JCB India sees long-term opportunities as government is receptive to industry needs.

Jasmeet Singh,
AVP – Corporate Communications,
JCB India.

Given  the  investments  allocated  by  the  Government  for  the  roads  and  highways sector-with strong focus on building  rural infrastructure, JCB India,  foresees  a  considerable  growth  potential in the coming future.  While there may be some stress in the present, the long term trajectory looks positive.

The recession has played out across sector and things are not well within the construction equipment sector as well, so what has been the impact on JCB?

Primarily driven by the implementation of Road projects, the year 2018 was one of the best periodsfor the Construction Equipment Industry. In fact,the last three years have been quite productive as the industry witnessed an increase in the demand for construction equipment. However, 2019 is seeing a demand compression due to a variety of factors such as the NBFC crisis, cash cycle being depressed and payments to the contractors not being done on time. So, it will take some time for the industry to stabilise.

Despite the slowdown, there is still a thrust from the Government for creating infrastructure in India.Given  the  investments  allocated  by  the  Government  for  the  Roads  and  Highways sector-with strong focus on building  rural infrastructure, we  foresee  a  considerable  growth  potential in the coming future.  While there may be some stress in the present, the long term trajectory lookspositive.

Has there been any impact on investments in terms of new products development and supplies?

There has been a slight decline in the overall business cycle. However since we have eight product lines, it will be difficult to quantify the exact percentage, as of now. But it has had an impact on the manufacturing, the dealers and the suppliers’side as well. Hence, we are recalibrating and re-adjusting our supply chain.

What are the differentiating factors of your after sales services?

JCB India provides a well-connected product support to its customers to minimise the downtime and maximisetheir productivity. The major differentiator is the number of outlets we have. We providean unmatched distribution network our customers through 700 outlets and over 63 dealers. Irrespective of the business conditions, we have kept adding these centres, over the years.

We have also introduceda whole lot of digital technologies for product support such as JCB Livelink, JCB Smart Serve App and Smart Machine Diagnostics app. We are providing the latest solutions – based on the evolving customer trends, by integrating ‘Internet of Things’ through our advanced Telematics Technology, LiveLink. JCB LiveLink enables effective fleet management – it helps our customers remotely monitor and manage their machines. Users, Dealers and JCB get SMS alerts on their phones  or mobile devices regarding the Service, Operations and Security of their machine. The data stored over a period of time gives vital information to the customer in terms of number of hours the machine has been operational, service intervals, fuel levels, malfunctions if any, etc. This technology aims to deliver constructive, real-time information to increase productivity and efficiency.

Further, the Geo fencing and Time fencing feature gives out an SMS alert whenever the machine moves out of the designated, pre-determined geographical areas or works outside the pre designated time limits.There are various instances where JCB machines which were stolen have also been recovered as they appeared on the monitoring system the moment they were switched on.

To monitor these machines in real time, we have set up a world-class command centre at our Delhi-NCR facility. Our dealerships have also set up similar LiveLink command centres to ensure that real time support is provided to the customers as they can now plan for service schedules and also engage with users and customers in preventive maintenance. Today, over 1, 25,000 machines across India are connected through JCB LiveLink.

How well prepared are you for the Euro IV emission norms and whatis the likely impact on pricing of products?

There are two emission norms expected to affect the equipment industry- one for wheeled equipment and the other for tracked equipment. The BS (CEV-IV), for wheeled equipment, will be effective from October 1, 2020 and we are prepared to welcome this change which will lead to better technology and sustainability in the long run. We believe the new standards will lead to considerable technological advancement in the product thus, getting us at par with other advanced markets such as USA and Europe.  They will also contribute in the enhancement of the overall value chain of the product-in terms of development, research and the percolation of this technology in the supply chain. Though it is quite early to comment on the impending impact on pricing, however in terms of engineering readiness, JCB India is all geared up.

What are your investment plans for the year?

In February 2019, we announced the investment of aroundRs 650 crore for components and sub-assemblies factory in Vadodara, Gujarat. The decision to build a new world-class factory at Vadodara builds on JCB’s commitment to India. The production at the new facility-which is a 44 acre site, will begin next year. It will house the most modern laser cutting, welding and machining technology and will be a fork-lift free operation. It will be capable of processing 85,000 tonnes of steel annually.So, apart from Vadodara project, we do not have any plans for investments in the near future.

What are some of the latest launches that we have seen in the company?

JCB India showcased its new range of products that is packed with ‘Intelligent technologies – the Intelli-Control, the Intelli-Compaction and the Intelli-Load in the bauma CONEXPO INDIA 2018.

The JCB140 Xtra, the JCB205 Xtra and the JCB215 Xtra, three new excavators showcased by JCB come fitted with Intelli-control. JCB also introduced a new Wheeled Loader, the JCB 432ZX Plus. The new Wheeled Loader has been designed to work more for longer hours at a lower maintenance cost. This 3T payload machine provides 11% more productivity and saves upto Rs 4.6 lacs fuel every year.

The new JCB205 Xtra Excavator which comes with Eco Hydraulics and Intelli-Control has been designed to deliver high output while working in the toughest and most rugged of the terrains, and provide upto 32 per cent fuel efficiency.

The JCB215 Xtra Excavator is targeted towards large-scale construction and quarrying projects. With Hydraulic regeneration system on the boom, arm & bucket operation, the excavator aids for faster cycle times and reduces overall fuel consumption. Additionally, the new JCB140 Xtra, which offers power management with Eco Hydraulics for higher fuel savings, has a new power plus mode for 6 per cent higher output.

The JCB 116 Soil Compactor is an industry first Compactor to have Intelli-Compaction integrated with Livelink. This world class technology provides relative compaction value, which helps in achieving consistent and uniform compaction throughout the patch. The digital display shows High/ Low frequency and Amplitude values for compaction control. Similarly, the Intelli-Load in the JCB455ZX Wheeled Loader helps in the real time monitoring of individual weight of the loaded bucket, total accumulated weight, and number of loaded buckets.

The new range displayed at the industry exhibition has been designed keeping the customer in focus. Each machine is upgraded for robustness, in addition to being digitally enhanced by the means of leveraging digital technology i.e. Big Data and Internet of Things in the range of products and services.

The Intelli-Control, Intelli-Compaction and Intelli-Load are all integrated with LiveLink, our advanced Telematics Technology, which enables predictive maintenance, location and monitoring to achieve high uptime of the equipment. This is an Industry first feature, enabling transmission of the monitored values to a server for analytics and report generation.

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