With our indigenously manufactured product portfolio and engineering expertise, we are playing an important role in building modern India, says JAGADISH BHAT. Innovation and indigenisation has been a way of life at AJAX, and we are proud to be a self-reliant Indian company for the past three decades. Our main focus has been on building for success and building to endure. The foundation has been on making a Lean, strongly IT-enabled organisation staffed by competent and committed professionals espousing the organisational values. On this foundation, AJAX has built three pillars: 1) Highly competent design and engineering team that can provide innovative solutions to our customers. 2) Customer reach through well spread network across the country. 3) Best in industry customer support that can reach customers in the shortest possible time. Pioneering portfolio Over the years, we have expanded our product portfolio from self-loading concrete mixer to a complete range of concreting equipment from batching plants to boom pumps to slip-form pavers. AJAX, the world’s largest SLCM manufacturer, has now achieved a milestone of 20,000+ concreting equipment in the market. Currently, we have 35+ dealers and 100+ branch offices pan-India to cater to sales and service for the customer. AJAX is also serving the international market through 16+ distributors. Having pioneered the SLCMs, AJAX has introduced many other innovative products like boom pumps, self-propelled boom pumps, along with its latest offering, the concrete slip-form paver. All these products stand out in their unique way by offering high end features.  Concrete boom pumps have been revolutionising the construction of large commercial and residential buildings and structures. Due to the shortage of skilled labour and need for a quick placement of concrete in inaccessible areas, the use of boom pumps has been necessitated in the current construction processes. AJAX offers truck-mounted boom pump of 30 m, mounted on a 4 x 2 chassis with its shorter turning radius that makes them best suitable for RMC plants working in constricted city sites as well as in tight locations. Keeping pace with the changing requirements of customers, AJAX launched a 25-m self-propelled boom pump (SPBP 25ZX), an industry first and a patented product. The advanced features of SPBP when compared to a boom pump are four-wheel drive, three-way steering, 180˚ reversible operator post, shortest turning radius and better gradeability. It is highly reliable to work in extreme slushy and muddy terrains. It also has high power-to-weight ratio delivering best-in-class fuel-efficiency. Yet another innovative offering is our concrete slip-form paver. Today, AJAX is the only Indian company to design and manufacture a fully automatic concrete slip-form paver, thereby eliminating the need for customers to import pavers. Creating landmarks From airports to national highways to metro-rail and freight corridors to solar parks and irrigation projects, AJAX has been consistently contributing to infrastructure development, propelling the nation’s overall growth. A few of the landmark infrastructure projects where we have been associated with are: The world’s largest solar power plant – Bhadla Solar Park, South Asia’s largest aviation hub – IGI Airport New Delhi, India’s largest metro rail network – Delhi Metro Rail, the world’s longest railway platform – Hubballi Railway junction, Asia’s longest bi-directional tunnel – Zojila tunnel project, the world’s largest drip irrigation project – Ramthal Marola. With our indigenously manufactured product portfolio and engineering expertise, we are playing an important role in building modern India by catering to the Indian as well as the global market requirements. We are positive that this investment will further strengthen the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative and create employment opportunities in the country. AJAX is committed to the ‘Make in India’ philosophy to create innovative solutions as import substitutes for helping build stronger and self-reliant nation. Our products have been exported to several countries making us a global brand. As India continues to build modern infrastructure, AJAX is equipped with the right set of capabilities to become a market leader in Indian concreting equipment business. Looking ahead Looking at the increased demand for concreting equipment in India, AJAX has charted an investment of `1 billion to build a new manufacturing facility and design centre in Bengaluru. This greenfield project will be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities to design and manufacture newly introduced products like the concrete slip-form paver, boom pumps and self-propelled boom pumps. A further investment of `400 million is being used at our Gowribidanur plant to expand its existing facility where batching plants and transit mixers are being produced. The way forward in another five years, AJAX sees itself emerging as an Indian MNC and becoming one among the top 3 international players in the concrete equipment space. AJAX is truly an Atmanirbhar Bharat company that strongly believes in the ‘Made in India; ‘Made for the World’ mission. About the author: Jagadish Bhat, Managing Director & CEO, AJAX Engineering, is a mechanical engineer by profession and has held key positions in Indian auto industry, material handling and concreting equipment industry. He is also a mastermind in designing and executing concreting equipment for some of the major infrastructure projects which are the first-of-its-kind in the country. At AJAX, he has been instrumental in designing and developing indigenous products that would suit Indian conditions rather than importing expensive equipment from European manufacturers.