Backhoe loader is a widely-used construction equipment and continues to be a growing market in India.

Since JCB introduced the equipment, the machine has played a significant role in the development of India’s infrastructure The backhoe loader is JCB India’s flagship product and has proved its importance and utility over the years. Today, over 2,25,000 backhoes are working across the country in various projects.

The growth drivers
The machine finds great use at almost every construction site, in both urban and rural India. This multi-purpose machine performs a variety of tasks at sites and is primarily used for digging, dozing, levelling and in general site applications. Increase in the execution of infrastructure projects, large or medium scale have led to the increase in the demand of the machine. It is being used in almost every sector – roads and highways, railways, irrigation, rural roads, housing, general construction, and maintenance, among others.

The company feels the future prospects are also strong for this product as every construction site requires a general purpose machine which is not versatile but also is mobile. The significant outlay announced by the government in Budget 2018 for creating physical infrastructure in education, health sector, link roads, affordable housing will continue to boost the demand for backhoe loaders. Rural roads also present significant opportunities for this segment followed by areas such as sea ports and air ports. JCB has the world’s largest backhoe manufacturing facility in Delhi-NCR and in addition to this, it also manufactures backhoes at its latest facility in Jaipur. With this, the company is fully committed to ensure that JCB remains close to its customers.

Innovations in JCB’s backhoe loader range
Productivity, reliability, profitability continues to be the primary deciding factors for buying equipment for customers. However, safety and operator comfort are also becoming critical parameters in the overall buying decision.

In December 2017, the company has introduced the iconic JCB backhoe loader – the 3DX Xtra with 30 new innovative features, including 15 industry firsts, and five world’s firsts including an automated manual transmission (AMT) called easy shift. This machine also comes with an SOS switch, economy and power mode, guide me home and smart app machine diagnostics.

Specifications
The company has taken cognisance of evolving customer needs and has come up with solutions pertaining to reduced cost of operation, enhance reliability, performance, ease of use, safety, serviceability and design in its new ecoXcellence range of backhoe loaders.

Cost of operation
• 10 per cent more fuel efficiency in duty cycle along with additional savings of 5per cent in yearly maintenance cost.
• Reduce wastage of fuel while idling of machine.
• Options of choosing economy, standard, and plus mode – this helps in saving fuel as per the work requirement.

Reliability
• Boom and dipper joint has floating pin design like big excavators which enhances its life.
• Wider dipper to make structures more reliable.
• Anti-rust coating on stabiliser pad lock nuts to enhance life of internal threads.

Ease of use
• A bigger pedal and nearly zero effort foot and hand throttle with no wire control.
• Hydraulic filter clogging indicators to enhance life and save undue repair cost of hydraulic components.
• Know exact operation of the machine during the day with trip hour meter switch on a digital display.
• Additionally, digital speedometer that shows operating speed and gear.

Safety
• ‘Guide me home’ feature: After parking machine’s external light will switch on after ignition off and switch off automatically after 30 seconds. In this duration operator can identify his way, belongings, etc. while leaving the machine or site after the parking.
• SOS switch: In case of emergency, if operator pushes the SOS switch for 5 seconds, an automatic emergency SMS will be sent to the Livelink command centre or owner’s mobile.
• It also has the feature of data analytics to know the operational behaviour of the machine.

Serviceability or diagnostics
• Higher uptime due to quick identification of the problem- smart app connects with Bluetooth on the machine and can exactly tell which part of the machine has concern.
• Audio visual warning system for any malfunction along with an error code display. Operator can tell the error code to service engineer while call log to be better prepared to address the same before he arrives at site.
• Coolant indicator window on top of the radiator tank helps in the protection of engine components.

Aesthetics
• Bolder exterior for new upgraded models.
• Bold colour scheme inside the cabin to give a refreshed feeling inside.

Demand for backhoe loader
The last two years have been exciting for the construction equipment industry. The government has continued to make infrastructure creation a pillar for sustained growth through significant budget allocations, which have thus created growth opportunities for construction equipment. Presently, the roads and highways sector has been generating consistent demand for the company’s equipment. A significant area of opportunity is to have more demand drivers for the industry for sustainable growth. Sectors such as irrigation, railways and water conservation have shown potential and JCB hopes that they will start driving demand in the coming times. Backhoes loaders continue to be a popular product in India and with significant infrastructure creation opportunities, the demand for this equipment is expected to grow.

Value additions
The JCB Livelink technology has been a game changer in the Indian Construction Equipment industry. Introduced in 2015, Livelink allows effective fleet management – it helps the customers remotely monitor and manage their machines. Users, dealers and JCB get SMS alerts on their phones regarding the service, operations and security of their machine. This data is stored over a period of time and gives vital information to the customer in terms of number of hours the machine has been operational, service intervals, fuel levels, malfunctions if any, etc. This technology aims to deliver constructive, real-time information to increase productivity and efficiency.

The geo fencing and time fencing feature gives out SMS alerts whenever the machine moves out of the designated, pre-determined geographical areas or works outside the pre designated time limits. The machine through the hardware and the mobile network will give out an alert when operated beyond the designated timings or the geo fenced areas. These features are particularly useful where machines are prone to theft and misuse. There are various instances where JCB machines which were stolen have also been recovered as they appeared on the monitoring system the moment they were switched on. To monitor these machines in real time, JCB has set up a world class command centre at Ballabgarh facility. The company’s dealerships have also set up similar Livelink command centres to ensure that real time support is provided to the customers as they can now plan for service schedules and also engage with users and customers in preventive maintenance.

Moreover, with the advent of digital technologies, users can now control their entire fleet in real time and all the critical machine information is available on their smart devices in the form of digital applications such as JCB Livelink app, JCB Smart Serve App and Smart Machine Diagnostics app.

Authored by:
Jasmeet Singh,
Head – Corporate Communications and Corporate Relations,
JCB India Ltd