CMAC: Bringing Quality to Indian Manufacturing

Hyderabad-based CMAC is working with various component manufacturers to bring the best technology in its material handling products that include passenger material hoists and suspended platforms.

Says Rambabu Cheruvu, Managing Director, CMAC, “With our intensive R&D for product design, we are bringing value-added products for the benefit of the Indian infrastructure companies. Our men & material hoist / suspended platform helps reduce installation and relocation time and the cost required for such type of hoists, plus it is easy to install, operate and maintain. It is an innovative product for multi-floor stop selection.”

“Today, in the material handling segment, Indian manufacturers are giving tough competition to many global companies. This is because Indians are very good at identifying new technologies and the CE industry has been gradually adopting modern practices and has improvised many of the manufacturing processes.” He opines that the phrase ‘India is the land of opportunities’ is as true as ever in the current times. “We will adopt this phrase with pride! The Government is encouraging ‘Make in India’ and even the end-users are keen to use Made in India products.”

The drive to make indigenously designed products has pushed CMAC to undertake extensive R&D and is jointly developing the motors and gear boxes with well-known Indian manufacturers. Informs Rambabu, “Our in-house research and development has helped us gain a technical advantage, but with a slight cost overrun. We are collaborating with two well established manufacturers in the segment of hoists and cradles. Though we have been cautious with our investments, we have continued to be in the forefront of producing value-added products designed for project specific applications.”

He informs that CMAC has designed, manufactured, and delivered Twin Cage hoists, Bridge SRP with 32 m span (towable), Circular SRP for Chimneys, Circular SRP for lift irrigation projects, etc., and its steel rebar carrier has helped clients supplement their crane at the sites. The latest from CMAC is the Inclined or Curved Hoist.


With its aim to become a total solutions provider in vertical / horizontal transportation of men and material at construction sites and other infrastructure segments, the company is bringing in new technologies while keeping their product pricing competitive with other popular brands. CMAC’s products in this segment include Mast Climbing Platform and Suspended Rope Platforms.

Says Rambabu, “As the heights of residential and commercial complexes are increasing by the day, especially in the metros and even in tier 2 cities, it’s time to look at speeding up the delivery of the construction material and the workforce at project sites. Though we have used speeds up to 96 m/min for cooling towers and chimneys, we had to choose between speeds of 33 to 60 m/min for the housing and commercial infrastructure projects. In these buildings, the travel is from floor to floor or from ground to different floors. For example, in a 20-storied building, the maximum number of stops could be 20 and the minimum could be 7 (that is, at every third floor). So, the maximum travel distance would be around 10 m, considering the travel to three floors. According to this, we have chosen to go with 3 speeds with respect to the heights of the buildings: up to 60 mts 0-33 mpm; up to 120 mts 0-45 mpm; and up to 180 mts 0-60 mpm. The structure and the cage build of our hoists will change somewhat due to the dynamic loads and their own capacities. Our motors are of 15 -26 Kw with a variable frequency system and the gear box was calculated at a ratio of 12.”

He informs that CMAC’s first machine manufactured in India was a 2.5-ton hoist (Rack & Pinion) which runs at a speed of 1m/sec and is designed for constructing structures above 120 m. It has been tested at the company’s facility and is now working successfully at a site in Hyderabad, where it is saving construction time and the client is seeing increased productivity by 70%. CMAC is also upgrading the hoists with load cells, floor calling, and in special cases, a built -in camera to monitor the security and productivity. The choice of input components are from Schneider or Yasakawa, and Torino drives are for the electrical components.

Ensuring safety to the users of its products is an important focus of the company. Observes Rambabu, “Today, India is developing at a fast pace as the Government is focused on the country’s infra construction. To achieve the set targets, hoist manufacturers must assure speed, accuracy, and safety during construction of the projects - be they mega projects like refineries, power, cement and steel plants, etc. or multi-storey housing structures. At CMAC, our endeavour is to make hoists integrated with new technologies to help contractors deliver timely and safe construction.”

CMAC has been studying the market requirements and has strengthened its marketing and after-sales technical support divisions. It also provides consultancy on mechanization for various infrastructure sites. “We work closely with our clients to understand their requirements so that we can deliver the right solutions as per their projects. Aurobindo, a reputed developer of Hyderabad approached us with his requirement and after seeing our engineering capabilities, placed an order for two CMAC machines with a speed of 60 mpm and 2.5 m load carrying capacity,” informs Rambabu.