What will be the highlights of your product display at bauma Conexpo India 2023?
Our focus at the event will be on construction equipment for road and retail segments. On display will be Volvo EC210D Crawler Excavator with Quick Coupler plus HB22 breaker. Versatility and complete ease in operations are the hallmarks of this product. Also on display will be EC300DBH which has been custom-built for the quarry industry. It is powered by Volvo D7E engine and is armed with a heavy-duty lower frame and toughened undercarriage. It is designed to deliver best-in-class productivity while ensuring lower operating costs and overall operator comfort and safety.
Our exhibit of road machine products will include the Volvo P7320D Track Paver - our most recent paver range to be launched in India. The unit offers a winning combination of power, production capacity, and precision for superior paving quality with smooth mats. With a Volvo fixed screed, this Track Paver has proved to be very effective when paving up to 700 tons per hour at 9-meter width. This level of throughput makes it versatile enough for a range of applications, including city roads, highways, and waste storage areas.
It gives me great pleasure to invite all the visitors to our stall O.C10 on the afternoon of 31st Jan for the unveiling of a new product, where they can also explore our sustainability solutions and our latest Service Solution EaaS.
Machine performance versus cost: can OEMs strike a balance between the two to attract buyers?
While equipment cost matters, what matters more is return on investment. At the end of the day, that’s what engages customer’s interest in the product. So, we believe that it is incumbent on OEMs to justify cost with performance, both in the short-term and over the long haul, so that the customer is assured that he has invested in a cost-effective product, rather than in a costly product.
Every Volvo Construction Equipment is designed, engineered, and built to be supremely sturdy, reliable, and fuel efficient. This ensures that customers get best of both the worlds: long life and high uptimes, resulting in greater productivity, low fuel consumption and maintenance expenses, resulting in reduced daily operating costs – which, in effect, means faster and better returns on investment.
Where does Volvo India stand in its efforts towards creating a more sustainable, eco-friendly environment?
At Volvo CE, our mission, commitment, focus, responsibility, and action have all converged in our brand promise and purpose: Building Tomorrow (to build the world we all want to live in). And we are doing whatever it takes to achieve this.
As a world-leading manufacturer of premium construction equipment, we have set ourselves a target of 100% Fossil Fuel-Free Volvo Group Vehicles from the year 2040. Volvo CE launched the Industry’s first battery electric wheel loader and excavator at bauma Munich back in 2019. We are also progressing steadily towards achieving 50% reduction in carbon emission from our operations by 2030 - another ambition towards realizing our brand promise.
What support and services is the company offering customers?
Total solutions are part and parcel of every Volvo CE product. In fact, our relationship with customers commences after the sale has concluded. We offer a comprehensive package that includes consultancy and services to enhance productivity, fuel efficiency, machine uptime, financial assistance, and training, apart from a full range of RMAs. This perhaps explains why Volvo customers remain loyal to our brand for years.
Volvo CE India has developed a series of operator training programs; please elaborate on the various modules.
Volvo CE India has been a pioneer in the Operator Training space for well over two decades. For example, our Jr. Excavator Operator Training Program which we conducted in partnership with some major infrastructure brands of the country. To date, close to 1,000 candidates have been trained with near 100% placement for pass-out candidates.
Volvo CE also has tie-ups with local dealer teams to conduct training workshops for Construction Equipment Operators across the country. On completion, participants are awarded certificates authorized by IESC and recognized by industry members, which further improves their employability.
We recently launched the Simulators on Wheel Program wherein Mobile Simulator set-ups are sent to our customer sites, where operators are trained to use Volvo machines more competently.
Volvo CE has also invested in a state-of-the-art Digital Live Training Studio at our Customer Centre Facility. Here, we continually engage in skill development of our dealership teams through customised training modules, live streaming of machines and components, and instructor-led virtual interactive sessions.
Rental companies are feeling the heat with some OEMs entering the rental business; how do you look at this concern of the rental companies who are your major buyers or clients?
India is in the midst of an unprecedented surge in infrastructure development, which is driving demand for construction equipment. OEM’s participation will help the overall rental business with better technology, training, and safety standards, more professionalism, and, of course, improved uptime.
In a country as vast as ours, there are multiple genres of customers spread across a diverse set of job applications and segments. This encourages manufacturers like us to always bring their best solutions forward.
We are proud to introduce our latest Service Solution called EaaS (Equipment as a Service) to encourage our customers explore various business possibilities. With the world becoming more service-centric, and customers demanding smarter ways of doing business, EaaS is a usage-based contract with an uptime guarantee that allows the customer to pay only when utilizing the equipment at a fixed hourly rate.
What are the challenges that the CE industry is facing and how can they be resolved for India to become the world’s second largest manufacturer of construction equipment by 2030?
With India expected to become the second largest construction equipment manufacturer in the world by 2030, we are truly in the golden age of Indian infrastructure. In fact, Indian construction equipment market is expected to grow at CAGR of 8-9% through this decade. We have the political will, the financial means, policy mechanism, and the governance to achieve this landmark, especially after the various structural reforms we have undertaken, like the National Infrastructure Pipeline, National Monetisation Plan, and the PM Gati Shakti Program, to name a few.
All that is required now is building momentum in execution across all areas of infrastructure development. The Government of India needs to closely monitor and ensure uniform progress through the year in all departments – from project conceptualization to DPRs, tender awards to project execution. If we get all these going on a fast track, there will be no stopping India!
