Executive Summary

When a leading India-based power equipment rental company had a demand for compressed air in the construction & mining industry, it reached out to ELGi. The company has procured hundreds of exceptional air compressors to date, which has helped grow its rental customer base across industries.

Overview of the Industry

Construction & Mining activities are the backbone of all industries and contribute significantly to a country’s economy. However, they are prone to fluctuations due to the frequent rise and dip in demand, geopolitics and recently the pandemic. That said, sustained efforts by countries and their economic boosters ensure a steady need for machinery. According to ICRA,1 the Mining and Construction Equipment industry was estimated to grow by 15-20% in 2021.

Though the projected growth applies primarily to manufacturers, indirect demand can accelerate the growth of auxiliary equipment providers too.

The Construction and Mining industry is labour intensive, equipment-driven, and requires dependable machinery that performs in demanding environments. Due to heavy capital investment, changing nature, demand for machinery, dynamic market conditions, and high need for proactive maintenance, corporations prefer hiring or leasing equipment over owning them.

About the Company

Our customer is the leading provider of power and cooling equipment in India, has 35+ years of experience and 500+ employees. The company provides high-end generators, transformers, air conditioners, chillers, compressors, load banks, fuel tanks, etc on rent. They offer turnkey solutions for short and long-term customer needs, catering to different sectors, including construction, mining, oil & gas, and food & beverage.

Based in 450 locations, the company has 350+ customers across India, catering to the needs of critical infrastructure development in the country. They focus on maintaining leadership in the energy equipment rental space. They achieve this by continuously upgrading their equipment and providing the latest, cutting-edge, ready-to-install equipment – while ensuring high reliability.

Our client’s equipment plays a critical role in the operations and overall productivity of their customers, placing a high demand for perfect rented or leased equipment. To achieve this aim, they procure only the best-in-market equipment for their customers. Providing quality after-sales service is equally critical to maintaining their market reputation while catering to the robust customer demand.

Customer Challenge

The company’s construction & mining customers use heavy machinery and frequently operate in remote locations in adverse conditions. The labour-intensive nature of the industry requires the best equipment and operations safety while ensuring high productivity.

Core processes like running ventilation systems, powering critical on-site pneumatic tools, lifting and handling operations, site cleaning and digging, and heavy-duty blasting require a steady flow of compressed air. Operations come to a standstill when these conditions are not met. Thus, it is imperative to provide 100% reliable air compressors as an operations and safety requirement.

Business Solution

The customer initially approached ELGi to procure two air compressors (ELGi PG600-230 and PG450-150) in 2018. As the demand for compressed air increased, the company procured hundreds of air compressors from ELGi over the next three years.

This exponential increase was also because ELGi provided immediate fulfilment and on-time service. ELGi air compressors helped the team meet demands at customer facilities while ensuring technical and industrial compliance at application sites.

After the initial satisfaction with the ELGi’s equipment and service quality, the company acquired the complete range of ELGi portable air compressors (both diesel and electric models) from 300 CFM to 1100 CFM free air delivery capacities. ELGi has also supplied two oil-free ELGi OF 275 screw air compressors for deployment at two customer sites in the food & beverages and oil & gas segments.

Business Benefits

The swift support provided by ELGi for new equipment procurement and on-site maintenance at end-consumer sites across India, satisfied our client’s expectations. Here are some benefits of choosing ELGi:

Increased Customer Demand: The authentic performance of ELGi air compressors at end-consumer sites has led to more orders for air compressor rentals.

Better Customer Satisfaction and Equipment reliability: With rented air compressors, the client ensures higher uptime and reduction in downtime for its customers.

Business Growth: Due to its successful venture into the air compressor rental business in the construction and mining sectors, the client is presently exploring opportunities in the oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, general engineering, and food and beverage industries. Our client also aims to offer oil-free air compressors to its customers.

Conclusion

“The rental industry is very promising and will boom once the pandemic is over. I’m confident that with ELGi’s technologically superior compressed air systems, along with our strong relationship with the ELGi team, we will be able to cater to the needs of our customers across various segments in the next few years. My mind is at peace as ELGi’s service team proactively takes care of our products at customer sites. I don’t worry about the service or downtime at all. By partnering with ELGi, I have taken the best decision at the right time,” said a representative of the client.

ELGi believes that ensuring a customer’s success determines ours and strives to provide superior equipment in the market. From procurement to after-sales service, ELGi takes pride in partnering with customers to ensure maximum productivity and reliability.

Portable compressors are used as an energy source in mining because of its flexibility and maneuverability to use at sites with diesel engines.

Applications such as drilling holes in blue metal quarry with jack hammer and crawler drilling using compressed air is more common at sites.

ELGi’s PG 300-100 & PG 400-100 dominate in performance for jack hammer application in blue metal quarry. Its innovative airend screw profile offers high standards of energy efficiency and reliability, with long durability. With heavy duty Ashok Leyland diesel engine and turbocharger options for long-term operation, this concept encodes to increase the efficiency of the compressor system significantly, especially for long productivity in regular operation.

Our customers have found that both our PG 300-100 and PG 400-100 perform better than other compressors, with 6% less fuel consumption per hour than other brands.

Surprisingly, this material is also used as a calcium additive in animal feed to increase egg production in chickens and milk in cows. Its salt is used as an antacid to treat indigestion, as calcium supplement to strengthen bones and to treat patients with kidney diseases. In a powdered form, it is used in glues, plastics and toothpastes. Remarkably, this versatile material has also been found to be grounding and helps those who have trouble finding clarity and focus.

The quest for clean energy has turned human attention to the earth’s core that has deep reserves of uranium, an element that powers nuclear reactors. With scientific advances in the production of nuclear energy, the engineering capability to reach deep below the earth’s crust to extract this element has also improved. However, that was not always the case.

In popular imagination, Uranium is a destructive force used to make nuclear bombs but in reality, it is a vital industrial element used in a wide variety of applications such as X-ray production, in gyroscopes and even as a shield against radiation.

Uranium is a hard, silvery and shiny metal that is radioactive. The earth has abundant sources of this metal almost everywhere: soil, rocks, rivers, even oceans. In fact, the earth’s crust has more of this element than gold or silver. Not just that, there’s 0.0001 mg of the stuff in the human body! Despite the abundance what makes it so valuable is the difficulty in its exploration, extraction and processing.

ELGi caters to many industries. How prominent is the drilling and mining segment for you?

ELGi holds significant market share in India in the Drilling and Mining Segments.  ELGi caters to drilling applications such as Coal, Blue Metal, Granite, Marble, Sandstone and Limestone.  

How much does Rajasthan Market contribute to the overall business in India under the mining segment?

While we would prefer to not disclose numbers, Rajasthan contributes significantly to our mining business in India.

Describe features of 550-200 compressors

ELGi’s PG 550-200 diesel powered two wheel trolley mounted compressors guarantee optimal performance in the toughest working conditions with best-in-class fuel economy. The combination of a lightweight package and a compact footprint provides maximum maneuverability and allows for a  short turning radius.  

ELGi’s unique ηV profile screw element combined with PTFE 3-lip seal, optimum tip speed, precision machined castings and ground rotors ensure compressor longevity without compromising on efficiency. It’s compact design provides easy access to the compressor components for service and maintenance. The maintenance cost of this compressor is 50% lower than the competition.

Tell us about ELGi’s after-sales service support

Commitment to customers is one of ELGi’s strongest driving forces. ELGi’s customer care center operates 6 days a week, from Mon to Sat (08:00 am to 09:30 pm).

Customers can contact ELGi through the dedicated customer care number (1800-425-3544) or by sending an email (customercare@elgi.com) or by sending a text message to (+ 91 9282111224) for registering service requests. Our well qualified engineers attend to our customers’ needs within 48 hours. ELGi Customer Care is an integrated in-house system that provides an edge to ELGi’s  after sales capabilities.