E. Moses  Vice President, Division & National Head, Kobelco Construction Equipment India Pvt Ltd. In an Interview with B2B Purchase 

Kobelco excavators make more sense because of their superior design and construction qualities, including the selection of components that work together to produce the best results.

What are the most recent and in demand Cranes and excavators in India’s infrastructure sector?

Indian Infrastructure sector has been the main driver of demand/ activity for construction equipment. As far as the demand for specific types of equipment is concerned, it largely depends on the scope of each project. However, broadly speaking, the demand for hydraulic excavators is mostly for small and medium size excavators, that is, in the 11-14 Ton and the 20-22 Ton segments. The 20-22 Ton units are more popular as they can conveniently perform various tasks with multiple attachments. In some of the larger contracts, some contractors prefer to use the 35-38 Ton range of excavators for their higher output with improved cost of operations.

As far as Cranes are concerned, there is a healthy demand for small to medium Cranes of various types. From Kobelco’s existing range (100T/ 150T and 260T Lattice-boom, hydraulically-operated Crawler-mounted Cranes), the 100T model is most popular and is being deployed in Metro rail Projects, Bullet Train, dedicated freight corridors, major Bridges’ construction, etc. The 200th 100T Kobelco Crane has been delivered recently.

How are road construction trends influencing Kobelco’s operations in India?

Road construction trends have a major impact on the business plans of OEMs in the CE industry; and Kobelco is no exception. This segment of infrastructure building has been most significant and is an indicator of the overall activity. Also, most road construction works involve the use of multiple types of Construction equipment fuelling all round demand. For example, excavators for all excavation jobs, loaders, graders, compactors, pavers, rollers, etc for related jobs. Usually there are bridges, culverts, ROBs, etc for which cranes, piling, concreting, etc. are required. There is a large requirement of aggregates for which excavators are required along with crushing and screening equipment.

Kobelco, being a leading manufacturer of Excavators and Cranes, has to factor the contract awards and work progress to forecast the demand for its products progressively. Market movements are a function of several key factors like contract awards, funds availability, equipment financing support, covid related disruptions, local issues, etc.

What are your recent innovative products and solutions offerings for faster construction?

Kobelco’s USPs includes higher productivity, higher reliability and an industry-leading field support enabling users to derive maximum benefits during the life-cycle of the equipment. Kobelco’s Generation-10 series delivers a set of values which take performance to the next level. Increased fuel efficiency, faster operating cycles, highly durable structures and filtration systems, lower carbon footprint, longer service life of all major components, etc are collectively delivering tremendous Value. No wonder, Users prefer Kobelco once they have experienced the benefits.

Can you tell us about your Next-Generation Excavators in the 14T class? What distinguishes it from others?

The 14T class of excavators has a developing importance in the market, being an intermediate segment between the most popular 20-22T segment and the smaller excavators in the 7-11T segment. It is being used for multiple jobs of a wide variety including some of the lighter-duty applications usually carried out by the 20-22T machines.

Recently, the Company has introduced the new 14T models with the features of its Generation 10 series thereby raising the bar in this growing segment. It has also introduced a differentiation for the benefit of customers who can choose between a relatively basic version with additional features (the SK140-10) and an enhanced variant with extra features and capabilities. The latter model, the SK145XDLC-10, is enabled to not only be the segment leader, but can also tackle some of the jobs in specific applications usually executed by the higher 20-22T units, with the advantage of lower Owning and Operating costs.

What other factors, aside from fuel efficiency, make your excavators the most popular?

As stated above, our excavators make better sense due to their better design and build qualities, including the choice of components, which combine harmoniously to deliver the best results. This is the result of years of listening to the customer and developing innovative solutions to address their challenges and expectations. To state briefly, Kobelco excavators Save More, Produce More and Work More (higher machine uptime) and this is ensured by the high-class support provided by the Service & Parts network.

In recent years, Kobelco has been extending even customised support to customers in line with their stringent expectations.