Puzzolana Aspiring to be Global Manufacturer

Puzzolana is India's largest crusher manufacturer. Over 1000 plants of Puzzolana are working across the globe in 22 countries with a strong hold in Africa and Middle East mainly Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana, Sudan, Afghanistan, UAE, KSA. Briefing S.K.Khanna about its Joint Venture with Guidetti to manufacture construction equipment Mr. Abhijeet Pai, Director, Puzzolana, said Puzzolana-Guidetti plant which is on the final leg of commissioning, is located near Hyderabad to manufacture earthmoving equipment like compactor, grader, paver, and recycling equipment like Shredder for e-waste and waste recycler.

Please tell in brief about Puzzolana business growth over the years, its manufacturing facilities, their locations with particular reference to your new facilities for manufacturing heavy duty equipment and machinery and company's complete product range.
Puzzolana over the years has become India's largest crusher manufacturer. We started with a small shed in Hyderabad however today have 3 manufacturing units in Andhra Pradesh and one subsidiary in Karnataka catering exclusively to the Puzzolana product range. We have commissioned one new facility and two new shed in the existing manufacturing units in 2009.


As one of the pioneers in design, manufacture of crushing, grinding, material handling equipment  for the construction and allied industries in the country–how many such equipment supplied by the company are in operation in the country and abroad  and how these  have helped to ensure operational and technical benefits to the user organizations?
We have over a 1000 plants working across the globe in 22 countries. We have over 900 Plants and 2000 equipments sold in India and more than 50 plants and 175 equipments sold outside India. Quality and service have been the key reasons to customers buying our equipment on a repeated basis. To add to this, we were the first Indian manufacturer to develop and successfully launch many products which helped reduce the cost of owning of product for the customer.

Puzzolana has established good credential in export market. Which are the countries where company's product range has made impact?
Puzzolana has a strong hold in Africa and Middle East mainly Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana, Sudan, Afghanistan, UAE, and KSA. We are also shortly starting a venture in Brazil for the South American requirements. All those countries we have supplied machines to have immense impact and as a good quality price efficient alternate is made available to the customer.

Puzzolana has many firsts to its credit in terms of indigenous manufacture of various equipment and machinery. Please tell us in brief specifically about design and manufacturing features of some of the important equipment as you deem fit. How has this expertise been developed and honed at your end using global knowledge and indigenizing the same centric to country's needs to deliver high performance quality products?
Puzzolana from its inception has concentrated in R&D. This has been one of the key features in the group and there is a separate product development cell in the group. We have always worked with key suppliers like SKF, Simens, Cummins and Rexroth to develop a Global product made for India first and then the world. Some very successful indigenous designs that have been successful both in India and abroad are Cone Crusher: More than 1000 single equipments sold and hugely popular. Jaw Crusher: More than 1250 Units supplied. Impactor & Stacker Reclaimer: Upto a capacity of 1200/800 TPH. Wheel Loader: First Indian ARAI certified 5 Ton loader, First Indian Coal Sizer made in India for 600 TPH 50 mm product.

There are many features of design and manufacturing that help us achieve the above stated and I feel I would not be doing justice by just giving few points.

Puzzolana has recently launched a range of equipment for coal industry. What are these equipment and the market response thereof?
Puzzolana indigenously has developed Feeder Breaker, Coal Sizer, Surface Miner, and Coal Handling Plants upto 2000 TPH.

In addition to give our customers a holistic resource for coal equipment, PMF has tied up for: Coal Washery, Underground Long Wall, Mills for coal grinding, Road Header, Bucket wheel stacker reclaimers and shovels.

Please tell us in brief about Puzzolana-Guidetti proposed JV to manufacture construction equipment. What would be the location of this plant and its product range?
Puzzolana Guidetti plant is based on the outskirt of Hyderabad city. The plant is on the final leg of commissioning. There are two products in this JV-Earthmoving (Compactor, Grader, Paver) and Recycling (Shredder for E-waste, Waste recycler).

What are your projections for CE market in general and for your product range in particular in the short and medium terms and what propels the market in India—price, quality or brand?
The CE market in India is back to being flushed with orders like early 2008 and we believe this market will stabilize and grow at least at the rate of 15% given that $500 Billion will be spent in India over the next 5 years in Infra development. Definitely today the customer realizes quality is one of the keys to performance hence we believe today Quality is first, Brand and Price are second requirement.

What are the critical issues plaguing the CE industry and segment the company deal with that need to be addressed on a priority basis? How does your company propose to tackle them at national as well as company level for the balanced growth of construction equipment industry?
One of the key issues we feel is the dumping of products from certain countries with subsidized prices and very low quality. Also a big concern is some products have import duty exemption while Indian companies have to pay the local taxes. This gives the foreign manufacturer an undue advantage. We feel these issues must be addressed at the earliest to create a level field for Indian manufacturers and for making sure that there is a balanced growth opportunity. We feel quality norms have to made stricter.

How do you view the emerging competition in the CE market. Are there too many players in the field and there is a case for the market to get consolidated due to the need for more standard products and services and high capital requirement thereof?
We feel that there is increased competition however there is an increased CE market too and if one continues to supply quality products and good service then we can most definitely create sizeable opportunity for our Group of companies.

How does Puzzolana look at its future in the next three-four years, its expansion plans to offer 360 degree construction solutions to the construction and infras- tructure sector in the country?
PUZZOLANA would like to be a GLOBAL manufacturer with emphasis and distribution in 50 countries across Asia, Africa, South America, Europe and USA. We believe that there will be three distinct industries we need to concentrate on

1. Mineral Processing (for Aggregate, Limestone, Coal, Iron Ore, Copper, Manganese etc).
2. Earthmoving Machinery (Mainly Wheel Loader, Compactors, Milling Machines, Pavers and Graders).
3. Recycling Machinery (Mainly for E-waste).

A word about Puzzolana's marketing distribution channels and related market network and technical services being rendered to its clients.
Puzzolana has its own sales channels in Hyderabad and Delhi and has channel partners in 10 states of India with 6 stock points across the country. We are working towards a distributor network in 15 states with a local service station and key parts to be stocked. We are also developing new models of distribution for Africa and South America.