AJAX ENGINEERING PVT. LTD. - POWERING SALES INTO EXPORT MARKETS

AJAX is a world-class equipment manufacturer that provides concrete solutions to the construction industry. The company was established in 1992 and started out manufacturing self-loading concrete mixers. Today, AJAX is the global leader in the self-loading concrete mixer equipment category.

Over the years, AJAX expanded its product range substantially to also include concrete batching plants, transit mixers, stationary pumps, boom pumps and slip-form pavers. The company is renowned for its in-house engineering expertise, and operates state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities at Doddaballapur and Gowribidanur on the outskirts of Bangalore.

AJAX is committed to embracing a digital transformation and evolving to meet the changing needs of the concreting industry. This involves evaluating market opportunities, improving core capabilities and strengths, updating benchmarking processes, meeting international standards and aligning with key global scenarios to sustain progress. These efforts are especially important in India and many of the emerging markets, as they seek to build and expand important infrastructures.

AJAX is also looking to expand equipment sales to areas outside of its home country.  

When interviewed, Mr. S M Riaz Nawaz, Head of Product Engineering and Mr. Rajiv Gupta, Head of International Business, state that “when AJAX decided to venture into export markets, the key objective was to join hands with a renowned engine OEM that has a good presence in global markets and has various engine options to meet the requirement of upcoming AJAX products.

Caterpillar met criteria.” Engine reliability and durability also were deciding factors. For its concrete mixers in particular, AJAX needed engines that could withstand challenging working conditions. “Self-loading concrete mixers are operated in harsh, dusty and tough environments for long durations at higher engine speeds. Therefore, any failure of an engine will lead to settlement of concrete in the drum. That can cause drum and associated parts failures, which will lead to huge time and money losses for the end customer. Adaption of Cat® engines to our SLCM family will give us an edge in international markets.”

“Therefore, the engines used on our self-loading concrete mixers must be reliable and long lasting. Those are additional reasons why we chose Cat engines. We know Caterpillar manufactures rugged and robust engines, and the Cat brand has a reputation of being reliable and trouble-free.” 

The AJAX team worked closely with Cat dealer Gmmco to specify and integrate the right power solutions and ultimately selected the Cat C4.4 industrial engine. “Our Cat dealer team support was very good. They were approachable, professional and friendly,” Nawaz states. “Overall, this particular project was a very good experience.”

He says AJAX first approached the Cat dealer and technical teams with a specified duty cycle, and they worked together to select an engine from the Cat portfolio. Next, they continued to work jointly to derive the cooling, exhaust and intake systems.

“Caterpillar experts and the dealer team visited us several times and provided input while our 3D software packaging was being developed. They suggested solutions and helped us resolve various integration issues,” Nawaz says. “They also assisted us during the machine assembly and then joined us for testing and validating the engine. The joint exercise was very helpful and informative and allowed us to better understand the engine. That further increased our confidence in the Cat brand.”