Bonfiglioli: Setting Benchmarks

Kennady V Kaippally, Country Manager - India - Bonfiglioli Transmissions, discusses the company’s innovations based on its strong R&D and close partnership with major OEMs to offer tailormade solutions for their equipment.

In keeping with Excon’s theme ‘Smart i-Tech – Next Gen India@75’, what innovations and plans have you lined up for this year’s show?
Smart, digital and electrical technologies are permeating all the industries and the CE industry is not immune to these disruptive phenomena. Over the years, Bonfiglioli has been investing in these technologies and has developed a range of products for varied applications.

Some of the products lined up for Excon include:

• Bonfiglioli 700CE planetary track drives coupled with a high-power density electric motor, specifically designed for high-voltage hybrid powertrain systems. An integrated, maintenance-free IPM (internal permanent magnet) electric motor is included; it gives significant benefits in terms of dimensions and efficiency.
• Bonfiglioli high-efficiency, low-noise plane- tary axles and drives with integrated high-performance electric motors and low maintenance braking systems for tow tractors and other such applications.
• Bonfiglioli 600WE planetary wheel drives incorporate an integrated, maintenance-free electric motor and offer significant benefits, including compact dimensions, low noise and high efficiency. 600 Series drives are designed for use with all kinds of aerial platforms and other types of mobile machinery, for indoor and outdoor use.

How do you analyze the market of power transmission and fluid power solutions (construction, mining and material handling) in India and its growth drivers?
We have a very positive outlook on the future of power transmissions in general and fluid power solutions, in particular, for the Indian construction, mining and material handling equipment. Infrastructure requirements, coupled with the need for mechanization and shift to specialized more productive equipment, remain the key growth drivers for this industry. These growth drivers will generate a need for innovative power transmission and fluid power solutions that must meet specific local requirements.

The challenge in such an environment lies in developing or adapting products and manufacturing capabilities that suit the specific demands of the Indian market. Bonfiglioli, with its local design center and manufacturing facilities, and its presence in India for two decades, has gained a deep understanding of the market and is well placed to take advantage of the opportunities.

What are the technical features in your products that help OEMs improve their equipment’s productivity, reliability and fuel efficiency?
Given the cost pressures inherent in the Indian market, productivity, reliability and fuel efficiency are right at the top of customers’ expectations. Design of a transmission plays a vital role in delivering on these expectations.

Bonfiglioli, having worked with major OEMs across the globe in construction equipment, has decades of experience that enables it to provide solutions that meet these objectives. One such solution is the 700CK series of drives used on tracked machines ranging from 1.5 to 120 tons. These products are the result of our partnership with Kayaba Industries CO. and represent the best in class solutions for the CE industry.

All the hydraulic and mechanical functions like power drive, operating and travel speed, hydraulic and mechanical emergency braking system, and the overload protection, are incorporated in a single unit. Extreme compactness, reliability, efficiency and smooth operation are the key features of our 700CK series of track drives.

How do you look at the importance of IoT and electronics in your product line for bringing efficiency, sustainability and helping the OEMs in achieving the latest emission norms?
IoT and electronics are becoming important tools for bringing efficiency, sustainability and the latest emission norms to new-age equipment. These digital tools support the operator by providing him with all the necessary parameters in real time so that the equipment works in the most optimum mode to achieve fuel economy and productivity.

Bonfiglioli has many unique solutions where electronic and hydraulic features are integrated in the mechanical transmission systems to provide the right online feedback mechanism to equipment operators across applications. One of our patented solution is the integration of load cell with the gearbox. This quickly and precisely measures torque and enables torque monitoring in real time. Connected via an external cable connection, the system provides an automatic engine shut­down to protect the drive or reduce the capacity of the frequency converter, while providing information to the PLC.

The system also has an ant seize function, which prevents blockages. The evaluation of machine data also facilitates predictive maintenance. The new integrated load bearing system allows Bonfiglioli (for the first time in the market) to deploy an intelligent solution, combining our historic excellence in transmission manufacturing with new-age digital tools.

How do you ensure price competitiveness in the cost-conscious Indian market?
Our products lie at the heart of the equipment; so, their performance is critical to the overall performance of the equipment. Being a leader in our field of business, we set benchmarks for performance, so quality is an uncompromising facet of our business.

However, price competitiveness in the cost–conscious Indian market can’t be ignored, and we address it by working together with our customers. This involve an in-depth study of duty cycles for the right sizing of products, understanding machine features for product optimisation, and constant improvements by way of VAVE projects. Our local engineering centre works closely with our customers to achieve these objectives.

What R&D is being done to improve the lifecycle of the equipment and enhance customer experience?
Our business philosophy has been to partner with OEMs who are leaders in their business, and to develop tailormade/customized power transmission solutions catering to their requirements. This approach requires a constant engagement of our R&D team with our customers in order to understand their requirements and bring improvements in the equipment.

Bonfiglioli, with its local India R&D Centre, is well placed to engage with customers to develop products meeting these specific requirements. The R&D Centre works right from data acquisition of the equipment in the field to understand the operating conditions, to then transform the information into a customised product.

What is your strategy to expand brand reach and retain existing customers?
We have been present in India for two decades now and have been working closely with all the major OEMs in the industry. We have developed an unmatched range of products that have become a benchmark in the industry. In fact, we are a one-stop-shop for our customers catering to diverse requirements for different products, and by far, we have the largest market share in each of these segments.

What is also important for us is that we are a single source for most of our customers. This indicates the absolute trust and confidence they have in us and for which we remain grateful to them.