Competition in heavy equipment industry

Today the heavy equipment industry is in great demand due to the huge growth in urban population and infrastructure projects. Heavy construction equipment is a critical tool for any construction project since they reduce the labor cost and time. A variety of these are present in market to serve different purposes of heavy construction work. Although all may not be required, it is imperative for the owner/builder to buy a sizeable amount of these equipment to ensure that work proceeds smoothly.

 

The existing heavy construction equipment market is dominated by large firms such as Caterpillar Inc. (U.S.), CNH Global N.V. (The Netherlands), Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (South Korea), Volvo Construction Equipment AB (Sweden), JCB Ltd. (U.K.), Komatsu Ltd. (Japan), Deere & Company (U.S). These companies provide advanced heavy construction equipment and by gaining considerable expertise and experience over the years, they have optimized their processes and practices to become even more efficient. These key players use different strategies such as expansions, agreements, contracts, joint ventures and partnerships to garner share in the market. They also focus more on the emerging markets in developing countries with inclination towards industrial growth. They also rely on regional and local distributors to increase their profits and presence in geographical markets. They also acquire companies or other business to meet the demands of heavy construction equipment.

 

There are challenges faced by these key players too. There is demand for machines which are highly efficient, safe, and reliable, with highest productivity and lowest environmental impact. Further, if fitted with the latest technology which is user friendly and with numerous applications it becomes more popular among users. In addition, there are changes in the heavy equipment industry due to advent of big data, analytics and advanced technology. Some new entrants in the market produce complex products using big data analytics which are cost effective, hence are in demand. Further competitive business analytics allows new analytics to assist in pricing, budgeting, improving management of demand and supply, minimize costs and risks and maximize profits. This has lead to a tough competition within the heavy equipment industry. Industries which are not interested in being tech-savvy will find themselves difficult to survive in such a competitive market.

 

To retain the position of a being a key player in heavy equipment industry, one has to have key strategies such as:

  1. Product and technology: Top priority of many key players is innovation of their products. Hence, they invest more in research and development activities.
  1. Improvement in operations: global expansion increases level of complexity which makes it important to improve basic capabilities and processes.
  2. A Go market Approach: to expand operations and business in the developed countries.
  3. In addition they should have winning strategies and should be prepared for the new changes in market. Although there is competition in heavy equipment industry, yet the companies which will have right business strategies, innovative products and can adapt to changing markets will survive and grow to make huge profits.
  4.  In addition they should have winning strategies and should be prepared for the new changes in market.Although there is competition in heavy equipment industry, yet the companies which will have right business strategies, innovative products and can adapt to changing markets will survive and grow to make huge profits.