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Steer it up

In spite of the vast opportunities available, skid-steer loaders are still looking for a level-playing field in the Indian market.

We plan to localise production of skid-steer loaders

As the market leader in skid-steer loader market in India, Doosan Bobcat has taken up various initiatives to further expand its reach in the market.

AWPs: Safe working at heights

There is always risk involved in working at heights. Introduction of aerial work platforms has made it easy for workers perform well without any risk of falling, leading to timely completion of the work with higher productivity.

Volvo debuts ec210d IN NEPAL

Building on a strong tradition of fuel efficiency and productivity, the Volvo EC210D crawler excavator is now available in Nepal. This machine is equipped with a range of features to ensure a superior performance, shift after shift.

Indian customers are gradually becoming safety conscious

Aerial Work Platforms (AWPs) can make a difference in a company?s day to day operation. There is a broad spectrum of models with a variety of lift heights suitable for almost any work requirement.

Versatility Brings in Productivity

A multi-utility equipment helps in achieving maximum result with minimum investment.Use of such equipment is gaining traction among the users. For decades, a backhoe loader was considered as the most versatile utility equipment by Indian customers.

Shell Lubricants Launches Upgraded Tellus S2 Range

Shell Lubricants has launched Tellus S2 MX and Tellus S2 VX lubricants with new formulation, as part of the first leg of a global launch. Shell Lubricants has announced the launch of Shell Tellus S2 MX and Shell Tellus S2 VX - ?The Future of Hydraulic Oils? in India, at a function in Mumbai.

Shell Lubricants launches upgraded Tellus S2 range in India

Shell Lubricants announced the launch of its latest products with new formulation, Tellus S2 MX and Shell Tellus S2 VX, in Mumbai. India marks the first leg of the global product launch which shall be followed by unveiling of the new products across the world markets, viz. Singapore, Thailand, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Germany, Australia and France, to name a few.

Essential for Road Building

Commitment towards infrastructural development and faster implementation of road projects to desired specifications are driving the growth of the motor grader market in India.

Strong growth in SE Asia for SDLG graders

As Southeast Asian nations continue to improve their road networks, the need for reliable, competitively priced road-building equipment is on the rise.

Potain Cranes at Kochi

Kochi is one of the fast growing cities in India with a lot of residential and infrastructure developments happening across the city. Potain tower cranes are part of these developments. Three Potain tower cranes are currently building three luxury residential developments across the city, which is the most densely populated in Kerala.

Making Equipment Tick

Machine tools play a crucial role in the manufacture of precision components, which enable the production of robust and reliable equipment. Without machine tools, no components or parts would exist.

Electric power is the future

Middle East is once again showing signs of unrest, which could have an effect on the supply and prices of crude oil. With supply under pressure, prices are bound to rise: Once again, bringing into focus the challenges that continue to emerge, adding further pressure on total cost of ownership (TCO).

Heavy Lift for IOCL Refinery

Allcargo successfully completed major heavy lifts for Indian Oil Corporation?s (IOCL) refinery at Paradip in Odisha.The projectHeavy lifts for IOCL refinery at Paradip, Odisha. One of critical job was to erect a 1,200 tonne vessel of 144 ft length and various other heavy lifts. The project mandate was to erect a 1,200T vessel of 144 ft in length and various other heavy lifts.

Choosing the Right

LubricantTwo important ways to help enhance the performance and durability of a company?s hydraulic systems are to use a high performance hydraulic fluid and to institute a proactive maintenance and oil analysis plan, says Rupinder Paintal.

A Total Solution Provider

Shethia Cranes Co is a total solution provider engaged in plant erection jobs and is considered to be one of the leading crane rental service provider.

Cat dozers are designed for ease of serviceability

Cat dozers are known for their operator comfort features, excellent visibility and low-effort controls that help improve operator efficiency, Vedhakumar talks about the dozer market and the product and service back-up offered by the company.

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.

JCB is the only manufacturer to produce and sell 100,000 machines in India

?The world is looking towards BRIC nations to lead the global recovery. We?ve been able to reach this position with the right investments at the right time, says Vipin Sondhi, Managing Director and CEO, JCB India.

CE Boom Heads East

Even as the American and European markets continue to languish after the global economic crisis, the world is looking towards the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) to lead the recovery.

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