After a humble beginning in 2002, Conmat Group became an established name in Concrete Construction Equipment. Its moment of glory came with equity partnership from the global concrete equipment major KYB Corporation of Japan in 2012, and since then there’s no looking back. Sailj Verma Sr. Vice President – Sales, KYB-Conmat Pvt Ltd, talks on the company’s growth prospects and their plans for bauma Conexpo.
What trends and growth prospects do you envisage for the concrete equipment segments in the coming years?
India’s infrastructure sector is poised to grow significantly with the increasing demand for development of key infrastructure projects such as roads and highways, rural connectivity, urban infrastructure including metro rail projects, ports and airports, industrial corridors, smart city projects, etc. Investment and implementation of key projects are the concerns of the construction and construction equipment industry. Several initiatives by the Government such as 100 smart city projects, urban infrastructure including metro rail projects, port development, the creation of an industrial corridor and a dedicated freight corridor, would boost the country’s infrastructure development. So, for a growing economy like India the infrastructure sector and construction industry will prosper in the long run.
The year 2018 has set a new benchmark for concrete equipment sales; how has 2018 been for KYB-Conmat?
KYB-Conmat aims to be a major contributor to the country’s growth story. We have been growing year over year and had a great 2018, and we expect 2019 to be even better. As more and more projects are being announced – be it for roadways, ports, airports, real estate, affordable housing, irrigation, etc we are aggressively working with our customers to be part of it all. Concrete is the future, and there is no doubt about that, and we are all geared up to do our bit to make India an infrastructure-rich nation. KYB-Conmat has seen consistent growth since 2015 due to the widespread acceptability of our products in the market. We recently celebrated the rollout of our 2000th Transit Mixer from our Vadodara facility. We are looking to expand our market and reach, both domestically and internationally. We also wish to explore unchartered territories in the international market. We have some new products currently in the development stage, which we are planning to launch soon. At the same time, it will also be our endeavour to upgrade and keep our existing product offerings up-to-date with the latest technology. Our aim is to be the one-stop shop for all Concrete Equipment needs of a customer and we are working on front foot to achieve that.
The competition is shifting from being lowest priced to technologically advanced equipment; will you brief on your edge over your competitors on higher productivity, reliability and efficiency translating into lower cost of ownership?
KYB is enjoying over 85 per cent market share in Japan with an annual sale of over 7000 Transit Mixers. Its low Slump Handling & High Discharge capacity thanks to its special blade design is the hallmark of Japanese Technology & Precision. It offers the best geometric volume and operating cost in the class. The center of gravity is also low due to the welded chassis frame and offers better operator comfort and road safety. The same design is being produced and offered to Indian customers unlike other manufacturers, who downgrade the design in India to make it cheaper.
What are the different types of RMC equipment you offer, of these, which is the most popular?
Construction companies and RMC providers are making smart investments in concreting assets, choosing equipment well, and hiring or outsourcing when it makes better financial sense. On the back of a medley of infrastructure projects, the concrete industry, from equipment to ready-mix concrete (RMC), is expanding. Industry voices expect real estate and city development to accentuate growth in the future. We foresee big potential for RMC segment in future considering factors like, arranging sub gradients locally becomes a costly affair and drives towards larger amount of wastages, stringent pollution control laws are now pushing the RMC business to new heights as it prevents air pollution to the maximum than self-preparing. Due to a lack of skilled labourers, RMC works better and thus is looked forward to becoming an inevitable part of construction industry. Equipment’s like Concrete pump and Transit mixers are an added advantage to accelerate the project progress that is certainly not possible while adopting the conventional methods while preparing concrete.
KYB-Conmat offers various models of Batching Plants, Transit Mixers and Concrete Pumps as per the customer choice. In metropolitan cities, there are preferred 60 cu m and above capacity plants like 60, 75, 90, 100, 120 etc.
After-sales services and unique initiatives in this front…
After-sales service is one of the most important criteria in Construction Equipment Market, and KYB-Conmat offers complete after care solutions to the customers, who are increasingly looking beyond the product purchases. They expect the total solution, right from the point of sales till the project completion. We at KYB-Conmat believe that the first machine may be sold by sales persons, but subsequent machines are necessarily sold by Service Engineers. We have much higher repeat customer rate than the market standards.
Outlook on the construction equipment industry?
The Construction Equipment Industry is quite matured now in India but apprehensively, there are several challenges yet to overcome by the CE Industry. It is essential to generate awareness among customers and educate them regarding the pros and cons of an equipment before purchasing it. This is a challenge as customers get reluctant and skeptical after going through mishaps that occur due to their ignorance while dealing elsewhere. Secondly, there is a lack of skilled manpower that can hamper the growth of CE industry as the need for trained operators and mechanics is not increasing proportionately. Thus, to improve such skills we have formed KCPL Gurukul under which we organise several seminars, training sessions, skill development programmes and talk shows.