?We have invested Rs 300 crore and are in the process of scaling up the capacity to 3,500 units per year. Once it is complete, we will also be widening the product lines,? says Prabhat Kumar Tiwari, Head ? Sales and Marketing, Hyundai Construction Equipment India. In an exclusive chat with Equipment India, Tiwari talks about the core strength and competencies of the company. Excerpts from the interview.

What was the market scenario in terms of demand and performance in the last quarter?
In terms of the market, September and October were flat, November due to Excon, some hype was created and there was a slight increase in numbers, December had an averaging effect as we pre-closed some good offers. Of course, there will be incremental business.

As far as the demand in the mining sector is concerned, the demand from coal is somewhat steady obviously because of the demand-supply gap. There is a huge demand for power and many companies are increasing their production capacity, so there is a demand of equipment for the additional capacity on an immediate basis. We don?t see much demand from the iron ore sector because the work is not going according to the pace what is expected; from cement also, we don?t see any growth as such. There is some movement in the infrastructure sector basically because of roads, especially in the north-eastern states where we see a lot of projects announced and implemented as well.

Compared to the last fiscal, how has your performance been? What is the topline you are expecting?
This year, we are expecting about Rs 700 crore compared to Rs 550 crore last year, which is a growth of almost 30 per cent. The industry is growing at a pace of 18-20 per cent, and Hyundai being a new entrant, we need to look at a bigger pie.

How do you rate your progress so far?
Good. Initially we clocked a market share of five per cent, and then moved on to seven and nine per cent. Now we have crossed double digit; as of today, we have registered a 14 per cent share and hope to maintain it in the future as well.

The market has become highly competitive today?
That?s good for the OEMs and the customers as well. For us, our major focus is to increase efficiency to stay in the market. We focus on the customer offerings and deli?verables of the equipment by which I mean fuel-efficiency as well as the productivity. So we try to optimise these deli?verables by understanding customer requirements and appli?cation needs, and designing our equipment accordingly.

Tell us about the range offered by Hyundai in India.
In India, we have the entire range of excavators right from 8T to 80T. Globally, we have introduced the 120T excavator which is yet to be launched here. In our Pune facility, we manufacture 8T and 11T excavators; the 14- tonner is imported right now; and we have various options in 20T which are R210, R215 and again R210 and R215 have been developed based on the application in quarries. The use of excavators in the aggregate industry depends on the output and the scale of operations. There are very small quarries where people use mostly 11 and 14-tonne excavators but mostly it is the 20-tonner.

What is the kind of business you generate from the mining segment?
The mining sector constitutes about 50 per cent of our total business, and the rest comes from quarries, aggregates and hiring sectors.

What is your take on the rising cost of input materials?
The input cost is certainly going up and this is putting a lot of pressure. As I said earlier, we are increasing our efficiency to balance the input cost but then if it goes out of hand, it affects the performance of the entire industry. So we try to be compe?titive by increasing our efficiency, which means the entire operational efficiency of the organisation. As far as quality is conce?rned, we never compromise on it.

Is there any capacity enhancement currently?
Currently we have a capacity of 2,500 units and we are in the process of scaling up the capacity to 3,500 units per year. We have already invested Rs 300 crore and work is expected to be completed in another four months? time.

We will also be widening product lines. During Excon 2011, we launched the R340 specifically for the marble and granite quarries and heavy-duty construction. This has been designed and built factoring in the load cycle and usage patterns in quarry applications, and we have two variants.

What is your HR investment in terms of of studying the dealer network, spare parts etc?
In India, we have a network of more than 70 offices across the country. The dealers have their head office as well as branch offices. Service is the basic differentiator in the market and we have decided to have an office at every hundred km to cater to the customers? requirement in terms of spare and services, which to a large extent we have achieved. We are still in expansion mode as far as the dealer network is concerned. If the machine is up and running, then the customer is earning and our mission is to make the customer?s business more profitable.

How do you view the impact of the latest emission norms?
Every manufacturer has to adhere to the norms that have been laid out and we as a responsible corporate, have to think about the environment as well. So it?s not because of cost consi?deration, rather we are more focused on efficient machines with less impact on environment.

To what extent you have localised the production?
Localisation has happened to about 70 per cent and it is a continuous process. So far we get quality aggregates on time but once we scale up the ope?rations, we need to look harder at it. We are also exploring the idea of making India an export hub.

Why should I buy from you?
Because it will increase your profi?tability. The tech?nology is global but we have customised our products as per appli?cation needs, enhancing the strength and dura?bility of the machines. Safety is of utmost importance to us. And more impor?tantly, the optimisation of energy is very important. Actually, saving of fuel comes from ma?king the hydraulic system more intelligent and this is done with the help of mechatronics. We have software which is designed to optimise the energy thereby increa?sing the fuel efficiency of the machine. We have a very good reputation in the market and many of our sales are repeat orders; that alone speaks about the quality of the product and the acceptability our machines have among the customers.

Do you provide services like oil sampling?
Oil sampling is done to assess the health of the equipment; from the sample of the oil the stresses of the metal are detected and based on that, you can find out the wear and tear of inner parts better. We have tied up with oil manufacturers to provide this service to our clients. We also have our branded lubricants available with addi?tives suitable to the requirement of these machines.

What is your mission statement?
In Korea, around 65,000 units are manufactured per year, and we are one of the top players. In India, too we want to be the leader in terms of customer satisfaction and market share.