Kobelco believes in getting the job done at the right cost

– E. Moses

Vice President, Division and National Head, Excavator Division, Kobelco Construction Equipment India

What is your focus in IIME this time?

Our focus is to give a message to the mining industry that we are ready to handle mining equipments the way it has to be handled, we have understood the market and we are going to be a serious player in mining excavators. 

What do you feel about IIME giving value to its stakeholders?

I think being one of the critical expansions happening in the east where the actual coal, iron or mining happens in all forms, both in big operators, small operators, mini operators and rental people, most of the customers are involved in mining in the east.  So, it opens up an avenue for all the mining contractors, rental people and all of them were connected with mining to have a good knowledge about the current equipment available. I think it’s one of the key exhibitions for mining.  

How do you look at the concept of hybrid and electric powered machines?

Basically challenges are there, but we need to see the opportunities beyond the challenges, which is hidden behind the challenges. So obviously it is spear-headed by a few players and then everyone will follow. I think it is inevitable but looking at the Indian conditions, we do not know how far and how long it will take to really kind of create that interest with the customer.

How is Kobelco different from other competitors in the industry?

Kobelco believes in getting the job done at the right cost. We believe in fuel saving, we believe in less breakdown hours, we believe in component reliability, we believe in the whole equipment’s durability; which is all important for mining. All of this translates into per hour cost together. So, we very minutely track these developments. We saving fuel, we are the only excavator brand or the only construction brand which writes a slogan ‘We save your fuel.’ We are confident that we save minimum 1 liter in any model. 

India is a price centric market. So how do you match between price and quality?

We at Kobelco do not believe in price selling, we are out of price selling. So, we have one of the highest priced excavators. Our people are trained to sell value. We first position the features; we first position the criticality of long-term expenses or owning an operating cost. Then, we try to position the price. Otherwise, when we price in positioning, it would be very negative for Kobelco. We try and educate customers whether are you buying the right engine, are you buying the right technology, are you buying the right machine which gives you fuel saving. If these three ticks are there, then my price is okay. If he cannot put three ticks; durability, reliability, fuel saving technology, especially the CRDI technology of the engine. So if it is not there, then I don’t want to sell the machine to you because you will be talking about the price which is not our strength.

Can you tell me about the initiatives in skilling and operator training by your company?

We at Kobelco believe that being in the industry, it is our accountability to create capacity. By capacity, I mean it is not only to produce machines as per the demand, but also help produce people who can manage it, whether it is the service engineer, whether it is the mechanics at the field, parts or trained operators. So I am coming from there. We feel its our accountability first of all. Second; because we feel it’s an accountability, we have a constant training program of operators both on operational excellence and second point is preventive maintenance. The operator should feel proud of operating a machine which has least breakdowns. We try and create with the operator a sense of belongingness with Kobelco. We also have a certified program in IESC, also which runs continuously. Kobelco trained operators are available in the market.

Can you tell us the common challenges that you faced in the industry in terms of the machines?

The industry itself is a challenge; even a 70s technology can be sold. So, there is a huge range of machine starting from 70s technology, it is not a level playing field. That is the first challenge. As one of the leading manufacturers globally for excavators, we would love to have a level playing field in India. Second challenge is people, human resources. We have to repair our machines and we have to attract more manpower to come on work in infrastructure and construction equipment. The third challenge is funding. I would like to put it in simple form; in terms of industry standards, there has to be uniformity. So it is tier 4 for all wheel equipments…for crawler also. That’s the first point, second is human resources. Third point which I meant was the finance. Anybody wants to come and invest on a construction equipment and do a construction job. Today, first time user and first-time buyer is not able to get funds easily. So that’s another big challenge post covid that we are facing.

Where do you see Kobelco five years down the line? What is the future of Kobelco in India?

We have two visions; one, we want to make Kobelco the best place to work as we believe that without good employees a company cannot be successful. We want to put principles, processes and everything next to people. People will be driving the organization. We are focused on having the right resources and the right resources should feel that Kobelco is the best place to work. Second is, we don’t want to be known as an equipment seller, we want to be known as a solution provider for the customer. For the employee we want to be the best place to work and for the customer we are the best solution provider. For anyone who invests in Kobelco, who finances and funds our machines or anybody who is investing in Kobelco, they should feel this is the best, risk-free investment. So these are the three major driving forces which we are focused on.

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