More than 150 years of existence, 6 group companies, ATS Group is one of the leading multinational in the field of Material Handling, and from 2005 with ATS Conveyors India Private Limited, they are playing a major role in the Indian market. The subsidiary is doing innovations for critical solutions and also investing huge capital for its manufacturing base in the country. In an exclusive interview with Machine Maker, S K Ambasta, CEO of ATS Conveyors in India spoke about the Indian Material Handling industry.
The conveyor system trade is thriving: its market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.33% from 2018 to 2025, and its market size expected to reach US$9.9 billion by 2025. “The major drivers for this market are the rising demand for handling larger volumes of goods and improving process efficiency, increasing FDI investments in automotive, food & beverage, retail and airport sectors, and so on,” says Mr. Ambasta.
The reason for the growth has been the increasing demand for conveyor belts from the e-commerce industry. With increase in online retail sales Amazon has expanded its warehousing, in terms of square feet, at a growth rate of 35% from 2007 to 2017. E-commerce is also growing fast in developing countries. Market research reports that warehousing sector is expected to see an investment of INR 43,000 crore by 2020.
With more people traveling by air, it has become necessary to build new airports, and expand and modernize the old ones. In Asia, 20 to 23 new airports are expected to be unveiled by 2020. In all, the Asia Pacific region is projected to be the largest market for conveyor system by 2025.
The aviation industry, especially in Asia, also shows potential as a market. With more people traveling by air, it has become necessary to build new airports, and expand and modernize the old ones. In Asia, 20 to 23 new airports are expected to be unveiled by 2020. In all, the Asia Pacific region is projected to be the largest market for conveyor system by 2025. The growth can be attributed to the improving economic conditions in emerging economies such as China, India, and Thailand.
“The conveyor system market is dominated by a few globally established firms such as Continental (Germany), Daifuku (Japan), Emersion, ATS- Group (France), Fives (France), and Beumar & Siemens AG (Germany),” said Ambasta.
ATS Conveyors provide a wide range of products and solutions. They provide three kinds of conveyor systems for material handling: pallet handling, used in the management of white goods, food, and pharmaceutical logistics; for the automotive industry, they provide body, paint, assembly, and inter-shop conveyors; and cement industry alternate fuel systems.
In Asia, ATS Conveyors plays a significant role in strategic business development for ATS Group. Ambasta says, “International marketing means making decisions for your marketing mix based on the potential market within and outside of your company’s home market and the coordination of marketing strategies by ATS Group that are necessary to sell goods or services in a foreign marketplace.”
ATS mainly relies on two types of customer referrals: experience-based and brand-based. The former comes from people with direct experience working with ATS equipment; the latter from those who are familiar with ATS’ success story.
ATS Conveyors has over a hundred design, production and sales engineers, and fifty skilled manufacturing staff. “We have lean manufacturing facility over 5000 square metres of covered area, with laser-cutting, bending, machining, and a quality control division in-house. We have planned to invest another €8 million in the next two financial years for doubling production capacity.”ATS Conveyors boasts an abundance of superior engineering and R&D resources.
ATS Conveyors aims to reduce operational costs for its products and protect the environment through simple and pre-planned saving measures. “We train our customer about O&M, one of the most cost-effective strategies for ensuring equipment longevity, reliability, safety, and energy efficiency in the workplace. By another estimate, O&M measures cost about 20 times less and achieve roughly the same energy,” said Ambasta.
ATS Conveyors also provides excellent customer support. Its after-sales & customer support division is well-equipped with varied product knowledge. The division is familiar with special tools and supports customers across the country on-demand, and available within 24 hours in any part of India. Moreover, they also provide support for discontinued & relinquished products.
ATS Conveyor has gradually made inroads in the Indian market. “Present Sales YTD growth rate is 12 % and FY closing looks very healthy and expected YOY is 20 % growth as present order book position. We foresee high demand in Logistic & Warehousing automation for a highly flexible system.”
So what is the future of ATS Conveyors? “Our growth plan is through new emerging market mainly digital Manufacturing System, E-commerce logistics management & Innovative automotive automation to keep our growth story intact,” signs off Ambasta.
To know more about ATS Group do visit https://www.ats-group.com
