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Blastcrete announces distribution partnership forming Mecbo America

This partnership will provide customers in North, Central and South America access to cutting edge Mecbo products

Liebherr tower cranes renovate bridge in Spain

The company finished the 2023 business year with a record revenue of Euro 14,042 mn.

CASE India inaugurates new dealership in Jaipur

CASE Construction Equipment, a brand of CNH, has broadened its presence in Rajasthan by appointing a new dealer partner, RDR Techsol in Jaipur.

Abilities secures patent for revolutionary piston technology

The technology is poised to transform the engine components landscape

Record earnings for Volvo Construction Equipment in Q2 2023

Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) proves it is performing today while transforming for tomorrow with record earnings for the second quarter 2023, alongside its continued investment into sustainable change.

Tata Motors appoints Inchcape as distributor of CVs in Thailand

Tata Motors, one of the world’s leading automotive manufacturers, has announced its partnership with Inchcape plc, a leading global automotive distributor, as their distributor for their commercial vehicles in Thailand.

Tata Motors appoints Inchcape as distributor of CVs in Thailand

Tata Motors offers extensive range of sub 1-tonne to 55 tonne cargo vehicles and 10-seater to 51-seater mass mobility solutions

Liebherr: 2022 business year with new record turnover

Compared to the previous year, the company recorded a turnover growth of Euro 950 mn

CNH Industrial maintains record sales pace in rough economy

Driven by higher volumes in South America and despite challenges with higher freight and raw materials costs, sales for construction and agricultural equipment manufacturer CNH Industrial increased year-over-year in 2022 by 21 per cent to $21.5 billion.

Tata Motors bags order of 1000 buses from Haryana Roadways

Tata Motors, India’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, announced that it has bagged a prestigious order of 1000 buses from Haryana Roadways.

Franna hosts a successful first-ever Open Day in India

The participants got a closer look at the newly-launched Franna FR-17 Crane

XCMG launches 7th edition of apprentice programme

XCMG, the 3rd largest construction machinery company in the world, is beginning their seventh edition of the annual large-scale integrated Marketing Creative Event, XCMG Apprentice, called “XCMG Time Traveler”.

XCMG launches 7th edition of apprentice programme

The annual large-scale integrated marketing creative event is called XCMG Time Traveler

CNH Construction division posts best first quarter in a decade

CNH Industrial’s construction equipment division reported its most profitable first quarter in over a decade

We plan to double our production capacity

ACE, one of the largest construction equipment players in the mobile and tower crane segments in India, showcased its upgraded and new backhoe loader models in different engine horsepower categories at Excon along with award-winning products like a special crane for piling, 360-degree slew pick-n-carry crane, and manlift crane.

Liebherr launches 3 new wheel loaders

Since 2010, Liebherr has been offering a series of wheel loaders tailored to markets outside of Europe and North America

Ammann has scaled up production with a range of 11 models of asphalt plants

The infrastructure and construction sector especially the road sector has witnessed rapid growth during the past few years primarily Government both at the state and center realising the importance of building a strong road network thereby boosting the economy.

Ammann has scaled up production with range of 11 models of asphalt plants: MD of Ammann

Anand Sundaresan, MD of Ammann India, speaks on current demand trend for asphalt mix in India

Liebherr launches 3 new wheel loaders

Increasing the tip load, bucket sizes and engine power are some of the most important innovations

Dayco strengthens global capabilities for heavy-duty segment

Leveraging its global manufacturing and R&D capabilities, Dayco, a leading engine product and drive systems manufacturer for the automotive, heavy-duty, and industrial market segments, announces the addition of its new state-of-the-art viscous damper production line at Manesar, serving commercial vehicles, off-highway, and light-duty OEMs across the globe.

Dayco further strengthens global capabilities for heavy-duty segment

Dayco announces the addition of its new state-of-the-art viscous damper production line at Manesar, serving commercial vehicles, off-highway, and light-duty OEMs across the globe.

Tata Motors to increase prices of commercial vehicles from Jan 1

An increase in price in the range of 2.5%, will be implemented from 1st January 2022 and will be put into effect across segments – M&HCV, I&LCV, SCV and Bus, basis individual model and variant of the vehicle.

Tata Motors, Equitas SFB join hands for small CV customers

Tata Motors will leverage Equitas SFB’s strong network across the country, spanning 861 branches and 550+ CV customer touchpoints, to make these solutions accessible for customers.

Deere, Hitachi to dissolve 33-year joint excavator venture

John Deere and Hitachi are dissolving their joint venture of more than 30 years for manufacturing excavators in North and South America.

Toshiba India appoints Shuichi Ito as the new MD

A law graduate from Kyushu University of Japan, Mr. Ito comes with almost three decades of strong and diverse experience in Toshiba’s international energy business.

Tata Motors, CSC join hands to widen reach in rural India

Tata Motors, India’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, announced the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Common Service Centre Scheme (CSC) e-Governance Services India Limited, in a collaborative effort to bring Tata Motors commercial vehicles to rural customers, across India.

Tata Motors, CSC join hands to widen reach in rural India

Ministry of Electronics and IT’s wide network will enable ease in buying of commercial vehicles, under Digital India programme

Tata Motors partners with J&K Bank to bring attractive financing options for its customers

The partnership will enable easy commercial vehicle financing at competitive interest rates and extended loan tenure

Tata Motors bags order of 15 hydrogen-based fuel cell buses from Indian Oil

The buses will be used to evaluate the potential of developing hydrogen-based PEM fuel-cell technology in India

Tata Motors bags order of 115 ambulances from Gujarat govt

Tata Motors won the bid for the order under the Government e-Marketplace, and the vehicles are designed for patient transport as per AIS 125 Part 1. Tata Motors will phase-wise supply the remaining 90 ambulance shells, as per the contract.

Liebherr achieves over Euro 10 bn in annual turnover

Despite the modest slowdown of the global economy, Liebherr registered a strong volume of orders in the first quarter of 2020. Starting at the end of the first quarter, the coronavirus pandemic began to affect business activities in many markets.

Liebherr achieves over Euro 10 bn in annual turnover

In 2020, the Liebherr Group achieved a turnover of Euro 10,341 million. Compared to the previous year, the company posted a decline of Euro 1,409 million, or 12%.

Demand diversity in CE sector

Infrastructure is a silver lining in the pandemic for many States. With the lockdowns in place in most States during 2020 and reduced vehicle traffic, crews continued their road work and were getting more work done than usual.

Tata Motors, SBI join hands to offer financial solutions to CV customers

Tata Motors, India’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, has inked a three-year MoU with the State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s leading public sector bank, to offer unique financial assistance for the purchase of Tata Motors’ range of small and light commercial vehicles

Tata Motors unveils Ultra Sleek T-Series range of new-gen smart trucks

Available in three models – T.6, T.7 and T.9, the all-new Ultra Sleek range is available in varied deck lengths from 10 to 20 feet to adapt to all the required applications.

CNH’s CE saw an increase of 6.4 % in net sales

CNH’s CE saw an increase of 6.4 % in net sales

ZF opens Digital Solutions Center in Bengaluru

The centre will support development programs for the domestic market

Cautiously Optimistic

The members of VDMA Construction Equipment are looking at the future with confidence. Industry representatives expect a slight decline in sales of 3-5 per cent this year at an overall stable level.

India is A strategically important market for Doosan Bobcat

With the inauguration of its first manufacturing facility in India, Doosan Bobcat has paved its way for manufacturing in India.

Manitowoc hosts open house in new S?o Paulo office

Manitowoc introduced customers to its new office in S?o Paulo, Brazil.

The Liebherr Group crosses ?10 bn annual turnover

The Liebherr Group notched up a turnover of ?10.551 billion in 2018, breaking through the ?10 billion barrier for the first time in the company?s history. This represents an increase of ?739 million, or 7.5 per cent, compared with the previous year.

COMANSA showcases novelties at bauma China

COMANSA unveiled its novelties at bauma China by presenting two new models of luffing-jib cranes, announcing the upgrade of two flat-tops, and showing for the first time its brand new corporate video.

23 Liebherr tower cranes at Chile airport expansion project

A total of 23 Liebherr tower cranes are being used for the extension of the Santiago Nueva Pudahuel International in Chile. As many as 15 flat-top cranes and three high-top cranes have already been assembled and are providing optimum load handling.

Vedanta Resources appoints new CEO

Vedanta Resources plc (Vedanta) has announced the appointment of Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan (Venkat) as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a member of the Board of Directors, effective August 31, 2018. He succeeds Kuldip Kaura, the current Interim CEO.

Manitowoc opens new Crane Care training centre in S?o Paulo

Manitowoc has opened a new Crane Care training centre in the city of Santana de Parna?ba, which is located in the metropolitan area of S?o Paulo, a major South American transportation hub. The move will provide easier access to Manitowoc?s training programs for technicians across Latin America.

Safety is an important feature in our cranes

The speciality of our tower crane shown here at Excon is that it is 'Make in India' in our Pune factory. In India, we manufacture the tower cranes NC-B 6-62, NC-B 9-62 and the 85 EC-B.

Access market for new machines has grown by 24 per cent

Although there has been an increase in awareness of the use of access equipment for safe and productive work at heights, compared to matured markets of Europe, the US, South America, Australia, Singapore, the Middle East, Japan, South Korea and China the growth in India has been dismal and nowhere close to its potential.

Wacker Neuson Group reports strong Q2 results

he Wacker Neuson Group reported record revenue of EUR 425.2 million for the second quarter of 2017 (Q2 2017). This corresponds to an increase of 11 per cent relative to the previous year (Q2/2016: EUR 381.4 million).

Comansa CM launches new luffing-jib crane

Comansa CM has launched the new luffing-jib crane CML165, with maximum load capacity of 12 tonne and 50-m reach. This new model is Comansa CM?s first addition to the CML Series, the factory?s luffing-jib family, which was created in late 2016 with the launch of the CML190 crane.

Terex| Finlay launches new model at customer open days event

Terex|Finlay hosted an international open day in Edinburgh, Scotland recently. The event was attended by dealers and end-user customers from North and South America, Europe, Russia, Japan and South Africa. In total over 350 dealers and customers visited the site over the two days.

Wacker Neuson posts revenue growth

The Munich-based international light and compact equipment manufacturer Wacker Neuson reported a record rise in revenue for the first quarter of 2017. According to a company release, adjusted profit before interest and tax (EBIT) increased significantly. At the close of Q1, order intake and backlog showed a clear rise over the figures posted for the prior-year period.

T?V Rheinland launches new data management portal

T?V Rheinland, a global testing, inspection, certification and consultancy corporation headquartered in Germany, has announced the launch of its new, stand-alone mobile digital solution for the management, analysis and tracking of asset integrity data.

T?V Rheinland launches new data management portal

T?V Rheinland, a global testing, inspection, certification and consultancy corporation headquartered in Germany with locations in over 65 countries worldwide, has announced the launch of its new, stand-alone mobile digital solution for the management, analysis and tracking of asset integrity data.

Linden Comansa to exhibit the LCL310 crane at ConExpo

Linden Comansa will participate at the upcoming 2017 ConExpo-Con/Agg trade show, along with Linden Comansa America (LCA), the manufacturer?s exclusive North American distribution and service company. The group's booth location is G-2789 in the Gold Lot of the outdoor exhibition area at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Revs up to Start

BAUMA CONEXPO INDIA, the international trade fair for construction machinery, building material machines, mining machines, construction vehicles and construction machinery is being held for the fourth time from December 12 to 15, 2016 at the HUDA grounds in Gurgaon near Delhi.

Chilean terminals opt for large cranes from TPS

Terex Port Solutions (TPS) has received two orders for large cranes from Chile. In the third quarter of 2016, a diesel-electric Terex Gottwald Model 8 mobile harbour crane in the G HMK 8410 two-rope variant has been delivered to Terminal Puerto Arica S.A.

Terex | Finlay unveils 3 new machines at US customer meet

Terex|Finlay recently hosted an Americas customer open day in San Antonio, Texas where the company launched three new machines: the new I-140 impact crusher, the new C-1540 direct drive cone crusher, and the new 674 inclined screener.

US CE exports down in 2016

Exports of the US-made construction equipment (CE) were down 24 per cent overall at midyear 2016 compared to the first half of 2015 with a total $5.65 billion

Chilean terminals opt for large cranes from TPS

Terex Port Solutions (TPS) has received two orders for large cranes from Chile. In the third quarter of 2016, a diesel-electric Terex Gottwald Model 8 mobile harbour crane in the G HMK 8410 two-rope variant has been delivered to Terminal Puerto Arica S.A. (TPA) in the far north of the country.

US CE exports still down at midyear

Exports of the US-made construction equipment (CE) were down 24 per cent overall at midyear 2016 compared to the first half of 2015 with a total $5.65 billion shipped to global markets.

Wacker Neuson?s revenue up in Q2

Wacker Neuson Group?s revenue for the second quarter of 2016 (Q2 2016) stood at EUR 381.4 million, almost equal to the record figure reported the previous year (EUR 382.1 million).

Bauma Conexpo India 2016 getting good response

Positive signs are reflected in the big companies signing up for the next Bauma Conexpo India.

SSK adds new Grove RT890E

SSK, a Sigdo Koppers company, has added an RT890E rough-terrain crane to its Grove fleet. The firm will immediately put the rough terrain crane to use in industrial construction and assembly of major projects in sectors such as mining and metallurgy, power generation, industrial plants, ports and pipelines.

Bauma 2016 - the biggest trade show on earth

Bauma 2016 - the biggest trade show on earth - spread across over 608,503 sq m (1.5 lakh acres) exceeded expectations this year with a participation of 3,423 exhibitors from 58 countries and the presence of about 580,000 visitors from 200 countries.

Carmix strengthens presence

Armixs self-loading cement mixers can be rented within the South American CAT Rental Store circuit since 2014. The agreement signed between the two companies will strengthen the presence of this Italian company in many states.

Kohler Engines: Service 2.0

Having designed the family of KDI engines, technologically advanced and the benchmark for industry standards within the sector, Kohler Engines is implementing sweeping innovations in the field of technical assistance.

Growing Leaps and Bounds

LiuGong?s overseas business will be around 40 per cent of its total revenue in 2020. When major activities are in operation, more international visitors than usual will appear at the LiuGong International Industrial Park in Liuzhou, a south-western city in China. They range from global dealers in the construction equipment industry, to end-users from across the world.

Palfinger posts revenue growth

Palfinger Group has posted a revenue growth of 10.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2015 at ?292.3 million.

US CE exports drop in 2014

According to American Equipment Distributors Association, citing US Department of Commerce data, exports of the US made construction equipment ended 2014 with a 13.2 per cent drop compared to 2013, with a total $17.26 billion shipped to global markets.

German CE sector grows

Turnover achieved by German manufacturers of construction equipment in 2014 grew by eight per cent, equaling ?8.4 billion in total, and, with this, is higher than was originally expected. This amount is about the same as was reached in 2006.

Driving Progress

Volvo Trucks, the market leader in the European premium trucks market in India with over 65 per cent of market share has recently launched three new global platforms in India.

Manitowoc to provide mobile service in Chile

Manitowoc Crane Care has launched a new mobile truck service to support crane owners when working in remote locations throughout Chile. The new Dodge RAM 3500 pickup service trucks will provide maintenance and support for those working in the construction and mining industries in the country.

Terex? Finlay launches Five Models

Following their recent public debuts at the recent Hillhead exhibition, England, Terex Finlay launched 5 important new product launches to the North, Central and South American Dealers and Customers at open day held in Baltimore, Maryland on Thursday 17th and Friday 18th June, 2014.

Metso opens mining service centres in Peru, Mexico

Metso continues to expand its global service centre network by opening mining service centres in Peru and Mexico. The investments, worth in total -?6 million, are in line with Metso?s long-term strategy to strengthen its local services presence close to its customers. Metso already serves its mining and construction customers from over 50 service centres around the world. A new centre is also in the process of being built in Mesa, Arizona, US and in Labrador City in Canada. Above -?20 billion in

Turning Low-grade Iron Ore into Profit in India

A Barmac vertical shaft impactor crusher for iron ore? The innovativeness of JSW Steel not only makes this possible, but also demonstrates the benefits an unconventional circuit can bring. JSW Steel is the largest integrated private steel manufacturer in India in terms of installed capacity and one of the lowest cost steel producers in the world. In 1997, when JSW started its iron ore beneficiation plant, the plant?s production was only 1.5 mt. Since then, the growth has been exponential and the

Good show by Liebherr Group

The Liebherr Group considers its presence at the 2014 ConExpo to have been highly successful. More than 20 exhibits from the Group?s earthmoving, material handling, tower crane, mobile and crawler crane, concrete technology, deep foundation and component product areas aroused strong approval. Compared with the 2011 ConExpo, the number of visitors was distinctly higher, and informative discussions were conducted with greater intensity than three years ago. Most of the visitors to Las Vegas were f

Tata Motors will continue to develop new products and upgrade its existing ones.

At Tata Motors, we strive to enhance our customers? experience, offering the unmatched benefit of a Tata truck, with best lifecycle cost, longer service runs and enhanced levels of driver comfort, resulting in best-in-class profitability and lowest payback period for operators, says Vinod Sahay, Head (Sales and Marketing), Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors. Excerpts of the interview.

Sandvik Construction sales dip

Sandvik Construction?s sales for the fourth quarter of the year were down by -7 per cent to SEK 2.17 billion ($332 million). The division recorded an operating loss of SEK 223 million ($34 million) for the three months, compared to SEK 83 million ($13 million) profits for the same period last year.

India is a key growth market for Valmova.

At Danfoss, we have the top technology for valves. With this bottomline, the business unit named Valmova which is fully owned by Danfoss, intends to promote technology at more affordable prices and that is why Valmova is specialised in the emerging markets, says Sanjay Bakle, General Manager, Danfoss India. Excerpts from the interview.

We are investing heavily in the expansion of our facilities.

Gandhi Automations is dedicated to the quality policy that ensures that its products and services fully meet the requirements of its customers at all times. Both in products and services, we maintain the very best standards. All of our products are certified to ISO standard and services are prompt and effective, says Samir Gandhi

The Ecopack series is contemporary and suitable for various market segments.

Cooper is always ahead of its times in adopting the latest technology and setting a benchmark for others. Prompt market support makes our clients prefer us, says Farrokh Cooper, Chairman and Managing Director, Cooper Corporation. Excerpts from the interview.

Global equipment mkt may grow at CAGR of 8.5%

The global heavy construction equipment market is estimated to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.5 percent upto 2018, some reports indicate. The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries and emerging economies of Asia-pacific including South Korea, and Australia are leading the growth for this mark

Caterpillar sales fall

Equipment giant Caterpillar saw its sales fall nine percent worldwide after a poor showing in traditional markets, with the exception of South America.

Sales increase for ZF

ZF Friedrichshafen AG has closed the business year 2012 with record sales of approximately ?17.4 billion ? a plus of 12 per cent compared with the previous year (?15.5 billion).

Sandvik bags MH orders

Sandvik Mining has secured major material handling (MH) contracts in South America and Australia. The combined value of the contracts exceeds SEK950 million. The orders include design and supply of conveying systems with a total length of 8.9 km.

Sandvik to acquire CUBEX

Sandvik has signed an agreement with CUBEX to acquire its drilling solutions business and operations. CUBEX is an industry-leading drilling solutions provider focused on design and manufacturing of a wide range of underground in-the-hole (ITH), and geo-technical drilling equipment.

Ashok Leyland tech centre

Ashok Leyland has set up a technical centre in the UK to strengthen R&D and address new markets in South America and Africa. The tech centre will serve as a hub for future products with enhanced safety features.

Kelley's strengths lie in its technology and innovative product range.

Over the last two decades, the equipment industry, both construction and material handling, has seen enormous growth. While construction equipment in India has reached a mature level in terms of technology, the material handling industry on a larger perspective still needs a lot of work to be done. The growing trend in FDI and increasing customer expectations throw open a greater amount of opportunity for the players in this field.

bC India affords excellent opportunity for UK manufacturers to access Indian market

The CEA aims to assist its OEM members by exposing them to users and distributors in India and UK component member companies, by introducing them to manufacturers in India looking to expand their supply chain and identify gaps in domestic production, says Joanna Oliver MBE, Director of Global Programmes, Con?struction Equipment Association, CEA, (UK)

bC India succeeds in attracting top decision-makers

Despite the challenging situation in the construction machinery industry, A BAUMA CONEXPO SHOW - bC India impressively strengthened its position in the Indian market. More than 28,000 professional visitors attended the show, which took place at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai from February 5 to 8, 2013.

Safety, Key for BAUER

BAUER Maschinen believes that supplying products that can reduce environmental impact throughout the whole of the product lifecycle, not just at the manufacturing stage, is their key responsibility as a manufacturer and also a useful choice for the realisation of a sustainable society.Due to the increasing and rapidly accelerating globalisation, the field of occupational safety, health and environment is facing new cha?llenges.

Cognex?s Machine Vision

India remains grossly underinvested in factory automation, something that is necessary for long-term competitive success in both the domestic and foreign markets, writes Didier Lacroix.India is ranked as one of the fastest growing markets and has seen an upsurge in the number of manufacturing facilities across the country.

Universal for 35 stores in 2 years

Universal Construction Machinery and Equipment Ltd said it will launch 35 exclusive stores in the next two years across the country.

Good progress for Sandvik

According to Sandvik?s President and CEO Olof Faxander, overall demand remained favourable in the second quarter of the year for the majority of Sandvik?s customer segments.

Sandvik bags mining order

Sandvik Mining has entered an agreement for the delivery of a large materials handling and crushing system for a copper mine with a customer in South America.

Making In-roads

TVS Srichakra brings new innovations to the streets with its range of single radius and uni-directional tyres for new vehicles.

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.

Liebherr is investing in skilled personnel and adequate warehousing

Our prime focus is on R9100 which is a 100-tonne class excavator which we will launch here in 2012. For large mining excavators from 26-42 cu m, we will be waiting for a perfect opportunity to launch in India, says Koenig Holger, Director, Liebherr India. 1 - - 23450 14 162 2012-01-01 00:00:00.000 Equipment India We see huge potential for tower crane business We are not only improving the productivity efficiency and effectiveness of the tower crane domain, but also improving the safety aspect on a human angle," says Rajesh Sharma, Vice President, Marketing, Escorts, in an exclusive chat with Equipment India. Excerpts from the interview.

How do you look at the performance of the Indian construction equipment market in 2011?
Definitely, 2011 is a growth year if you compare it with the sales in 2010. In 2010, the industry size all put together was about Rs 16,500 crore and in 2011 it is about Rs 18,500 crore. In that way growth has happened. Now the growth will not be seen for all kinds of equipment. Equipment market is a derived market. It depends on the activity. If there is a particular kind of activity which suits particular kind of equipment then that equipment will sell more in that year. So I would say that the growth rate has been in the range of 10-25 per cent across the equipment spectrum.

How did Escorts perform in 2011?
Our fiscal is from October to September, during which, we have grown by 41 per cent. The growth has been across the product spectrum. If look at it all the num?bers have grown and growth has been achieved holistically. If take individually, compactors segment has remained stagnant and very limited growth has happened because road activity was slow. All the rem?aining segments have grown beautifully.

Could you describe the partnership with Linden Comansa?
This partnership is an year old now. Last year, we had signed exclusive distribution agreement with them for Indian market. They are the mentors for tower cranes and our strength of distribution and developing skills in the market matched quite well.

What made you to venture into tower cranes?
In terms of growth opportunity we see a huge potential for tower crane business both in the real estate segment as well as industrial infrastructure. Real estate inve?stment is $16 billion which we think will go up to $24 billion by 2015. And industrial infrastructure is largely on the power side. A lot of activity will happen on nuclear power plant and hydel plant and these kinds of cranes are required. The usual small cranes cannot do the job. So believing this and looking at what happened across the world we thought there was huge potential for this and is why we entered tower crane business.

We are partners with Linden Comansa because they are the most technologically innovative company around. There was a lot of gap between what is available in India and what the world was using. Currently, the use of tower cranes is much lower and much basic in terms of technology. Flat top is what the world is getting towards so this was the right product to get into.

You said this partnership is not just for business sake but for solution providing. Kindly explain.
As a responsible supplier who has been known to be a pioneer in some field or other, it is our responsibility that we always try to push technology datum enveloped in the industry towards upward. This is one step towards that direction. We are not only improving the productivity efficiency and effecti?veness of the tower crane domain, but also improving the safety aspect on a human angle.

What kind of business are you looking at in the coming years?
We have already taken sizeable chunk of high-end market in the very first year. But the numbers have been really low like the size of high end market is small. By 2015 we want to sell about 200 machines. Construction equipment industry in the last ten years has been doubling itself every fourth year. Even if you see 250 numbers doubling to 500-600 numbers and we are aspiring for 200 numbers is not out of sync.

What is the advantage of these cranes as far as investment is concerned?
It is a product which has a very long life of 30-35 years which is exceptional in the construction equipment, so you can amo?rtise your investment over a longer period of years. The kind of rental market for tower cranes hardly exists in the country. But, if other assets get about 4 per cent a month, this will get 6 per cent rental a month in the market. Return on investment for a small hirer who is buying this equip?ment also makes it an economic case.

What are your plans to take this initiative forward in the coming years?
As far as the Escorts-Komansa tie-up is concerned, we need to focus more on communicating the technological adva?ntage and translating the equipment advantage into real perfo?rmance. That will happen by training people. That is why I declared that from December onwards we will be having a new training vertical in our school in Bengaluru which will be focussing only on tower cranes. Other products are happening but the new verticals will be open for tower cranes where we will be training people for operation maintenance and the optimum utilisation of the asset which is very important. We have already sent people for training and they have been trained by them and these are the people who will train them further.

How important is trained manpower?
We have emphasis on training. It is not only done for leveraging the marketing but also helping the industry and the country. Every business runs on what you are doing for the customer. If you are distributing well and you are having trained manpower in the country you have done great service to the customer. Equipment hardware is very easy to make. These two aspects are very important.

How do you see the competition in tower cranes?
There are already 12 players for tower cranes. But most of them are competing for the lower segment of the market. To be a player of a high segment, you need technological depth which they do not have. They have seen a Chinese crane and they made it and are selling in India. That is not going to do much favour in the long term. In the long term you need technological depth and innovativeness in terms of creating a shift from product selling to solution selling. This is entirely about solution selling.

How is the rental market for these cranes?
Hiring segment in the country is very decentralised and fragmented. Only two companies of large size are operating in India but they are not very effective. We have large populous of customers who are buying one or two equipment and are working in the close proximity and locality. They are not pan-India players. So Indian hiring industries are not organised as what we see in Europe and the US. When you have such a scenario people tend to invest in those
assets which are not high in value. Tower crane hiring will take some time to come around.

The high initial cost and then it is giving returns for 30 years and they are not mobile equipment. So these small hiring companies may no tend to get into it immediately. But as the time comes it will increase more and more. They buy assets depending upon what is demanded by the market.

What are your plans for 2012 and beyond?
Last year we achieved about 40 per cent growth and this year we are aiming at bettering that. We are very hopeful that we will be able to do that. We have a lot of new products in our armour both on the manufacturing and training site and I am sure we will be able to do that.

Are you planning to venture into other equipment segments?
We have a lot of opportunity in the verticals what we operate in. In crane side we almost have everything. On road construction side we only have compaction equipment and now we have added motor graders. There are many more we can add in that segment. Similarly moving north side we have backhoe loader. There are many products where we are not there and we can get into that later.

On A Growth Path

BKT has grown from $8 million to $450 million in the last decade, which reiterates that BKT is a growth-oriented organisation. A part of well diversified Indian industrial conglomerate, the Siyaram-Poddar Group, Balkrishna Tyres (BKT) started in the year 1988 to manufacture two- and three-wheeler tyres.

Volvo CE committed to US market

Volvo Construction Equip?ment?s (Volvo CE?s) President and CEO, Pat Olney, outlined the progress on the company?s investment plans for North America. He also stated that Volvo has taken the lead in introducing environ?mentally friendly Tier-4 interim/Stage IIIB compliant products in North America, with the successful launch of new gene?rations of machines affected by the legislation.

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