Atlas Copco Strengthening Base in India
"We believe in the Indian growth story and will continue to invest in the country as we have been doing it for more than 50 years," says Ronnie Leten, President & CEO, Atlas Copco.
Atlas Copco is strengthening its manufacturing base in India with an additional Rs.70 crore investment at its Hyderabad plant. Targeting completion by March 2017, the project plans to go further to set-up a world-class R&D test center for the company's rock drilling products. In the coming months, the Hyderabad plant is scheduled to introduce new products such as rotary products for oil and gas applications. The announcement was made recently by Ronnie Leten, President & CEO, Atlas Copco.
Atlas Copco is a global leader in providing innovative productivity solutions such as compressors, vacuum solutions and air treatment systems, construction and mining equipment, power tools and assembly solutions. "We provide solutions not just for assembly and maintenance, but also for quality assurance processes, error proofing processes (including software & hardware) as well as material removal processes. All major companies in India rely on Atlas Copco's modern tools and assembly systems. We believe in the Indian growth story and will continue to invest in the country as we have been doing it for more than 50 years," stated Leten. He also reinforced the intention to take further collaborative steps in line with the government's "Make in India" initiative. The intent: To boost productivity of clients with optimum equipment solutions.
The company has announced the launch of three new locally produced compressors– Electric Portable Compressor, XRHS65 Compressor, and VSD+ ranging from 7kW to 37 kW. These compressors include enhanced sustainability technology, encouraging energy saving among other carbon footprint lowering features.
Paving the road
They have already introduced 2 new tandem rollers from the Nasik plant, early this year: The CC425 for asphalt compaction and the CC125, utility roller. The new additions to the existing soil compactor CA255 for road customers, makes them more competitive with more product offerings to choose as per the requirement. Also available are high-end advanced rollers from Sweden and paver finisher from Germany.
The Nasik plant was in the news for launching the 50th Drill Jumbo L2D for tunnel drilling in the Indian market, showcasing its existing scale of domestic manufacturing.
Putting quality together
The company's Industrial Technique Business Area provides productivity solutions to all manufacturing companies. In fact, Automotive as well as Aerospace, are the most important markets. Apart from the typical "assembly" oriented sectors, they are now a productivity and maintenance solutions provider to a lot of core sector industries including Wind Energy, Oil & Gas, Refineries and Petrochemicals, Iron & Steel, Fertilizers, etc. The large stationery and rotating equipment used in their plants require regular loosening and tightening of the bolts & nuts for initial assembly as well as during maintenance. This activity is called "bolting", which is carried out using high-power hydraulic tools. Atlas Copco specializes in bolting solutions with two strong product lines namely "RapidTorc" for tightening and "Tentec" for tensioning. Atlas Copco provides solutions not just for assembly and maintenance, but also for quality assurance processes, error proofing processes (including software & hardware) as well as material removal processes.
At home in India
India is an important market and manufacturing base for Atlas Copco. While it is in a position to offer several solutions for typical Indian weather conditions like heat and humidity etc., it offers as high as 80% indigenous content in its products. The company sees an increasing acceptance of their products for their energy saving and power electronics technology that offers advantages like better steering and more.Domestic manufacturing gives them an immediate advantage of most suitable products at competitive rates. And this with a clear mandate of selling quality at all times. Product range is expanded with multi-brand strategy. The most well-known brands include Chicago Pneumatic, Dynapac, Atlas Copco and others, with marketing through ‘feet on the street' to create the right presence and offer the right value proposition.
With the expansion at Hyderabad plant and utilizing potential capacities at Nasik and Chakan, Pune there is scope for not just catering to the domestic market, but also exporting to other countries. Further, the company will grow its image and potential not just as an equipment manufacturer, but take the next step towards emerging as a solution provider by building on its expertise in multiple segments.
Founded in Stockholm, Sweden, the company started operations in Pune, India, in 1960, it has 22 offices, nearly 3000 employees across the country and revenues of Rs.3,000 crore in the last financial year.
NBM&CW November 2016
