Today, India has emerged as a manufacturing hub for various multinational companies and there is a huge demand for advanced, lightweight cranes. Mr Saeesh Nevrekar, General Manager at Konecranes India talks about Konecranes growth story, its competitive advantages and future plans for India market .

Konecranes has made a mark in the Indian market in a relatively short period. What is the origin and history of the company and its India operation?

Konecranes India is a 100% subsidiary of Konecranes Finland Corporation, a world leader in lifting industry. Konecranes is in the business of cranes for more than 80 years.

Konecranes started its India operations in 2007 and in a relatively short period we have established a strong market presence and a network of sales and service professionals across country to support our customers all over India.

The company seems to have a wide product range. What are the sectors catered to? Konecranes is engaged in providing world class lifting solutions for critical industrial applications, the product portfolio consist of profile crane systems, chain hoists, jib cranes, industrial EOT cranes, process cranes for different industry applications like steel, power, paper, petrochemical, shipyard industry.

Portal cranes like rubber tyred gantry cranes, ship-to-shore cranes, rail mounted gantry cranes, reach stackers and fork lift trucks are catering to the container handling requirements of today's busy ports with continuous ship traffic.

In general, how is the market response to these products in India? India has become a manufacturing hub for various multinational companies and there is a good market potential for high technology cranes having modern features to improve productivity, reduce the downtime and having least maintenance. We have received good response to our products from all industry segments and our cranes are working smoothly at many sites across India.

Why should the customers prefer Konecranes products?

At Konecranes, our philosophy is to not only lift things but entire businesses by providing complete and optimal solutions to the customers, right from supplying cranes, inspection services, maintenance service, modernisation of old cranes, training to customers and more. To provide the best lifting solution, we study the complete customer requirements, operating parameters and work on creating best specifications for the crane.

We work hard to provide the ultimate customer satisfaction with best performance for the years to come. You can depend on Konecranes as your partner for complete lifting solutions.

Brief us about your after sales service? Our service basket includes annual service contracts, special inspections to check health of crane, modernisation for old cranes etc. Our team of highly skilled service professionals is well trained to provide the complete after sales service support for all our cranes.

How does the cost of ownership over the life cycle compare with competition? To achieve the highest lifecycle value, we rely on the unique knowledge and technology developed by Konecranes worldwide, calculation of right crane specifications and our responsive service attitude to deliver the optimal maintenance programmes.

Our cranes are light in weight, safe and consume very less power, which provides a significant cost savings on electricity over the life of the crane to customers.

What are the company's landmark achievements? Within a very short span of 4 years, Konecranes has succeeded in acquiring a competitive market share and foothold in India. Some of the biggest corporates and MNCs are our customers in India.

What are Konecranes future plans? India is one of the key markets for Konecranes and there is a big focus on it from the global HQ. We have promising growth plans for the Indian market, and our target is to achieve undisputed market leadership with a 30 per cent market share. We are focusing on developing our manufacturing infrastructure and sales and service network in India to bring global knowledge and expertise to local customers. We want to emerge as a preferred and reliable lifting solutions provider in India.

(Konecranes India Pvt Ltd, 19, Level II, Mutha Towers, Don Bosco Road, Yerwada, Pune 411 006. Tel: 020- 40047470. Fax: 91-20- 40047475. Email: india.sales@ konecranes.com)