India is the fourth largest Construction equipment market in the world. The infrastructure sector enjoys intense focus from the Government for initiating policies that would ensure time-bound creation of top-class infrastructure in the country. Infrastructure development is the key driver of construction machinery demand. Connecting India by Road, Air, Sea horizontally and vertically to reduce the travel time for people and goods is the key to making India a stronger economy. The Government’s focus through different missions on these has increased the impetus and catapulted various infrastructure developments projects across India and this will ensure steady demand and growth of the construction equipment industry in the country.
The government of India’s ambitious INR 111 Lakh crore National Infrastructure Pipeline accelerated public-private partnership (PPP) projects in India, increased mining activities and FDI norm relaxation are driving the growth in the construction industry. Since the construction machinery market is expected to register a CAGR of four percent during 2020-2025, it opens up mega opportunities for leading manufacturers of Road Construction Machinery to offer high quality, productive, and efficient equipment to meet the needs of the construction companies.
Next-gen 360° Concreting solutions
One such legendary concreting equipment player renowned for both its engineering expertise as well as product after-sales network is Bangalore based AJAX Engineering. AJAX has emerged as the next-gen 360° concreting solutions provider offering end-to-end solutions that encompass concrete production, transportation, placement, and paving. AJAX being the market leader in SLCMs has pioneered a lot of advanced features such as Load Cell Weighing System, Smart Fleet Telematics, Rear View Camera, Admixture Dosing Units, Bidirectional Tyres, AC cabins, EH drum control, High-Pressure water jet etc to name a few. Many of these have been ‘Industry-first’ keeping in mind their customers evolving needs.
Innovative Products Offering High-En1d Features
While Concrete Boom Pumps have been revolutionizing the construction of large commercial & residential buildings and structures, due to the shortage of skilled labour and the need for quick placement of concrete in inaccessible areas, the use of boom pumps has been necessitated in the current construction processes.
Perfectly understanding the aforementioned requirements, AJAX Engineering offers a truck-mounted boom pump of 30 meters, mounted on a 4x2 chassis with its shorter turning radius that makes them best suitable for RMC plants working in constricted city sites as well as in tight locations. AJAX has been introducing innovative products in the market for the last three decades. Having pioneered the SLCMs, AJAX has introduced many other innovative products that include Boom Pump, and Self-Propelled Boom Pump. All these products stand out in their unique way by offering high-end features.
Keeping pace with the changing requirements of customers, AJAX launched a 25m self-propelled boom pump (SPBP 25ZX), an industry first and a patented product. The advanced features of SPBP, when compared to Boom Pump, are four Wheel drive, three-way steering, 180 ̊Reversible Operator Post, Shortest Turning Radius and Better
Gradeability. It is highly reliable to work in Extreme Slushy and Muddy terrains. It also has High Power to Weight ratio delivering the best-in-class fuel efficiency.
Fully Automatic Concrete Slip-Form Paver
Another innovative offering from AJAX is its Concrete Slip-Form Paver. Today, AJAX Engineering is the only Indian company to design and manufacture a fully automatic Concrete Slip-Form Paver thereby eliminating the need for customers to import Pavers.
India’s First CEV Stage IV Compliant ARGOs
Recently, AJAX has introduced India’s First CEV Stage IV compliant ARGOs that offer the best-in-class benefits with excellent fuel efficiency as well as high Uptime owing to longer service intervals ensuring very high reliability. AJAX has been successful in achieving the competitive advantage through its product differentiation Strategy thereby establishing itself as a quality focussed and Customer-centric organization.
Looking at the increased demand for concreting equipment in India, AJAX has charted an investment of INR 100 Cr to build a new Manufacturing Facility and Design Centre in Bangalore. This greenfield project will be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities to design and manufacture newly introduced products like the Concrete Slip-Form Paver, Boom Pumps and Self-Propelled Boom Pumps. A further investment of INR 40 crores is being used at the Gowribidanur plant to expand its existing facility where Batching Plants and Transit Mixers are being produced.
Nation-Building Through Innovative & Indigenized Product Solutions
From Airports to National Highways to Metro Rail and Freight Corridors, to Solar parks and Irrigation projects, AJAX has been consistently contributing to infrastructure development, propelling Nation’s overall growth. A few of the landmark infrastructure projects where AJAX has been associated with include the world’s largest solar power plant – Bhadla Solar Park, South Asia’s largest aviation hub – IGI Airport, New Delhi, India’s largest metro rail network – Delhi Metro Rail, World’s longest railway platform – Hubballi Railway junction, Asia’s longest bi-directional tunnel – Zoji La tunnel project, World’s largest drip irrigation project – Ramthal Marola.
The push by Government for localization and promotion with a strong emphasis on indigenization to make India Atmanirbhar will help companies as well as the suppliers to improve costs. Customers will benefit in lowering the cost of equipment as well as infrastructure development cost.
“We are committed to the 'Make in India' philosophy to create innovative solutions as import substitutes for helping build a stronger and self-reliant nation. Our products have been exported to several countries making us a global brand,” says Jagadish Bhat, MD & CEO, AJAX Engineering. “As India continues to build modern infrastructure, we are equipped with the right set of capabilities to become a market leader in the Indian Concreting Equipment Business,” he adds.
‘Building for Success & Building to Endure’
Innovation & Indigenization has been a way of life at AJAX, and the company prides itself on being a self-reliant Indian company for the past three decades. AJAX’s main focus has been on ‘Building for Success & Building to Endure’, while the foundation has been on making a Lean, strongly IT-enabled organization staffed by competent and committed professionals espousing the organizational values. Based on this foundation the company has built three pillars that are core to its business that comprise a highly competent Design and Engineering team that can provide innovative solutions to its customers, Customer reach through the well spread network across the country and Best in Industry Customer Support that can reach the customers in shortest possible time.
Over the years, AJAX has expanded its product portfolio from Self-Loading Concrete Mixer to a complete range of Concreting Equipment from Batching Plants to Boom Pumps to Slip-Form Pavers. AJAX, the world’s largest SLCM manufacturer has now achieved a milestone of 20,000 plus concreting equipment in the market. Currently, the company has 35+ Dealers and 100+ branch offices, PAN India to cater to Sales & Services for the customer. AJAX is also serving the international market through 16+ Distributors.
The Journey Ahead
While AJAX is the market leader in its flagship product SLCM, the company is working towards consolidating its position in other concreting equipment such as Batching plant, Concrete pump, Boom Pump, Self-Propelled Boom Pump, Transit Mixer and Concrete Slip-Form Paver to increase its market share.
In the coming years, most of the growth in the construction industry is likely to come from three main segments such as the Urban Sector, Rural Sector, and the Transportation Sector. AJAX with its complete product portfolio can cater to all the customers from Residential & Industrial Building projects to metro rail corridors, Railways, Irrigation Canals, Aqueducts, Solar Power Plants, Road Tunnels & Bridges, Airports, and Railway Infrastructure to Smart City projects. AJAX’s concreting solutions have been a preferred choice of contractors across the country.
“Way forward in another five years, we see ourselves emerging as an Indian MNC and becoming one among the top 3 international players in the Concrete Equipment space. A company that truly believes in the 'Made in India; Made for the World' mission,” concludes Jagadish Bhat.
