Mr. Pradeep Sharma, President, ACE
Government is trying hard to bring the infra sector back on track; where do you see the CE sector in the coming years and what are the areas you think will drive demand for equipment?
The growth of the Indian CE industry is dependent on three factors: the first being the focus on infrastructure investments in terms of roads, ports, power, housing, and real estate construction. The second is industrial production and capacity expansion by manufacturers in terms of new facilities and up-gradation of existing facilities to meet the ever-increasing demand. The third is seeking the emerging growth areas in terms of leasing and rental of equipment, exports, increasing the use of refurbished equipment, and most importantly, providing timely service to the clients.
Despite the prevailing global uncertainties, rising demand for better infrastructure, modernized methods of agriculture, and growing complexity of mining/manufacturing methods, will boost demand for technologically advanced equipment in these industries. Moreover, looking ahead, the growth path widens for the emerging and developing nations, which will inevitably be attractive destinations for machine-makers worldwide. The new political dispensation lends a lot of credibility and hope for growth of infrastructure in the future.
ACE is known for offering many solutions for developing quality infrastructure projects. How challenging is to maintain the quality and reliability of such a wide range of products with regular improvisation and upgradation?
With India emerging as the fastest growing economy in the world, global players are eying the Indian market with great intent. ACE has always been very conscious of serving its customers through continuous improvement innovation and focus on quality, reliability & safety. We have a strong R&D base which continuously innovates and upgrades the technology. This has helped in introduction of NextGen models with agility, and thus meeting customer expectations effectively.
Last year, Action Construction Equipment unveiled its topless tower cranes. What was the response to this indigenously manufactured product in such a highly competitive market, which is also being dominated by foreign players?
ACE has a large portfolio of Tower Cranes; our range starts from 1.6t mobile tower cranes to bigger size cranes of 25t capacity. We offer fixed Tower Cranes, Travelling-type Tower Cranes, Inner Climbing Tower Cranes, etc. In the market dominated by foreign players, ACE is the market leader.
Our Flat Top Tower Cranes are getting good response from our various customers. Topless Tower Cranes have a compact design, as they do not have a Tower Head. The main benefit of using Topless Tower Cranes is quick and easy erection and dismantling. As they can work with low overhead clearances, these are best suited for construction projects near airports. At site, where a number of Tower Cranes are working close to each other, the Flat Top Tower Cranes are very useful. As in the absence of Tie rods, the Jib lengths can be reduced almost upto 20mtrs, making it safer for Tower Cranes to work in proximity of each other.
What improvisation/advancement has been carried out in your new generation cranes?
ACE is a dominant player in the crane market having introduced innovative crane solutions/products from time-to-time. ACE introduced its NextGen Pick-n-carry Truck Cranes which have distinctive features. These cranes use industrial driveline from Trucks resulting in improved gear shifting, better operator comfort and higher speeds. Operator sits just like sitting in a car. He has excellent all round visibility. Overall machine height is much less as compared to present machines resulting in lower center of gravity and hence improved stability and very low chances of m/c toppling. Rear Frame is connected to axle through Leaf springs providing robust suspension and jerk free ride. ACE Cranes have a special feature that the full rated lifting capacity is available in even articulated / steered position.
Controlling your purchase, production and inventory with the help of customized applications have really helped us improve our productivity and utilization of resources. The use of 3d technology in designing equipment to conduct stress test under load is helping every manufacturer to improve the efficiency of their equipment by reducing the load to weight ratio. Also control over our marketing activities and on line product support management helps us reduce the downtime and optimize the efforts of our sales and service staff.
What strategies are you adopting to increase sales in the current highly competitive environment?
The policy of responding with speed and expertise has been rewarded over the years in the form of repeat business, resulting in constant growth and making us the leading company in the Mobile Cranes, Tower Cranes and Construction Equipment sector in the country. Another factor driving our growth has been the versatility of our equipment to satisfy a vast range of possible applications. Our equipment has been successfully used in many sectors like Infrastructure Construction, Power Projects, Ports & Shipyards, Dams, Metro Rail, Roads, Mining, Steel Industry, Engineering Industry, Railways, Cement, Petroleum, Defence, Chemicals & Fertilizer Plants, Warehousing, Logistics, Building Construction, to name a few. Our Road Construction and Earthmoving Equipment have also been well received in the market and are now poised for growth.
ACE, with its nationwide network of 100 dealers along with 15 regional and area offices, practically reaches every customer at his doorstep even in remote places. Parts are stocked at all dealer points in addition to stockists at strategic locations. We have a toll-free center which receives customer requests 24x7 and concerned areas are informed instantly for attending to customer complaints.
What do you envision for the year 2020 and what will be your strategy to achieve your goals?
Our product portfolio consists of a wide range of products covering all segments of Construction, Earthmoving, Material handling and Agriculture sectors. As mentioned earlier, we are the market leaders in the main product segment i.e. Cranes. We are also fully equipped to cater to markets in product segments which we entered in the past 5 – 7 years as we have huge installed capacities for our entire product range. We are confident that we can substantially scale up our market share in Earthmoving and Road Construction Equipment and also grow our Agri business. This would enable the company to improve both its top and bottom lines significantly without much Capex in the next couple of years.
NBM&CW December 2016
