How do you look at the market growth of cranes in the country, particularlythose in ElectroMech product portfolio?
Generally speaking, in India construction and infrastructure sectors are booming at present and most of our cranes and hoists are employed at a lot of major infrastructure projects sites such as gantry cranes for precast segment yards and bridge constructions, specialised hoisting equipment for bridge launching girders etc. Typically, the capacities for such cranes can range from 10MT to 200MT. Also there is huge demand for light weight cranes in auto sector. Several other hazardous sectors such as Oil, Gas & Petroleum industries require safe and reliable modes of material handling equipment. Other industries such as steel and cement are growing as well, as they are complementary to growing infrastructure needs and require a variety of cranes and hoists for their material handling needs.
The power sector is also expanding in India with the government promoting expenditure on several new projects; hence there is demand for a large range of cranes from this sector. The power sector requires cranes for a variety of applications and their requirements could be up to 250 MT, as in the case of windmill manufacturing, Transformer manufacturing, etc.
Today, Indian customers are globally exposed and are quite aware of various technical attributes of crane and MH products and areincreasingly looking for safe, efficient and reliable products. What are main safety, efficiency features of your cranes and other products on quality, & reliability counts?
All of our cranes come equipped as a standard with redundant safety electric limit switches as well as mechanical barriers to ensure that the hook path does not stray dangerously out of the intended work envelope. We have several electrical interlock systems hard wired in our circuitry which prevent an operator from running the crane in an unsafe manner even if he wishes to do so. Furthermore, by having smooth start and smooth stop functions as standard on all of our cranes, we ensure that the load swing is restricted to absolute minimum levels and associated accidents and personal injuries eliminated. Overloading protection is standard in our ABUS range of cranes. The safety brakes used on the cranes are rated for 1 million operations on full load and ensure a lifetime worry free duty. Not only our end products incorporate all safety features but our people are also extremely safety conscious when working on the shop floor while manufacturing cranes as well as when working at the site and erecting the cranes. As a standard practice, whenever we hand over our crane to the end users for their use, we instruct them regarding the safe usage of our cranes. The company is alsoISO 9001:2008 certified with UKAS accreditation. We are now in the process of putting our systems in place for Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) certificate as we consider ourselves a responsible company and want to ensure the wellbeing and safety of not only our employees but also our end users.
Despite customers demanding high-end products, they are quite sensitive about price. How can market be motivated to focus that price per seshould not be the criteria, if the value for money factor is well established? What are various measures at your end to sensitize this as far as your products are concerned?
Customers can be sensitized to this by getting involved with them at their project conceptualization stage, so as to show them how their overall project costs and efficiencies will benefit by opting for the right products. Electromech believes in a ‘solutions selling' approach and all our sales engineers follow this culture while dealing with clients. Whether it is a cost benefit analysis or making them aware about the features of a new crane, customers are kept abreast of the best offerings available to them.
Your company is one of the pioneers in introducing new products in material handling; what is your overview of manufacturing trends particularly of green technology in material handling sector and how your company is equipped to introduce green technology inputs in your material handling equipment range?
ElectroMech has been in the business of manufacturing cranes for over 30 years and we are aware of our responsibility towards the environment. The global business environment has seen a strategic shift towards sustainable operations and green processes and Electromech has not been left behind. We have taken several initiatives to develop the eco-system at Pirangut, where our new plant is located. Moreover, our factory ensures that environmental impact due to our operations is kept to a bare minimum, far beyond regulations. One such example is our paint booth, which uses a down draft recirculation system to ensure no toxic fumes are released into the shop floor or the environment, protecting our work force and those around us. The paint sludge is treated in our in- house waste water treatment facility and dispatched to the municipal hazardous waste collection facility.
What is the current status of your strategic alliance with Shuttlelift for marketing of RTG cranes in India? What are its main technical features as different in the market place, imparting your company USP?
Electromech is the sole India partner for Shuttlelift cranes in India. We had launched the brand in India in Q4 2010-11 and see great potential for the RTG cranes in India. Further, Shuttlelift will launch a new product in its RTG line very shortly and India is a key market for this product, which we will talk about at EXCON!
The main technical features -
In line with our philosophy of understanding customer requirements and responding to them with most pertinent solutions, ElectroMech has introduced Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes (RTG)/Mobile Gantry Cranes from Shuttlelift of the USA.
Shuttlelift has over 2 decades of experience in the industry and offers cranes of modern design and high reliability. These versatile, easy-to-operate cranes are suitable for most of the requirements of today's industries for a variety of applications.
ElectroMech is renowned for providing customized material handling solutions, particularly to the manufacturing, construction and infrastructure industries. Our cranes are used in India as well as abroad for various challenging projects and in manufacturing plants.
Some of the major features of RTG Cranes include:
A) Safe and More reliable handling:
Lifting a large and cumbersome load with an RTG crane leads to more reliable handling, which in turn minimizes costly load damage incidents and leads to safe operations. An RTG crane with custom engineered spreader can lift a load directly beneath the frame of the gantry crane and is much simpler and safer than coordinating a lift using rough terrain cranes or forklifts in tandem. With an RTG crane, the load always remains stable in transit while the design ensures that they can traverse safely over unimproved ground.
B) Lift More For Less Rupees
C) Increased operational Efficiency
Since the lifting operations require less co-ordination than tandem lifting options, your operation will run significantly more efficiently, which will translate to cost saving and increase of profitability.
D) Reduced Manpower Requirements
By minimizing the co-ordination required with tandem picks, you can lift the same loads with a few skilled operators and support personnel. This efficient use of manpower means that your team is free to work on other jobs, increasing the capacity of your operation.
What are your plans to participate in the forthcoming Excon 2011? What new products and services are proposed to be launched at this mega event?
We are participating at this year's Excon too. This year, we would showcase Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes (RTGs) for outdoor yard applications in association with our partners, Shuttelift of USA for manufacturing mobile gantry cranes in India.
