Tell us something about Husqvarna Construction Products, part of Husqvarna AB, its global operations, manufacturing facilities and products range.
Husqvarna Construction Products is a business unit within the Husqvarna Group. Husqvarna Constuction is a world leader in the construction and stone industries. The products range includes machines, diamond tools and all accessories that is needed for cutting, sawing, demolition, drilling, and for polishing floors. The stone products range consists of a variety of diamond tools for quarries and the stone processing industry.
The unit’s business turnover 2011 is 2,799 million SEK, which accounts for 9 percent of the group’s turnover. Husqvarna Construction Products has approximately 2,100 employees in 30 countries. Our products are found in around 70 markets globally.
We locate our production as close to the markets as possible. Production units for machines are located in Sweden, USA and China. Production units for diamond tools are located in Sweden, Belgium, Portugal, China and USA. Research and development is conducted in connection with the production units.
Our headquarter is located in Jonsered, Sweden.
How do you look at the market of your products in India and what has been the response of the Indian construction market towards Husqvarna’s products and services?
Husqvarna Construction Products is a new comer to the Indian construction market despite the fact that some of its power cutter models have been successfully sold here over 25 years. As the demand for productivity increases in the market, Husqvarna Construction Products expects to do well. Our first experience in the Indian market has seen good response to such diverse products as the handheld, electric K3000 Cut-n-Break on one end to the ultra modern remote control Demolition Robot DXR140 at the other end. We have been careful to match sales of machinery with good service and parts back-up. Our strategy now is to accelerate this growth by enlarging the distribution network in 2012.
You have recently organized an event in New Delhi to launch some of Husqvarna new products in the country; what were the products launched by the company, its technical attributes giving an edge over others and also its application areas?
Products launched during these customer meetings were mainly focusing in the applications of Core Drilling, Wall/Wire sawing and also Remote Demolition. Response is very exciting and as Husqvarna Construction Products is bringing new technology to these applications, contractors are excited to see the increased productivity available from Husqvarna. The icon product right now is the K3000 Cut-n-Break which enables a single operator to cut through 400 mm thick concrete walls in very affordable way.
What has been the response from the attendees towards your new products; and how would it be consolidated further to strengthen company’s presence in the country in the wake of emerging business opportunities?
By ensuring training is done correctly, we can grow profitably together with customers.
We understand that Prime Technologies is the sole distributor of Husqvarna Construction in India; what are the ranges of company’s products distributed in the country and your plan to strengthen the distribution network to reach out to the vast Indian market?
As these equipment are designed to perform the toughest jobs quickly for the Concrete Sawing, Drilling, Grinding and Demolition Industries great care is taken in design, manufacturing and finally in the commissioning of them. Currently, we are building up our capabilities to support and service the Indian market. Examples of this could be the online parts ordering system which enables our distributors to be online 24/7 with the Husqvarna Construction Products Parts Centre in Sweden. From there we can ship the parts by courier to anywhere in the world at short notice. Husqvarna also has extensive information available both on its public websites and internal websites. (www.husqvarnacp.com) At this very moment, we have 2 Indian participants in Sweden undergoing extensive training for the whole product range.
How has Husqvarna Construction Products been performing on business front in the last 1-2 years bracing with current strong economic headwinds and how do you view your business growing in this environment in the next 2-3 years?
Husqvarna Construction Products has weathered the recent headwinds well. Much thanks to global introductions of new products but also from the increased awareness amongst contractors worldwide of the HCP product and services portfolio. For the first 6 months, we are on target and outlook for the second half is positive.
