Equipment’s the backbone

road there is traffic; local two wheeler riders are interspersed by heavy lorries and semitrailers. It is getting harsh and desolete as every passing truck kicks up a dust storm. The phone signal dwindles and almost dies. After what seems like a long journey, heaps of overburden appear on the horizon. It takes some time for the Freelander to reach closer, its wheels bouncing off the rough surface below. It comes to a stop, and Mann alights. He walks a few steps to his spartan site office. His company has been awarded the task of removing all type of material and all kinds of strata by hiring equipment such has HEMM, tippers, drills, dozers, graders and water sprinklers to drill, excavate, load, transport, dump, spread, doze, grade and sprinkle with water at specified places as per the instruction of the engineer-in-charge at the amalgamated Pauni 2 and 3 open cast coal mines in the Ballarpur area. The total quantity to be excavated, as per the work order, is 78,32,000 cu. m. Mann’s company has 46 months to execute the work awarded to it. Work began in April 2016. Lined up outside Mann’s spartan site office are a few trucks. Two of these are Volvo FM tippers. One is a Pro 8031T 31-tonne GVW tipper. They are a part of the 174 machine fleet Mann Engineering Company owns. Making up the company’s backbone are Tata Hitachi excavators, Volvo FM and FMX heavy-duty tippers, BEML and Komatsu dozers, Caterpillar moto-graders and pay loaders, Tata and Volvo water sprinklers, Tata and BharatBenz diesel dispensing vans, Atlas drilling machine, Tata utility and service vans, and 10 Eicher Pro 8031T tippers. The 10 Eicher Pro 8031T tippers are one of the youngest machines in the fleet leave for one Eicher light duty truck and an Isuzu D-Max pickup that were recently porcured. According to Mann, these 10 trucks were acquired because of his company’s rapport with Volvo Trucks. “We chose Eicher Pro 8031T because of our experience with Volvo trucks, which has been good. Since the Eicher Pro 8031T is a Volvo products we formed an impression that it will be good too. Also, if we have an issue, we could walk up to the people at Volvo and tell them to address it,” he adds.

Siddharth Kirtane, Head – Sales and Marketing, VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd., reveals, “Mann Engineering Company bought five 8x4 Eicher Pro 8031T tippers with a 16 cu. m. rock body in October 2015. In May this year, they bought another five 8031T tippers with a 16 cu. m. rock body upon finding the performance of the truck good.” Hinting at leveraging his experience from selling Volvo tippers in India’s mining belts Siddharth explains that the Eicher Pro 8031T is built at Volvo Trucks’ facility at Hosakote, Bangalore. “From the time the truck was made available in October 2015, we have sold 288 units,” he adds.

Mann’s preference for Eicher 8031T tipper stems from his long experience in the field. He has been the pillar of his company, and his family. He is well aware of how the equipment his company operates has an effect on the costs and the company’s ability to sustain as well as grow. Mentions Jagjeet