“We are into expansion mode and there are number of products in the pipeline.”

Nischal Mehrotra,
Director – Sales & Service,
LiuGong India.

Our philosophy lies in providing world class construction machinery and excellent service to our customers.

LiuGong has always been consistently developing new products and product mix to keep on retaining its consumers and provide them a one point solution. Its thrust is retaining the no1 spot in 5T wheel loader segment and to attain a sustainable growth in 3T class. In the motor grader segment, the company eyes to be No 1 by 2020. The company has already lunched full range of excavator from 8T to 50T in India, and has also forayed into the compaction segment with the launch of LG 611. “We are into expansion mode and there are number of new products in pipeline that will be launched in India within this time frame,” states Nischal Mehrotra, Director – Sales & Service, LiuGong India. In an exclusive interview with EQUIPMENT TIMES Mehrotra high­li­ghts the company’s vision, and sheds light on the compaction equipment market trends.

Could you throw some light on LiuGong’s vision by 2020? 

LiuGong is one of the foremost construction and mining equipment manufacturer globally. We want to put our mark in all the infrastructure sectors of India and evolve as a single window to cater all the customer need for world class construction machinery. Our core value is customer oriented approach; assuring the future by quality and creating values through cooperation. LiuGong vision is to become market leaders in wheel loaders in India by 2020. We are into expansion mode and there are number of new product in pipe line that will be launched in India within this time frame. We are in continuous support of ‘Make in India’ movement. Imparting knowledge through training and creating employment supports the vision of skilled India is one of the major motto and target of LiuGong by 2020.

LiuGong has a strong presence in wheel loaders and motor graders in India and you have recently forayed into the compaction equipment segment with the launch of 611 compactor.  Could you brief us on product philosophy and what market share do you expect by 2020 in compactors?

Having most of the offerings for road construction equipment like wheeled loader, excavators and motor grader, launch of compactors complete the family to great extent. We have already started manufacturing it locally in India to widen its footprint in road equipment business.  Our philosophy lies in providing world class construction machinery and excellent service to our customers. Due to present government’s high focus on building roads across the country, we foresee a decent growth thereby enhancing our market share in compactors apart from our other offerings under road construction equipment.

How intelligent is the machine?  Also shed some light on its features that increase productivity of the machine?

To increase our compactor productivity, 611 is embedded with Intelligent Compaction Meter by which operator can check amplitude, frequency and ICV (Intelligence Compaction Value ) on display screen  to achieve desired density. It saves fuel, time and reduces excessive damage to soil.

LG 611 is equipped with fuel efficient Kirloskar, 4-cylinder, water cooled engine that delivers 105 HP at 2,200 rpm and torque of 375 Nm at 1,300 rpm with low exhaust emissions and fuel consumption. The optimum weight distribution combined with higher static linear load delivers excellent compaction.

How operator-friendly and safe is the new compactor?

The steering wheel and instrumental console are designed to ensure fatigue free operation. The cab platform is mounted on 4 shock absorbers to isolate it from any vibrations to make operator feel more comfortable and stress free. The machine features with centre-joint with a ± 35 degree angle of articulation and ± 17 degree of oscillation, improving stability and maneuverability. With drum width of 2.13 m with static linear load is 29.1 kg/cm, it ensures compaction of sub grade and sub base layer up to 500 mm.The combination of the hydrostatic travel drive and hydraulic braking action of the hydrostatic driveline increases safety at work. It is designed particularly for expressways, highways and urban roads on the application front.

How attractive is the compaction equipment market, and what are the challenges you expect to make a decent market share at the earliest?

The current year has been extremely good for all the road equipment manufacturers due to high emphasis on the road sector by the present government. With additional projects being awarded under roads segment, the boom would prevail. Furthermore compaction equipment tends to grow at 12% CAGR thereby giving opportunity to all the players for growth.

We at LiuGong would also like to utilise the present market conditions in the best possible way to enhance our market share. Since we have decent market share in other road construction equipment categories, we ought to increase our market share in compactors too.

Do you plan to enhance the compactor range in the near future?

We have recently launched 611 an 11T soil compactor as it is hot selling equipment in India. Globally we do supply tandem and pneumatic roller and we would be launching it in India too as and when there is market demand.

Why Indian asphalt roads need to be repaired in less than three years? As a complete road solution provider to the Roads & Highways sector what is your take on this?

The deterioration of roads faster than the designed period depends on many factors. Firstly the inefficient camber on road and proper water drainage system. Most of asphalt roads get disintegrated during rainy season rather than daily use. When roads get flooded with water for extended period of time, water seeps through the asphalt layer into the gravel. This water will lubricate the gravel, allowing the underlying rocks to move against each other. This gravel function is to provide foundational support to the plasticity of overlaid asphalt. When asphalt deforms due to load, the gravel underneath also deforms. This results in potholes. The effective method to reduce the potholes is by providing better camber on road by using auto-leveling features in motor grader and proper water drainage which is the main issue in India due to congested road in cities.

Another major factor is poor compaction. Current procedures using conventional compaction machines may result in inadequate or non-uniform material densities, which can be one of the major factors in premature pavement failure. Intelligent compaction system helps overcome this issue by optimizing the compaction process. Our newly launched LiuGong 611 soil compactor is equipped with intelligent compaction CMV to achieve the required density by continuously giving feedback to the operator about density.

What role advanced compaction technology such as intelligent compaction plays here especially in terms quality of execution, supervision and regular measurement of compaction?

Intelligent compaction is combination of measurement technol­ogy with the regulation system. It plays a key role to produce excellent compaction by continuously evaluating and giving immediate feedback on compaction effort; satellite based positioning system provide mapping for pass counts, compaction
levels and in asphalt application temperature. This information is available in real time for the operator on the color coded monitor. Some advanced systems can adjust drum force according to target compaction level also.

IC technology can effectively improve the roller patter to achieve more uniform compaction, and the compaction curve identifies the optimum roller pass to help avoid under/over compaction.

What are the factors that prevent its adoption by the concerned authorities and end-user segments and what are your suggestions to iron out those issues?

Everything comes with added cost. Although intelligent compaction has added advantage to reduce
guesswork from compaction, due to its high initial cost contractors tend to overlook the long term impact the system can have over operating cost and compaction quality. If we go by contractors perspective, experienced operator always help in getting right amount of density as compared to adapting intelligent technology. However, the trend is gradually changing.

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