We are interacting with OEMs to expand our network

- Jonas Nilsson, Head of Volvo Penta in India Jonas Nilsson, Head of Volvo Penta in India, shares with SUDHEER VATHIYATH his expectations for the industry and the company in 2016. What is your experience at Excon 2015? I have been to Excon for the first time. I am very positive on this exhibition as so many people visited our stand with questions on real problems they are facing, looking for solutions to address these problems and exploring the opportunities. What is your outlook on Indian market? We are making lot of investments in the industrial sector with new product range showcased at Excon 2015 for the Indian market, we are completing renewal of our product programme from 5 to 16 litre engines with all emission norms based on a common platform of values. Based on the investments in such product range we are intensifying our efforts in all areas OEM and aftermarket, to grow the business. I am pretty optimistic about our opportunities as there is demand from the industry for reliable and efficient solutions. How do you comply with the emission regulations in India for your range of products? Our product introduction is at the same pace as they are available in Stage II, III and IV versions. From OEM perspective, there is the benefit that the design work can be done only once and they can leverage on that for many markets and export markets. We see that many OEMs are able to expand direct export business, thanks for being connected with us and our brands. This is an opportunity for us and I think the emission levels will be armonised between India and the region as this is the opportunity for both OEMs and component manufacturers in India to expand the market. Government is now planning to implement the next stage emission norms sooner than planned? How are you geared for this? With our new range of products, we are in an excellent position to take advantage of this opportunity. Because we have already started working with the design engineers, we are ready for higher emission norms, whether it comes now or later. How do you design your engines as per different working environment of the equipment? We have a modular structure that is working with and we have different options for different operating categories of equipment. For instance, the wiring harness of the engine, we have the heavy-duty version of the harness to withstand mining environment, stone crusher environment. We have fuel pre-filtration facility on the engine for those areas where good quality fuels may not be available. Also, we have coolers for regular heavy-duty applications. We adopt the fin sizing of the radiator pores in order to make them easier to treat and the materials we choose are less sensitive through operation and so on. That is the kind of selections we do in the early stages of design works together with the OEMs that make suitable. How do you look at your presence in the Indian market? We are operating as premium product with selected customers those who are more stringent on quality, fuel saving, etc. It is highly dependent on how you define the market. In the imported products category, we are the market leaders. Who are your major construction equipment customers in India? In the construction equipment market, we are working with many major OEMs manufacturing concrete pumps, crusher and screening machinery, underground mining equipment and also material handling equipment manufacturers. How do you work with your customers? We are looking for technological partnerships where we discuss with the OEMs if they have any issues, if they have a model to operate, what are the design criteria, what they want to do with their product, what kind of ambiance conditions do they operate, etc. Based on these discussions, we see what solutions we can offer from us and what is their scope of supply. From thereon, we are interacting regularly on concept design with packaging of the machinery providing technical details in advance and then we support in the prototype and testing phases as well with our application engineers before the product goes into production phase. So this is how we wanted to work with our OEMs. What is the capacity range and which are the major application segments of your engine range? We offer engines ranging from 105 kW to 565 kW, we are present in underground loaders, stone crushers, concrete pumps, container handling equipment and cranes. Do you have a presence in the truck segment? We generally don´t compete with Volvo Group´s products, but if there are special vehicles, that have a truck base, then we are open to engage in discussion as well. What are your expansion plans in Indian market? A lot has been planned with intensified activities in the current market. Discussions are on with several OEMs in expanding our network and increasing our business volume.