Good Response to Terex MPS Products Offerings
What is the market response to Terex's Mobile Wheel Mounted Plants? Based on advanced technical attributes of these plants, how optimistic the company is that it could be in a formidable position in this segment? Are the plans at your end to go in for higher capacity plants for the roads and highway sector?
We had a very good response from the market to our Wheel Mounted Crushing & Screening Range 2012 was an important year for us which also saw the launch of two new products in the Wheeled Product Offering and we were able to establish Terex Minerals Processing Range of products as a reliable product offering in the market.
We have now launched the 300 TPH Wheel Mounted Crushing & Screening Plants and are currently finalizing the product roadmap for the next couple of years which would be driven by the market demand and customer feedback. I personally see that the customers are now going for higher capacity plants and will consider their feedback while launching new products.
How was the year 2012 for your Terex MPS Business, considering the depressed conditions for most part of the year?
2012 was a challenging year for the industry as a whole. There was significantly less financing options available for our customers and many projects were delayed due to government policy issues. We, however, witnessed a growth in our Terex MPS Wheel Plant Business driven by launch of new products and also a strong demand in the export market for these machines.
Do you think that company like yours and others need to tweak their business models with a view to dominate active brand marketing, redefine their distribution strategies and fine-tune their operations to remain relevant in the current market? Any such measure is being considered by Terex MPS?
Terex has a strong distribution network within the country and we are continuously working towards strengthening the same. We also have Terex own resources in place to support the customers and distribution network where required.
Terex MPS has been actively working in training activities both to the customers and dealers network to ensure maximum uptime of the equipment. We are also focusing on further strengthening our After market support activities for the customers by adding more resources and investing on increased spare parts support.
Although sophisticated equipment and machinery are available in the aggregate market, but the unorganized nature of aggregate industry remains a concern, so much so that majority of end users are not able to select the right equipment and utilize the same to its full potential due to lack of knowledge. Do you think that OEM should have a common forum to educate the industry to be more organized and formulate regulations, monitor healthy business practices and evaluate products? How would MPS sensitize this need in the unorganized aggregate sector?
We are regularly organizing customer training and technical seminars for both existing and prospective customers. We hope that by these technical seminars we would be able to extend increased technical exposure regarding the new technical advancements in the industry to customers cutting across segments or sectors. However, there needs to be a common forum from the industry side to take up this task in a more formal manner.
What is company's focus on R&D for new equipment? Also, what is the focus on training and round-the-clock technical service support?
We are continuously working on providing world class equipment which are tailored to meet the demands of the Indian customers. We are launching new products which are designed in India for Indian requirements and this will continue in 2013. We have a well-equipped Design & Engineering Centre at Hosur facility and a Global R&D Centre based out of Bangalore.
We also conduct regular service training sessions at our Hosur Facility as well as on-site training programs for the customers' maintenance crew to ensure that the equipment perform to the optimal levels without much downtime.
What are Terex MPS expectations on how the entire CE market will unfold itself in the next 2-3 years?
We expect the market to be challenging again in 2013 primarily due to lack of financing options for the customers. If the same can be addressed, we can see a better sentiment in the CE Market. Also, key to the growth of the CE Market would be on how fast the new projects are cleared by the government and how fast the earlier announced projects can get financial closure. We however, see a great potential in the Indian CE Market and will continue our focus on the Indian market to ensure that we can provide our customers a world class equipment and aftermarket experience.
NBM&CW February 2013
