MHE Business Bouncing Back

December 11, 2010 7:25 am

Established in 1951, Elecon Engineering Company is pioneering in MHE business. According to GS Kalra, CEO, “MHE business is bouncing back from the recessionary slow–down it was facing since 2008. The demand for infrastructural projects has always been amongst the top agendas of the government and will remain the same”.
 
Can you brief us about the changing trend in MHE market in India? What are the prime growth drivers for MHE business in India?
ELECON Engineering Company is the pioneer in introducing the concept of Bulk Material Handling Equipment. We are nearing six decades of manufacturing sophisticated equipment for handling various products.
 
If we talk of it since the beginning of the concept of Bulk Material Handling equipment then there are heaps of changes that the industry has gone through. Right from the types of machines used to the size of the machines and even the technologies used in them. The mechanization that all the industries today are moving towards is also a big factor in increasing the demand for MHE products.
 
Recently, the MHE business is bouncing back from the recessionary slow-down it was facing since 2008. The demand for infrastructural projects has always been amongst the top agendas of the government and will remain the same. This results in high demand for material handling solutions. With the government policy and stimulus packages, more and more investments are expected to pool in with the implementation of mega projects. An equal contribution in the growth of MHE is also from the power, steel, coal, ports and similar industries.
 
What are the challenges being faced by MHE sector in India?
The new projects that are coming-up as well as the heavy expansions that the industries are going through require new and tailor-made equipment to serve them. To give an example, one of our recent orders is for a stacker-reclaimer with a boom length of 60 meters. The conventional machine is of 40 meters, so orders like these make us to go in for advanced research in engineering to offer the right solutions. We are the only company in India to make this kind of stacker. The industry has also seen an increase in the purchase of used MHE’s as well as contractual hiring of machine and equipment. Moreover, there is still a tendency in the people here to use manual labor instead of sophisticated machines as the labor in India is cheap and does not require one time investments and so company are a bit reluctant to use MHE’s even after realizing the benefits of it.
 
What are the various material handling equipment offered by Elecon?
We have a long range of products to choose from and have most of the Bulk Material Handling Equipment. We are able to provide impactors, single and double roll crushers, roller screen, apron feeders, paddle feeders, vibrating feeders, shiploaders and unloaders, Integrated coal handling plants for power stations, stationary and shiftable conveying system for open cast lignite and coal mines, crawler mounted tripper. We also offer 13 different types of machines for stacking and reclaiming of material, an independent research rates us as the only company in India to have supplied over 100 stacker-reclaimer throughout the globe, and Wagon Tipplers of various types. Our recent supply of a wagon tippler also makes us one of the top 3 companies in the supply of wagon tipplers. With the inclusion of Pipe Conveyor Technology now through the collaboration with a South African company, CKIT, our range has increased further. This also makes us one of the few companies globally to provide almost all types of engineered equipment for bulk material handling.
 
Which are the segments your MHEs are catering for?
As far as Brand ELECON is concerned we have our presence in almost all industries either through our MHE products or through our precisely manufactured gear boxes. If we limit it just to the MHE division, the major segments we cater to would be coal, lignite and iron ore mines, cement, fertilizers, steel, power stations and port mechanization.
 
What is the annual turnover of Elecon MHE division and what target you have set for current fiscal?
The turnover for our MHE division was around Rs. 700 crores this fiscal, however with a growth in the market activities in this sector we are expecting to capitalize on this burgeoning market which is expected to be worth ` 12,000 crores. Our first quarter order booking for this year exceeded Rs. 400 crores which gives us an indication that we are on course to beat our previous records. A growth rate of 20-25% is definitely possible considering the momentum in sectors like power, steel, cement, port handling etc.
 
What is your current order booking?
Our current order book value stands over Rs. 1000 crores for just the Material Handling Equipment Division of our business.
 
Elecon has recently gets and order of Rs. 120 Crores from Mundra Port & SEZ Ltd. How do you mark this achievement? Can you brief us about this order booking in details?
Orders like these are always nice to have in your kitty. This order marks another testimony in providing highly sophisticated equipment for bulk material handling and our commitment to technological advancements and engineering geniuses. It also marks a testimony to the level of trust the industries have on our technologically advanced equipment.
 
The scope of our work for the Adani Mundra Project includes design, supply, erection, testing and commissioning of Material Handling System for their West Port.
 
Where do you wish to see Elecon in five years down the line as far as your MHE business is concern?
We are looking forward and working towards attaining Rs. 5000 crores in turnover in 5 years based upon the comprehensive strategies and policies that we have put in place.