2017-03-01
India's color mix sets the course
Anyone interested in buying a forklift in Ahmedabad – a major economic hub in the Indian state of Gujarat with a population of 60 million – is in good hands on Sarkhej-Sanand Road. Heading west out of the city, the straight-as-the crow-flies road is flanked by countless little shops, offices and simple dwellings. It is teeming with green and yellow 3-wheeled taxis, motorbikes and colourfully painted semi-trucks. Sanand is where pharmaceutical companies and major auto producers, such as Ford, Peugeot and Tata Motors, have set up factories, attracted by favorable tax models. It's no wonder, then, that on this very road, you will also find the dealers for KION Group brands.
Since 2016, their somewhat undistinguished office building has been adorned by a new sign with a yellow Voltas truck, a blue Baoli truck and now a red Linde truck next to each other. It is a clear signal of the multi-brand strategy recently adopted by KION India. "Our individual brands are well positioned with their own strengths and capabilities," says Sunil Gupta, CEO of KION India. "By integrating these strengths and exploiting synergies in sales, we can reach more customers and offer them cost-effective solutions for their material flow requirements."
On the Bharat Forge industrial site in Pune, around 150 kilometres (93 miles) southeast of Mumbai, India's economic center, there is an unusual sight to behold: Linde and Voltas trucks operating in harmony, transporting several metric tons of steel, some finished parts, some red-hot and on their way to the colossal forging hammer. At Bharat Forge, we are proudly told that the site with its 50 hectares and 12 production facilities is the largest of its kind on the planet. The forge supplies virtually every car manufacturer in the world. The massive hammers shape the glistening metal into crankshafts and front axle mountings. Everything is covered in a fine layer of graphite as if someone had sprinkled pencil shavings over the entire site. Meanwhile, outside, in Pune's relatively mild climate, pallets of raw steel and finished parts are lined up, ready to be collected by forklifts.