每日吃瓜

The Hyderabad-based Synergy Earth Movers, a Terex dealer, entered the highly competitive backhoe loader (BHL) market in 2010 when the visibility of Terex brand was virtually negligible. In a short span of four years, in spite of the slowdown which contracted the backhoe market by half; from 100 units a month to about 40 units, Synergy Earth Movers was able to push its brand to every single pocket.

Says M Venkat Reddy, Owner and Managing Director, "It is a highly competitive market where the top player dominates over 80 per cent of the market. But what helped us are the factors that the Terex backhoe is a high quality product with advanced technology equipped with quality aggregates, and therefore absolutely reliable. The issue was back-up service and availability of spares, which I plugged in. Today, as far as service and back-up support is concerned, we are quite strong and we have quite a good system in place. We provide consistent service back up meeting every requirements of the customer in time."

"I am not losing any customer because of my machine is down, it does not perform, or because I fail to reach in time and service the customer. We have good stock of spares worth over 80 lakh, have four branches, and service engineers specifically trained to service the customers," says a highly confident Reddy, who had been with Tata Motors for over 13 years in service.

"Financing was a major challenge," Reddy says. According to him, the scenario has changed. Even though the sale of backhoe loader has not improved much, there is more positivity in the market, and financiers have started funding, though cautiously. On the current market trends, Reddy says, "The peak was 150 units a month, and the market averaged 100 units, which in 2013 went down to 40 units. By the end of this year, it may go up to 100 units and up to 200 units a month in two years." Reddy adds, "Earlier, there had been a feel of insecurity due to expected bifurcation of the state; and the slowdown added the woes. However, there are positive vibes now which has started reflecting on the sales, too." According to him, monsoon is a lean period, still he was able to do well and expects that the sales will pick up by mid-October.

Highlighting the immense growth potential, Reddy had this to say, "In the long term, the opportunity in infrastructure is huge, and we have no other option, but to go for it. With a stable government at the Centre which has made its focus clear, and hell-bent on removing the bottlenecks; the future is really promising." He quips, "Today I average 60 machines a year, which will go up to 150 an year. We have prepared well for the growth."

UPGRADED TLB SERIES

Terex Equipment has recently upgraded its existing TLB series of backhoe loaders. The upgrades are now available on TLB 740 (76 hp) and TLB 844 (90 hp) models. The key changes over the existing model include re-designed swing and mast assembly and ergonomically designed cab interiors and overall styling. Heavy duty slew cylinders fitted on the swing mast assembly generates up to 18 per cent higher torque for side swing movement, enabling smooth backhoe operations in demanding situations while handling higher payload.