We need a clear-cut grading of contractors based on past performance and quality.

Amarnath Ramachandran,
President,
LeeBoy India.

LeeBoy India in a short span of time has earned recognition for its quality, depth and width of innovative designs and providing customers with state-of-the-art equipment and technology. “At LeeBoy, we constantly engage directly with the customer and listen to him – his expectations and feedback. We offer a professional and efficient team and the infrastructure to manage these expectations. And at the centre of it all, offer world-class products,” states Amarnath Ramachandran, President, LeeBoy India. In an exclusive chat with EQUIPMENT TIMES, Ramachandran shares his views on the CE trends.

Amarnath Ramachandran, President, LeeBoy India

How do you assess the opportunities from the infra sector with regard to investments and implementation of projects and its impact on the CE industry for the next five years?
There is undoubtedly immense opportunities in the infra sector. Various initiatives by the government to attract long-term capital from both domestic and global investors as toll concessions are a safe place to park funds.
Large contractors in India today are more inclined towards EPC and HAM projects. And as the infrastructure projects go up, we will need more contractors to execute these projects. This calls for large capital expenditures. To mitigate the same, we expect the equipment rental industry to grow very large. Machines that were considered expensive a few years back like slip-form pavers, large batching plants and motor graders are now available at rental as well. However, while the obvious opportunity for the CE industry is the target of 40 km of roads per day, there are other areas like low cost housing, smart cities, secondary and tertiary roads, etc. which are yet to start up and present a huge potential.

As per your assessments which are the major challenges and which are the areas to be addressed?
• Major banking reforms and availability of funds for large scale execution of contracts.
• A clear-cut grading of contractors (based on past performance and quality). They can execute more if exempted from raising bank guarantees.
• Fast disposition of environmental / acquisitions litigation so that the projects do not lack viability due to cost overruns.

There are other standard cyclical challenges like the monsoon season, elections, etc. which makes the demand stutter a bit. A minimum reserve price need to be fixed so that a good quality road can be built and prevent unhealthy undercutting
of prices.

What are the implications of the global market slow down and weak commodity prices on the Indian CE segment?
The petroleum price increase is a challenge as it was the defferential which was used to fund roads. Low commodity prices would impact viability of mining in areas where price falls below extraction rate.

What has been the shift in buying patterns from the end-user segments and how have you been able to address the changing requirements?
The one key factor influencing buying decisions today is the ‘Total Cost of Ownership’. Along with this, customers focus on a combination of initial cost, service support, references from their fellow contractors (especially for operating costs). The range of product availability also makes a difference.

The end-user segments recognize that better features translate to a better return on investments via higher productivity and longer life.

At LeeBoy, we appreciate that, as the industry evolves further, contractors will shift focus to reducing fleet size by procuring larger and more productive machines. This translates into faster completion of projects.

Hence, we offer them a choice of a wide range of products – in the motor graders itself, for example, we offer models ranging from 13T to 26T; 150 to 280 bhp. Similarly, our heavy 24T excavator is at the top of its weight class and can be run for up to 24 hours a day in mines and quarries. Another benefit to the customer in procuring larger, more productive machines is that as efficiency increases, more projects are completed with the same team. This is especially advantageous in the current scenario in India where skilled labour is at a premium. More projects can be completed in the same time leading to more efficiency, faster infrastructure growth and everyone in the ecosystem gets richer.

At LeeBoy, we constantly engage directly with the customer and listen to him – his expectations and feedback. We offer a professional and efficient team and the infrastructure to manage these expectations. And at the centre of it all, offer world-class products.

To what extent you have built the service capability to meet the changing needs and requirements of the buyer segment?
As customers become more discerning, their expectations from OEMs and dealers are also evolving. The key to service today is expertise. The main expectation is uptime.

LeeBoy offers a comprehensive Post-Sales-Care Service package that includes:
• The Site Support Team comprises of expert service engineers, operators and trainers who visit the site at the time of commissioning. They familiarise the site team with the machine and also demonstrate how to extract full output from the machines and explain how to get optimal fuel efficiency.
• Vehicle specialists are available who keep visiting customers to gather feedback
• Our outlets and dealer network ensure availability of all essential spares for periodic and breakdown maintenance.
• FMC packages are offered in the mining segment
• The LeeBoy HelpDesk to enhance the speed and effectiveness of responding and resolving customer queries and complaints.
Overall, there’s a very clear focus on offering our customers quick service to maximize uptime.

How do you address the issue of lack of skilled operators and also brief us on the training programmes initiated by LeeBoy?
Any machine is as good as the operator technician operating it and the service team maintaining it. A skilled team not just optimizes fuel efficiency and productivity of the machine but also extends the life of the machine.
The lack of skilled manpower is an acknowledged ‘pain point in our industry and various initiatives have been taken at an industry level to resolve this, notably, the Infrastructure Equipment Skill Council (IESC) set up by Indian Construction Equipment Manufactures’ Association (ICEMA).

However, as the CE industry rapidly grows, the gap between demand and availability of skilled teams will only increase and much more concentrated efforts will be needed to bridge this gap. This can be done at two levels – at the design of the machine stage itself and at the OEM levels.

As an OEM, we have the LeeBoy EDGE (School for Expertise Development Growth and Excellence), an exclusive training academy where operator technicians and service teams undergo intensive training on operating the equipment competently and on preventive maintenance and troubleshooting. This certification helps ensure a longer lifespan of the equipment, higher uptime and lower maintenance costs. Keeping in mind the difficulty in the logistics of moving people around, we also conduct on-the-job training for our dealers and customer teams.

Our design focuses on providing better controllability to the operator so that he can maintain motion under any flow or load and take away the strain from the operator. These features reduce operator fatigue, cycle times and maximize efficiency and productivity due to ease of operations. This shows in our design and layout of the operator’s environment which incorporates features that enable the operator to expend less effort with much greater precision of movement during working.

There is high emphasis on operator comfort and we offer features to enhance ergonomic comfort levels as a standard configuration with all our machines. The cabins are very comfortable with state-of-the-art electronics, HVAC, suspension seat with adjustable steering column, hydraulic pilot (low effort) fingertip controls with sliding adjustment for positioning of levers.

What has been LeeBoy’s strategies to bring competitive cost, may be in terms of production and to an extent, insulating the customer from higher costs?
LeeBoy has tried its best to hold the sale price steady despite massive fluctuations in steel prices and the value of the Euro. This has led to the company taking a larger time to break even. Now, with volumes increasing, we are back on track as we have obtained discounts from vendors.

How do you differentiate your product in terms of competition – ease of operation, productivity, energy and fuel efficiency and safety?
Our products were designed and built here in Bangalore. As a late entrant, we have the advantage of being able to incorporate the latest German / Italian driveline and other critical system components. This is the differentiating factor. Variable fan drives, lock up clutch, dual circuit brakes, ground drive pumps, high quality work lights, seats, steering columns, brakes, etc. The above ensure that we have a very high efficiency in all sub-systems.

Could you please give an insight into your road map for the year 2020.
By 2020, LeeBoy India would have stabilized and commenced bulk production of the large graders to advanced markets. All products will be Tier IV and CE certified. We will have additional products like front end loaders, compactors, etc.

Hits: 62