The Hindu Business Line : Macneill to market Linde pellet trucks, forklifts

SHORTLY after floating a 50:50 joint venture in Colombo for export of forklifts and other material handling equipment on CKD basis, Macneill Engineering Ltd has forged a tie-up with Linde of Germany for marketing the latter's range of hand pellet trucks and forklifts in India.

Mr Pradip Churiwal, Chairman & CEO of Macneill Engineering Ltd, told Business Line that it currently manufactures and sells forklifts of up to four tonne capacity.

The Linde range that would be marketed in India would comprise about 80 variants in the 4-50 tonne-capacity range.

The Linde range would be imported from Germany, Singapore and China even as the local selling prices would be determined by Macneill.

Mr Churiwal said besides selling the Linde range of hand pellet trucks and forklifts in India, Macneill would operate as the authorised service agent to buyers of Linde offerings in India.

The target clientele for the Linde range would mainly be companies in the manufacturing and logistics segments.

The tie-up with Linde was expected to translate into incremental business to the tune of Rs 8-10 crore in the current fiscal.

According to him, Macneill's liabilities had been brought down to less than Rs 9 crore and the same would be liquidated by December 2005.

With a concerted drive against spurious spares in the market and a renewed thrust on sales of battery-operated and diesel-operated forklifts, Macneill was confident of notching a turnover of Rs 50 crore in the current fiscal.

In 2004-05, the company registered a turnover of Rs 15 crore. In the first three months of the current fiscal, business worth Rs 12 crore has already been concluded.

It may be recalled that Macneill Engineering Company earlier belonged to the Williamson Magor Group and was referred to the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction.

In January 2004, it was taken over by Startrack International Ltd group headed by Mr Churiwal under a share transfer deal along with inherited liabilities.

"Procurement of orders has never been a problem since we took over the facility. In fact, our order books are full till December 2005. To accommodate more orders and facilitate timely delivery, we are adding 25,000 sq.ft of space to our assembly line. We are also setting up a powder-coated painting line," he said, and added that a capital expenditure of Rs 2.5 crore would be made.

This would be generated from internal resources.

"The focus now is on optimising production and adhering to delivery schedules," he said.

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