Tadano India: "India has been a good market for us."

"India has been a good market for us; the Indian customers have been using our products for over two decades. We have made good inroad with the customers who are more safety and quality conscious. Our focus now is to bring the entire cranes market into our fold by continuously engaging and educating the benefits of the latest updated technologies and the quality & safety standards to the end-users," says Mr. Chihiro Nishida, Managing Director, Tadano India in an interview with S. K. Khanna.

Having been in India for quite some time, what is your assessment of the technological status of Indian Mobile crane industry? Are its products and services best in the market place within the country and abroad?
The majority of Indian mobile cranes market is dominated by the used crane import from Europe, Middle East etc, in the absence of strict safety rules and proper guidelines from the government, the old outdated used machines are continued to be imported and used in India.

There are few customers who are more quality and safety conscious who adapt to the latest products with advanced technology. This trend is slowly growing and it is positive sign towards development.

It is said that one who can succeed in the Indian market can succeed anywhere in the global market. With Tadano having entered into the Indian market which is indeed complex and heterogeneous in demand; how has the company established its footprint as of now?
India has been a good market for us; the Indian customers have been using our products for more than two decades. We have made good inroad with the customers who are more safety and quality conscious. Our focus now is to bring the entire crane market into our fold by continuously engaging and educating the benefits of the latest updated technologies and the Quality & safety standards.

What are the product offerings of the company and total population of your crane products in the country, including a large number of reconditioned machines working in the rental segment? What technical supports your clients are availing from your trained service teams?
We are offering in India All Terrain Cranes from 40 to 400 tons, Rough Terrain Cranes from 12 to 145 tons, Truck-mounted Telescopic from 35-60 tons, and Telescopic Crawler Cranes from 27.2 to 100 tons.

The total population of our cranes in India is over 200 Nos which includes the machines sold by us directly and also used machines working in the rental segment, which were imported to India from across the globe.

A dedicated and factory trained service team attend to our entire Customer’s service requirements. They train and guide our Customer personnel in doing proper maintenance, Troubleshooting and repairs.

We have all the necessary spares and consumables stocked at our warehouse to address the immediate spares requirements.

A word on your rental business, dealership network, spare parts support mechanism, and initiatives to have a stable vendor base.
A dedicated and factory trained service team attend to our entire Customer’s service requirements. They train and guide our Customer personnel in doing proper maintenance, Troubleshooting and repairs.


We have all the necessary spares and consumables stocked at our warehouse to address the immediate spares requirements.

How do you see Rupee devaluation against major currencies affecting companies like Tadano? What steps are you taking to minimize its effect? Is localization there on your agenda?
The reducing rupee value has big impact in the market; many of the customers who had procured the machines through foreign currency loans are very badly affected.

This volatile condition has put a hold on many of the decision making, which directly impacts the sales of our products. We hope the Rupee to recover in the coming days.

Our ultimate goal is not limited to sales and service but extended to local manufacturing in the future.

Your plans to participate in the CE mega event-Excon 2013 to be held in Bangalore. Products and services and related developments expected to be unveiled by the company? Do you think that this event would pep up CE market?
We are one of the sponsors for the Excon 2013, we shall be displaying our ATF220G-5 All Terrain Cranes of 220 MT capacity & GR800EX an 80MT Rough Terrain crane.

Excon 2013 has given the immense opportunity to the players in the construction Equipment industry to showcase their strength to the prospective customers and also to analyze their competitors’ strength and weakness, I am sure that the show will be great and eagerly looking forward to.