SCHWING – XCMG has expansive plans to own a larger share of the predicted 32,000-unit market in 2025
Demand for hydraulic excavators has remained consistently high in the domestic market during the last decade. It grew steadily from 16,488 units in 2016 to peak at 25,474 units in 2018 before dropping to 16,382 units in 2020. The active population of hydraulic excavators is estimated at 162,061 units at the end of 2020. Sales of excavators are expected to reach 22,000 units in 2021 due to the easing of Covid-19 restrictions and an increase in economic activities.
– V. G. Sakthikumar
Managing Director, Schwing Stetter India
What is your outlook on the excavator market in India? What are your future plans for the market?
Demand for hydraulic excavators has remained consistently high in the domestic market during the last decade. It grew steadily from 16,488 units in 2016 to peak at 25,474 units in 2018 before dropping to 16,382 units in 2020. The active population of hydraulic excavators is estimated at 162,061 units at the end of 2020. Sales of excavators are expected to reach 22,000 units in 2021 due to the easing of Covid-19 restrictions and an increase in economic activities. Furthermore, against a backdrop of an increase in infrastructure development activities, demand for hydraulic excavators is predicted to grow in the long term and is forecast to reach 32,000 units by 2025. And SCHWING – XCMG has expansive plans to own a larger share of the predicted 32,000-unit market in 2025. The main factor which we believe that makes our excavators to stay ahead in the industry is that SCHWING – XCMG machines have the Widest range/tonnage capacity in the excavator product range which is suitable for any kind of industry wise applications,
How is technology evolving in excavators in terms of: productivity, fuel efficiency, and operational efficiency?
The most dominant trend that has come into the industry is the unmanned construction equipment which can clock 24-hour work schedules with zero-errors and consistent efficiency. The demand and application of the machinery that pertains to this trend is mainly in demand in the European countries where 5G networks have been completely established. The Indian conditions which require working in different terrains where basic network connectivity is a major challenge, is not suitable for the current machines that require high speed network. The implementation of this technology in India and demand for the machinery developed under this section will take around 5 – 10 years at least. But this is certainly a trend to look out for as it has the potential to transform the industry.
With so many added features in your machine and India being a cost-centric market, how do you maintain the equilibrium between cost and quality for your excavators?
SCHWING – XCMG is completely focused on localising all manufacturing related requirements to achieve an equilibrium between cost and quality without compromising the existing impeccable quality of our machines. The localisation of spares requirements brings an ease of access to spares requirements for our customers as well. The quality of the products in the Indian spares market is top notch with growing indigenous suppliers who are also exporting them to European. India being a vast market for CE products; how does your company propose to manage this vast market through placing a strong dealership network and distribution channel, pre- and aftermarket sales support services for the users?
SCHWING – XCMG is a company that firmly believes in aftermarket services, and we take pride in recognizing ourselves as on the best client-service providers in the industry. Adding to our existing diligence in aftermarket servicing, the cutting-edge technology embedded in our machinery gives us an edge in premeditating the service and parts need of our machinery and planning the schedule to meet the requirements of our client without delay and fail. These facilities provide an equal opportunity to the manufacturer and the customer to gather data and understand the requirements of the machine on-time.
What are your market challenges and suggestions for improving the market for excavators?
There are some challenges like in term of input cost since steel price is went up so it impacts directly on total manufacturing cost hence costing impacted. Since we are using global platform to develop our product, our technology adoption cost is manageable that’s why we are committed to offer technological advance product to our customers. Customer buying trend slightly inclined to eco segment machines to keep low investment.
In the coming years, most of the growth in the construction industry is likely to come from 3 main segments – the urban sector, rural sector, and the transportation sector. This indicates a robust growth of the equipment sector of India soon. With the emphasis on indigenization, the businesses can fulfil domestic requirements with tailored and cost-effective options. This will be a great help for the suppliers to improve margins and costs. Better awareness of the benefits of using qualified manpower, training programs and dedicated grants, scholarships for manpower training can be a boon for the industry. Also, the buyback plans and used-equipment exchanges can help strengthen the market for the sales of used machinery.
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