Sany’s localisation plan pays off

Sany India, the wholly owned subsidiary of Sany Heavy Industry, a China-based construction equipment company is banking on India’s 'Make-in-India' programme to enhance its footprint in the world's third largest construction equipment (CE)  industry.

Deepak Garg, Managing Director, Sany Heavy Industry ( India)  told  Autocar Professional that his company has invested over Rs 3000-3500 crore over a decade and that its strong presence in the country's CE industry stems from its strong reliance on  3Ls of localisation of R&D, products and employees." Increasing localization is the key,"  Garg told Autocar Professional on the sidelines of an industry event in Mumbai.

The top executive said his company's R&D team of around 60 people who are based out of Pune focus primarily on customization of its global technologies for Indian requirements. Almost all the products in the company’s portfolio sold in India such as truck cranes and piling rigs, excavators, mining trucks, concrete boom pumps, transit mixer trucks, trailer pumps, and others have been localised. The R & D team has also given key design and development inputs for products manufactured for some of the other markets including South Asia, Middle East and Africa. The R&D setup also includes testing facilities and a training centre.

Manufacturing facility
Sany's manufacturing plant in Pune which is spread over 80-acre area with an annual capacity of about 16,000-20,000 units. Its capacity usage is around 8000 units. Commissioned in 2009, the unit is considered to be one of  Sany's largest factories outside of China and has been helped make the Chinese company a market leader in mobile and large cranes, and second largest in excavators, company officials said.

In addition, what has helped Sany to improve its localisation efforts has been its collaboration with Putzmeister (India), a company which Sany Heavy Industry acquired in 2012.  Both companies share the concrete equipment manufacturing resources. In terms of workforce,  Sany India claims to have managed to keep close to 99 percent of all its employees, sales and service, and leadership team local along with a healthy geographical spread across the country.  The company currently has about 210 touchpoints which it expects to increase to around 260 by end 2022.

Garg, who is also on the Excon steering committee, said he remains positive about the demand trajectory going forward and that localisation will surely help in providing impetus to the industry.  With regard to the impact of new emission norms , Garg added that even as the construction equipment (CE)  witnessed a dip in demand in FY22 due to the transition challenges, the impact is likely to continue even in the current fiscal.

He explained that the mandated transition which came into effect beginning April last year has seen prices of the machines going up by a  steep 12-15 percent.

The development, however, has had a different impact on different kinds of machines. For example, backhoe loaders which are primarily considered as an entry-level equipment get used primarily by smaller contractors and, therefore, have seen the maximum dent. On the other hand,  grinders and pavers that are meant for specific activities are not likely to feel the impact, Garg continued.

In Garg’s view, overall fixed costs of business for the CE industry including the shipment charges have gone up by approximately  6-8 times for international freight and by  3-4 times in the domestic market. " The price increases consequently from the CE manufacturers is not out of choice but because they had no other way to make up for this. Every player has been compelled to increase prices, " he said.

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The feature was first published in Autocar Professional's  April 15, 2022 issue.