient, thereby resulting in lesser fuel consumption. This means that our eco-friendly initiative is also supported and practiced by the customers, combined with the pleasant effect of saving operating costs and expenses due to wear in this way.
According to you, what are the major challenges faced by OEMs in India?
Increasing input costs, fluctuating exchange rates, energy costs, manpower costs and availability of manpower are some of the challenges faced by us. Most of the time, we are forced to hand down the price increase to our sub-suppliers.
Schwing Stetter has registered an enviable growth. To what do you attribute this success?
The investment on infrastructure projects, growth in the ready-mix industry, our close contact and co-operation with our customers, our product quality, low operating costs and focus on after-sales service and spare parts support, are probably some of the factors attributing to our success. Needless to add, we have a very young, talented, loyal and committed employee strength, who support our vision and mission.
Cost reduction and indigenisation, with a view to make the product as affordable as possible to the custo?mers, is the key focus for us, says Anand Sundaresan, Chief Executive Officer, Sch?wing Stetter India as he discusses the market scenario with Equipment India, with special stress on the comp?any's renewed focus on environment-friendly products.
After a tough year, how is Schwing Stetter geared to meet the surging demands for advanced products?
Fortunately for us, we did not lay off our employees during the downturn period. Rather, we adopted a different strategy wherein we re-deployed the team on many new projects that focused on concepts of improving efficiency, reduction of waste, and also development of new products which otherwise was not possible during normal times. Therefore, when the market suddenly started improving since the beginning of 2010, at least we had the people in place to meet the surge in demand. We also had very close co-ordina?tion with our major suppliers and business partners who were able to respond promptly to the surge in demand.
How is Schwing Stetter placed, at the end of this fiscal?
The year 2010 definitely was a very good year. We are looking at top-line grow?th of between 60 and 70 per cent over the last fiscal.
What sort of top-line growth are you looking at in the next five years?
We are sure that there will be substan?tial investment coming up from the infrast?ructure segment. The real estate and ready-mix industries are also likely to bounce back in the next couple of years, which will result in increased demand for our existing product range. We are looking at tripling our turnover in the next five years which will be contributed partly by increase in demand within our country. We will also have many new products introduced in the next few years. Besides this, we are also looking at tapping other markets.
How do you look at the threat of imports from LCC?
We do not really foresee a big threat of imports from low-cost countries as we are continuously indigenising our products and so we feel we can compete with them. The other important thing with respect to construction equipment is that the product has to be adequately supported with proper after-sales service and spare parts supply. We are bringing in a lot of value-additions in this area which the overseas suppliers will find difficult to provide.
Is there a move towards more affordable product lines with more value add-ons?
Cost reduction and indigenisation with a view to make the product as affordable as possible to the customers, is key focus for us. We have shown this several times in the last decade of our existence in India. There are innumerous examples where our current products are only 50 per cent of the cost of what they used to be 10 years ago, with better technology and better service.
What steps have you initiated in order to enhance operator efficiency?
Ease of operation of equipment is very important. We keep very close contact with our customers, especially with the act?ual users and try to get feedback from them on the value-adds they look for, in our equipment. This feedback is reported to our design department in the form of engineering change requests, after which, a thorough study is done on our equipment.
How is the export market doing now?
Export was never big business for Schwing Stetter, India. However, a few products were identified for production in India for the world market and we did export quite a good number of equipment to Europe and America just before the recession. Unfortunately the American and European markets have not bounced back. Therefore, exports continue to be an insignificant portion of our total revenue. Of course, various discussions are on and trials are also being undertaken to source certain components from India and to expand the territory of Schwing Stetter India, but this will take some time to materialise.
Tell us about Schwing Stetter's initiatives towards environment-friendly equipment.
The Schwing Stetter Group is investing heavily on making their equipment environment-friendly. Therefore, the the?me for our equipment during BAUMA 2010 was 'Go Green with Schw?ing Stetter Equipment.' As market lea?ders, it becomes our responsibility to adopt certain practices that will work to create a healthier and more sustainable environment. In keeping with this, we have incorporated certain green features in our products. The motto 'Go Green' consciously has a challenging undertone intended to motivate people both within and outside the company to get involved. Schwing GmbH has taken considerable measures to reduce CO2 emissions by 100 tonne annually, for instance. In addition, in-house comm?unications are increasingly in paperless form, shipment of parts extensively takes place using returnable packaging and also compostable plastic film. The high-quality machine paints have been completely changed over to a water-soluble base, thus reducing solvent output by 30 per cent while providing increased covering power at the same time.
The new Schwing SP 2880 stationary concrete pump which was specially designed for large European-type con?struction sites is based on the forward-looking design of the modern plastic casing, entirely in line with the Go Green initiative since the significant weight savings lead to substantially lower fuel consumption during transport. We have done away with the installation of an energy-consuming changeover block for the changeover from the piston to the rod side. We are known to offer products that are exceptionally energy-efficient, thereby resulting in lesser fuel consumption. This means that our eco-friendly initiative is also supported and practiced by the customers, combined with the pleasant effect of saving operating costs and expenses due to wear in this way.
According to you, what are the major challenges faced by OEMs in India?
Increasing input costs, fluctuating exchange rates, energy costs, manpower costs and availability of manpower are some of the challenges faced by us. Most of the time, we are forced to hand down the price increase to our sub-suppliers.
Schwing Stetter has registered an enviable growth. To what do you attribute this success?
The investment on infrastructure projects, growth in the ready-mix industry, our close contact and co-operation with our customers, our product quality, low operating costs and focus on after-sales service and spare parts support, are probably some of the factors attributing to our success. Needless to add, we have a very young, talented, loyal and committed employee strength, who support our vision and mission.
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