Tata Hitachi is a pioneer in Mini Excavators
Tata Hitachi Mini Excavators are designed & developed with cutting-edge technology to deliver best in- class fuel efficiency, high performance, operator comfort, and are easy to maintain. In an exclusive interview to CONSTRUCTION OPPORTUNITIES, SIDDHARTH CHATURVEDI, GENERAL MANAGER – MARKETING, TATA HITACHI CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY, speaks about the latest trends, his company’s mini excavators, cutting edge technologies and a lot more.
Give us an overview on the Mini Excavators industry in India, latest trends and market dynamics
The mini excavator market has now become the 3rd largest segment within the excavator market, overtaking the 7-Tonne segment. Within mini excavators, the 3-4 Tonne segment now holds the dominant share. This is because customers seek a machine with a machine with a higher capacity that can undertake relatively tougher jobs, thus increasing their revenue and profitability, given the varied strata in our country. The 2-Tonne segment is increasingly used in niche applications where operating space is the primary constraint. Other segments, like those less than 2-Tonne and greater than 4 Tonne have emerged due to increasing labour costs, labour shortages, and applications demanding time-based completion.
With this background, the mini excavator market could emerge as a dominant segment by 2030 and even emerge as the 2nd largest group after the 20-Tonne segment in excavators.
Which sectors would be the major demand drivers for your mini excavators going forward.
Mini Excavators by design are compact in size, more manoeuvrable, produce more output than manual labour and tractor-based attachments, have lower ground pressure, emit less noise, can accommodate varied attachments, and offer better operating economics (as compared to larger standard machines).
Mini Excavators are most suitable when site accessibility and working space do not allow larger machines to work, but higher work output is desired.
Keeping in mind the product attributes and application requirements, these machines are most suitable for municipal work, construction sites, building foundation and demolition work, trenching, small material handling sites, and the like in congested urban and rural settings. The advantage of these machines is even greater at sites that have human inhabitation within close quarters (due to lower noise). The ability of these machines to dig effectively with lower ground pressure and lower fuel consumption makes them excellent candidates for agricultural applications like pond works and plantation jobs where larger equipment cannot work or the work economics are unfavourable.
Tell us about the range of Mini Excavators offered by you, in terms of types, capacities and applications. USP’s and Cutting edge technology featured in your machines
Tata Hitachi is a pioneer in Mini Excavators. We have been present in this segment for more than two decades and have maintained our market leadership to date. This is a testimony to the value proposition, user-friendly operation, ease of maintenance, and exceptional resale value offered by our machines.
In order to continuously bring a superior offering to our customers, we have introduced new models over the years. We currently offer 4 models, namely TMX20Neo, ZX23U, NX30, and ZX33U. Additionally, we are set to introduce more models in the near future.
Mini excavators are a growing segment. It needs concept selling by way of product demonstrations, production, and fuel studies in different applications to convince customers about the suitability and viability of these machines over current options like manual labour, tractor-based attachments, and the use of standard large-class machines.
Tata Hitachi’s Mini Excavator portfolio encompasses 2 Tonne and 3 Tonne variants. In the 2 Tonne category, we offer the TMX20 Neo and ZX23U models, while in the 3 Tonne segment, we offer the NX30 and ZX33U models.
All our models are equipped with cutting-edge Hitachi hydraulic technology and world-class engines from Japan. The engine power across these models ranges from 17.4 HP to 28.4 HP.
The hallmark features of all our mini excavators are enhanced digging forces, boom swing, dozer blade, rubber shoes, a variety of attachments, low fuel consumption, and low maintenance costs.
Could you please provide details on the sales proposition you offer through attachments for the mini excavators? Are these attachments tailored or indexed to specific applications?
Mini Excavators work in a variety of applications. We offer a large selection of attachments to suit every application. Our range includes a variety of buckets for general purposes and trenching work. Rock breakers for demolition jobs. Drum cutters to cut rock and concrete surfaces. Augers for making vertical holes for tree planting, electric pole installation, and solar panel installation. Hedge trimmers are used for agricultural and general-purpose applications. Trenchers for making trenches for laying water pipelines and electric cables. To complement these attachments, we offer mechanical and hydraulic quick couplers to switch between various attachments seamlessly. We offer NOX Tiltrotators, which offer rotation and tilt in addition to quick coupling of attachments. All our machines can be offered with reliable factory-fitted hydraulic piping kits to power these attachments.
It is because of the versatility of the machines and their attachments that they have found increasing acceptance across applications from private and public entities.
