Specific to mining, we see greater compatibility across products, brands and components within a process line.
Piero Guizzetti CEO, MB Crusher India Mining is one of the key sectors which contributes immensely for infrastructure and helps develop economies. What do you think is the current market for crushers in
– Piero Guizzetti
CEO, MB Crusher India
Mining is one of the key sectors which contributes immensely for infrastructure and helps develop economies. What do you think is the current market for crushers in India?
Without mining there can be no infrastructure. India continues to see important Government spending on infrastructure and it will be so for the next 20+ years. Connectivity was the first wave, so roads, bridges, railways and airports; recently urban infrastructure is seeing an increasing share of the pie. We see the overall crusher demand increasingly steadily in the 12%+ CAGR over the next 5 years. Interestingly, we see a greater level of segmentation in the market whereas before it was either very small crushing units or large, 200 TPH and up. There are now more segments being developed as contractors become increasingly specialised, while the needs of the Indian infrastructure more sophisticated and fragmented.
Apart from the traditional application areas, we see M-sand production, recycling and reusing of demolished concrete materials as major drivers. Going forward, contractors are increasingly wary of their capex expenditures and will seek optimal RoI across capital investments. In this frame, we believe MB to be well positioned owing to the diverse utility of our machines, their mobility and capability to be used in the most austere, diverse and hard to reach areas.
Which equipment do you think are the demand drivers in the mining sector and how geared up are you to meet this demand surge?
Medium term we believe that remote operations and automation will become increasingly important in the crushing space. The capability to remotely optimise production according to fluctuating demand can be a major profit driver for contractors. Mobility will become increasingly important, so we feel we are very well positioned to cater to this shift in contractor’s value map. Specific to mining, we see greater compatibility across products, brands and components within a process line. Contractors are more willing to evaluate new configurations that may help them meet their specific requirements. We are ready to complement the existing solutions that provide the large volumes as required by captive mine owners, with more targeted requirements that need flexibility and transportability.
Technologies are changing mining industry’s future. What are the latest technological trends in your range of crushing equipment?
Crusher buckets are considered to be among the latest innovations in the hydraulic attachments segment. Attachments are considered as a boon to secondary operations as they drastically reduce the capital investment required upfront. At the same time, they are more versatile in terms of applicability and do not require major logistical considerations and capital-intensive mobilisation costs as one would face with stationary crushers for example.
In our drum cutter line we have a proprietary priority valve system that enables flow to be prioritised to the drum that is encountering greater resistance. To the non-uniform nature of surface and sub-soil, this unique technology is being particularly appreciated by the market.
What are the key maintenance practices to be followed for the upkeep of crushing equipment?
We believe that the first 500 hours are the most critical. It is essential to control all component fittings. Due to the nature of crushers and their composition, any minor issue will have important downstream impacts on the machines. As with most things, it is hence important to invest up front via frequent and detailed checks. To ensure this we remain at site for the first two days, ensuring that we return frequently to supervise the proper setting of our machines so that customers may enjoy the long term benefits.
What are the challenges as a major player you face and what are your suggestions to iron out these challenges in this space?
At the moment we are seeing that financing is a bit of a bottleneck. Not just for us, but for the industry as a whole. Nobody is to blame, it is a global consequence deriving from the pandemic. As liquidity trickles back into the system, balance sheets improve, and loan capacity increases we see the overall Construction & Mining equipment growing very strongly starting from Q3 of FY22-23.
In normal market conditions, owing to the sheer size of the Indian market, one of our biggest challenges is ensuring speedy and rapid response to any of our customer’s needs. Our products are deployed directly at site, hence even with a single customer working in 1 state, we may have to travel hundreds of kilometers to service their MB machine park. For this, we have built very strong collaborations with our partners in the 10+ years of being in India and we are constantly investing in our structure, which is what is helping us stay on top and maintain our market leadership in India as well.
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