What is your outlook on the overall scenario of CE industry?
It will be changing for betterment. It was a peak time in the year 2010-2011 and last quarter of 2011 it went down, and it kept going down in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Up to September 2014, it’s just left out and not going down anymore.

The outlook is somewhat brighter, inquiries are increasing, a lot of equipment are occupied again – showing positive signs. We expect about 10 per cent increase in 2015 as compared to 2014, but still it will be 20 per cent behind from 2011 figures. So we need another 3 years to get back to 2011 figures. We are sure the market will turn back in next 3 years.

Is it for the entire CE segment?
It’s concrete as well as road construction. The whole CE manufacturing industry has suffered a lot in last 3 years, so everybody is in hope that it will go up.

What about increasing competition?
Competition is not increasing – it’s just the number of players. But in turn prices do suffer. Prices in India are absolutely unrealistic. Customers have to accept the prices in future as it is not possible to continue to run with this kind of prices. We have always focused on being one step ahead with the ability of our product and innovation. We are basically providing the customers the product they need.

What sort of initiatives you have taken to lower the production cost without compromising machines’ quality?
During the past 3 years we worked a lot to achieve international quality standard of Germany. We have achieved that in 2012 which has helped us to export our products to Thailand, South Africa, Brazil, and the United States commencing March 2013. Today, export contributes to 30-35 per cent of our turnover and has helped us in achieving sustainability.

Are you doing any innovations in the product feature to bring down the cost?
Yes, we have done a lot to localisation in our facility located in Goa. We manufacture waste on chemical standards and also worked a lot on our environment like our e-smart machine. We have reduced the quantity for hydraulic oil from 300 litres to 70 litres. Our machines are made lighter and we have used intelligent software systems to monitor the operations.

What is the percentage of localisation? Will it increase in future?
Localisation is more than 80 per cent and it will surely increase. If the volumes increase, we might increase localisation.
What will be your key strategy to consolidate your position in the Indian market?
To consolidate our position in the Indian market, we have to listen to our customers first about their needs. Then we have to increase the number of people using mechanisation. In India, around 80 per cent of the concrete is not pumped which is a big potential area.

We need to convince the government that construction industry should not be barred by the RBI because finance is a big obstacle. Construction industry cannot fund itself as it has no credit. The government should also bring in GST to provide ease in logistic. And finally, we need to continue innovate.

What are the USP of your products?
Reliability is the major USP of all Putzmeister products. Also, we are one step ahead of the industry in terms of innovation. Our after-sales and support services on pan-India is an added advantage.

Are you going to introduce any new technology in the market?
We will be introducing a batching plant range during the first quarter of 2015. This is going to be a major innovation as far as Indian market is concerned. We may also launch products like plastering machine and shotcrete machines.

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Localisation is more than 80 per cent and it will surely increase. If the volumes increase, we might increase localisation

Wilfried Theissen,
Managing Director,
Putzmeister Concrete Machines India