The Indian construction equipment market is expected to grow at 12 per cent CAGR to $ 4 bn by 2017. This creates many opportunities for tower cranes as well. P V Ramdev emphasises the need of reducing dependency on foreign players and feels procurement trend is still price based.  Dependency on foreign playersThe current potential and manufacturing facilities in India will not be sufficient to meet the Indian pace. The availability of exact raw materials and proper mechanisms are still not available in India. The industry is still dependent on foreign players.
“Since the majority of raw materials and mechanisms are imported by Indian manufacturers, time has come for corporate companies to think for a direct import of tower cranes, which is proven for several decades in the market,” observes Mr Ramdev. “Some of the demands are being met with the Indian manufacturers. However, the critical, high capacity and luffing cranes still need to be addressed with foreign suppliers.”
Procurement trends and issues“The procurement trend is still price based,” believes Mr Ramdev. “The contractors do not have appropriate experts for proper validation of tower cranes with respect to the quality and life of structures, mechanisms, electrical controls and VFD controls.” The procurement of a tower crane becomes challenging because of the confusions created by various manufactures and dealers. The exact validations according to the site requirement get diverted through different methodology, and the bitter result comes out after a year of operation where the warranty of tower crane is over. To avoid such situations, formation of a technical team (internal or external) is recommended which will recommend 3-4 exact tower crane brands suitable for the requirement.
“We are concentrating on the best quality, best performance within affordable price range,” informs Mr Ramdev. “The most important is the quality of the personnel in helping the after sales services at any point of time, as the concrete cannot be diverted because of tower crane.”
Procurement criteriaAccording to Mr Ramdev, before procuring any tower crane, customer should consider some points to get good results. It must be ensured that all the safety features like hoist, trolley, slew, over load, over moment limit switches as well as the load radius display systems are installed properly. Further the type of tower crane (inner climbing or external), maximum load to be lifted and the required radius and space restrictions etc. should be paid attention.
Some more points need to be taken into consideration are:• Life span of tower cranes  required without major break down• Whether the hoisting mechanism/luffing mechanism is VFD controlled to save 40 per cent power consumption• Whether the slewing control is RCV based to take care of heavy wind loads on monsoon season• Whether the weather protection of all motors are IP-55• Available protection against power failure during loaded operation• Maximum hoist rope capacity for future projects and speed of lifting. —————————————————————–The procurement trend is still price based. The contractors do not have appropriate experts for proper validation of tower cranes.
-P V Ramdev, Managing Director, Everest Engineering Equipment Pvt. Ltd.