Shandar Alam, Managing Director, Vehicle and Hydraulics – India, Eaton believes that despite the slowdown the Indian market continues to remain a safe bet in the long term.

How would you describe Excon 2019?
Excon is one of the largest congregations for players from the construction equipment and construction technology industry in India. Platforms like these are instrumental in enabling businesses to explore the latest product and technology trends in the industry. I’ve been a part of the steering committee for Excon. At Eaton, we have been participated in multiple editions of Excon. The number of exhibitors over a period of time has grown. About 1,250 exhibitors, participated including many overseas exhibitors, which is nice.

At this exhibition, what products are you displaying?
Excon is an event, which we really look forward to . All the OEMs, end users come under one roof, it is an opportunity to showcase our new and innovative products and keep a track of trending technologies and innovations.

As the hydraulics industry adapts to ever changing product and machine designs, Eaton continues to develop innovative ideas and introducing newer ways to our customers be more productive and efficient. Eaton’s X70 closed circuit piston and plug in motor, Steering unit 5SQ, Eaton Spiral hose EC640 and Cast Iron piston motor 743XX not only meet the emerging industry demands but also deliver progressive design solutions to address high pressure jobs and tough condition requirements at ease.

Distinctly advanced in terms of performance, functionalities and capabilities, these new products are designed to address the emerging technology needs of a range of applications in industries such as construction, agriculture, mining and others..Along with four newly introduced products, this year, Eaton’s technology showcase includes a diverse range of products for construction segment, which includes all piston product portfolios, the various electro-hydraulic products such as the HFX range of electronic controllers and VFX display, along with state of the art CMA valves. In addition to our wide range of hydraulic products for backhoe loaders, skid steer loaders, compactors, scrapers, dozers, concrete mixers, boom pumps, wheel loaders, commercial vehicles, cranes, mining equipment, we will also showcase our solutions for excavator application, which include the main pump, swing motors, track drive motors as well as hydraulic remote controls. In addition, Eaton also showcased its robust, reliable and efficient power quality and power distribution products for varied industry segments.

In the current market scenario, what kind of challenges is Eaton facing?
The current market scenario is temporary. Our strategy doesn’t change because of the current market condition because we believe that the long term growth story of India is still intact. And that’s the reason why when a company like us has significantly invested in India over a period of time.

We have a dedicated R&D operation with 1,900 plus engineers. With 18 locations and seven manufacturing facilities, all of Eaton’s businesses are well represented in India, we have kept our long strategy piece intact. India is a growing market and our R&D is continuously focusing on new innovations to cater to its emerging needs.

Our product innovation focuses on three key areas
One, whatever product and technology that we are innovating, has to be safe and provide safety to the people and to the assets. It has to be reliable. So, we have to make sure that the uptime of the equipment is high.

Then second important piece is energy efficiency. Most of the products that Eaton has brought over a period of time helps the customer improve operational costs, conserve energy, contribute to the environment with sustainability.

And third, intelligence and connectivity. We believe our products need to be intelligent, provide analytics and real time data to the end user. The OEMs use a lot of analytics, which helps them to improve efficiency and reduce the operational costs. The real time data is very important in today’s scenario and that too is our core focus area as far as R&D is concerned.

How do you see the industry sector panning out in 2020?
After attending to the inaugural session at Excon, I remain optimistic about the Indian market and believe the government is addressing the challenges that have arisen and trying to invigorate the construction and construction equipment market.

At Eaton we are very bullish about India, we are not looking at short term goals. There can be short term challenges, but we being a global organisation believe the long term story of this country is intact. We remain hopeful that this temporary setback will not last long and the market will perform very well in 2020.

Shandar Alam, Managing Director, Vehicle and Hydraulics – India, Eaton