SANY: Aiming for Higher Reach
Mr. Deepak Garg is raring to go, and is not likely to miss any business opportunity, be it for selling Sany products or promoting the company. With record sales of 300 units across the company’s crawler and mobile categories in the severely competitive market of 2015 and 2016, he is confident that business can only get better in the short and long-term. “This achievement was possible due to our steady improvement in customer relationship. It resulted in a strong brand recall, driving sales among existing customers and attracting new ones. In conjunction with them, we worked out a strategy to expand our market base. We targeted newer application areas, followed by appropriate product placement, which was well indexed to the required applications and backed by dedicated product support from our highly skilled team of 40 engineers,” contends Mr. Garg.
He attributes the sizeable “runaway” sales to Sany Truck Cranes (SPC) range. Sany sold 100 SPCs across 25-30-40 tons, assembled at its Pune plant and mounted on Ashok Leyland and AMW chassis (as per customer requirement). A total of 20 units of STC 450, 45-ton cranes were sold during the period. “Targeting niche applications, we were able to sell 12 units to partners of ONGC for their onshore oil rig installation and maintenance. The partners of the upstream oil behemoth have placed repeat orders for another 8 STC 450. We have got fresh enquiries from steel yards where our cranes have got good acceptance and for other versatile applications,” informs Mr. Garg. Sany’s truck cranes range between 25-160 tons, and it imports 50-160-ton cranes from its facility in China.
Higher traction on truck cranes
Confident of sales of Sany truck cranes despite stiff competition in sales of new units, strong presence of second-hand imports, and depressed rental rates, an unfazed Mr. Garg says, “Our business strategy for getting into new areas through competitive and reliable product placement will enable us to attain higher business reach. Though the used truck cranes are available at very competitive prices, their frequent breakdowns and absence of product support is a big drawback for the owner to earn a decent margin. Cranes working at refineries, wind farm sites, or any other core or industrial infrastructure sites, require high productivity and availability of cranes.”
Sany is taking an aggressive approach to drive sales of its SPCs & STCs as support cranes to the crawler cranes employed in wind farm erection jobs. It is offering its truck cranes of 40-45-60-75-80-100-tons, along with the heavier SCC 6000 WE, 600-ton and SCC 6500A, 650- ton crawler cranes as a package to rental companies.
Mr. Garg informs, “Support cranes are the lifeline of wind farm erection jobs. Especially now, with energy tariff levels remaining compressed, the turbines have to be erected at higher hub heights, for greater efficiency and, most importantly, at the given time schedule. In a situation like this, the wind power project developer can ill afford a breakdown of the cranes. This is where our new truck cranes pitch in. They are highly productive and reliable and have our dedicated service support. This is why crane rental heavyweights like Samarth Lifters, Sethia Erectors, and Globe Ecologistics engaged in wind power jobs are buying new truck mounted cranes for supporting work.”
For cranes operating in wind power projects, Sany India has set up dedicated product support service centers in the form of containerized workstations that are fully equipped with parts, in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
“The need for reliability and productivity in industrial projects, steel yards, erection of precast sections, and at newer jobsites such as metro stations, is gradually shifting focus to new truck cranes, rather than the used, as the new are deemed to be highly reliable owing to their faster mobility, boom expansion and retraction, and their faster loading and unloading capabilities,” asserts Mr. Garg.
He admits that though rental rates continue to remain compressed in the entire truck cranes segment, Sany is looking to drive sales to buyers, many of whom are small time fleet owners. It is offering two years credit for the cranes along with regular service and requisite support across the lifecycle of its cranes.
Aligned to business needs
“The competitive attribute of SCC 6500A is its ability to fully meet the present wind power jobs of erecting windmills with hub heights of 90-120 meters. It is further scalable to work at higher hub heights of 140 meters with 144 meters boom and 12 meters fixed jib. Further, it can work without super lift while working with 108 meters boom, making it more compact. The crane also scores high on stability.”
He foresees demand growing for lighter and medium capacity crawler cranes of 75-100-150-260 tons. He is also confident of sales of Sany’s all-terrain cranes. The company is offering 150-220 tons all-terrain cranes with 650-ton crawler cranes as a packaged offering. Targeting heavy-lift jobs in metro railway construction, cement and power plants, and in refinery construction and maintenance, Sany will be soon offering SAC 600, 600-ton all-terrain cranes in the Indian market. The company has bagged an order of six units of SAC 2200, 220 all-terrain cranes from major West India-based crane rental companies.
Sany India has sold a total of 18 all-terrain cranes during the last two years. These comprised SAC 2200, SAC 1800, 180-ton, and It also sold one 55-ton rough terrain crane to the shipyard, Garden Reach Ship Builders, and two 40-ton units to Hyderabad-based construction company, Powermech. “We could secure orders for the cranes amidst stiff competition. We have formed a multi-skilled and highly dedicated team of eight service engineers for rendering product support to the all-terrain cranes and also to other cranes,” informs Mr. Garg.
Future outlook
As regards the future growth potential for Sany products, Mr. Garg is highly optimistic. “We will continue to drive business through close engagement with our customers. We have in place a well-crafted strategy, which will be regularly executed through appropriate product introduction & placement. We have an excellent team, and our customers’ requirements will be met continually as we will time and again reorient our products and support as per their requirements. We are going to pick up areas where we have a significant installed base, and we are going to push and drive penetration with those fleets. What’s more, we will be offering attractive business propositions to our existing and potential customers.”
Published on:
22 May 2017
Published in: Lifting & Specialized Transport April-June 2017
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