Kanjanabha Bhattacharyya appointed MD of Putzmeister Concrete Machines

He was serving as President with Tega Industries before joining Putzmeister.

Technology paving the way for innovation

The recently concluded mega construction equipment event bauma saw a slew of new technologies on show that are going to attract the attention of the customers in future.

Concrete Future

Requirement of concrete in construction is expected to increase in the future with a slew of projects in the pipeline in real estate and infrastructure projects.

Enabling Faster completion

The Noida-Greater Noida Metro link has witnessed the fastest-ever pace of infrastructure implementation in India, where record speed of construction and pre-casting was a prerequisite. Atlas Copco is a part of this prestigious project by partnering with CEC International Corporation.

Volvo Penta unveils Made-in-India engines

Marking a new beginning in its Make-in-India initiative, Volvo Penta formally unveiled its 5-litre and 8-litre engines manufactured for the first time in India, at a new dedicated production line at the VE Powertrain (VEPT) plant. The product unveiling was done by Pinaki Niyogy, Vice President, Manufacturing and Engineering, TIL, and Parminder Singh Gabri, Director - Sales, Putzmeister Concrete Machines, the two major customers of Volvo Penta.

All new Atlas Copco Concrete Machines

Atlas Copco has launched new range of safe, simple and light concrete machines comprising Atlas Copco SVE/SVG-truss screed, BG-series trowels and WTS830 spreader. The machines broaden the business for operators and rentals alike.

Fuelonomics Drive Developments

Smart Pumping Solutions

The infrastructure sector will drive the growth of overall concrete equipment industry, whereas the real estate segment, along with the power segment, will drive the growth of concrete pumps.

Engineered for Success

Concrete pumping at Putzmeister has come a long way since its founder Karl Schlecht designed a mortar machine in 1958 based on his diploma thesis at the University of Stuttgart.

Labour laws are still not conducive to Make in India

Implementation of labour reforms and policy reforms are fundamental for the success of the ?Make in India? campaign. Access to land, stable power supply and GST are all mandatory, says Wilfried Theissen, Managing Director, Putzmeister Concrete Machines.

Make in India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched an ambitious campaign ?Make in India?, which aims to turn the country into a global manufacturing hub. The campaign projects India as an investment destination and develop, promote and market India as a leading manufacturing destination and as a hub for design and information.

Concrete Moves

Despite the Rs 2,500-crore concrete equipment industry registered nearly 40 per cent fall in the market and is under severe pressure, there are tremendous growth opportunities in the long term.

It's time for the show!

The 3rd edition of bC India, which mirrors the pulse of the CE industry, is expected to attract over 30,000 visitors to witness the exciting range of construction and mining equipment and machinery.

World Leader in Concrete Technology

Putzmeister`s machines are involved in the construction of metro rail projects, expansion and modernisation of international airports at Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Bengaluru; as well as building of diverse power plants, hydraulic projects, liquefied natural gas tanks, refineries, ports, roads.

Looking at a Big Boom

Only about ten per cent of concrete produced is currently pumped, which tells about the huge scope for concrete pumps for the infrastructure and realty sectors. Agith G Antony trains his spotlight on the latest trends in product/technology, the growth potential for boom pumps, innovative service packages and the value additions offered by OEMs.

Putzmeister has set up a concrete project division to support specialised pumping.

Putzmeister Z fold boom pumps are popular in metro projects in places like Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru. Its flexibility of boom-turning gets concrete to the farthest point in complicated structures. Putzmeister boom pumps are being used in practically all major constructions sites whether for road project, mass housing project, hydropower, nuclear power, LNG tanks or thermal power plants, says Parminder Gabri, Sales Director, Putzmeister Concrete Machines. Excerpts o

Italian exports drop

According to the foreign trade monitor of the construction equipment monthly drawn up by Unacea and Prometeia, the Italian export of construction equipment in the first nine months of 2013 has reached ?1,811 million

The dynamic leader

Wilfried Theissen, is the Managing Director at Putzmeister Concrete Machines. He assumed his position in 2012 and brings with him a work experience of over 20 years in Europe, Asia and America. His extensive experience in operations, development, sales and marketing, acquired in the very competitive and high-tech automotive and aeronautic industry, and two years of experience in the construction industry, create a new dynamic at Putzmeister.

Concrete moves

Despite the Rs 2,500-crore concrete equipment industry registered nearly 40 per cent fall in the market and is under severe pressure, there is tremendous growth opportunities in the long term.

We have the best products, the best services and of course, the best quality

Putzmeister has been in India for more than seven years and we are here to stay. We are committed to India, its people, its future and we are continuously developing new products for our valuable customers

Shell Putzmeister Premium HO 68

Shell Lubricants and Putzmeister co launches hydraulic oil for concrete machines specifically developed to extend the life of equipment and enhance its efficiency.Shell Lubricants, the global market share leader in finished lubricants, in collaboration with Putzmeister, world's leading manufacturer of high capacity concrete machines from Germany

We work very closely with OEMs.

In the economic slowdown techno?logy plays a role where one becomes more profit conscious and looks for someone like Shell. Our solutions are based on delivering value, says Akhileshwar Jha, Vice President-Technical, Lubricants, Shell India Markets.

Reaching new heights

Wilfried Theissen is the Managing Director at Putzmeister Concrete Machines. He started his career with Spadel Belgium and GB in 1986. In 1995, he joined Sekurit Saint Gobain and till 1997 he served as Director Quality and Program.

Pumping solutions

Back in the day, concrete pumps were used mainly in metros and major cities; in recent years, however, the industry has witnessed increased demand for concrete pumps in the Tier II and Tier III cities;

RMC segment is a very important vertical for our business

We at Putzmeister spend a lot of resources on educating customers about the importance of pumpable concrete. We regularly organise customer awareness programmes, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities to educate customers,

The Budget's impact

Industry captains analyse the Budget's implications on the CE sector. According to Vipin Sondhi, Managing Director & CEO, JCB India, the Finance Minister has rolled out a well-balanced and realistic Budget.

Italian CE market in gloom

Italy's construction equipment sales have fallen for the fifth consecutive year in 2012, recording a drop of more than 30 per cent over 2011. During 2012, the total number of units sold was 7,606,

Concrete Equipment | Wilfried Theissen, MD, Putzmeister

As the pioneer of research and development in concrete pumping technology, Putzmeister offers the latest and most comprehensive range of concreting solutions. Putzmeister has achieved landmarks in both the vertical and horizontal pumping of concrete.This German giant is on a mission to change the construction scenario in India by making the construction sites more automated and mechanised

It is our product quality that has won our customers' faith and trust

We are increasing our investment in India and our phase-II expansion is already on. We strive to give inter?national quality to our customers at the best possible price by absorbing additional cost to the extent possible,? says Michael Schmid Lindenmayer, Managing Director, Putzmeister Concrete Machines. 0 - - 24677 14 251 2012-02-15 00:00:00.000 Equipment India Besides our technology quality, customer focus is the USP for our success Anand Sundaresan, Managing Director, Schwing Stetter India.

?Neither our customers nor our competition can deny the contribution made by Schwing Stetter India in the last 12 years to make the concreting equipment economical and affordable; and thereby substantially increasing the usage of these equipment," says Anand Sundaresan, Managing Director, Schwing Stetter India. In a chat with Equipment India, Sundaresan elaborates on the CE market trends and what has made the company a leading player in the concreting equipment segment. Excerpts from the interview.

How do you rate the overall performance of the CE industry and how is Schwing Stetter placed to meet the surging demands for advanced products and services in this evolving scenario?
In the last two decades, the construction equipment industry has made enormous progress and has grown both in size as well as diversity. Liberalisation, government focus on infrastructure developments and also special concessions given by the government on imports of equipment for infrastructure projects, have all helped the construction industry. It was also necessecary because most of these projects were time-bound and the penalties for delay in completion were very heavy. This gave a boost to the construction equipment industry and helped it grow more than 15-20 per cent year on year.

In addition to this, it also attracted many construction equipment manufacturers to set up shop in India either by way of joint ventures, license agreements or a hundred per cent subsidiary. Schwing Stetter India is one such com?pany to set up production facility, approximately 12 years ago, to take advantage of the growing market in India. Schwing Stetter India is a focused long-term player in the concreting segment and is here to stay for a long time.

With a view to participate in the growth and deve?lopment of our country and to participate in the huge market potential, Schwing Stetter India has been continuously increasing its production capacities, after sales network, value-added services etc, besides expanding its product range as per the needs of customers. Schwing Stetter India keeps close contact with customers, and with the valuable inputs received from them, has been intro?ducing various new products in the market. The recently concluded Excon 2011 was an excellent oppor?tunity to meet our existing and new customers and show?case our new products; we launched 19 new products.

How does Schwing Stetter look at ending this fiscal? What sort of topline growth are you looking at in the next five years and where do you see the growth coming from?
There has been a sudden slowdown in the second half of 2011 due to various reasons including high inflation and interest costs. Therefore, the topline growth this fina?ncial year will not be as high as we had originally anti?cipated. However, there will be a growth of about 20 per cent from the previous fiscal year 2010. We expect that this is a temporary setback and anticipate an year-on-year gro?wth of between 20 and 25 per cent in the next five years.

What is your take on some of the major issues the industry faces in today?s context?
Many of the factors have definitely affected the perfor?mance of construction equipment industry. This includes Schwing Stetter. High cost of funding has resulted in lower off-take of equipment, besides increasing input costs. The devaluation of the currency by over 20 per cent has a direct effect of over 7-8 per cent on the material cost since on an average, we always have 35-40 per cent import contents in our products.

Has competition become a major drive for the betterment of industry practices in terms of services provided by OEMs?
All construction equipment are highly service- oriented. Therefore, the customers are looking for more value-added services. In order to survive in this market, improved after-sales services and value-added services are a must. Healthy competition is most welcome. However, we find that sometimes, new entrants compromise too much to gain entry by selling even at below material cost levels, which is not very healthy for the industry.

What are the initiatives by Schwing Stetter towards more affordable and application-oriented product lines?
Cost reduction is a key factor towards which we conti?nuously work, without compromising on the quality of the components in our products. We have many examples where the cost of the equipment manufactured by us today are much lower than it used to cost ten years ago, but with better technology and better service package. This has made our equipment more affordable and has substantially increased our customer base.

Neither our customers nor our competition can deny the contribution made by Schwing Stetter India in the last 12 years, to make the concreting equipment econo?mical and affordable and thereby substantially increase the usage of the equipment.

How do you look at the threat of imports from LCC? What is your take on an initiative for a third-party certification system for import of equipment?
As I said earlier, the construction equipment is highly service-oriented equipment. Unless and until proper after sales service and spare parts back up is available, they cannot be sustained in India on a long-term basis, even though the initial purchase cost of this equipment may be lower.

Secondly, we have also seen that the equipment which come from the low-cost countries, often use inferior qua?lity of components. Therefore, the performance and dura?bility of such products are questionable.

How are exports doing for Schwing Stetter?
Schwing Stetter India was predominantly selling its products only within India and a few neighbouring coun?tries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, too. How?ever, Schwing Stetter India will shortly be supplying equipment to the East Asian countries, which will increase export revenue in the years to come.

Schwing Stetter has registered an enviable growth and to what do you attribute the success?
Besides our technology and focus on quality, our customer focus is the USP for our success. Schwing Stetter has been very lucky to have a committed and dedicated team of employees at all levels who do not compromise on the company?s core values.

Tell us about the impact of the stringent emission norms on OEMs.
The emission norms as per the international standards are bound to come in and every OEM has to be prepared for this. I do not personally look at it as a big threat.

Any more capex on the anvil?
Schwing Stetter India will keep investing on capacity expansion, branch offices, service depots, training centres, etc, as and when necessary. In 2011, we added six branch offices and six service depots. We are also in the process of expanding our production facility and a new factory is under construction. The total outlay between 2011 and 2012 is Rs 80 crore.

Is the growth story sustainable?

It is crystal clear, to reach world-class levels, infrastructure needs a tremendous boost for the next several years; this will augur well for the CE sector where most of the major players continue to upgrade capacity and widen product lines.

The Plaster Master

Putzmeister, internationally known as Plaster Master, has made the entire range of internationally acclaimed equipment and machinery at its factory based at Goa. Name any project - construction of high-rise buildings,

We have invested 4 mn Euro for our Goa facility expansion

We will showcase at Excon, the Telebelt TBS130 used for big infrastructure projects like power dams to convey concrete which is too rough to be pumped, says Michael Schmid-Lindenmayer, Managing Director, Putzmeister Concrete Machines in an interview to Equipment India.

We will showcase new trailers and boom placers at Excon.

We will show our most comprehensive product range of concrete pumps at Excon 2011. These are our full range of trailer pumps and our high tech boom placers,says Michael Schmid Lindenmayer, Managing Director, Putzmeister Concrete Machines

Equipment Rental: Rentals Moving Up

Out of $ 2.3 billion construction equipment sold in India, just seven per cent is sold to rental companies, which is low compared to the global average of 50 per cent; in China, it is approximately 35 per cent, in USA 65 per cent and in Japan, it is 80 per cent.

Concrete Equipment: Tapping a Bullish Market

Infrastructure projects have given a boost to off-take concrete equipment like batching plants, truck mixers and concrete pumps. Equipment India takes a look at the market trends in the concrete equipment industry.

Putzmeister in India

The world's largest concrete placement machines manufacturer prepares to meet the technology and equipment needs of India.

Putzmeister machines at Fukushima

At the Fukushima reactor in Japan, workers are currently using a Putzmeister M58-5 truck-mounted concrete pump to support the cooling of the damaged cooling pools.

Set in Concrete

The market for concrete equipment seems to be very bullish. The real estate sector, which was lagging earlier, is now actually pushing up the demand of concrete product.