We have built our capacities and machines which are our capital of growth.

– V. G. Sakthikumar

Managing Director, Schwing Stetter India

What was your experience with the Technovation Fest 2022?

From just a concreting company, we have transformed into a construction equipment company in most of the areas. We have missed out some patches like roads and other areas. But soon, we would like to be a complete company or an organization which has every product that is needed for a construction project. We have a good service and a good after-sales support. So the customer is willing to go to the same shop where is has a comfort, that is us.

Our customers are asking us why we are not stocking this product and that product.  That’s the experience we have had in this Technovation Fest. 

Tell us something about your efforts in the construction of the Global manufacturing hub at Cheyyar, Tamil Nadu? 

I became the Managing Director when the construction of this facility was about to start. When the agreement was signed, I was the Managing Director and I took direct incharge after seven months of the start of this construction. During those seven months, there was no covid. But, I took charge at the time when Covid was officially announced in the country. So pushing the project to get completed during the phase 1 of Covid and conducting the inauguration before the second wave of Covid was under me.

The background is that most of the investors who signed in the Global Investors Meet in Tamil Nadu had started their project, but had stopped during the Covid phase. But we did not. I did not believe in stopping. We had zero casualties due to Covid where we had 1,200 people at the site during the peak of Covid wave one. Couple of the workers fell sick; they went to the hospital and came back. But it was never a cluster formation. That’s because we had a good working culture here.

What kind of machines are you targeting for exports from the Global hub?

Actually, in terms of exports, all our products are confined to concreting products that is Batching Plants, Boom Pumps, Shotcrete Pumps, Recycling Plants – everything to do with concrete. We have two channels of exports. One is our own export organization which is spread from New Zealand to South Africa. We are also dependent on our group export sale organization which is based out of Germany. They take care of Middle East, Eastern Europe, Europe, North America and South America.  This is the difference between the two sales organizations. Now, we are exporting throughout the world. This year, many of our Plants have gone to Europe. Some Plants have gone to the Middle East like Israel and Saudi Arabia. We are also exporting all types of products to Africa and South East Asia after Philippines to New Zealand. And of course, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal are also our biggest export markets.

What is your share of exports?

When our turn over in 2020 was Rs. 500 crores, our export was Rs. 75 crores. So that was 5%. This year, our turnover is Rs. 2570 crores which is a 62 % growth and export has doubled to Rs. 170 Crores.

What are the factors contributing to this growth?

I can say that infrastructure growth in India is totally driven by projects of roads, bridges, dams, high speed trains, metro rails and various other infrastructure projects. This was a big factor for growth in concreting business. Infact, we have grown in every category of product. If we take any of our product, we have clocked more number than the year 2020. I think the customer also has more confidence on our brand.

Especially when the slow down and crisis happened, they would like to chose very carefully. They will not take risk. That also has helped us. Because we have seen in all the previous slowdowns that our market share goes up.

How is this global hub different from the other manufacturing facilities for Schwing Stetter?

All our manufacturing facilities are made under International Standards. There we ramped up the capacities and added machines as the numbers grew. But here, we put everything upfront. We have built our capacities and machines which are our capital of growth. Now, we are waiting for the market to grow. And that is happening in 2022 and is going to be helpful for us by creating this capacity.

How is the industry picking up post-covid?

If you have to ask me, 2018 was the best year for everybody in the construction machinery industry. 2019 was a parliament election year. So, the market dropped. And in 2020, it was all about Covid and long lockdown periods which resulted in further drop of market growth.

The year 2021, for everybody is more business than 2020. For somebody, it is more than 2019. And for somebody, it is same as 2018. But for us, we are 20% more than 2018.

So you imagine that the year 2021 is the best financial year for us. But that is not true for all the equipment manufacturers in the country. Overall market is developing.

How did you tap this opportunity given the present scenario?

I believe that the customers trust can come only if they have a best experience with the company. If we can gain that trust by working on a 360 degree angle satisfying them by your product, product performance, transparency, value for money, parts and service support and regular interactions and buying back our own machines – we are there everywhere. On the overall basis, our customers are happy.

This is the reason, in critical projects like in the Prime Minister’s Office is managing our projects. I am 100 % sure that nobody buys any machines other that our products. Because they know that by having our machine, they can guarantee the PMO of the performance of our machine for that type of a project.   

What are the growing expectations of the customers?

Performance of the product, value for money, good service, good after-sales support, credibility and transparency and we are giving all of this. They are seeing that as a company, we are looking beyond transactional relationship. Today, we are committed so much on our skill development. That’s the credibility we have earned. 

What are the future plans / roadmap / challenges for Schwing Stetter India?

We will be bringing out new technologies and we will be launching new products for the end-to-end customers. In terms of challenges, we do not foresee any challenge if the money allocated in the budget is spend for infrastructure. It will be of great help for everybody.

This year’s budget talks about river interconnection, further phases of Metro lines, new airports, and new railway stations – everything needs concrete and so, there is enough business. Infrastructure boom will be very much high this year.

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