Escorts’ Construction Equipment division addresses the extensive construction under-penetration in India with the widest product complement.
Escorts ventured into the manufacture of construction equipment through a prudent leverage of core heavy engineering and automotive technical capabilities. The business addresses the widening needs of a growing Indian infrastructure sector through a relevant mix of material handling equipment (pick-n-carry cranes, forklifts and tower cranes), earth moving equipment (backhoe loaders) and road construction equipment (compactors and loaders). The Company introduced the concept of pick-n-carry hydraulic mobile cranes in India in the 70s; it retained its position as the world’s largest manufacturer of these cranes. Over the decades, the business has reinforced customer trust through the widest product complement comprising the following:
- Hydraulic mobile cranes
- Construction cranes
- Backhoe loader
- Compaction equipment
- Earthmoving equipment
- Forklift trucks
- Utility equipment
The division also ventured into the manufacture of vibratory, soil and tandem compactors; it is credited with launching vibratory compactors in India in the 80s. A larger basket of tandem vibratory compactors and heavy duty soil compactors were added in technical collaboration with HAMM Germany. The division also manufactures front-end loaders (payload capacity 700-kgs), their compact design ideal for narrow lanes and confined spaces in the handling of garbage, chemicals, sand and small chips. The division grew its business through attractive AMC programmes, growing pan-India network of 16 sales offices, 50 dealership locations and over 300 company-trained dealer service engineers
Performance
- Topline de-growth of 27% in 2012-14 on account of a sluggish market
Products
- Product basket comprises the industry’s most comprehensive suite of products with extensive rejuvenation
- India-exclusive distribution alliances with Comansa (Spain) for tower cranes, Doosan (Korea) for forklifts, Fassi (Italy) for boom cranes and Zoomlion for truck cranes
Marketplace
- Wide sales presence through 50 pan-India dealers covering Tier-I, II and III locations
- Repeat customer base across the construction, manufacturing, power, oil and gas, steel, real estate, FMCG and pharmaceutical sectors
- Domestic market share of 4.8% makes the Company the third largest in India
Presence
- One manufacturing unit located in Faridabad (Haryana)
Core operational and financial metrics 
| 2011-12 | 2012-14 (18) | |
| Production | 4,925 | 4,556 |
| Sales | 5,313 | 4,789 |
| Revenue | 748.6 | 763.20 |
| EBIT | 1.35 | (32.22) |
Principal 2012-14 developments
- Enhanced pricing and product upgradation enabled realisations growth by 11.4% to 1.7 lakh per unit during the period
- Securitised cash flows through lower credit exposure to channel financing; enhanced tie-ups with banks and NBFCs, strengthening receivables from 97 days in 2011-12 to 55 days
- Value engineering, process optimisation and supplier renegotiation moderated material costs by 500 bps to 79% of revenues
- Evolved the customer profile from corporate to retail (40-60%), strengthening pricing power
- Premiumisation strategy strengthened market share by 70 bps for backhoe loaders to 3.2%; 200 bps increase in pick-n-carry cranes to an undisputed 51%; maintained market share at 11% for compactors and grew volume sales of tower cranes by 64%
- Examined on-field equipment (Sampark programme) to strengthen predictive maintenance; almost 16,000 (of 25,000) equipment were appraised in the last three months of 2012-14
- Embarked on building customer loyalty through the ART (average response time) programme that sought to minimise downtime and maximise productivity
- Organised the ‘seven lane’ programme to create a lean and flexible manufacturing structure, upgrade product continuously and augment operating standards in line with best-in-class benchmarks in new generation cranes