The Cranes marketin the country is growing at a rapid pace, with the government focussing on thedevelopment of infrastructure and manufacturing. ACE – Action ConstructionEquipment Ltd., the largest Mobile Crane manufacturer in India, and the world’slargest manufacturer of Pick‘N’Carry cranes offers some innovative equipment tocater to the growing demand from discerning customers, writes Manish Mathur.
“We are workingto expand our crawler and truck crane range as well. A new plant for heavymachines will soon be commissioned which will increase our capacity 3-4 timesas compared to the present scenario.”
Manish Mathur,
CEO – Cranes, ACE.
Infrastructureis the key for growth for a country and India is no exception. India'sConstruction sector is considered as the second largest employer and a contributorto economic activities in the country.
With constructionsector improving at very fast pace, there is an emerging requirement for highercapacities and innovations in Construction Equipment (CE). The new, highlyproductive, low maintenance and innovative equipment are one of the majorfactors that are now leading to the faster infrastructural development. Besides,modern construction equipment is also proving to be helpful in reducing theconstruction costs to a great extent.
As the machinepopulation is increasing and the market is demanding increasing capacitymachines, there are major supply challenges to match the growth in demand. Entiresupply chain requires capex which is very hard to coordinate as the liquidityin the system is still not at the desired level due to higher interest ratesand other regulatory requirements.
Technology isnow at centre-stage and its use will not only be providing economically viablesolutions for the manufacturers, operators, and customers but alsoenvironmentally viable solutions in the future. The use of technology in CEprovides opportunities to improve the design and production of products usingthe service feedback. This can considerably reduce the overall cost of themachinery through its lifespan along with a reduction in material consumption.
ACE – ActionConstruction Equipment Ltd. – is the largest Mobile Crane manufacturer in Indiaand the world’s largest manufacturer of Pick ‘N’ Carry cranes. The companyprovides option of Telematics, which in turn digitises the equipment. It helpsthe owners of the machinery to remotely monitor and supervise the variousfunctional parameters of the machine and remain updated of its health,maintaining the same to optimum level for better performance.
Leaders in theirarena, ACE has always pro-actively fulfilled each one of its customers’ needs,requirements, and wishes. At ACE, we are already utilizing some of the besttechnology available worldwide and we constantly work to upgrade and adapt allpossible technology to Indian working conditions.
Reducingemissions and saving the environment is the way forward and the whole world isadopting the same at a good pace. We too have introduced India’s First fullyelectric mobile crane in BAUMA 2023, which will be subsequently followed invarious tonnages.
Apart from theabove, we are very much open to the idea of evolving machines based on HydrogenIC Engines or Fuel Cell technology. As soon as the operating environment withrespect to commercially viable hydrogen becomes conducive in our country, weare very hopeful that, in the next 2–3 years, the shift towards hydrogentechnology would start to happen.
Going forward,we are sure that artificial intelligence will also have a major role in the waymachines are built and operated and we too shall be inculcating various aspectsof artificial intelligence and autonomous machines depending on thesuitability, benefits, and safety with respect to our product range.
Aftermarket services offered by ACE
ACE equipment isused throughout the country and to cater to this wide spread and to provideeffective pre-sales and after-sales service, the company has developed anetwork of Dealers and Area Offices operating out of 100 locations andsupported by 18 Area/Regional Offices. These Area/Regional Offices are, in turn,supported by the Marketing HQ based at Delhi and a dedicated Product SupportDivision based at Faridabad.
Future plans
Any industrialor infrastructure activity will drive the demand of Cranes as all the materialhandling activities are primarily done by cranes. With the government determinedto initiate infrastructure activity worth `11.1-lakh-crorein this financial year, not only our crane industry but the entire constructionequipment industry has great days ahead.
The demand forhigher tonnage and higher reach machines are pushing us to introduced even moremodels in the market. The success of our Multi-activity cranes is pushing ourR&D to innovate more of such application specific machines.
We are workingto expand our crawler and truck crane range as well. A new plant for heavymachines will soon be commissioned which will increase our capacity 3-4 timesas compared to the present scenario.
Infrastructurepush by the government with increased focus in public private partnershipprojects and inflow of FDI’s in the construction space has been instrumental indriving demand. The government has outlined several road works, building works,and smart city development projects. All these will require construction andearth-moving equipment, which will result in the fast-paced growth of theconstruction equipment sector in India.
Further, infrastructurepush will be dependent upon accelerating in availability of finance and constructioncompanies emerging with stronger balance sheets. The National InfrastructurePipeline (NIP) is the key demand driver for the CE industry. Road transport,railways, irrigation, water resources, airports are the key projects coveredunder the NIP program.
It is expectedthat infrastructure spending by the government will continue to remain robustin the coming years. As a company, we are very bullish and are continuouslyupgrading our facilities and expanding our network to capture as much market spaceas possible.