Hiab is a global market leader in on-road load handling solutions. Part of Cargotec Corporation, the world’s leading provider of cargo handling solutions, Hiab has been supplying cranes to the Indian market since the mid-1980s, mainly for the defence sector. About 700 company cranes are in operation today.
Hiab India was established in 2007 to expand its business in the country. Mr. S. Srinivas was appointed its Managing Director. The opening of the new office was in response to the growing market potential for the company’s products in the region, fuelled by India’s industrial growth.
An year back, Cargotec acquired Indital Construction Machinery Ltd., based in Bangalore. The acquisition has created a manufacturing presence in India for Cargotec and its group companies, including Hiab. Hiab will use this facility for manufacturing a few of its products like tail lifts, hook loaders and cranes. Currently, Hiab’s product range includes loader cranes, Multilift demountables, Moffett and Priceton Pigguback truck-mounted forklifts, Zepro, AMA, Walton and Focolift tail lifts, Loglift and Jonsered forestry and recycling cranes.
Hiab operates globally with 14 production plants in 10 countries, sales offices in 30 countries and independent importers and distributors in 100 countries around the world. Employing about 4,400 people, Hiab has the distinction of having serviced over 400,000 hydraulic cranes of up to 55 tonne-metre capacity, with manufacturing units in Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Spain and Japan.
The cranes are built to meet the highest standards of safety, complying with the ISO 9001. The cranes offer high levels of quality, unmatched power, better crane control, high reliability and low running costs. Areas of application range from automobiles to construction, container handling to transformers, general cargo to rescue operations, and debris cleaning to telecommunications.
The company has a worldwide network of service centres with trained personnel to provide exemplary service. In India, these cranes of all encompassing capacity can replace tractor-mounted pick and carry cranes, mobile cranes, jib cranes and other stiff boom cranes, with a high performance single option.
Engineering centre
Recently, Cargotec announced the official launch of Cargotec Engineering India at Pune to meet the global product development requirements for Cargotec Corporation. The center has been formed to take advantage of the economic opportunities available to foreign direct investment in India and to establish a low-cost facility that would enable the company to have greater focus on global market expansion.
The initial plan is to start with a 5,000 sq. ft. facility in Pune to expand Cargotec’s product development capabilities and to become a center of excellence in analysis for Hiab, Kalmar and MacGREGOR, Cargotec’s three business areas. The selection of Pune was due to its close proximity to Mumbai, highly skilled professionals and state-of-the-art infrastructure available there.
The center will have 60 mechanical, analysis, software and control engineers. The support will be provided in the fields of engineering, analysis, design, drafting and controls development.
Cargotec Engineering India is a division of Cargotec India Pvt. Ltd., a 100 per cent subsidiary of Cargotec Corporation, Helsinki, Finland.
Mr. Seppo Saarinen, Vice President – Technology Development, Cargotec Corporation, has been working on a number of projects in India for more than 13 years, and is impressed by the quality and skills of the Indian engineering professionals. He said, “It is extremely satisfying to get an opportunity to set up a Product Development group here in Pune to work with the other global development centers to improve our products. With this new operation, we can optimize the designs and shorten the design time and get ready for a bigger future presence in the Indian marketplace.”
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Peeyush Kaushik, General Manager, Cargotec Engineering, India, said: “I am very happy to come on board during this company build-up and launch phase. I am very excited about the new setup which will have great opportunities in the area of CAD and CAE. This new opportunity provides me great challenges to work with Cargotec’s global team and develop an extension for other product development centers. Team work and communication will be the keys to success in this new operation, as we will work as an extended team with the Worldwide Product Development teams for current and new products.”
Cargotec is a leading global provider of cargo handling solutions. Its products are used in the different stages of material flow in ships, ports, terminals, distribution centers and local transportation. Cargotec Corporation’s known brands – Hiab, Kalmar and MacGREGOR – are market leaders in their respective fields.
