L&T supports our efforts for market development by helping us in developing new applications and introducing new products, says Joseph Zacharias, Director, Cinzac Sales & Services Pvt Ltd, dealer for L&T Construction Equipment Ltd, based in Kochi. Excerpts from the interview.

Could you brief us on Cincaz and its dealership business?
Cincaz is a 26 year old company. We started our association with L&T?s Construction Equipment business in 2000. I am assisted in the business by my wife Cynthia, an MBA from Cochin University. My son Sebastian is now taking keen interest in the dealership. We have seen the population of L&T machines grow in Kerala from around 30 machines to over 700 machines in the past decade.

Do you deal with L&T construction equipment exclusively or do you have other business interests? What would be the percentage of your business related to L&T equipment?
We primarily focus on the L&T Construction Equipment business. We also operate dealerships for Ashok Leyland engines, Thermax heating and water, and Kion India forklifts. Our main stay of business continues to be L&T Construction Equipment.

What is the average annual sale of L&T equipment in your assigned territory? How much has been the peak sale and what was the minimum?
We have sales peaked at over a 100 machines a year and also have seen market take a severe dip in Kerala. We are very much dependent on the mining and quarrying policies adopted by the government. Environmental issues also slow down the infrastructure activities which directly affects our business.

What is your team size devoted to this business? Are they fully trained to address 100 per cent of the business related issues for sales and after sales? At what time interval do you retrain your team?
We have over 80 employees devoted to this business. They are trained by L&T and we spend over six Man Days per person per year for keeping them abreast of all the developments. We send our manpower for the programmes announced by L&T periodically. Our manpower is trained to attend to all problems which occur on the machines.

Do you provide training to your customers? What are the available facilities for the same?
At the Cincaz head office, we have training rooms, where we conduct programmes for our own staff as well as our customers. We also conduct a lot of programmes for the customers at their site.

Which range of equipment sells the most and why? What is your customer profile? Who are your biggest customers? What is the fleet size with them? What more can you expect from them in the next 2 to 3 years?
We sell the 7 T and 13 T models PC 71 and PC 130 of Komatsu excavators. Our customers are spread across all segments of the infrastructure industry. Many of our customers have a fleet size of more than five excavators. We expect these customers will demand value added services, like annual maintenance contracts.

We have geared up to meet the demands of these customers by proactively preparing for the same. We have developed a system which GEO Tracks customers and their assets, making it more efficient for us to depute our engineers.

What are the reasons for taking the dealership of L&T equipment? How does L&T support your efforts in market development, after market, technical resolutions and introduction of new products and technologies?
I am an engineer from REC, Calicut and had worked in the merchant navy prior to starting my business.

The brand image of L&T is strong and that helped us to decide to go in for the dealership. L&T supports our efforts for market development by helping us in developing new applications and introducing new products.

Any other information you would like to share on your business?
We have a customer centric approach and have invested into setting up of workshops, growing the number of outlets so that we are closer to the customer. We have a long term plan to grow this business as infrastructure is growing at a fast pace.