Akshay Patel, Director, Waken Multitech
A well worked out marketing strategy and competitive operating costs is driving our business growth.
We started manufacturing Mechanical paver finisher, semi sensor paver finisher and sensor paver finisher in 2016 at our production facility located on the Kamalpur-Padhariya Link Road on Mehsana Vijapur Highway in district Mehsana, Gujarat. The factory is equipped with complete cutting, fabrication, assembly, and testing units.
We believe that the right marketing strategy that addresses the application requirements of users in their projects, along with a long-term relationship with customers, and an offering of superior quality products, has enabled us to drive business growth and expansion, so much so that we have acquired another 11 acres of land near our facility. It will start production of different road construction equipment by 2023.
We have also gained new customers and are getting repeat orders from existing customers. This is because of the proven performance of our machines that give lower cost of operations and higher availability.
We have sold close to 400 pavers despite tough competition and market volatility.
We are targeting smaller and medium levels contractors who were earlier buying machines like the 11-m pavers from foreign manufacturers. These machines were often found to be unsuitable to their application and site needs.
We started offering them pavers within the range of 2.5m and extendable up to 4.5 and 5.5 meters, at cost competitive prices, while retaining superior quality standards and using components from manufacturers of global repute like Danfoss. We also made some improvisations in the machines so that they could better meet the requirements at project sites.
Our pavers have many updated features for uniform distribution of asphalt and Wet mix paving materials on surfaces even when the pavers are on the move. Broad hoppers help accommodate higher volumes of paving materials that are tipped from bigger bodied tipper trucks. The hoppers are made thicker and stronger so that they can withstand the force of the tipper bodies during operations.
We are optimistic of demand but volatility in the market has forced us to slow down for the time being.
Our order book reflects the demand prospect of our equipment, but the spiraling cost of raw materials, especially steel, extended delivery of critical components like pumps leading to almost 90 days of delivery of our pavers, and the delayed pickup of products by customers post-production, are matters of concern.
We are therefore going slow on production - from 15 machines per month we are now producing 10. However, we expect to tide over the situation and are looking for more vendors for timely component supplies.
