There is customization and adaptability factor to the Indian application taken into consideration while designing an equipment

– DHEERAJ PANDA

Chief Operating Officer (Sales, Marketing & Customer Support) Sany Heavy Industry India

What is your focus for bauma India this time?

The focus is on about two to three things. One is, we have reached a milestone of producing, manufacturing and marketing about 25000 machines since our presence in India. So that’s one celebration moment for us during bauma. The other is the launching of about 12 new equipment including the asphalt line which is the road segment, that we are trying to enter into the Indian market. So you had a display of 10.2 meter paver, a milling machine which is a track milling machine, automatic tyre rollers and asphalt batch mix plant. You can also witness the new variant of grader. There are about 21 machines that are displayed here. The 12 machines which are being introduced to the market, includes the asphalt range, some of the new excavators, like the 6 ton Pro series excavator, 20 ton SPARC Series excavator which comes with high fuel efficiency, different speed, different efficiency of operation. Then there are MIII rigs which is a multi-function piling rig, cranes and there are the mining equipment, the truck that we are introducing; the SKT105S. It’s a 70-ton capacity mining truck being introduced into the market.

Our communication of ‘Naye Bharat KaNirmata’, it’s a good platform to kind of network with the customers with our financing partners and our other stakeholders, who have a significant contribution in making Sany brand what we are today.

What are the technological advancements that you have right now?

Technology wise, Sany, at a group level, we try to get the newest technology to the market that we operate from. While there are many other manufacturing companies in India who would kind of, I would not say customize but kind of adapt to a technology that is more suitable to an Indian context in terms of pricing. India is a little price competitive market but at a group level, our understanding is that we get the newest of technologies to India. So what we see in the US or Europe market or in any other advanced market is what you find here in the majority of our machines. There is a customization, there is an adaptability factor to the Indian application taken into consideration while designing the equipment because our retail customers run these machines for nearly, close to 15 to 17 hours and for mining machines nearly 22 hours. The second is of course the fuel economy which is so critical to the operation today. Most of our machines are the best in their class in terms of fuel efficiency.  So, there is telematics and mechatronics which is involved in ensuring that there is a proper match between the engine running and the hydraulics operation. The third part in terms of technology is the introduction of EV based vehicles. While we have taken some long strides in markets outside India, in India the overall charging ecosystem is again evolving. We are seeing that in commercial vehicles or rather cars which are at a faster pace.

You mentioned all these technological advancements but India is a price centric market. So how do you balance between technological advancements and also cost, quality and cost?

To my understanding, quality is never equated with cost. I sincerely believe the customers in India also understand this. Not everyone is looking for a price package or the lowest price kind of a product. They also see value because as I said, the project timelines are reducing. So there is a definite understanding with the customer that the machine has to be reliable, it has to run 24/7, minimum 20 or 22 hours a day. The second part is project cost, there is a huge competition among  the contractors or the customers also…so therefore the fuel efficiency and the other operational parameters is brought in by designing it to a different level, is something that the customer is expecting as a hygienic factor now. So, I am not too worried about the price part.

Advancement in technology means that you have to train your staff according to the new technology involved. So, what are the training initiatives?

We have a full-fledged training division. Since we have a variety of equipment and we cater to the port, the mining, the hoisting, the roads and the excavation part; We have continuous upgradation of skills, skills of our own Sany engineers plus skills of our dealer engineers. So, the retail market and the excavator market and the grader market are primarily handled by our dealers. There are close to about 800 service engineers that we need continuously upgrade their skill levels. We have designed the training in four parts; C0, C1, C2, C3 is what we call them. Then we also create experts in the field. We have a Sany Sarvottam competition amongst our own engineers, from the dealer level also and from our own engineers also across the business unit lines. So, we have a piling rig expert, we have an excavator expert. In the excavator or piling rig, we have an electrical expert and a hydraulic expert. So, they become trainers at the regional level. So, it’s a continuous process that we do to keep up with technological advancements. On top of these, we also have operators, master operators as well as them in our roles. Like for dump trucks, a very significant factor is the driver or operator’s behavior. We have tied up with the Infrastructure Equipment Skill Council (IESC) and our trainers are already certified trainers. Sany Bharat’s facility in Pune is also a certified facility by them.

What are the challenges in the industry that you face?

There are challenges on a daily basis, there are challenges on a long-term basis. The price sensitivity in the Indian market is a challenge. Skilling up is a challenge. Localization is again a challenge because that is something which also brings in a lot of long term prospective to us. The more we localize, the more we have control over the logistics, the supply chain, over the deliverables.

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