Construction World July 2018

One of the many ways in which Scania is marketing its construction vehicles is to have a presence at industry specific shows such as Totally Concrete.

maintenance costs that will eventually influence the company’s bottom line in a negative way. Safety is a key component of Sca- nia’s construction range, with features such as ABS/EBS brakes, steering wheel airbags and additional mirrors available.

Driver comfort is enhanced with air conditioning and air-suspended driver seat as standard features. Drivability is improved through high-torque, low-revving engines, which also improves fuel consumption in construction applications. Challenges The economic climate in South Africa is closely linked to the political situation, and is Scania’s biggest challenge. “The construction market is very volatile – growth in the construction industry up until the elections in 2019 will be fairly moderate. Even though the first quarter of 2018 was quiet, the political change of late-2017 is having a positive effect. There has been a shift in sentiment as we now have many more queries. From an infrastructure spend point of view, Government does not have a choice: it will have to invest heavily in road, housing, and water infrastructure to get the support of voters in the lead-up to next year,” says Naude. Even though the need for infrastructure and urbanisation chal- lenges will remain for the foreseeable future, Scania can only aim to provide better and better solutions to overcome these. “We continue to work close with our customers, listen to their needs and challenges and see what we can offer when it comes to our portfolio of services and products and adapt it to their needs,” he says. Other challenges Naude notes, refer to the having the correct

“Scania’s key strategic focus is still very much on construction as we know that the growth in our total market share will be in this segment,” says Naude.

mix of vehicles available and ascertaining the correct specification. Customers are unique, vehicles have to be customised. “Selling a standard solution can hurt the operation,” he says. Short-term not the Scania way Scania's primary aim is to achieve sustained levels of market growth based on long-term customer relationships. The short term does not interest Scania – only the long term. “The challenges for us as a supplier to the industry is that our challenges become the challeng- es that our customers have,” explains Naude. “We have a range that is as wide as possible to meet as many needs as possible. A range of services can be connected to that vehicle. The support needs are also different depending on who the customer is, where they are located, their operation cycle, etc. As a company you need to be truly flexible in how you provide these solutions,” says Naude. As soon as a product becomes available in Scania globally, Scania South Africa introduces this solution to the local market. As Scania is basing its products on the modular system, it can easily change existing models. All Scania vehicles are tailored to be bodied on and is a well proven ingredient of Scania’s success. “We are the experts on the vehicles and the body builder are the experts on the bodies. By merging these, we tailor the perfect body with the right vehicle and optimise the body for a specific job,” says Naude. Scania vehicles are renowned for their optimal fuel consump- tion. This is, however, a consequence of tailoring “When a vehicle is tailored to a specific type of transport the fuel consumption will be optimised,” says Naude. For Scania, transport is a trust business, no matter what you are transporting. You have to have a relationship that is strong. Things go wrong, and when they do, you need to know that you can rely on your partner. Industry specific One of the many ways in which Scania is marketing its construction vehicles is to have a presence at industry specific shows such as Totally Concrete. “There have been various others such as the Construction Day in Botswana and our successful presence at bauma CONEXPO AFRICA. These shows have been beneficial as it not only led to many queries but visitors to the stands were extensively interested in the vehicles themselves,” says Naude. The next industry specific show will be the Sarma Conference in August. 

In 2016, Scania South Africa partnered with bodybuilder Reimer on a joint stand, while in 2017 it partnered with Liebherr.

19

CONSTRUCTION WORLD JULY 2018