< PreviousThe plant achieves consistently high quality with its class-leading and automated production technologies, including robotic welding, laser cutting and high-precision machining. It has ISO certifi cations for its Quality, Health & Safety, Environmental and Energy performance. In 2022, the plant achieved the signifi cant milestone of manufacturing 50,000 loader backhoes. It produces a wide range of products for the global markets including India, Africa, the Middle East, the Asia Pacifi c region, and North and Latin America. The plant also houses an important research and development facility to ensure that machines go through regular upgrades and are future ready. As part of its eff orts to contribute to CNH Industrial’s sustainability goals and its aims to reduce carbon emission, the company has installed solar panels at its Pithampur plant which helps provide up to 25% of the facility’s energy through renewable sources. Currently, the capacity is around 9,000 units per year, and according to Satendra Tiwari, head of manufacturing at CASE’s Pithampur facility in Madhya Pradesh, the company can maximise earnings by doubling its capacity and improving its effi ciency across all product lines. He further noted that manufacturing local and export items on the same production lines has allowed the company to boost productivity while maintaining quality requirements. The Pithampur production facility has been a prominent participant among the brand’s eight manufacturing centres worldwide for over three decades. It is built on 40 acres of land and has been critical to exporting machinery internationally. According to the management, approximately 75% of their products are local to the region. “Now the challenge is to fi nd land to expand the plant. We are scouting for a parcel of land not far from the existing plant. And try to move some production process may be carpentering or some other process to that location,” says Calo said while adding that the company is already utilising state-of-art technology to produce equipment. He says, there is no issues related to technology upgradation or production FEATURE PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2023 20bottlenecks. Only area of concern is localisation. He adds. “We don’t want to import components from other countries such as Germany or America. We want to source supplies from locations closer to the plant for two main reasons, to improve the effi ciency of logistics and to reduce the costs.” According to Shalabh Chaturvedi, general manager of CASE Construction Equipment India, India’s boosted export potential due to the stricter emissions standards has elevated competition to a global level. “So, it opens up a lot of export opportunities for us as well, which were not there before,” says Chaturvedi. Previously, India followed an export strategy focused only on countries with lower or equivalent emissions standards. Even though the continued shift in emission standards has increased the cost of ownership, Chaturvedi expects this disruption to be temporary, as the previous generation of machines returns to fi ll the demand gap. Similar to the automobile industry, the use of stage III machines will be phased out in the coming years, resulting in higher rental prices, improved construction quality, and enhanced safety. Chaturvedi remarks that even though there may be some short-term drawbacks, the industry is moving in the right direction. Models moving to India cover the skid steer loader range from SR130B up to its SR210B models to cover Tier-3, including the Middle East, and Tier-5 markets. CASE off ers a full line of construction equipment globally, including motor graders, wheel loaders, vibratory compaction rollers, crawler dozers, skid steers, compact track loaders, and rough-terrain forklifts. During the event, it displayed the newly launched V-Series backhoe loaders, the CX220C LC HD crawler excavator and the 1110EX, 450DX and 752EX compactors. FEATURE 21 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2023R iding over improvement in demand and easing of global chip shortages, truck manufacturer, Volvo Group has posted a net earning of $1.25 billion, or 62 cents per share, for the fi rst quarter ended on March 31 2023, compared with $685 million, 29 cents per share, in the year-ago period. The company primary reports results in Swedish krona. VOLVO Q1 EARNING JUMPS TO RECORD HIGH ON HIGHER SALES The Gothenburg, Sweden-based company posted a global revenue of $12.74 billion in the fi rst quarter, an all-time high and year-over-year increase of 25% from $10.21 billion, it reported in the comparable period, an year ago. RISE IN PROFITABILITY Commenting on the robust results, Martin Lundstedt, president and CEO of Volvo Group, said, during the fi rst quarter of 2023, the Volvo Group’s growth continued and its profi tability took a step up. He explained, “A good profi tability is important for us to be able to continue to increase our investments in the biggest technological shift ever in our industries. We are in a period when we are AUTOMOTIVE 22 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2023investing battery and fuel cell electric vehicles as well as internal combustion engines in parallel.” According to Lundstedt, the proposed Euro VII emissions legislation will put additional pressure on the group’s investments in research and development of the combustion engine, and good profi tability and fi nancial strength are important factors that will enable the group to make these these investments. In the quarter under consideration, industrial operations generated an operating cash fl ow of SEK 5.0 billion ($533 million ), which is 5.4% lower than the comparable to SEK 77.7 billion ($7.5billion) in the comparable period, an year ago excluding pension and leasing liabilities. “Despite a deteriorating economic outlook with high infl ation and rising interest rates, transport volumes and infrastructure activity have continued to be solid in most of our markets,” Lundstedt said while adding that in combination with customers’ need to renew aging fl eets, this contributes to good demand for our products. According to him, “The high activity levels were also refl ected in our service sales, which grew by 13% adjusted for currency. The service business is a priority area because it contributes to increasing our customers’ productivity, strengthens customer relationships and provides stability over the business cycle.” GLOBAL TRUCK SALES According to the global truck manufacturer, there is a continued pent-up need to replace aging fl eets, which is noticeable on the truck side, where order intake rose as the company gradually opened the order books for the second half of 2023. Overall, order intake rose by 32% to 60,040 trucks while we delivered 61,531 trucks, an increase of 11% compared to the previous year. This is both a delivery and production record for a Q1 and the result of hard work across the value chain. The disturbances in the European supply chains have not been as extensive as in the autumn and have contributed to increased productivity. The company claims that its north american supply chain, on the other hand, remains unstable, which leads to production disturbances. According to the company, the demand in both Europe and North America continued to be on a good level for both new and used vehicles as well as for services on the back of customers replacing aging fl eets and continued good transport activity. The company’s demand suff ered a setback in Latin America, particularly in Brazil, where demand in Q1 declined due to a prebuy that took place in 2022 ahead of a new emission legislation which was implemented on January 1, 2023. The Indian market continued to grow as EQUIPMENT SALES According to the Volvo Group, construction equipment’s net sales increased by 11% with strong development for its Volvo products in North America.. However, order intake decreased by 35% due to lower demand in China and weakening order intake in Europe. Seen in a longer perspective, the order books are large in most markets and the company is working to shorten the long lead times. Overall, demand in major markets outside China remained stable in the fi rst quarter, with growth in Europe and North America while facing corrections in Asia and Latin America, it said. In the North American market demand continued to be good, with many large infrastructure projects and strong commercial construction more than off setting a weakness in residential construction amid high interest rates. In Europe, the market grew as construction activities remained on good levels. Market growth was also positively infl uenced by rental fl eet replacements. In South America, investment levels slowed down in Brazil due to lower business confi dence among customers. The Chinese market had a signifi cant negative correction due to the pre-buy eff ect related to the emissions regulations change at the end of last year, in addition to low economic activity. Development in other Asian markets was fl at due to a weaker economic outlook in key markets such as Korea and Thailand, which was off set by Indonesia, where demand remained stable with good demand for commodities. an eff ect of increased consumption levels, pent-up demand, and increased government expenditure on infrastructure. Demand in China started to show signs of recovery with contribution from various regional stimulus initiatives in infrastructure and towards consumer consumption. With the exception of China, activity in the construction industry has continued to be good in most of our markets. It is primarily driven by ongoing infrastructure investments and by the mining industry, which benefi ts from continued good commodity prices, the company said. Martin Lundstedt, CEO of Volvo Group AUTOMOTIVE 23 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2023A n integrated AI data platform to improve the performance and quality of tyres – that is the plan that premium tyre maker Hankook is pursuing together with the holding company Hankook & Company, the American cloud and software specialists Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Snowfl ake. The digital ecosystem should also help to develop autonomous driving technology, increase effi ciency in product development and increase quality through the analysis of manufacturing data. With the platform, Hankook wants to fi rmly anchor data-based decisions in its corporate culture and increase the company’s value through the optimised availability of data. The tyre maker also plans to expand digital development processes across the entire value chain by enabling employees to make small innovations in a system- based work environment. Hankook & Company is collaborating with AWS and Snowfl ake to establish an optimised data analysis infrastructure, incorporating cloud-based solutions and platform expertise. The project aims to build an integrated data analysis environment utilising the latest artifi cial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies. The project will leverage AWS’s data lake environment and analysis infrastructure, including Sagemaker HANKOOK PLANS AI PLATFORM WITH AWS AND SNOWFLAKE and AutoML, and have Snowfl ake as a data warehouse to promote cloud migration and digital transformation. DATA-BASED OPTIMISATION OF EXISTING AND FUTURE PRODUCTS The cloud-based data analysis platform is home to both internal and external data – from Hankook’s research and development, production and quality evaluations as well as from sources such as mobility providers or voice of customer (VOC) surveys. The newly built platform is intended to become a tool to enhance tyre performance and quality. It will integrate and analyse data from performance tests and customer feedback for their electric vehicle tyres, the Hankook “iON” series, to improve their performance. In addition, the company will use integrated analysis of vehicle operation data and external data to develop autonomous driving technology. Hankook & Company also aims to increase the effi ciency of new product development and address quality issues through analysis of manufacturing data. The company, collectively and regardless of the locations of its subsidiaries and employees, will be able to utilise an integrated platform to freely access data, identify new business opportunities, achieve strategic goals, and enhance competitiveness through data exchange and technology collaboration with external companies. Hankook & Company’s chief digital offi cer (CDO) and chief information offi cer (CIO), Seong-jin Kim, stated, “With the development of generative AI, AI is passing through an infl ection point, there is a need for a platform that can collect and freely use internal and external data to apply it to businesses,” and that “by utilising the excellent technology and solutions of Amazon Web Services and Snowfl ake, we will maximise our AI capabilities and accelerate our journey to enhance product competitiveness in areas such as electric vehicle and smart tires.” AWS is the world’s largest cloud services company, providing IT services for computing, storage, databases, analysis, artifi cial intelligence, IoT, and security to enterprises. Snowfl ake, headquartered in Montana, USA, is a cloud-based SaaS software that helps effi ciently store, process, TIRES 24 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2023and analyse large volumes of data. Snowfl ake rose to prominence after Warren Buff ett invested in the company, which was founded in 2012. In November 2021, Snowfl ake began operations in South Korea with the establishment of a local offi ce. ABOUT HANKOOK TIRES Hankook Tire manufactures globally innovative, award-winning radial tires of proven superior quality for passenger cars, light trucks, SUVs, RVs, trucks, and buses as well as motorsports (circuit racing/street circuits/rallies). Aspiring to bring consumers the utmost excellence in product quality, technological excellence and driving satisfaction, Hankook Tire continuously invests in research and development maintaining fi ve R&D centres and eight production facilities around the world. Bespoke tire solutions for the European markets as well as European Original Equipment according to the requirements of leading premium car manufacturers, are developed in the company’s regional technical ccntre in Hanover/Germany. The company’s European headquarters are located in Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt am Main in Germany. The manufacturer operates further branches in several European countries and sells its products through regional distributors in other local markets. Hankook Tire employs approximately 20,000 people worldwide and sells products in over 160 countries. TIRES 25 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2023What is your outlook for 2023–22 concerning rental equipment demand and asset utilisation? At Manlift, we see a positive outlook for 2023 and beyond as we continue to develop our fl eet and our people. Upon reaching a major milestone of 15 years in the industry, we are more confi dent than ever that our core values and operating system ‘The Manlift Way’ will continue to enable us to deliver the best customer experience. We continue to innovate through adding niche machines to our fl eet, including more hybrid and electric solutions. In addition, we anticipate digitalsation playing a key role in the years to come. With this in mind, we have enhanced our customer experience through our portal and app My Manlift. What are Manlift top-performing market segments ? At Manlift. we off er a range of innovative and customised solutions for our customers across multiple market segments. Within construction, facilities management, logistics, as well as oil & gas, we have provided key solutions for working at height. In addition, we will continue to diversify developing our activities in aviation and events. What were your company’s most prominent rental projects during 2022–23? Expo continues to be a key project for Manlift. Since its conception, we have been onsite supporting a diverse range of projects within the Expo. After years of planning and fl awless execution during the Expo event period, we are proud to have delivered the best customer experience for “The World’s Greatest Show”. With over 120 machines supplied during the event and over 200 machines supplied during the construction phase, Manlift was determined to ensure safe and effi cient working at height at Expo 2020. In addition, we used this opportunity to focus our machine supply ,on our innovative and sustainable solutions derived to align with the Expo 2020 theme. In particular our supply of electric and hybrid machines as a more sustainable solution. Although Expo 2020 itself has ended, the job continues with the announcement of Expo City. Through our multi year experience at this project, we are confi dent that we can support all of the jobs to be done at height. Please elaborate on the expansion of your rental fl eet; introduction of new brands, products, and services; training programs; and other customer-centric initiatives during the past year. The Manlift Group foresees a strong future as a leader in the industry as we plan to continue our growth across the region in line with our vision, “to be the fi rst choice for jobs done at height.” The UAE continues to represent a fantastic opportunity for Manlift, and as a group, we are dedicated to investing further and expanding our operations and fl eet. As mentioned, we will continue to innovate through adding niche machines to our fl eet, including more hybrid and electric solutions to ensure that we can supply our customers with custom solutions, for any job to be done. In addition, the launch of our ‘My Manlift’ customer portal and app allows our customers to access and manage their rentals on the go. With My Manlift, you can take complete control of your rental journey, from hire to off - hire, and all your needs during your rental. Our customer portal and app enable you to manage your invoices and quotations and provide an overview of your spending compared to the previous year. In addition, you can report any breakdowns, track your current rentals using telemetry, and even use our comparison tool to analyse machines so that you can get the best machine for the job at height. DIGITALISATION TO PLAY A KEY ROLE IN GROWTH OF THE INDUSTRY In an exclusive interview with PMV Middle East, Joel Quadras, UAE country manager at Manlif Middle East, spoke about key factors that will drive industry growth Joel Quadras UAE country manager at Manlift Middle East INTERVIEW 26 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2023HAVER & BOECKER NIGARA ACQUIRES PARTIAL OWNERSHIP IN TANDEM PRODUCTS H aver & Boecker Niagara, a leader in screening and pelletizing technologies since 1872, has acquired partial ownership in Tandem Products Inc, a long-standing family-owned polyurethane producer of high-quality open cast screen media and liners for the mining, concrete, industrial and grain industries. Haver & Boecker Niagara’s parent company, Haver & Boecker OHG, is a fi fth- generation family-owned business with deep roots in industries such as mining, minerals, aggregates, cement, construction materials, fertilisers, salt and recycling. This joint venture is the result of many years of successful sales and production partnership between the two family-owned businesses and represents the mutual respect and core value alignment between the shareholders. The companies bring together a focus on high-quality products, innovative engineering and a unique customer solution- driven market approach. The combined worldwide sales channels and expansion of Haver & Boecker Niagara to a North American polyurethane manufacturer further support the OEM’s business motivation and will benefi t both companies’ plans for growth. Tandem Products will continue to serve current and new customers with the well- known Rhino-Hyde brand, as well as with modular polyurethane screen media which will carry the Niagara brand. Niagara open cast polyurethane products have been manufactured at Haver & Boecker Niagara in Brazil for a number of years now, and this move rounds out the Niagara screen media brand for the mineral processing leader. Haver & Boecker Niagara is a leading provider in screening, pelletizing and mineral processing plants and systems. The company’s mission is to deliver the best of these technologies to customers in the mining, minerals, aggregates, cement, building products, fertiliser and salt and recycling industries. With deep roots and years of experience in these industries, Haver & Boecker Niagara uses its innovative and shared technologies to eff ectively meet the needs of customers around the world. 27 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2023 PLANTS cania and Northvolt has unveiled a jointly developed battery cell for heavy electric vehicles. Scania said, in validation tests, the lithium-ion cell has demonstrated an outstanding lifetime resulting in the capacity to power trucks for 1.5 million kilometers – equivalent to the truck’s whole lifetime. Produced with fossil-free electricity in northern Sweden, the cell’s carbon footprint is approximately one-third that of a comparative industry reference. In 2017, sustainability truck maker Scania and Northvolt joined forces to develop and commercialise a world-leading battery cell for heavy commercial vehicles. Now the partnership and its close collaboration have come to fruition as the cell is being produced at Northvolt Ett gigafactory in northern Sweden. In addition, later this year, Scania will inaugurate a new battery factory in Södertälje, Sweden, where battery cells will be assembled into battery packs for the start of production of heavy-duty electric trucks. PREMIUM REQUIREMENT MET AND EXCEEDED Peter Carlsson, CEO and co-founder of Northvolt, said, “At the outset of this SCANIA AND NORTHVOLT UNVEIL GREEN BATTERY FOR TRUCKS As a global transport solutions provider, Scania has rolled out electric trucks and buses in four continents so far partnership, Northvolt and Scania agreed to an ambitious timeline for the development of a high-performance battery cell which would enable their plans for electrifying heavy transport. To have proceeded through extensive development and validation phases, and now be delivering cells from Northvolt Ett which exceed our initial expectations in terms of performance is a tremendous accomplishment for everyone involved.” Agreeing with him Scania’s CEO Christian Levin said, this marks a milestone on the path towards a sustainable transport system. The future of heavy transport is electric, and to enable the shift and to continue delivering on our brand promise towards customers to be SUSTAINABILITY 28 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2023premium, Scania needs top-performing battery cells for their electric trucks. Levin said, “As the development of the battery cell started, we targeted high performance, low operating costs and long lifetime. We decided on a requirement for the cell to enable a 1.5 million kilometers long lifetime for a heavy-duty Scania vehicle. The tests show that this requirement can not only be met, but also exceeded.” LOW CARBON FOOTPRINT As part of the company’s commitment to establishing a supply of sustainable cells, Northvolt Ett is powered by 100% fossil-free electricity generated by hydro power and wind power. Due to the fossil-free energy and integration of additional sustainable production features at Northvolt Ett, the estimated carbon footprint of the cell at full serial production is approximately one-third that of a comparative industry reference cell .“Northvolt’s mission is to build the world’s greenest batteries matches Scania’s purpose to drive the shift towards sustainable transport perfectly. I’m truly looking forward to putting the fi nal puzzle pieces together ahead of the take-off of premium electric vehicles later this year,” Levin from Scania said. PUSH FOR ELECTRIFICATION Scania claims that it is sending a clear message to European Union policy-makers on transport electrifi cation: cut the red tape and provide truck maker with the enabling factors to drive the changes that the industry need. “Our message to policy-makers on electrifi cation is clear: we are ready, the vehicles are here,” said Jennie Cato, head of public aff airs and governmental relations at Scania. The company already has urban electric trucks in serial production, and will start delivering premium heavy-duty vehicles later this year. “The trucks will not be the bottleneck in the transition. What’s needed is political leadership providing enabling factors and minimising distracting regulations along the road.” Scania’s call to action comes as Sweden continues its presidency of the European Union through the fi rst half of 2023, and acknowledges the importance of legislation, which can either smooth the way forward or slow things down. ABOUT SCANIA Scania claims that it is a leading provider of transport solutions, including trucks and buses for heavy transport applications combined with an extensive product-related service off ering. Scania off ers vehicle fi nancing, insurance, and rental services to enable our customers to focus on their core business. Scania is also a leading provider of industrial and marine engines. SUSTAINABILITY 29 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2023Next >