Established in 1976, Wipro Infrastructure Engineering (WIE), representing the first diversification of the Wipro Group, is a name with a long history. Dating its origin to mid-1940s, the Wipro Group first ventured into vegetable oils, and it was in the early eighties that it made its foray into the IT arena.
With 13 state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities spread across continents, WIE is one among the largest hydraulic cylinder manufacturers in the world. By 2018, it aims to be the top manufacturer in the country for truck tipping systems.
Mr. Vasudevan R, Senior Vice President & Head – Global Sales, Wipro Infrastructure Engineering, elaborates: “We are going to be the No.1 in the country by 2018 in the business linked to commercial vehicles. We currently have 90 per cent marketshare in the underbody tipping segment, and in FET we have 30-35 per cent of the market.”
Currently holding 42 per cent market share in the country for tipping systems, WIE witnessed slow progress in the initial phase when few OEMs were manufacturing large equipments in India. Brilliant foresight led WIE to recognize hydraulic cylinders as the future. When major OEMs set foot in India in the 1980s and 90s, WIE was already primed to partner with them. Foreign shores beckoned WIE in 2006 when they acquired a European company that made hydraulic cylinders. Headquartered in Sweden, WIE branched out to Finland, Brazil and Romania. Later in 2013, it started a greenfield facility in the US.
Success strategy
With the current blossoming of the transport and automotive sector after a couple of sleepy years, WIE feels that the market can double in the next five years. He says, “The year 2016 has kicked off well, and we expect 2017-18 to maintain the rate of growth and peak in 2018 and 2019. But I expect it to dip in 2019 as it’s election time. After that we have to see whether the cycle picks up again and how fast or slow.”
Being prepared in a cyclical business is challenging. Mr. Vasudevan agrees: “We invest in capacity for every cycle. We reached a high in production last month after a long time. We expect this to grow further and we can easily take another 50 per cent of growth because we have fully invested for it.”
WIE is planning “for exports into other geographies” and it has already entered a couple of countries in East Asia. According to Mr. Vasudevan, WIE is focused on the Middle East. With business prospects improving like never before, WIE is taking up the challenge of “staying ahead of the curve in terms of product performance and pricing.” Closer home, with 24 dealers across the country, including the North East, WIE has its own service engineers catering to customers with at-hand solutions.
Undoubtedly, WIE is working towards “gearing up for steady growth” in business that is being witnessed with “constant improvements in engineering”. Coupled with the “strength of the manufacturing capacity”, and “fortifying their service base” in the extremities of the country like the North East, WIE is all set to win the race.