A new plant for heavy machines will soon be commissioned which will increase our capacity 3-4 times.
Manish Mathur,
What is the current market scenario of mobile cranes in India?
ACE – Action Construction Equipment is the largest mobile crane manufacturer in India and also, the world’s largest manufacturer of pick-n-carry cranes.
At present, the cranes market is growing at a rate of 25-30% YoY and with the present growth momentum of economy and government focus on infrastructure and manufacturing, we feel that it will continue to grow at least at 15-20% CAGR.
How do you look at the demand trend? What is the demand-supply scenario?
Infrastructure is the key for growth in a country and India's construction sector is considered as the second-largest employer and contributor to economic activities in the country.
Construction sectors are improving at very fast pace as there is an emerging requirement of higher capacities and innovations in CE. The new, highly productive, low maintenance and innovative equipment are one of the major factors that are now leading to the faster infrastructural development. Along with that, modern construction equipment is also proving to be helpful in reducing the construction costs to a great extent.
As the machine population is increasing and the market is demanding bigger capacity machines, there are major supply challenges as to match the growth in demand. The entire supply chain requires capex which is very hard to coordinate as the liquidity in the system is still not at the desired level due to higher interest rates and other regulatory requirements.
What are the latest product and technology trends in your range of mobile cranes?
Technology is now at centre-stage and its use will not only be providing economically viable solutions for the manufacturers, operators and customers, but also environmentally viable solutions in the future.
The use of technology in machinery provides opportunities to improve the design and production of products using the service feedback. This can reduce considerably, the overall cost of the machinery through its lifespan along with a reduction in material consumption.
The company provides option of Telematics which in turn digitises the equipment. It helps the owners of the machinery to remotely monitor and supervise the various functional parameters of the machine and remain updated of its health and maintaining the same to optimum level for better performance.
Leaders in their arena, ACE has always pro-actively fulfilled each one of its customers’ needs, requirements and indeed wishes. At ACE, we are already utilising some of the best technologies available worldwide and we constantly work to upgrade and adapt all possible technologies to Indian working conditions; Making sure Nothing Beats an ACE!
What are the green initiatives in your mobile cranes range?
Reducing emissions and saving the environment is the way forward and the whole world is adopting the same at a good pace.
For above, we have introduced India’s first fully electric mobile crane in BAUMA 2023 which will be subsequently followed by other tonnages. Also, we are very much open to the idea of evolving machines based on Hydrogen IC Engines or Fuel Cell technology. As soon as the operating environment with respect to commercially viable hydrogen becomes conducive, we are very hopeful that the shift towards hydrogen technology would start to happen in the next 2-3 years in our country.
Going forward, we are sure that artificial intelligence will also have a major role in the way machines are built and operated and shall be inculcating various aspects of artificial intelligence and autonomous machines depending on the suitability, benefits and safety with respect to our product range.
What are the aftermarket services offered for your mobile crane customers?
ACE equipment is used throughout the country and to cater to this wide spread and provide effective pre-sales and aftersales service, the company has developed a network of dealers and Area Offices operating out of 100 locations and supported by 18 Area/Regional Offices. These are in turn supported by the Marketing HQ based at Delhi and a dedicated Product Support Division based at Faridabad.
What is your outlook on India’s mobile cranes market? What are your future plans?
Any industrial or infrastructure activity will drive the demand of cranes as all the material handling activities are primarily done by cranes, and ACE is the largest mobile crane manufacturer in India. Further, our pick-n-carry cranes are the first equipment getting in any particular infrastructure site and the last to move out.
With government determined to initiate infra activity worth Rs 11.1 lakh crore in this financial year, not only our crane industry but the entire construction equipment industry has great days ahead. We are very bullish and are continuously upgrading our facilities and expanding our network to capture as much market as possible.
The demand for higher tonnage and higher reach machines are pushing us to introduced even more models in the market. The success of our multi-activity cranes is pushing our R&D to innovate more of such application-specific machines.
We are working to expand our crawler and truck crane range also. A new plant for heavy machines will soon be commissioned which will increase our capacity 3-4 times as compared to the present scenario.
Infrastructure push by the government with increased focus in public private partnership projects and inflow of FDIs in the construction space has been instrumental in driving the demand. The government has outlined several road works, building works and smart city development projects. All these will require construction and earthmoving equipment, which will result in the fast-paced growth of the construction equipment sector in India.
Further, Infra push will be dependent upon accelerating in availability of finance and construction companies emerging with stronger balance sheets.
National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) is the key demand driver for the CE industry. Road transport, railways, irrigation, water resources, and airports are the key projects covered under the NIP program. It is expected that infrastructure spending by the government will continue to remain robust in the coming years.
