In this exclusive interview with Rajesh Rajgor at IAA Transportation 2022, Paolo Cleopatra, Vice President and CEO, Interpump Hydraulics, spoke about the company’s new products and focus on India
Product Showcase
Apart from our normal standard products, we have some new items that have been dedicated to changing market needs. For instance, we are exhibiting a new vane pump. For long, we have been producing gear pumps as well as piston pumps but never vane pump. This is due to noise. Vehicles now have been designed to have lower noise. We have also a system which is for a half hybrid vehicle, made by our own power take-off, to generate power and also to drive the vehicle at slow speed.
It will take power from the engine and then generate hydraulic power. This is also something new because we have to understand that the truck industry in reality right now, especially in Europe, does not have any real direction. There are a lot of possibilities as we are in a state of transition. Within this transition moment we don’t know exactly what will be the future. Hence, we are ready with all the solutions.
Market Demand Post-Pandemic
Our market globally is divided between OEM truck manufacturers and the aftermarket. The market is of course different in between the two segments and the portion that is developed on within the OEM is mainly addressed to a certain specific standard application where the more specialised and difficult tailor-made solutions will be made directly by us for their assembly lines. The mining segment is quiet at the moment and so is the agricultural segment. However, we have an entire segment at IPH which is the pump, power take-off and cylinders for tipper manufacturers.
Update on Indian Market
With the exception of the semi-hybrid version which is quite sophisticated and is also very seldom sold, the classic normal system power take-off with the gear pump, the piston pump and the usual wet kit system is already produced 100% in India. We do not export anything that we are selling over there. It is indigenously produced using Indian local supplies and local labour in Indian facilities. For the Indian market we have a department specific to manage the after-market. It covers almost all India using local engineers in every state. We also have dealers that support us in the service aspect of our products.
Medium to Long-Term Plans
It varies and depends on which size or in which part of the world we are operating. We have facilities in India, China, South America, Brazil, North America as well as in Europe. As of today, developments throughout the world are different. Altogether we wish that certain effects such as the Russia-Ukraine war that we are facing and others will probably be minimised and the market will start to move forward.
As of today, we are subjected to quite a high demand but do not have same output as a couple of years ago. Finding raw material and components is difficult. The same is true for transport, cost of transport and energy, all of which is on the rise. Despite this, overall, in the medium to long term period we see growth potential and we are confident that the year 2023, especially in India, will be great. We are in the process of completing our budget for 2023 and expect a growth of 15-20%.