“We displayed our 70+ technology-driven products and brought in an experience zone for customers, vendors and new-age entrepreneurs. These products have been designed and developed to transform and grow the construction industry. We also launched our e-commerce website where customers can order equipment parts,” he informs.
“Visitors also saw our first-hand capabilities in research and development of new products, and our design & manufacturing capabilities. Especially for first-time customers, Technovation 2022 was an eye-opener as it gave them a peek into global technologies and best practices and raised their awareness on how the Indian CE industry is transitioning to one that is highly tech-driven.”
The webinars and technical conferences held at the event were well attended and highly appreciated for their lively exchange of knowledge-sharing seminars presented by over 20 speakers from different segments of the industry. About 18 topics were discussed by technical experts from renowned institutions and tech industries.
The event witnessed order booking and key handovers of 96 machines and new leads for 449 units of various equipment. Schwing Stetter also signed an MoU with Gulf Oil and another with HPCL to launch a range of genuine oils for construction equipment.
“Technovation 2022 served as a prominent platform for knowledge dissemination on technology adaption, and operational best practices. The response from ~1500 existing and potential customers was simply tremendous,” says Sakthikumar.
V.G. Sakthikumar, MD, Schwing Stetter (India), is confident that the company’s wide portfolio of products, which include the brands of XCMG, will set new quality and performance standards in India’s construction business. He discusses with P.P. Basistha the company’s business strategy to drive sales and meet customers’ expectations on services and support, on the sidelines of the company’s recently held mega event Technovation 2022.
How does Schwing Stetter (India) plan to promote the additional wide range of XCMG products and put in place the requisite sales and services support?
XCMG products will help Schwing Stetter India to expand and strengthen its business presence as these products score high on technology and services and deliver a high level of performance with low operating costs.
These attributes will enable us not only to drive sales of XCMG machines but will also set new benchmarks in India’s construction equipment business. We will use our state-of-the-art production and testing technologies to further align the new solutions to meet customer expectations. We have appointed close to 28 dealers and have put together an expert sales team for both pre- and post-sales of these machines, notably, the mobile and crawler cranes, piling rigs, and motor graders.
We expect to earn revenues of about Rs 300 crore this year, given the huge opportunities in road and metro railway construction, the upcoming high-speed rail, expansion of refineries, etc.
How do you plan to compete with companies that are already well trenched in the mass 20-ton and the more niche 30-ton+ excavator market?
The XCMG 20-ton excavators have been enjoying a strong brand recall in India since their launch a few years ago, and XCMG excavators scored the largest sales in India in 2021, even when the segment was depressed. Given their superior performance, we are confident of driving sales despite the stiff competition – including that of our higher capacity excavators. We have recently sold close to 20 units of our 50-ton excavators in the mining industry.
What about your medium and higher capacity mobile and crawler cranes?
We have close to 70 models of mobile and crawler cranes – all of which have already made their mark in the construction sector due to their lifting accuracy, efficiency, stability, and, most importantly, their safety aspect. We support all these machines with the requisite services and spares so that they deliver superior performance, low downtime, and profitability to our customers.
While Schwing Stetter has a sizeable business presence in the 30-45 cum concreting batching plant segment, will the company now tap the 20-25 cum capacity segment with its localized offerings and competitive pricing?
We are well aware of this segment, which is seeing demand mainly from the ready-mix concreting service providers and the smaller real estate developers. We are working on the product development and pricing as we do plan to enter this market segment with our competitive products and solutions, and an equally attractive pricing.
How is your mineral processing, crushing and screening business shaping up?
We plan to introduce the right solutions based on customer requirements in both the track and stationery segment. Currently, we have a strong presence in the niche demolition waste recycling segment with our ‘Rubble Master’ – a product that has got a very good response.
We plan to position ourselves more strongly with solutions that will enable commercial quarry owners to optimize their crushing plants and be more profitable. Our key initiative will be to provide solutions for producing M-sand. We will support the mineral processing plants with our wide range of high performing wheel loaders, as we did successfully for RMC plants.
Having become part of the Chinese XCMG Group, Schwing Stetter (India)’s product portfolio has expanded appreciably to include terrain cranes, cold milling machines, crawler cranes, excavators, horizontal directional drilling (HDDs), motor graders, rotary drilling rigs, tower cranes, truck cranes, and wheel loaders. Though these comprehensive offerings have widened the Schwing Stetter (India)’s reach and position in the CE market, they have brought challenges too as the company must align its sales and services to meet customer expectations, plus, build the new business in a highly competitive environment.
Banks still have reservations as regards financing new equipment; will this be an impediment to the sales of your machines?
I would like to express my full satisfaction with banks like HDFC, Federal Bank and other state and private banks that continue to repose their trust in our machines and are ready to finance them.
In contrast to their approach towards other equipment brands, banks view Schwing Stetter products as highly reliable and high performing, as they are giving assured RoI to the owners.
