From long haul to distribution; construction to mining; Ashok Leyland’s extensive range caters to diverse applications and offers a wide array of configurations and driveline options. With the Captain series, the company added a series of load carriers to its portfolio. Captain 2523 Tipper, the first model of the platform was launched in January 2014 and was designed to meet high-productivity norms in mines. Mr. Anuj Kathuria, President – Global Trucks at Ashok Leyland, shares his views about their program and the trends in the domain.
Brief us your product program in the tippers & tip trailers domain; and the models offered for various applications.
Tippers and trailers are considered to be the workhorses of the commercial vehicle segment. From carrying bulk material transport in infrastructure, construction, mining, road laying, irrigation and waste management projects to operating round the clock in tough conditions, the tippers and trailers are suitable for almost all applications. The industry is slowly shifting towards using lighter and stronger input materials in manufacturing. Additionally radical changes in designs have helped to improve performance.
Despite tough competition in the tipper segment, the company has its own strengths and good presence in many of the key mining regions across the country. The tipper segment includes various models, such as: 4X2 (1616, 1618), 6X4 (2518) and 8X4 (3118, 3123), 10X2 (3718).
Indigenously designed, the Captain range features factory-built cab that is designed to offer best ergonomics, superior comfort, long life and optimal performance. The Captain series ensures greater fuel efficiency, increased vehicle uptime, faster turnaround and best-in-class operating costs thereby offering superior profitability to the customer. The U-3123 model is designed to unload materials quicker than the conventional box type design. This makes it an ideal product for port applications to transport coal to power plants. The vehicle is also suitable for transporting construction materials. The 49 ton segment comes with a range of bodies catering to different applications. It also comes in two variants – the cowl chassis variant and a factory-built cab variant. The 31-ton tipper involved primarily in overburden removal competes in the premium mining segment.
Tell us about the salient product features and USPs; and highlight the design, production & quality highlights of your cowl type and fully built tippers.
Our latest captain range of vehicles gives maximum comfort to drivers while driving. Our product features offer best in class TCO in the industry. The USP of our products have low maintenance cost and are highly reliable and durable. Ashok Leyland offers vehicles both in cowl and fully built versions. The cowl versions are designed to the same levels of standards and have an added advantage of customers building the body customised to their requirements. All fully built vehicles are produced in plants and undergo the same tests of quality and reliability.
Comment on the factors in favour of choosing a tip trailer for an application. How do see the tip trailer market growth in future?
Tip trailers are used for the movement of bulk materials and mechanised unloading. The usage is predominant where there is no constraint on terrains and turning circle diameter and generally for medium and long distances. AL can offer fully built tip trailers in OE. Tip trailer is extensively used for the transportation of coal and with the opening up of coal mines and further auctions coming up the tip trailers has good potential to grow as it is the most economical way of transporting the bulk materials.
What is the market size for tippers & tip trailers in India and your market share in these segments?
The Indian tipper and tip trailer market size is between 45,000 to 50,000 units per annum and the market for overburden tippers is around 3,000 to 4,000 units per annum, with both markets expected to grow. Ashok Leyland has a market share of about 30% and we have interesting product line. We recently launched Captain series and have many more in the pipeline and we are hopeful of increasing the market share further.
Can you elaborate the critical role of the driver in man-machine combo towards meeting the productivity and TCO targets?
Driver is the most important element in running the truck business, this becomes all the more important with the current shortage of well trained drivers. Drivers play important role in safety esp. in the mines where the terrain and gradeability are demanding. Ashok Leyland has products like Captain Tippers which are provided with HVAC and V road suspension and ARB for safety ride and driver comfort. Thus, an Ashok Leyland vehicle delivers best in class productivity and meeting the TCO target of the customers.
Has the tipper segment come out of the slump due to prolonged slowdown of the economy in general and mining & infrastructure sectors in particular? Tell us about the growth drivers in the segment.
Tipper segment has grown by 17% in 2015-16, esp. in the last six months has shown high growth and is expected to continue in the current year too with the opening up of mines and road projects. Smart cities construction activities likely to boom which will result in high growth of tippers.
Growth drivers are primarily construction and mining application, the present Government has announced ambitious road construction projects and the smart cities building plan, expansion of ports, which would give huge fillip to construction activites and opening up of mines expected to double the requirement of tippers. AL is fully equipped for meeting the increasing demand.