Swedish company sets up new facility near Bangalore
The bus climate control scenario in India will never be the same again. With 88,000 sq. ft. area in the outskirts of Bangalore boasting of a brand new facility built on 20,000 sq. ft. MCC – Mobile Climate Control Thermal Systems – has arrived in India. Offering an installed capacity of 3000 units a year, its targeted markets are Middle East, Brazil and Africa, besides India.
MCC began its India journey exactly a year ago. The fully-brushless technology being offered by the MCC bus climate control systems offers a range of advantages to their customers that includes improved life of motors, reduced maintenance cost, low current consumption which reduces the load on the main engines leading to better fuel average.
Inaugurating the Bangalore plant amidst a gala affair, Mr. Clas Gunneberg, President & CEO – MCC, welcomed the members and the President of the Bus Operators Confederation of India (BOCI), bus fleet operators, and bus body manufacturers.
Addressing the gathering, he said: “We see huge growth potential in India in the bus air-conditioning market. We have a strong position in the bus business industry globally, especially in the markets like North America and Europe. We have products which can be highly competitive in the Indian context as well.”
Mr. Sunil Kumar, MD – MCC India, and President – IMEBA Region, added: “The market for bus climate control systems in India is presently at 10-12 per cent in the MCV and HCV segments. We are hoping it will grow to 20-25 per cent. We began our journey by building this facility early this year keeping in view of this growth and have begun our operations within a short period of time. We are well on our way to making our presence felt in India.”
Mr. R.S. Prakash, VP – Sales & Marketing, MCC, said on the occasion: “We know the customer pulse in India like we do everywhere else in the world. We are prompt on delivery and we work on special costs for our customers. We are fully prepared for the Indian customer.”
Global vs Indian bus AC markets
If worldwide air-conditioned buses are almost a norm, in India the concept is just catching up. Taking a step forward, European and North American markets are currently witnessing a shift towards electric buses which require newer solutions in the climate control systems.
Mr. Eberhard Wolters, President – Europe, MCC, gave the European market perspective: “By 2020, we will see 2,000 electric buses in Europe. So we will see a sharp shift in the market which is healthy for the industry, particularly for the new entrants who specialise in electric units. Europe is naturally different from India, but the difference becomes smaller with time. And, I feel, India should not be regarded as a developing country because in the future we will see electric buses entering this market soon.”
Differentiator – The MCC Quotient
Be it quality, technology, performance or the other features – MCC officials swear by these factors and more.
Mr. Gunneberg explained: “When we design our products, we try to think differently. The other one is we look at the whole cooling cycle. In the US, the customers have made comparisons and have said that with our technology they have saved fuel up to 10 per cent compared to our competitors. Then we have our own R&D centers of controls and electronics due to which we are able to optimise the functionalities.”
Mr. Sunil Kumar observed: “Our telematic solutions, which we plan to introduce, will make a huge difference. We can receive all the data of a unit performance and we can see whether these units are having a problem, so that this information can be sent to our nearest service location who can then take care of it and resolve the issues with advanced planning, which is something that is not available with many global or Indian players.”
Talking about the differentiating features of MCC products, Mr. Wolters explained: “Indian bus customers, in particular, request that the AC provider should be flexible if there is a design change. MCC has both the willingness and the ability to do it for our customers. Also, MCC is known for its good lead time. So, coupled with the good product, it will give us a leading edge.”
Off-road segments
MCC is highly aware of the potential business that the off-highway segments pose – be it tractors, material handling vehicles or mining trucks.
Mr. Sunil Kumar shared: “Our focus primarily is on the bus market, and in the coming years, we will slowly look at the off-road markets as well, and only after establishing in these two markets, will we really start looking at other segments like Defence and refrigeration.”
Mr. Gunneberg revealed: “Eventually, we are planning to look at the possibilities of exporting the climate control units to Europe. This facility is marked up to the world standards. Our vision is vertical integration and soon, we will start soon producing components for our products here.”
Supportive of dealer network
MCC enjoys a 50-plus strong dealer network across India who are strategically located on the golden quadrilateral.
Mr. Prakash disclosed: “We are going to take advantage of the fast-moving routes. We want to create a close proximity to our end users through our dealer network.”
Mr. Sunil Kumar further added: “There shall be a significant growth because even if the bus industry does not grow, the number of buses requiring air-conditioning will grow. It means that the air-conditioning manufacturer per se will see growth even if the commercial vehicle industry does not.”
Part of MCC expansion plans is to build a climate chamber where they can start testing the buses which currently no climate control manufacturer in India is offering, albeit it ‘depends on the market response’. Globally, this is common to all their plants.
Light-weighting
MCC is working aggressively on further reducing the weight of its climate control systems which already boast of economized design and weight. For them, research teams finding newer materials to try and achieve reduced weight of the products is a continuous process.
Mr. Gunneberg said: “We will soon be reducing another 10-15 kg and our R&D team is already working on this.”
MCC is focused on providing training to the supervisors and technicians at the customers’ workshops, in keeping with the regular upgradation of the AC units.
The adage ‘A great beginning is half the battle won’ seems to hold true for MCC!