THEY moved slowly but surely. A few years before India became independent, L&T founders Henning Holck-Larsen and Soren Kristian Toubro realised the future importance and need for a sound industrial base. They laid the foundation for the present L&T Construction & Mining Machinery business in 1945 by starting the distribution of motor graders and track dozers.
While a motor grader is a form of equipment with a long blade used to create a flat surface during grading, a track dozer is a large motorised machine that operates on tracks (just like military tank tracks) and is equipped with a large, curved blade at the front that pushes material such as rubble, rocks, soil and sand during construction work.
The journey that began 75 years ago continued apace – in fact, it has grown manifold – over the years, and this March culminated in its platinum jubilee. The record speaks for itself: so far, over 60,000 units of various equipment for India’s construction and mining industry have been supplied. These machines have been used to build exceptional landmarks and have significantly contributed to India’s growing infrastructure.
“L&T has a legacy of pioneering critical equipment needed for nation-building and has been at the forefront of indigenous development of engineering design and manufacturing capabilities. We are delighted that our Construction & Mining Machinery business has been fulfilling the formidable needs of the mining and construction sectors with innovative equipment and a commendable service record for the last 75 years”, says a visibly elated L&T CEO & MD Mr S N
Subrahmanyan.
THE JOURNEY
When the construction market took off in the early 1970s, L&T was right there. It took a major step in 1973, in collaboration with Poclain SA-France, by introducing hydraulic excavators in India. This was a revolutionary initiative to establish a completely new concept in earthmoving and made L&T a strategic partner in infrastructure construction. The Company also entered into collaborations with players such as Albaret-France, JI Case, US, Vibromax-Germany and Detroit Diesel-US.
Later in 1998, the two engineering giants, L&T and Komatsu (Japan), formed a joint venture, L&T-Komatsu Limited, to manufacture the former’s state-of-the-art, world-class machines. The L&T Komatsu PC200-6 excavator turned out to be the benchmark in ‘quality, reliability and durability’ and became an iconic model. With the introduction of several excavator models such as PC71, PC130, PC300 and PC450 in later years, L&T achieved leadership position in construction and mining machinery and built a large and loyal base of over 25,000 valued customers.
In 2013, L&T-Komatsu was restructured as a strategic initiative to bring in modern, contemporary, global products to India. The manufacture of hydraulic excavators was shifted to Komatsu’s manufacturing facility in Oragadam, near Chennai, which had been set up in 2007 to manufacture Komatsu’s dump trucks for the mining industry. L&T continued as the exclusive distributor of Komatsu products in the Indian market.
Continuing with the spirit of innovation, L&T has recently introduced the Komatsu PC210-10M0 hydraulic excavator which has been a runaway success and breached all records to become the fastest growing model in the 22-tonne class. Reaching the 1,000 mark in a mere 10 months, it is now well on its way to become the market leader.
As mineral mining expanded in India, L&T and Komatsu decided to transform mining to make it safe, environment-friendly and sustainable. This led to the introduction of large mining machines, such as Dump Truck HD785, Dozer models D155 & D475, Excavators PC1250 and PC2000. These machines have created new benchmarks in performance, productivity, and longevity at customer sites. L&T also delivered Komatsu’s mammoth 240-tonne class 830E Dump Trucks and 16-CuM class PC3000 Hydraulic Excavators for mega mining operations, which reinforced the unmatched capabilities developed over time.
To meet the growing coal production requirement, coal-mining companies started overburden removal by contractors. This required a new segment of mining tippers, which matched very well with Komatsu's PC450 excavators.
L&T also formed an alliance with Scania to offer its latest-generation tipper truck, which has since become highly popular in the mid-mining industry for its exceptional performance, unbeatable economy, operator comfort and safety.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Utilising its deep knowledge and experience gained since 1945, the vertical developed its own ‘Make in India’ road machinery comprising vibratory compactors and wheel loaders. These indigenously designed and manufactured machines are now aiding road construction and highway development and enabling L&T move towards fulfilling the Aatmanirbhar Bharat mission.
L&T has a long tradition of customer service with the underlying belief – “In Service, Lies Success”. So, to support the growing number of construction and mining machines, the vertical focuses on developing strong infrastructure for after-sales and service support. It now has six world-class service centres, a team of highly skilled and experienced service engineers, a central training centre, 30 dealerships for construction equipment and a network of parts depots across India. This has proved to be the real differentiator in machine uptime and utilisation.
“It has been our absolute commitment to serve valued customers over the last seven decades. L&T has pioneered and introduced global technologies, equipment and practices for the development of the nation. At this important juncture, we thank our customers for their association and patronage”, gushes Mr Arvind K Garg, EVP & Head – Construction & Mining Machinery business, expressing delight over the vertical’s momentous journey.
While looking back at its past glory, L&T's Construction & Mining Machinery continues to traverse new roads to keep the flag flying high.
