Focus on customer satisfaction and lower TCO intact
The tipper segment is expected to grow on the back of an improving economy, with increasing construction, infrastructure and mining activity. Mr. Rajesh Kaul, Head – Sales & Marketing, Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors, speaks exclusively to MOTORINDIA, regarding various factors related to the boom in surface transport tippers, total cost of ownership, preventive maintenance, fluid economy and host of value added services offered by Tata Motors Construck range of tippers.
Excerpts:
At the last edition of EXCON in 2015, Tata Motors had showcased four new products: 1) Coal Tipper for heavy duty coal application, 2) High power RMC with rear engine PTO, 3) Hub Reduction Tandem Rear Axle for light and shallow mining application, 4) a 4×4 vehicle for off road mineral application. Could you elaborate the impact of these products on the market and on the share of Tata Motors Construck range since launch?
As you saw at last Excon, Tata Motors decides products and technology based on the needs of the customers. Better performance and value-added services are a few pre-requisites that the customer expects, for any business survival. We believe and are happy to reaffirm that Tata Motors launched some of the best products at last Excon. As you mentioned four of the new products and some old models were showcased. Post that, we were to commercially launch those, over a period of 7-8 months’ time. There was BS-IV to be rolled out in many cities and it happened in many States, apart from the 11 cities mandated in 2010, States like J&K, Kerala, majority of places in Rajasthan, regions beyond NCR, Lucknow, Agra, etc., went through the transition So the BS-IV ramp up initially, the commencement and then the disbursement happened to accommodate the demands for BS-IV vehicles. As the Construck tippers are used more locally in the States, National Permit was not applicable to them and they had to adhere to the transition.
Even then, we managed to introduce the hub reduction tandem axle and the Prima Construck range and saw the technology of the Prima kind of vehicle settling in and growing. We did see the response of customers looking for lower operating cost therefore our thought process was always going to selecting better aggregates. Hence, we had also given the bogie suspension in our regular cluster range of tippers.
How do you see the road construction segment and the subsequent demand for tippers in India currently? Where are we poised as an industry?
Last year we had a decent growth, but the industry was around 11 per cent negative if you look at the last 7-8 months standalone. After BS-IV and then Supreme Court banning any sales of BS-III vehicles, the first quarter was challenging, not that demand was not there, but OEMs were ramping up the production. We have come from a low Q1 and see Q2 picking up well. It did register good growth of 15 per cent, since the infrastructure spending went up. We as an organization see good growth in the second half, whether it will be double digit or single digit, we will see over the period of time. There has to be no doubt that the road construction segment is booming typically due the impetus provided in the budgetary allocation for roads and infrastructure projects. The road construction push includes the Bharat Mala Pariyojna. The government is speaking about road construction of as high as 35,000 km. Spending will increase on National Highways and the Ministry is also pushing lane extension and expansion.
Requirement for tippers will come from mining and surface transport. Whatever the demand comes, we see it to be continuous for two years. The demands for the surface transport tippers will be on the higher side as we go for multi-lane, broader roads and highways. Owing to all this we see the lead distances increasing for tippers compared to the olden days as high as 150-200 km.
What are some of the learnings that Tata Motors would like to implement going forward in its new range/variants in areas such as engineering and design, aftermarket, spares and services, etc., to address challenging duty cycles as well as profitability and productivity for customers?
What you will see at Excon will be very innovative and see our relentless commitment towards offering the best total cost of ownership. Our Construck range of vehicles is designed to withstand heavy duty cycles by employing best in class aggregates. We have also acknowledged that driver comfort is becoming much more important and relevant as the asset utilization increases. Hence, we intend to provide AC cabins and even sleeper cabins in our tippers. We are proactively working on giving the drivers, the owners all the comfort and peace of mind possible. We are working on aggregates like axles, suspension because these systems will reduce maintenance cost and it will provide long lasting trouble-free operations. The more we focus on the aggregates and the pain points the customer will get better productivity and will be able to increase its profits. Keeping our focus, you would see us showcasing products and range on the similar lines at Excon 2017.
You are working on aggregates so that it can reduce the maintenance and ease customers’ pain points. Are you working on some technology that helps in preventive maintenance so that the after-market and services are not stressed too much?
Preventive maintenance is what I would love to speak in detail when we meet, but to give you an overview we are bettering our portfolio on aggregates like suspensions and axles. We have always been a company that provides a better portfolio of value added services. Going forward, that is something we are going to give a great impetus to. As the customers face competitive environment in the market they look for a one stop solution from an OEM. They want to deal with their core business and want the OEMs to look after their vehicle and we provide an added advantage with our extensive service network. We offer unmatched support ecosystem. This is amplified with various (Value Added Services) VAS like telematics, break down assistance and Annual Maintenance Contracts (AMC). These have become part of our DNA. We have loyalty schemes for customers and perhaps, we are the only one in the country to provide a unique loyalty program (Tata Delight/Tata Emperor) in the CV space.
We are reviewing our strategy towards (AMC) about the used vehicle selling support or the even breakdown assistance. We are also focusing on diagnostic as well as the prognostic. Our Fleetman telematics also enable us with host of options. So, we are aware that in these evolving times customers want to take care of his customer and hence he is demanding better uptime, demanding AMC and managing of fleet by the OEMs and you will get to see more on these lines at the Expo.
Higher HP, better fuel efficiency, technology explosion in data management and stiff environmental regulations are some of the major factors pushing the manufacturers to reinvent themselves and launch new and upgraded versions of product offering. How well are you poised in these regards?
When the transition from BS-III to BS-IV happened, we have found that it’s better to use SCR as a technology which gives significant benefits at higher temperature – engines above 130 HP compared to EGR that is used for engines below 130 HP. Majority of our tippers are equipped with world class SCR technology for emission control. We have moved away from ‘fuel economy to fluid economy’. This is about fuel consumed and diesel exhaust fluid. Both these put together will be deriving the fuel related cost of the vehicle. Our Prima range 6.7 ltr 230 HP is moving to 250 HP, 280 HP is moving to 300 HP, depending upon the drive line, gear ratio, torque the power combination is achieved. Fuel economy is managed by a single high capacity Electronic Control Module (ECM) for optimum performance and fuel economy. I may sound repetitive, but we are committed to provide best in class fuel efficiency and offer total cost of ownership to our customers with our wide range of products under Construck, Prima and Signa platforms.