Indian Market: From Price Sensivity to Quality Consciousness
Please tell us about the Asons Enterprises, its distribution network and the products range offered? Also focus on its parent company, its manufacturing facilities and global operations?
Asons Enterprise is an industrial marketing company based in Chennai. Being in existence for the past 10 years it provides quality hardware products and machineries for pre engineered buildings, to the retailers in India. It has got an effective tie-up with the dealer and customer network spread across India and have offices in major Indian cities with dedicated team members.
Asons have been appointed by Engineering Edge (S) Pte Ltd as a sole authorized distributor for Corroshield fasteners in India since the Year 2000. We have crafted effective marketing strategies and raked up sales profits across India by taking the goodwill and the success in the Indian market to the global arena.
The Corroshield brand has been effectively promoted by us in the gulf region and the SAARC Countries, thus creating a niche for the self drilling fasteners in this region.
We have a dealer network India wide which facilitates the distribution of fasteners throughout. The dealer network in India for Asons Enterprise covers Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Surat, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and also in Indore.
Engineering Edge (S) Pte Ltd is a company incorporated in Singapore specializing in the engineering and manufacturing of high corrosion resistant fasteners for the steel building and metal roofing industries.
The company has a production capacity of about 1,000 metric tons and we deal mainly with all types of self-drilling fasteners, floorboard fasteners, chipboard fasteners, stainless steel fasteners, drywall screws, etc. With two factories located in Taiwan and China, Engineering Edge has been in the forefront of fastener manufacturing for 15 years.
It manufactures and design only quality fasteners for industrial and construction industry. Coupled with professional technical support and quality consistency, they make service excellence for our corporate culture.
The company export their product to countries like China, Bangladesh, Europe, India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, UAE, USA and Vietnam through their network of distributors.
How over the years, the company is serving the engineering and construction industry? What are the application areas where its products are being used?
We penetrated the Indian market by targeting the retailers and contractors involved in the erection of pre engineered buildings, and after the desired response from the market, we further expanded from a limited range of fasteners for roofing and wall cladding to the entire range of fasteners for roofing, wall cladding, metal decking, stitching fasteners, clip lock fasteners, sheer studs, dry wall fasteners, fasteners for board applications etc.
Comparing the Indian market in 1998 to the present market (2008), we see that the market then was reluctant and skeptical to adopt new technology, because of it being alien. But now the scenario has changed, and the market now is looking for advancements in products to ease off the work load and save time.
We now cater to the top pre-engineered builders and roll formers in India. Few of them are: Kirby, PEB Steel , Tiger Steel , Interarch, SteelFab, Tata BlueScope, Lloyd Insulation (India) Ltd, Multicolor Steel (India) Pvt Ltd, CRIL, Metacolor, Satyam, Metco Roof Pvt Ltd, Rajmohan Roofing and so on.
What are the quality standards followed by the company to manufactures its range of fasteners? How these products are competitively positioned in terms of its quality and price?
As far as the quality of the fasteners is concerned we comply with the Australian Standards which is AS 3566 Class 3.
Our fasteners are Tin Zinc Mechanically coated which withstand 1000 hours of salt spray, humidity, and UV rays test, compared to that of the other low quality products available in the market which are just Zinc coated and do not offer any form of warranty for the product, where as we offer a 20 years rust proof warranty, where we replace the entire batch of fasteners free of cost in case of corrosion of the fasteners.
For clients who are not extremely quality conscious but at the same time need fasteners better than the others available in the market, we cater them with AS 3566 Class 2 fasteners which again comply with the Australian standards. These fasteners are provided with a 10 years rust proof warranty and free replacement incase of corrosion.
We provide test certificates to our clients for every batch of fasteners manufactured, to ensure their satisfaction.
Due to the demand of quality products and advancements in the market, Corroshield products are well positioned in the market with regard to the pricing. In the past years the market was deprived of quality products and since 1998 after the introduction of Corroshield products, they are willing to accept the price, for which in return they enjoy the best quality and services.
What were the important projects served by the company in the country? Please tell us about one or two major projects where your company was actively involved.
Corroshield fasteners have been used in over 8000 projects in India. Few of them are: Hyundai Car factory(Chennai), Ford Car factory(Chennai), Skoda(Aurangabad), Honda Siel Cars(Noida), Sundaram Clayton(Chennai), Saint Gobains(Chennai), Tata Steel(Jamshedpur), Jindal Steel(Orissa, Hissar), Reliance Petrol Pumps(all over India), Reliance Industries( Hazira), Jet Airways Hanger(Mumbai, Delhi), Cochin Airport, Bangalore International Airport, Motorola(Chennai, Bangalore), Tata Consultancy Services(Chennai), Infosys(Pune, Chandighar), SRM College(Chennai), Nestle India(Goa), ITC Limited(Chennai, AP) Southern Central Railways(Vijayawada) Southern Railways(Chennai), Samsung(Pune), LG Electronics(Pune), Metro Cash and Carry(Bangalore, Hyderabad), Suzlon(Pondicherry).
All these projects have our active involvement, where we support them with onsite demos, test certificates and other requirements.
The company also take up contracts for fixing of fasteners, where we make sure our professional fitters work onsite along with site supervisors/engineers to make sure they fulfill the requirements of the clients.
How do you see the potential of the Indian market in context of your business in the next two-three years? Is there any expansion programme in terms of products range the company is planning to launch in the near future?
The paradigm of Indian market is such that, in the beginning it was complacent to whatever they got in the market. But at present the nascent Indian market is overwhelmed and is aware of technological advancements.
The demanding nature of the market is always looking to adapt to the latest in technology irrespective to the price of acquiring the same. In other words, the Indian market is now shifting from being extremely price sensitive to being quality conscious.
However, there still are markets which are price sensitive, and to acquire such markets, we have always priced our products strategically.
We have recently launched a new product in the market called Contapps “fasteners for concrete and other masonry applications” and are awaiting the feedback from the market for the same, based on which we will initiate further expansions.
What is the USP of your fasteners and how it is different from its competitors?
We never compromise when it comes to providing quality products at affordable rates, which in-turn is our USP.
We provide fasteners which comply with the Australian standards of AS 3566 Class 3 at affordable rates, creating a niche over our competitors and to top it all we offer a 20 years rust proof, free replacement warranty which till date is not matched.
MGS Architecture September-October 2008
