World leader in heavy-duty and specialized transport vehicles all set for long-term success in the Indian market
The heavy transport vehicle market in India is all set to witness a major transformation, triggered by the new footprint established by the global leader in the field. The TII Group, the world market leader in the manufacture of vehicles with hydraulically suspended pendulum axles, has underlined its long-term focus on the Indian market with the formation of TII India Pvt. Ltd., a fully-owned subsidiary, following its acquisition of the civil business of Tratec, the most reputed home-grown brand in the segment. We met Dr. Jochen Landes, Managing Director, TII India Pvt. Ltd., at the company’s plant in Bawal to find out more on TII’s strategic acquisition, its focus on the Indian market and the future course of action.
‘Brand’ new addition
The TII Group, through its three powerful brands – SCHEUERLE, NICOLAS and KAMAG – has consistently grown in its worldwide markets over the last few decades. While the group also has strong presence in other regions across the globe, it has accorded high priority for India for many years, given the kind of potential and promise the region holds.
Says Dr. Landes: “The acquisition of Tratec was the next logical step for us to get closer to local customers in India. It will help us shorten supply times and offer an excellent sales and aftersales service in the Indian market. Tratec was India’s first indigenous manufacturer of hydraulic trailers.”
While the very fact that a global powerhouse like the TII Group has taken the ‘Make-In-India’ route, that too at a time when its relevant market segment is not at its best, goes to show the growing global attention on the Indian market. The move is even more significant considering that Tratec is TII Group’s first non-European brand, which further emphasises the increasing importance of India at the global level.
Explaining why India and Tratec would be the right choice for TII, Dr. Landes explains: “The Tratec acquisition is very important for us. We have selected India very carefully and compared it with other markets during a two-year selection process to be 100 per cent sure that it is the right market for us. India, as a strong democracy, has people with good skills and is a stable country in all aspects, which led us to the very clear and undisputed conclusion to proceed with. Overall, we feel we have a strong connection with India which is why we selected it as our location. The TII Group has been active in India since the early 1970s and has supplied various trailers and systems under the SCHEUERLE, NICOLAS and KAMAG brand to Indian customers. I have been in India for 14 years, and personally too, I definitely have a strong bond with the market here.”
The addition on the Tratec brand to its portfolio gives the TII Group an excellent access to customers in India.
“We do not see the brand Tratec and the Tratec TIIGER Product range as a competition to our existing brands – SCHEUERLE, NICOLAS and KAMAG and their products; we see it as a complementary addition to our existing product portfolio”, he adds.
Exciting action ahead
TII India’s manufacturing footprint currently is a 30,000 sq. m. plant, the construction of which was started in 2010 by the erstwhile Tratec. The facility, presently in its final phase of construction, will be in full-fledged operation by the beginning of April.
“We will start production in early second quarter, around the 1st of April. We have an entire product portfolio called Tratec TIIGER which includes mechanical trailers, wind blade carriers and modular hydraulic trailers and the introduction of such an extensive product portfolio inclusive of accessories such as bridges would keep us busy in 2016”, he reveals.
TII will offer the Tratec ‘TIIGER’ range of equipment under which it has three different models – TIIGER, TIIGER Extended, which is a wind blade carrier, and TIIGER Heavy-Duty and Medium-Duty series which are modular hydraulic trailers in varying load capacities and axle lines.
With a clear long-term strategy in place, manufacturing base almost ready and product portfolio firmed up, what would TII India’s top three priorities be? The German MD is quick to respond: “Quality, localization of components and education. We want to install the capability of being able to produce quality trailers and, transportation systems in India, not with sub-standard parts, but with quality components.” And what exactly does the company have in mind when it has education and localization of components as priorities. He goes on to explain: “Localization for us means adaptation of proven technology and transportation concepts to the Indian demands with the help of our team in Germany and in close cooperation with our engineers in India. When we talk about education, we train our workforce by a combination of theoretical classes and practical work.”
Emphasis on localization
Understanding the Indian market conditions and its requirements very well, TII has already started scouting for local supplier partners in the country. As has been the case with many European companies currently present in India in the CV and component space, TII holds Indian suppliers in high regard for their best practices and is keen on working on global sourcing partnerships with suppliers who meet its stringent global quality and reliability standard.
Sharing his views on local suppliers, Dr. Landes says: “I am convinced that the Indian suppliers are competent enough to play at the global level. It does take a while to identify the really good suppliers of components like tyres, hydraulics, tubes, steel, etc., but there are definitely excellent suppliers in India. We have already started identifying local suppliers and have even selected some in segments like bearings and hydraulics and are in discussions for axles and tyres. However, we will put a component into our trailer only if it passes all our thorough testing processes which are done with the support of our team in Germany.”
Another interesting aspect of TII’s approach is that despite having its roots in Europe, which remains the technology benchmark in the commercial vehicle segment and related applications, the German firm has quickly grasped the fact that India is a unique market where only products with the right mix of quality, technology and cost could prove successful.
“We see the need for a combination of localized products with excellent quality offered at reasonable price. The right approach to be successful would be to localize the components, have local manufacturing, offer localized adopted product concepts wherever it makes sense, with local inputs and acceptance from the customers”, comes out Dr. Landes’ confident statement with a smile.
Not stopping there, in line with its strategy in any global market, the TII Group also seems to have a clear plan in place for aftersales service, which is undoubtedly a critical ingredient for success in a market like India.
Talking about the service aspect, he states: “Close proximity to customers is essential for us. We want to offer service options such as preventive maintenance, annual maintenance and quick spare parts supply – in general, a 360o approach to what the customer wants – to help them keep their vehicles always in excellent condition for their day-to-day routine work – be it on roads, in remote places or in rough terrains. Or in short: Service our customers can rely on.”
Long-term-ready
The final two pieces of the puzzle in TII Group’s quest for success in India, though not in the company’s hands, is the country’s infrastructure improving and the Government coming up with clear regulations pertaining to specialized road transport vehicles. If things move in the right direction on these fronts, which the company is confident would happen, it would take a brave effort to stop the global market leader from stamping its authority in the Indian market in the coming years.
“It is very important for the government to come up with regulations for such specialized transport vehicles to protect the Indian infrastructure. Without such regulations, transport of overweight cargo (OWC) on public roads handled in the wrong way could lead to an increase in point load on the tyres, as a result of which roads would be damaged and bridges might collapse. But I must say, things are moving in the right direction and we can see the government becoming a lot stricter in this aspect across the country. We are also seeing the Hydraulic Trailers Owners’ Association (HTOA) playing a crucial and positive role and with their help and technical inputs and with a government which is much more open to this kind of technology and advancement, I think the situation in India is going to improve in a drastic way very soon”, opines the MD.
Towards the end of the conversation, when asked about the sluggish pace of the over-dimensional cargo (ODC) segment and special transport vehicles market in India at present, he observes: “The investment we are making is not for the next six months or something; we see this as a long-term investment for the next decades, so if the market is less active at the moment it’s a possibility to position ourselves for the upswing that will surely follow”, summing up TII Group’s India-readiness quite fittingly.
TII India officially launched
Recently the TII Group celebrated the launch of TII India in the presence of Mr. Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Union Minister for Transport and Highways and Union Minister for Shipping, and Mr. Bhupender Yadav, National Secretary of the BJP, under the main theme ‘German Engineering – Make in India’ at a function held in New Delhi.
In the presence of the two excellencies, HTOA members, transportation companies from India, the management board of TII from Germany and other invited guests, Mr. Gadkari pointed out that protecting the Indian infrastructure using the latest technology of TII Group will add years to the life of existing roads and bridges and preserve newly built infrastructure.
He further said that the time for building road infrastructure can be reduced drastically by quick transportation of prefabricated bridge spans with state-of-the-art transportation technology.
He has invited TII to support India and added that the transportation systems of the TII Group are capable of connecting remote areas with difficult terrain amongst each other as well as urban areas. Indian transport companies should partner TII Group in its endeavour to support the Indian infrastructure. Finally he congratulated the TII Group on its decision to come to India, and sent his blessings for the entire team.
