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The Wirtgen Group, world market leader in mobile road building and road rehabilitation technologies recently completed 20 years of operations in India. This milestone was celebrated by inviting over 1,000 customers and partners to visit the Pune plant to witness the Technology Day and the official opening of their new plant for crushing and screening equipment.

Inaugurating the new plant in Pune which manufactures Kleemann range of screens for the mining and aggregate segments, Stefan Wirtgen, President, Wirtgen Group, said, ?It?s very important for us to be here in India; and supporting the dream campaign of the Prime Minister - ?Make in India.? That?s what we have been doing for over 20 years in India. The new plant we have inaugurated today will manufacture Kleemann range of screens for mining and aggregate segments. We have already been manufacturing rollers, and soil and asphalt compactors. We will also start producing Kleemann range of jaw and cone crushers from the new plant.? The Wirtgen Group acquired a 70 per cent holding in Benninghoven GmbH & Co. KG, a highly successful manufacturer of asphalt mixing plants. According to Stefan, the technologies supplied by Benninghoven complement the Wirtgen Group product portfolio perfectly. ?They now allow us to offer solutions covering the entire road construction cycle - crushing, mixing, paving, compaction, and then rehabilitation - from a single source,? says Stefan. Will this be available for the Indian customers? Ramesh Palagiri, Managing Director & CEO, Wirtgen India chips in, ?The Benninghoven range of asphalt plants are high-end products and not ready for India. Our current focus is the Kleemann range of screens and crushers.?

Briefing on the new plant, Palagiri says, ?The new state-of-the-art plant with an investment of Rs 80 crore will be manufacturing the Kleemann range of screens for mining and aggregate segments. These screens, with a range from 200 tph to 600 tph, will be powered by Dutez engine. We find very good growth for Kleemann range in India in the coming years. Though the market is highly competitive with many international and local players, we are confident that we will be able to gain 25 per cent of the market.? Is it a tall claim? Palagiri confidently says, ?Kleemann has a history of over 150 years; in all other product segments where we operate, we operate with good market shares, because of our innovative technology.? He adds, ?Initially our focus will be on India, however we will also be exporting the range.? The company has already set ambitious targets of introducing a slew of products within the next 18 months time. Speaking about the future product launches Palagiri says, ?We have plans to launch the Kleemann range of crushers; jaw and cone crushers. The design part has already started jointly with the German designers and the first machine is to roll out within the next 18 months. We will be producing crushers from 200 tph to 300 tph.?

He adds, ?We will also be launching 6 m pavers. The prototype has already been developed which you have seen during the live demo. This will be powered by Cummins engine and will be available both on wheels and track. The paver specifically meant for the Indian market for state highway projects.? Shedding light on the pavers market he says, ?The market for pavers is roughly around 300 units an year. We are expecting at least 30 per cent of the market in the paver segment. In the national highway projects we have already 800 units of high capacity pavers (9 m and above) working. The volume for higher capacity pavers has not caught up; it is about 60-100 machine a year. However, we have good volumes for 6 m pavers because the focus is more on single and two lane road with shoulders; 70 per cent of the new project will be in this t range.?

Speaking about the export potential Palagiri says, ?The world market is divided by emission regulations, not much on technology. US, Europe, Australia, and Japan are tier IV; practically the rest of the world is either Tier III or Tier II, and most of the countries are shifting to Tier III. All products manufactured here in India, except screens will be Tier III compliant. So we have a good potential for export to Tier III countries.

Around 1,200 customers, suppliers, and business partners attended this event, where an entire product range of machines for the road and mineral technologies, were showcased, and also a live demo for over one hour was conducted to showcase technologies such as cold milling, cold recycling, asphalt paving, compaction and also crushing and screening technologies where these new generation machines were in operation.

The event also marked the roll out of the first Kleemann screen produced in India and also the 1,000th Hamm compactor from the plant.