Scania has been present through its partner Larsen & Toubro (L&T) since 2007 in the mining and construction segments and over 1800 trucks are working in various mining jobsites across India. In 2011, Scania established Scania Commercial Vehicles India at Narasapura, Karnataka, in order to boost its presence through sales in the on-road segment. Mr. Mattias Ahlin, Director – Mining, Scania India, presents the segment observations.
Brief us your product program in the tippers & tip trailers domain. What are the new/popular models positioned for various application segments?
We offer our P 410 8×4 tippers for mining and port application. Scania P 410 tippers are the most sought after products by leading mining companies. They are equipped with innovative features like Scania Opticruise – a fully automated gear-changing system for best fuel efficiency and ease of driving, and idle shutdown – an optional feature that further strengthens the Total Operating Economy (TOE) by lowering fuel consumption and comes with the promise of market leading productivity.
We offer Scania P 410 8×4 mining and coal tipper for coal handling in ports which offers 32 cubic meter coal body. It has been proven best for bulk handling and is suited for the toughest terrains and conditions at the ports in India.
Can you tell us about the salient product features and USPs to bring the prospective customers to your fold, viz., how do you address the competition?
The P 410 tipper is built to deliver unmatched performance, greater fuel efficiencies and best vehicle uptime, leading to realisation of unparalleled TOE. Scania P 410 (8×4) tippers come with a sturdy build and excellent suspension, low-kerb weight and fully automated gear system. These features contribute to an enhanced and safe driving experience in the toughest terrain conditions.
What is the market size for tippers & tip trailers in India and your market share? How do you propose to increase your presence down the timeline?
The P 410 tippers have witnessed success in India. Most of the top mining companies in India are our customers. These customers focus on running a cost-efficient operation and the best total cost of ownership. Going forward, the mining industry is expected to do well, considering the added focus on infrastructure in the Union Budget. This is creating scope for us to offer feature-rich products. Scania is bullish on the Indian mining segment and aims for increased growth this year. Scania sold over 500 units to the mining sector last year and the growth this year is expected to increase even further.
We are determined to focus on the success of our customer. Alignment of our goals to our customers’ goals is key to building loyalty and mutually-beneficial partnerships. Scania is inherently a customer-centric company. We will continue to provide high quality product with outstanding TOE to ensure increased confidence in the market. We are also focusing on introducing solutions that make use of telematics systems in the truck. There is a huge potential to improve our customers productivity with such systems.
Mining segment is considered to be the toughest in CV applications – can you tell us about the challenges, duty cycles, importance of reliability and service support therein?
Scania has come a long way in India since the past 10 years. We now have an industrial presence and employ over 800 people in India. We currently have trucks on 40 mine sites in India and have a dedicated on-site support at each site. The focus for us is to increase this presence onsite and also be a partner for our customers to improve their capabilities as mining operators. Here, telematics will play an important role. We are looking forward to utilising this data to improve the customers’ operations at the mine sites. This will also help us to have the ability to monitor the fleet and get the actual data. There is a huge potential to get more productivity and increase production by eliminating waste from the mining process. The mining industry battles the fluctuating mineral prices, high transport cost of the overburden and the ore. We have continuously occupied a larger market share in the mining industry as the miners opt to lower the capital expenditure, increase flexibility and lower the fuel consumption of their mine operation.
Has the tipper segment come out of the slump due to prolonged slowdown of the economy in general and mining and infrastructure sectors in particular?
The expansion of the current coalfields and the introduction of new fields will help drive the focus on productivity and efficiency in the mines. Scania tippers have proven to be successful for our mining customers and we are encouraged by this. We have seen growth in the mining sector in 2015 and the government has launched an aggressive growth plan for coal mining until 2020.
Comment on the growth drivers in the tippers segment. What are your plans for meeting the market requirements expected to double in the next 4 yrs?
The mining industry is witnessing increased growth in India. The aggressive growth targeting the power sector will help enable double output in the coal mining industry. This will force all miners in the Indian mining sector to review both capacity and efficiency in the mining operation. We have consistently proven that our tippers are best in terms of TCO and TOE.
We can observe the growing demand for premium mining vehicles and the customers constantly seek vehicles that can provide them optimal solutions in the mining field. Factors that contribute to a healthy operating economy are fuel efficiency, product reliability, durability, ease of engaging vehicles, impeccable aftermarket service and availability of parts. At Scania, we immensely value our customers and we provide them solutions that would complement their business operation. Our products help customers run operations at the mining site efficiently and optimise capacities.