MANN + HUMMEL: Prepared to Leverage India’s Rapidly Evolving Construction Equipment Market.

Sudeesh K.

Managing Director India & Vice President OE, Rest of Asia, MANN + HUMMEL

How do you see the government’s ‘Make in India’ program and mission motivating industry to participate in it? How is this helping the construction equipment sector and its allied industries to improve its technological status and competitiveness in the global market?

The Indian government’s ‘Make in India’ program is aimed at promoting the manufacturing industry in India and encouraging foreign companies to invest in the country. The program is designed to make India a global manufacturing hub, by providing various incentives and support to companies that choose to manufacture their products in India. The program has certainly motivated the industry to participate in it, and there has been a significant increase in foreign investment in India’s manufacturing sector in recent years. This has resulted in the development of new and innovative products, which have helped to improve the competitiveness of Indian construction equipment companies in the global market.

The significance of this cannot be overstated for our strategy, as the rise in demand for innovative products and technical specifications has bolstered Mann + Hummel’s market penetration being the leader in the worldwide filtration industry, regardless of whether they are for traditional or any new energy drives in various sectors and markets.

What are your views on making India as a global construction equipment manufacturing hub?

The availability of skilled labor, cost-competitive manufacturing, and a large domestic market are some of the key advantages that India has in the construction equipment manufacturing industry. Our OE customers and end users rely on our expertise and experience in the field of filtration technology for many decades. By securing the best protection possible of their engines and machinery we take care of one of their major concerns.

Growing demand for genuine and high-quality parts mainly driven by the enhanced awareness about obvious advantages in the power and delivery performance of the engines or vehicles by active maintenance of filters and other accessories. Strong dust holding capacity and filtering efficiency provide maximum protection to the vehicle from harmful contaminants are key driving factors. Genuine OES filters maximize vehicle performance and increase flow of clean air into the engine, resulting in high power and reduction in fuel consumption of the vehicle. These is exceptionally important considering the extreme operation conditions and cost of ownership concerns from Indian subcontinent. We are experiencing a steady growth in market during recent years against counterfeit parts.

Our technologically advanced products are equipped with copy protection measures to safeguard against low-quality imitations ensuring protection and extended life of engines and machines. Additionally, we offer OES parts that can be accessed globally, allowing us to serve various OEMs across different regions.

What is your future strategies at a time when technological disruptions are rapidly defining businesses in the sector?  

We have been setting standards for 80 years and this is what we will continue to do. For example, with our new WAVELOCK bayonet lock. Spin-on oil filters from MANN+HUMMEL have been proven for years and offer optimum protection. However, the filter change of conventional spin-on filters is power-consuming and only possible with a strap wrench or a comparable special tool. The bayonet lock developed by MANN+HUMMEL for the mounting of spin-on filters sets new standards for easy servicing and reduction of service costs. Patented bayonet connection as interface between spin-on filter and filter head enables copy protection and prevents the use of inferior filters with increased operational reliability due to radial seals to the environment and between the dirty and clean sides of the filter.

Another example to mention here, is the MANN+HUMMEL self-cleaning air filter ENTARON XR with Impulse Cleaning Technology. This technology targeting the agriculture and construction machines with extreme dust load and continuous or high period of use like underground mining, mining dump trucks, tractors and military applications. The ENTARON XR removes the need for machine operators to carry out this elaborate and timeconsuming work. This is because the MANN+HUMMEL air cleaner cleans itself. Unplanned or preventive manual cleaning is no longer necessary, and users are not exposed to harmful dust particles. Machine operators benefit from this while the owners of agricultural and construction machinery also take advantage from lower maintenance costs, the extended service life of the filter, and the longer operating life of the innovative air cleaner.

What are your investments made in the Indian market in terms of manufacturing facility, distribution network and other aspects?

MANN+HUMMEL offers a full product portfolio for our local and global customer base. Being able to fulfill all our customer’s needs and demands has been and will be one of the key drivers for continuous success. MANN+HUMMEL has the strategic approach to fulfil demands for regional/ local markets. We are leveraging the benefits of centralized manufacturing hubs as well as local investments to be competitive in this market. Significant amount of localisation for various portfolio products being done already in various segments and many more are in focus for example, the construction segment, farming, industrial, on-road and off-road segments etc. Expansion projects for manufacturing plants and warehouse facilities also in pipeline alongside the growth curve expected in India.

We see different trends that are in demand at the same time and are becoming increasingly important:

– Increasing filtration efficiencies and longer service intervals to increase protection and reduce downtime: We serve that demand by for example using new synthetic and glass fiber filter media

– Reliable water separation to protect fuel injection systems; our innovative 3 stage separation technology is the best solution

– Easy and clean service solutions; by our Wavelock with patented bayonet locking mechanism

– Digitalization: e.g. constant filter monitoring for demand driven service

– Module technology: functional integration from simple spin-on filters to liquid filter modules

– Filtration solutions for new energy drive trains like BEV, FCV and H2 ICEs

Sametime as a global filtration expert we do have a solution for all of these new demands and many more customization possible for local requirements thanks to our established world class R&D Centre in Bangalore alongside our state-of-the-art production facilities in Tumkur (Karnataka) and Bawal (Haryana)

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