The Hindu Business Line : Macneill ties up with overseas player for diesel forklifts

Setting a record
The average production in 2006-07 has been 23 forklifts per month
In March 2007, a record 41 forklifts were produced at the facility in Kolkata.

Kolkata April 15 Material handling company Macneill Engineering Ltd has entered into a technical collaboration with a major South-East Asian forklift manufacturer for introduction of a range of diesel forklifts of 2.5-3 tonnes capacity in the Indian market.

The forklifts proposed to be introduced will find application in small and medium businesses, according to Mr Pradip Churiwal, Chairman & CEO of Macneill Engineering Ltd.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Churiwal said the new range of forklifts would be "economical" and would be backed by one-year after-sales warranty and countrywide service back-up. He, however, declined to mention the name of the overseas technical partner "at the moment" on grounds of "commercial confidentiality".

Exclusive distributor

The company has been appointed exclusive distributor for German company and global equipment handling major Linde's range of products in eastern and north-eastern India, northern India and Nepal. For hand pallet trucks, Macneill has been appointed Linde's exclusive distributor for the whole of India.

Already Macneill sells its own branded hand pallet trucks in India and accounts for a 10 per cent share of the domestic market for hand pallet trucks.

Mr Churiwal said that while the average production in 2006-07 has been 23 forklifts per month, in March 2007, a record 41 forklifts were produced at the company's manufacturing facility here.

Macneill's manufacturing unit here is equipped to manufacture 850 forklifts per annum.

According to him, the company has diversified into leasing, operations and maintenance of material handling equipment. It has already bagged four such contracts with 50-80 pieces of equipment being located at each site. Clients include ITC at Guntur, Gas Authority of India Ltd at Pata in Uttar Pradesh and Airports Authority of India in Chennai.

Turnover up

During the year ended March 31, Macneill Engineering notched a turnover of Rs 37 crore, up from Rs 24 crore in 2005-06. The turnover target for the current fiscal has been pegged at Rs 55 crore.

"The Indian market for forklifts is growing at 25-27 per cent annually, thanks to its adoption by many industries for meeting their material handling needs.

"Besides, earlier, manpower was cheap and equipment costly. Now it is the reverse, with duties and taxes on material handling equipment being lowered over the years," he said.

On its part, Macneill Engineering hopes to augment its share of the domestic market for forklifts from 14-15 per cent at present to 30 per cent within the next three years. The challenge in this regard is to counter fake equipment and spares that are being passed off as genuine in violation of the Trademark Act. Besides contemplating legal action against such violations, Macneill is offering special rate contracts to big customers to overcome the problem, according to Mr Churiwal.

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