The mobile cranes market has been improving over the years. Especially, with the new government at the Centre focusing on project execution and improving economy, the industry is hoping for a positive growth in coming years. The new government is giving thrust on various projects in power, refinery, road, rail etc. Currently, some big petrochemical and metro projects have driven the demand for mobile cranes. Mr Kumar is optimistic about the future of mobile crane market and highlights some of the challenges being faced.
Strategies and challengesThe company is not only focusing on sales. It has a good team for after sales service support, product training to the customer and end users.
However, there are some challenges for mobile crane industry like cost-effectiveness, timely delivery of the equipment, up gradation of the machines as per market requirements, and spares parts readiness.
Earlier, there used to be huge number of imported used cranes in India. However, now it has come down drastically, due to policy change among the big corporate construction companies to not to use used machinery.
There is some challenge from used machines for new machines as far as rental segment is concerned as rental rates are reduced.
“Since the rental rates have come down sharply, the payback period of investing in new equipment has gone up,” points out Mr Kumar. Increase in demandThe demand for mobile cranes has increased gradually. Friends Equipment has sold about 100 units this year. It is excelling in telescopic cranes segment with 70 per cent market share in India.
“There is a demand of mobile cranes in India but just because of few major projects. We are still under recession and hope the things will become better in next few months with the starting up of new projects,” hopes Mr Kumar.Rental has come down by almost 50 per cent over the past few years, so that for higher capacity cranes, the rental rates are not viable. Also because of hike in dollar price, the landed cost of the cranes has been increased. Earlier, for an investment in a crane, the payback period was four years, which has currently gone up to 7-8 years. This scenario is making people reluctant to invest in the crane market.
Products and supply chainIn truck cranes, the company mainly offers ranges varying 55T, 75T, 100T, 110T and 130T, 180T and 220T. Zoomlion range focuses on the immediate supply of the cranes to customers.
“We offer cranes ranging from 25T to 220T to Indian customers in which 55T and 75T are the fast moving ranges. Our cranes have been well accepted worldwide because of the quality, cost-effectiveness and timely delivery,” informs Mr Kumar. “We believe on continuous improvement in the quality of product and sharpen the skills of our service team.”
About 50 to 70 units of cranes are kept in ready stock in China so that the supply chain does not get affected. The company is also planning to stock some cranes in India to make its supply chain more effective.For customers’ good A customer must consider in his crane while procuring for the advanced safety features, timely delivery, after sales service support, cost-effectiveness, spare parts availability, time involved in procurement, and of course brand image.
Since the rental rates have come down sharply, the payback period of investing in new equipment has gone up.
-Rajeev Kumar, CEO, Friends Equipment