It’s been above 20 years that Volvo Penta is providing engines and components to multiple infrastructure and construction sites, container handling terminals, open cast & underground mines and even agriculture fields with various applications here. Miron Thoms, Vice President & Head, Volvo Penta India, is a confident man when he says, “We are ready for the future for a cleaner and safer India”. Excerpts of an interview…
Tell us about the milestone achievements of Volvo Penta in providing efficient solutions to the construction industry.
For more than 20 years Volvo Penta is providing power for building India. Our Engines and components can be found on multiple infrastructure and construction sites, container handling terminals, open cast & underground mines and even agriculture fields with various applications.
We have provided India with cleaner engines, burning less fuel and saving our customers operating costs and provided a safer and cleaner work environment.
In April 2017, we commenced a manufacturing facility called VEPT in Pithampur with our 5-litre and 8-litre engine ranging from 105 kW to 235 kW for industrial off road applications.
What are the USPs that have contributed in strengthening and maintaining your product’s popularity in the market?
Our engines share a number of high-technology design features like compact design and high power to weight ratio, electronically controlled engine control system and waste-gate turbocharger for increased block load acceptance, excellent performance with peak torque at low engine speed. All these features contribute to optimized total cost of operations. The top USPs for our engines are high reliability due to our high quality standards and less down time due to longer service intervals and excellent fuel efficiency.
Quality and pricing – how will you balance this equation to cater to a price-sensitive market?
What is a price sensitive market? We are very competitive, or I would even say a benchmark when looking at the total costs of operation. Yes, to pay for a product is one part of it, but then the real cost will actually appear during operations and our customer’s customer want to earn money with their equipment.
We, the Volvo Group, as well as Volvo Penta, do not compromise on any quality levels or standards around the world. In India, operators and machine owners are looking more and more at operating costs, efficiency and productivity as those are key performance indicators for making money. As most of the operators will confirm, downtime is extremely expensive, fuel consumption is right next in line in the operating costs.
Volvo Penta offers low fuel consumption, longer service intervals and due to its standard build in quality a longer engine life and better durability.
As India looks to speed up project implementation, what are the opportunities you are seeking in the area of infrastructure building?
Volvo Construction Equipment as well as our customer base in India are big contributors to build India. We are very confident about their product performance and believe in their successful implementation. We support our customers with application engineering to build a more productive and efficient machine. We utilise the synergy between Volvo Trucks, Volvo Construction Equipment and Volvo Penta powered machinery to offer a full scope of supply to India’s infrastructure construction sites.
What are the strengths of your company you believe in to be successful in the Indian Market place?
Volvo Penta is building engines for more than 100 years. This experience together with advanced technology that we are sharing within the Volvo Group offers unique benefits to Indian customers. Not only do we offer excellent products but also a strong aftermarket network as well as expert application engineering support in the early stages of our partnerships.
Also we are a true Indian home base company with 3,500 people working for the Volvo Group in India. We are developing in India for the world.
In Hosakote we are training technicians and customers in our own Volvo Penta Training Center.
With available technologies in the Volvo Group, we are ready for the future for a cleaner and safer India.
What is your outlook for business for next five years?
We have very high ambitions, especially with our local production just started. We are very proud to produce in India, for India, but also for the world from India.
We foresee a very strong growth, especially in the all speed engine segment.