Our mission is to enhance productivity of our customer

“We always strive to deliver what we
promise.”- Sandeep Sukhija, CEO,
S. Crane Engineering Works, Mumbai.

S. Crane is a dedicated manufacturer of industrial cranes, Goods Lifts and Double Truss Single Bridges. The company, with a reputation spanning over three decades, is known for its manufacturing excellence and quality obsession. With a sprawling production facility in Talsari, a dedicated workforce of 200 people and a capacity to make and test girders upto a length of 50 metres and a capacity of 50 tonnes, S. Crane is truly poised to chisel out lifting equipment of impeccable quality and high reliability. No wonder corporate giants like L&T, Reliance Infrastructure, ACC, Voltas and Siemens and public sector organizations like Indian Railways, NTPC, HAL and HIL are ornating the ever-expanding client list of this big time manufacturer specializing in customized products. P.K. Balasubramanian speaks to Sandeep Sukhija, CEO, to know more about the capabilities, achievements and future thrusts of this trendsetter. Excerpts:

Q. S. Crane, as the name suggests, is well known for cranes for industrial applications. What precisely is your niche?
Our focus industries are mainly small and medium scale industries, viz. Workshops, assembly lines, fabrication bays, machine shops, pumphouses, maintenance shops, power plants, plastic injection moulding units, die and mould manufacturers, yarn units, yarn dyeing plants, warehouses, etc.

Q. What are the different types of cranes that you offer? And why are they unique?
Our product range includes Single Girder cranes, Double Girder cranes, Under Slung Cranes, Gantry Cranes, Wire Rope Hoist Cranes, Goods lifts, Jib cranes and Double Truss Single Bridge. These cranes are available from 0.5 tons to 50 tons. Also with spans up to 50 metres. Our products are light weight, easy to erect, and easy to maintain too.

Q. Are your cranes all custom-built?
S. Cranes specialises in custom-built cranes, hoists and lifts, getting involved with the customer right from scoping to design, manufacture, installation and maintenance.

Q. Who are your major customers?
With our mission to Increase the productivity of our customers, we consistently strive to deliver excellent MH solutions to our customers. This has won us many Industrial giants like Reliance Infrastructure, Voltas Limited, ACC Cement, L&T, and Siemens. We have also catered to the requirement of Public sector bodies like Indian Railways, NTPC, HAL and HIL. Also we are not just one time suppliers to our customers but have been consistently catering to their needs by providing customised solutions for their varied requirements.

Q. Besides Cranes, what else do you offer?
We offer Cranes, hoists, Lifts & Elevators

Q. Could you give us some idea of your design capabilities and manufacturing excellence?
We have our manufacturing facility of 6 acres at Talasari, in Thane district. This is on the border of Maharashtra and Gujarat. We have a strength of more than 200 people and have a capacity of making and testing girders up to a length of 50 metres and a capacity of 50 tons. The company has the legacy of more than 50 years of experience in this field. We have a design team which is highly skilled & experienced. Our designs are worked around to give optimum solutions to our customers within their budget. We do design girders with a span of more than 50 metres.

Quality products come from quality people
& systems. S. Crane has a QC team which
ensures that every product adheres to the
predefined process of manufacture.

Q. How do you instill quality and reliability in your products?
Quality In order to deliver what we promise we have a well-trained in house QC Team which ensures that each product strictly adheres to the predefined process of manufacture. The product then goes through the watchful eyes of the inspection team where Load Testing Process is carried out to the satisfaction of our customers. All the products manufactured are certified under ISO 9001. Reliability Our Raw Material comes from our time tested partners and every consignment comes with a certificate of quality and assurance

Our outsourced bought out components partners are the best players in the industry with high standards of manufacture and large market presence which makes those components readily available (motors, switchgears, cables, gearboxes etc). Design changes when required are trial run in our own manufacturing plant before incorporating in the product.

Q. What are the major milestones of S. Crane?
S. Crane began with repair & servicing of cranes & hoists in 1979. In 1985, we started manufacturing manual cranes in Dahisar. In 1990 S. Crane started manufacturing Electrical Cranes. S. Crane setup the new manufacturing facility at Talasari in 1997, in 2003 we began to exports to Africa & Gulf countries. We formed Joint venture with Omar trading for our business in Oman. We became solution partner for Torqk & in 2011 we shifted in our new corporate office at Dahisar.

Q. Which is the most outstanding achievement you would like to speak about?
During the Iraq war, we delivered 14 cranes to Iraq; we are also a supplier of COFMOW (Central Organization for Modernization of Workshops) of the Railways. We became solutions Partners for Torqk in 2011. We have started operations in Oman by forming an alliance with Omar Trading.

Q. Any expansion plans on the anvil?
A. We are in the design stage to launch our service business with a lot of strength and power. We realize that we are committed to support our customers for the maintenance of their MHE and in the event of breakdowns, to minimize their downtime cost. We are in the process of setting up S. Crane service Centre at various locations which would enable us to attend to the breakdown complaints within eight hours. This service will be available 24 x 7. We will have an ex-stock availability of all spares. We will support customers by providing them Annual Maintenance contract not just for our Cranes but also for the cranes installed by other manufacturers.

A product of proven reliability

Q. What have you to say about the industry scenario and how conducive is it to growth?
The requirement of overhead cranes is directly related to the growth in the region (district, state or country). Since it is capital equipment its requirement is directly related to the market sentiment of growth and hence setting up new businesses. And it is an inevitable need for any industry which is being set up.

Q. What are the challenges ahead for S. Crane?
S. Crane offers custom-built cranes which usually take around 6-8 weeks for manufacture & delivery which is due to unavailability of non-standardized components. We realized that this was acting as a challenge for serving our clients in time. Hence we have started procuring standardized components from suppliers of repute and assembling the same at our factory, which in turn reduces the delivery time. We have also identified the need for qualified engineers in key positions to bring velocity, quality and total customer satisfaction through our services.

Q. Where will you be five years hence?
S. Crane always believes in ‘Delivering what you promise’. We are positive of double digit growth because of the several initiatives taken by us in terms of product development, our entry to servicing business; our joint ventures combined with our marketing initiatives. These will definitely give impetus to the brand ‘S. Crane’.