“Schwing has been meeting consumers online, having technical conversations, and arriving at a whole solid solution,” says V.G. Sakthikumar Managing Director, Schwing Stetter India.

How did you successfully manage your business in the Covid times? 

The incredibly relentless pursuit of our hardworking employees, and our way of foreseeing the future helped us stay afloat during Covid, and eventually in successfully managing the business during these trying times. The consistent growth in sales notwith standing the pandemic may be contributed to the reliability and quality of Schwing Equipment, the tireless after sales support and continuous customer engagement.

We, at Schwing Stetter India, have abided strongly by the protocols, hence, this has helped us manage the business during these difficult times. Schwing has done exceedingly well to tackle the Covid induced work protocols, both with manpower and the manufacturing processes. We ensured our productivity did not hamper to a great extent, at same time adhering to the strictest Covid safety norms. Staggering of work timings, prioritisation of work schedules, new work culture of “WFH” ,sanitised work place, virtual conferences, online webinars for customers, remote trouble shooting of equipment etc., has not only made us to adapt to the new normal but also have helped us save costs which were not visible prior to the pandemic.

Also, usage and implementation of digital initiatives has helped us not to miss out on customer service and productivity. For example, the remote access of plant operation thrugh internet, made batching plant operation with minimum manpower. Similarly, IoT enabled equipment such as SLM, wheel loaders, excavators and transit mixers gave their maximum productivity with a continuous feed back to the stake holders and to Schwing Stetter on its performance.

How do you view the recovery in the construction equipment market so far? 

The need for concreting equipment is always going to be poignant. Currently, the concrete equipment share is more than 60 percent in India. This stems the growth for companies such as Schwing – and a main reason on how we have managed to be successful is because of the vastly growing space that the industry occupies in India. 

For the construction and concreting equipment manufacturing industry, it is important to remain diverse with respect to the product offerings. Since we, at Schwing Stetter India, have a wide range of products; the fact remains that different categories of equipment have their own market share, in the industry, thereby leading to our increasing customer base. 

What kind of policy support is required for the market revival? 

The concreting and construction equipment manufacturing industry is vast. There are so many different kinds of products, catering to different requirements. However, a common support in terms of regulatory measures in the sector will help the industry bounce back quickly. 

For example, the cement prices and other aggregate prices are spiraling out of control which affects the construction activity and thus, the infrastructure development. We believe that a few regulatory measures will truly help the sector to bounce back quickly. 

What are your strategies for business revival? 

Schwing has always been ‘customer first and customer focused’. Using technology, Schwing has made use of various innovative strategies to cater to customers. 

Schwing has been continuously meeting customers virtually, having technical discussions and arriving at a total concrete solution without much of a human involvement. These strategies help Schwing in staying close with customers and hence, aids business growth and revival. 

Besides this, the company’s focused growth in expanding the business also, is a key factor in our business revival strategies. Schwing Stetter inaugurated its largest facility in the state – The Global Manufacturing Hub in February 2021. The state-of-the-art integrated facility of 52 acres comprising 50,000 sq. mtr., of built up area will now manufacture concrete boom pumps, stationary pumps, self-loading mixers, shotcrete pumps, excavators, wheel loaders and motor graders. 

We also very recently unveiled a state of the art All New Self-loading Mixer – SLM 4600, a flagship model, in a Grand Gala ceremony in Guwahati, thereby expanding presence in India. Adding to its existing Range of SLMs, the All New SLM -4600 will cater to higher output requirement of Concrete batching, Mixing and Placing in the urban development segment. The 

New SLM 4600 fitted with the latest CEV Stage 4 Engine will be the feather in the cap, providing excellent fuel savings, while adhering to the latest emission norms. 

With Indian government giving more push to infrastructure projects and focusing in North – Eastern states, it is more appropriate to launch the SLM in Guwahati. We plan to ink MoU with Assam government for operator development training programme, which will help train the right candidates and thereby provide job opportunities in handling the Infrastructure Equipment in the Northeast sector.  

How do you assess the growth next year and beyond in the construction equipment market? 

Schwing Stetter has recently strengthened and expanded its own in-house R&D facility, a one of its kind in this industry. Major focus is on product design, development and product performance improvement, prototype with infusion of IoT and AI. A slew of equipment such as SLM, excavator, wheel loader and batching plants are equipped with cutting edge AI and IoT already in field helping customer to churn out production with minimum manpower. 

This year initially owing to COVID-19 pandemic, our business was not at its peak. However, we are happy to say that it has picked up and we are expecting that this year will be third best year for company.