Schwing Stetter India: Enters New Business Avenue

Schwing Stetter India, which has been supplementing its concrete solutions with wheel loaders, tower cranes and concrete slip form pavers, is now looking to expand in the non-concreting business with the launch of XCMG excavators, which will be manufactured at its upcoming greenfield facility in Tamil Nadu. NBM Media reports.

Schwing Stetter India, a 100% subsidiary of Schwing GmbH and a part of XCMG group, recently introduced XCMG excavator models XE 80 C, 8 tons XE 140 I. 14 tons, and XE 215 C, 21 tons at an event in Chennai. Speaking at the launch, V.G. Sakthikumar, MD, Schwing Stetter India, said, “With market demand of excavators doubling to 25,000 units in 2018 from 11,000 units in 2011, Schwing Stetter India is extremely optimistic of its launch of the crawler hydraulic excavator range in the Indian market. Given that the industry will continue to grow steadily in the next few years with major infrastructure projects like interlinking of rivers, road and rail expansions, etc, in the pipeline, we are confident that our XCMG range of excavators will boost the earthmoving sector in India.”

The excavators will be manufactured at the company’s upcoming facility at Cheyyar in Tamil Nadu. To begin with, about 200 excavators of 14 to 30 tons will be produced here. In view of the strong price competitiveness in the domestic excavators’ market, it is likely that local manufacturing will give Schwing Stetter an edge in the marketplace. The company will also consider exporting to Middle East, African and Asian countries once the new, fully automated facility is commissioned in March 2020.


The crawler hydraulic excavator is being used in construction, excavation, earthwork, mining, quarry and roads and even in industries such as forestry, recycling, demolition, lakes, river cleaning and underwater applications, and is seeing consistent demand as more and more projects get awarded. Schwing Stetter’s versatile range of excavators are expected to find great utility in all these areas and especially at construction and mining sites as they will enable easier and safer construction practices. The company will be offering the excavators through its dealership channels.

Said Sakthikumar, “The new range has been conceptualized based on the current needs of the customers and customized with XCMG’s proprietary matching technology. They have undergone extensive trials to meet the requirement for smart, efficient products. Significant features include high performance slewing bearing, intelligent control, energy saving, reliable and durable X-frame, comfortable and safe operation, and easy maintenance. They will enable cost efficiency for quick ROI and bring resale value to our customers.”

Plans and strategies

Schwing Stetter India is keen to expand and consolidate its share of XCMG excavators in India and expand its reach to other developing markets. According to Sakthikumar, the company is actively working out strategies to build market space, given the colossal opportunities in the Indian infrastructure sector.

He added: “During 2018, the bulk of Schwing Stetter India’s business came from non-concreting solutions (predominantly XCMG products), which positioned us as the No. 1 business center in the entire group. The Indian facility is also seen as a global manufacturing base with exports to Eastern Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Bangladesh. Today, we have close to 35% market share in XCMG piling rigs and 20% in self-loading concrete mixers. To remain competitive, our strategy is to further localize our concreting solutions business; do local manufacturing of the excavators; and also wheel loaders, motor graders and rigid dump trucks for both domestic and export markets. In fact, to meet local requirements, we will also consider manufacturing more India-specific models.”

Expansions on the anvil

Schwing Stetter India has been reorienting its business strategy from a concrete solutions provider to a total equipment solutions provider with a broadening range of products that include concrete pavers, tower cranes, wheel loaders, motor graders, cold milling machines, truck cranes, crawler cranes, all terrain cranes, aerial working platforms, horizontal drilling and rotary rigs from Gomaco and XCMG, and its new addition - tracked crusher from Rubble Master.

As regards the company’s marketing strategies, Sakthikumar said, “While we enlarge our product verticals, we will strengthen our focus on customer specific requirements. For example, we have made our sludge pumps business, a separate entity. We now have three presidents and one CEO who are solely responsible for ensuring that the right products and the most appropriate services are provided to the customers. As an additional value proposition, for customers owning piling rigs and cranes, we will extend greater product support to them for higher availability of machines so that they continue to profit with better returns on their investments.”