With strict guidelines, the government has allowed organisations to restart their business. What are the operational strategies you have adopted to commence your business taking into consideration safety concerns of the employees as well growth of the organisation?
KION India offices across the country & Factory 2.0 located at Pune is operational in adherence to the local administration guideline. We are committed to our customers and continually trying to be close to them with 100+ customer touchpoints. Our employees are our biggest asset and their health and safety is our topmost priority. We have put in place stringent Covid-19 safety guidelines and followed them meticulously. The employees at manufacturing facility Factory 2.0 at Pune has been working passionately since mid-May to deliver products of value with the objective of Vocal for Local. Regular temperature checks, social distancing, mandate masks wearing, oxygen level tests are done through the day. Visitors have been kept minimum and only upon prior approval they are allowed in the premise. Sanitization of shop-floor, office work areas, transport vehicles are being done every day. Sales and Service Teams have been working remotely to resolve customer requirements and they have visited to ensure delivery and commissioning to our customers. Integrating digital support through virtual Teams meetings across all the departments have been promoted across the organization.
In this pandemic period the e-commerce sector has shown exceptional growth. Keeping with demand and customer’s feedbacks which are the MHE products you have launched for the e-commerce sector?
With social distancing an absolute necessity and more consumers understanding the value of e-commerce in daily lives, the growth has been phenomenal for e-commerce organization, with small local companies popping up with delivery systems. With the focus on contact-free material handling and last mile delivery, customer is now looking to more Safety Features. Future smart warehouses are likely to be non- pollutant & energy efficient MHE thus increasing the demand of sustainable MHE. We have seen increase in demand of entry level MHE, electric pallet truck, electric stacker and electric forklift. KION India has readily available solutions through our multi-brand offering of the brands OM, Linde and Dematic. We have products available from basic Hand pallet truck, Battery operated pallet truck to Reach truck and Very narrow aisle trucks to automated solutions like AGV’s. We also have complete automation solutions for big warehouses to support E-commerce industries. We have additionally launched our Plus+++ Series of Counterbalanced forklifts wherein we have captured the operational, safety and feature defined characteristics. All ‘Made in India’ with the objective of Vocal for Local. Our R&D team has worked in developing and delivering the core machine dynamics as per VOC and our manufacturing team has made it possible in real in record time.
Please take us through your product profile for the warehousing sector? What are the features of these products (including IoT, telematics, clouds, automation, etc) and how are these products assisting in warehousing operations, management and timely processing of deliveries?
In this Covid-19 era, it is crucial to have no-contact MHE which are flexible, have longer operational working hour capability, minimum maintenance and which can be installed easily on sites. Our products have all above features and we are delighted to share customer stories on our social media accounts. For the warehousing sector, our range of Warehousing equipment which includes Hand pallet truck, electric pallet truck, Li-ion battery pallet truck, electric stacker, electric reach truck, tow truck which is offered from OM and Linde Brand, additionally Order picker, very narrow aisle trucks and more are offered from Linde brand.
Worldwide market is moving towards automation of material handling requiring more smart forklifts, AGVs & mobile automation. While logistics tasks will always be directed by people, this new generation of smart forklifts, AGVs & autonomous robotic trucks can perform repetitive material handling tasks reliably and independently. This is a collaboration between people and robots & allows both to work and interact together safely. Robotic & Automated solutions help to increase productivity and lower costs.
KION India offers most of these technological solutions through its brands Linde & Dematic.The Linde technology offers a complete logistics solution interfaced with customers’ own logistics management software ensuring real-time supervision. This real time solution comprises with telematics, wireless communication & artificial intelligence. The new robotic solution, the most advanced available solution, provides incredible competitiveness gains and a unique flexibility for the customers. Dematic is a worldwide trusted brand & solution provider, to design, build, implement, and support automated system solutions for large scale warehouses & Distribution centres.
Please take us through your tie-ups and partnerships with various organizations to provide better products to the customers?
KION Group AG is the Global No 1 in stand-alone Industrial Trucks (forklifts), services & automation worldwide. KION Group headquarters atAschaffenburg, Germany and KION India is fully owned by KION Group. We are always ahead of market, ready in terms of product offering and innovation. Partnerships and collaboration are regular in terms of product & solution offering to all the customer segments. We always use the global technological leadership of KION Group to serve our Indian customers. Our Indian R&D center is working in close co-ordination with KION Group and is backed by engineering capabilities at India to offer‘value for money’ products for Indian market.
To manoeuvre these products requires a definite set of skills. What are skill nurturing training you conduct for the operators?
KION India introduced “Forklift Driving School” initiativein 2019 with the focus of giving back to our local communities and creating a talent pool of trained forklift operators for the industries. We completed training 2 batches of students. The students are trained on forklift operation, service and maintenance as well. A written examination and practical tests are conducted upon completion of the training and they are awarded a Completion Certificate too.
To keep ahead of the competitors an organization has to innovate and improve on its products. What are the R&D efforts you are taking in this regard?
Indian customers are looking for customized, reliable and cost-effective Material Handling solutions for their specific business requirements. KION India is a customer centric organization and offer cost competitive products best suited to Indian customer requirements. Our R&D team is continuously working towards evolving our products and offer future ready India centric robust products which can perform in Indian conditions. The focus has also shifted to environment-friendly products with push towards green and clean energy, future smart warehouses are likely to be based on non-pollutant, energy efficient material handling equipment. Battery operated electric forklift, lithium-ion pallet truck are the products which would be a part of the smart warehouses thus increasing the demand of sustainable material handling solutions. We always understand our responsibility towards environment and our R&D is producing cleaner technology products.Our IC products qualify all pollution regulation and norms. We were the first organization to manufacture and offer Reach Truck product in India.
What are the after sales services you offer for your warehousing clients?
Our After sales is fully committed to the customers & were working remotely during the Covid-19 lockdown period to resolve the customer issues. In case of onsite visit, they travelled with all the precautionary measures as prescribed by local authorities. Our customers were offered an additional equipment warranty for 3 months during the lockdown. Our After sales team and our dealership personnel are connected to lower downtime and carry out maintenance schedule activities. The activities are carried out with utmost health safety precautionsat customer sites.
What are the rental and financial schemes you offer and also tie-ups with various financial institutes?
As a company we have clear focus on rental business, and we are continuously increasing the fleet availability of rental equipment. We offer rental solutions through our global brand Linde for corporate customers with equipment on 3-5 years rental contracts. We have tie ups with many financial institutes to offer financial schemes for our customers.
Please take us through your dealer’s network?
One of our key strength is our 100+ customer touchpoints, with all Tier 1 & Tier 2 cities covered, and most tier-3 cities included. We focus on being closer to our customers and this has been our advantage. Our dealerships are well connected through sales and aftersales network and all the Sales and Service personnel are well trained to resolve technical issues of the customers.
What are your growth plans for your organization? Is there a product launch or manufacturing plant in the offing?
KION India is undisputed market leader in Indian MHE industry with a wide product offering for material handling job requirements across retail, warehousing, storage, manufacturing factories, connectivity locations such as ports, airports and railways. We always set new benchmark for Indian MHE industry as well as for ourselves & achieve it passionately. As an industry leader, KION India is stepping up product offerings to provide the latest solutions based on the evolving customer requirement from OM Brand, aimed at improving overall customer experience through the Plus +++ Series. The products are designed by the In-house Research and Development team and are a result of continuous innovation. The products are reliable and robust with a fast cycle time which in turn increases productivity. The Plus +++ Series forklifts are loaded with features and ensures better productivity and meets wide range of material handling job requirements in terms of performance, serviceability, strength, safety and life.
