Pullani Engineers Pvt. Ltd. (PEPL) which manufactures V-shaped bulkers for the carriage of granular and dry products like cement, fly-ash, alumina and powdered chemicals and has come up with an aluminum bulker. Manufactured in collaboration with Hindalco, and exhibited at the International Conference on Aluminium (INCAL) 2019 in Bhubaneswar, the bulker was not only a pointer to Pullani Engineers’ prowess and Hindalco’s vision, but also a justification of aluminium’s advantages over steel in such applications.
Speaking to MOTORINDIA, Mr. Baburaj Pullani, Managing Director, PEPL, said: “The advantage of aluminum lies in reducing the dead weight of the tank which enables the carrying capacity to be increased. There is the reduction of weight around 50 per cent, that means half of the weight of the tank can be increased to the payload. Additional benefits of the light-weight metal are its lower maintenance costs and overall longevity. The bulker we developed is of 30 cubic metres and is two tonnes lighter than an MS bulker. Although the aluminium bulker costs twice as much as the traditional bulker, it promises gains worth thrice the price, in the vehicle’s life cycle. These earnings are due to the unique properties of aluminium high strength alloys used in fabrication.”
Thus far the company has been making inroads into the bulker segment, with its quality tanks for molten Sulphur, chemicals and petroleum products, and W-Shaped bulkers. PEPL began manufacturing bulkers in 1999 and since then have become one of the leading suppliers for any requirements in bulkers in the country. “We have been doing many new developments for bulkers right from a 20 cubic meter to 45 cubic meters variant. Even the metals have undergone changes from using thick plates for the rigid bulkers to optimizing weight with the use of high tensile imported steel which has high yield strength,” informed Mr. Pullani.
Today from their factory near Mumbai, that operates to its full capacity, PEPL manufactures 20 bulkers per month. Given the rising demand PEPL has made an investment for a new factory at Mangaon near Konkan which will take the capacity up to 100 a month. “India is a growing economy and the development of roads and infrastructure will only escalate the need for cement bulkers. In order to meet the future requirement, we will undertake phase wise expansion and expect to grow organically from 20 to 50 and then to 100 by 2021-22,” beamed the Director.
Product development
The product development at PEPL is a mix of conventional wisdom acquired through years of experience and contemporary technique. Since each bulker is customized, a single piece can take anywhere between 10-15 days. The bulker maker undertakes product development, post receipt of design specifications from the customer. After which relevant variations and adaptions are undertaken.
“Apart from the customary fitment of valves, pipes along with modulation of capacity and welding of spouts, we also offer compressors. Cement and fly-ash are all pulvarised material, not liquid that will get unloaded with gravity. It will be unloaded with the pneumatic systems and requires compressed air. For the last 10 years we have been importing it from a South Korea-based company and are one of the dealers in India for them. We import maximum number of compressors and also supply to other body builders,” said Mr. Baburaj Pullani.
Throughout the production process, PEPL adheres to strict parameters covering measurement, alignment and thickness of the sheets that go in to the making of the bulker. Due diligence is also accorded to areas like load distribution on the chassis as well as brake adaptation for smooth functioning of the vehicle. “We have design for all the major capacities. Any new order for different dimension, is taken care by the inhouse designing resources. For cutting plates we have CNC cutting machine, for material handling we have adequate, state-of-the-art equipment and for wielding we are using Panasonic MiG welding machines. We do spray painting, with quick drying paint (Quick Dry) and PU paints. The finished bulker will have our branding as well as customer branding on demand.”
Typically, these bulkers once fitted on a chassis goes on to work fine for 15-20 years without any corrosion. “The customer may change the valve and pipes in 3-4 years and do periodical painting if required, however the main vessel doesn’t get changed unless there is an accident,” he opined.
Apart from expanding the capacity, PEPL has been approached by OEMs. PEPL is also assertive about the tie-up and believe this will meet its expansion plan and help customer get fully built vehicle from the OEM dealership.
Fast-growing dealership biz
In order to diversify their business, PEPL ventured into dealership business for Ashok Leyland’s (AL) small commercial vehicle business (SCV) in 2016. Three years down the line, the company has made a strong presence in the vicinity of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane & Raigad District. “AL is known to take risks and trying out new avenues. We are overwhelmed with the faith they showcased on us and it is thanks to their strong support in all the three S (Sales, Service and Spares) we went from selling 5 vehicles in June 2016 to an average of 60 vehicles in March 2019, which is a big 10 per cent market share in a competitive SCV market like Mumbai. We are eyeing to increase it to 15 per cent by end of FY-2020,” said Mr. Vivek Pullani, CEO, Pullani Motors.
Vivek’s confidence stems from its highly specialized sales team that caters to the need of the buyers. These team help potential customers make a final decision of buying a vehicle from them. He informed: “We have an old school method of getting the clients and generating sales through visiting the clients at ‘Nakas’ (transport junctions). These junctions serve as a hub to acquire potential customers. Our sales executive generates enquiries based on these people’s needs. The enquiries are as simple as if a person needs vehicles, what is the application or type of vehicle he is looking at, whether or not he already has a vehicle, etc. Following the traditional ELBR method the enquires are then segregated into leads, which turns into booking and then retail. Through active discussions, our aim is to give our customers a critical comparison of the alternatives, honest reviews of the vehicles and updating the end-user with latest information.”
For supporting the customers with timely servicing, Pullani Motors have at 8 service bays at their Bhiwandi and 4 at their Khargar centres. They also have one mobile service van. The Thane and Dombivali are purely sales outlets. In order to keep the efficiency of the service team high, they have an internal competition between the service centres based on the timeline of delivering the vehicle. “The service manager notes the entry of a vehicle and work performed. If the vehicle doesn’t come back within 30 days for the same job, the service and maintenance team are rewarded,” revealed the CEO.
With all the variants introduced from time to time, Pullani Engineers is fast-gaining traction in both its bulker and dealership businesses.