Tony Van Herbruggen, General Manager, Power Technique, Atlas Copco (India)
Atlas Copco is a global, industrial company based in Stockholm, Sweden, with approximately
39,000 employees and customers in more than 180 countries. It serves customers with
compressors, vacuum solutions and air treatment systems, power tools and assembly systems,
pumps and generators. The company divides its activities into four segments: Compressor
Technique, Vacuum Technique, Industrial Technique, and Power Technique.聽
Tony Van Herbruggen, General Manager, Power Technique, Atlas Copco (India),聽shares
with Editor-in-Chief Pratap Padode what the impact of Covid-19 means to business, and his
outlook for the industry.
Business during the pandemic year
While 2019 was a really good year for the company, the pandemic severely affected the
operations and business.聽Herbruggen says, 鈥淭he world has changed with Covid, and since
March, the pandemic has affected all industries and infrastructure. Of course, the economy in
India has been affected too. Despite that, there are a lot of projects and opportunity. We see now
the recovery is now starting I think the virus is more stable and recovery has started in the last
two or three months. So we are very positive for the rest of the year. For 2021, we look forward
to have continuous growth again in our business areas.鈥�
Mining in 2021
The government has started laying greater thrust on mining activities now, so, is there an
expectation that the private sector participation, mining technologies, underground mining etc.
taking place and giving a boost to the sector?
Herbruggen says, 鈥淲e see a little bit of downtrend especially in the cement industry. But with
the upcoming projects for road construction and so on, it should also be picking up soon. We
have mixed feelings, but we believe in the support of the government and the changes that they
have made and that they will keep on making. Mining will start to grow very much in 2021, I
think they should continue with the projects that they have started before they look into new
projects because this is good for the economy. We have a very good positive feeling about
mining in India for 2021.鈥�
State-of-the-art manufacturing facility
A factory with all the new technologies has been built in Chakan, near Pune, to have the best
environment link production where 鈥渢he company not only produces but also designs portable
compressors, lighting towers and also industrial compressors.鈥�
聽In regards to the impact of the shutdown on the factory and maintaining social distance norms,
Herbruggen says, 鈥淭he factory was completely shut down in April, but now production is
picking up again. For us the most important [priority] is the well-being of our employees. We
have introduced a lot of rules due to Covid from social distancing and so on, but the factory is
working very efficiently again.鈥�
Tony Van Herbruggen, General Manager, Power Technique, Atlas Copco (India)
Atlas Copco is a global, industrial company based in Stockholm, Sweden, with approximately
39,000 employees and customers in more than 180 countries. It serves customers with
compressors, vacuum solutions and air treatment systems, power tools and assembly systems,
pumps and generators. The company divides its activities into four segments: Compressor
Technique, Vacuum Technique, Industrial Technique, and Power Technique.聽
Tony Van Herbruggen, General Manager, Power Technique, Atlas Copco (India),聽shares
with Editor-in-Chief Pratap Padode what the impact of Covid-19 means to business, and his
outlook for the industry.
Business during the pandemic year
While 2019 was a really good year for the company, the pandemic severely affected the
operations and business.聽Herbruggen says, 鈥淭he world has changed with Covid, and since
March, the pandemic has affected all industries and infrastructure. Of course, the economy in
India has been affected too. Despite that, there are a lot of projects and opportunity. We see now
the recovery is now starting I think the virus is more stable and recovery has started in the last
two or three months. So we are very positive for the rest of the year. For 2021, we look forward
to have continuous growth again in our business areas.鈥�
Mining in 2021
The government has started laying greater thrust on mining activities now, so, is there an
expectation that the private sector participation, mining technologies, underground mining etc.
taking place and giving a boost to the sector?
Herbruggen says, 鈥淲e see a little bit of downtrend especially in the cement industry. But with
the upcoming projects for road construction and so on, it should also be picking up soon. We
have mixed feelings, but we believe in the support of the government and the changes that they
have made and that they will keep on making. Mining will start to grow very much in 2021, I
think they should continue with the projects that they have started before they look into new
projects because this is good for the economy. We have a very good positive feeling about
mining in India for 2021.鈥漇tate-of-the-art manufacturing facility
A factory with all the new technologies has been built in Chakan, near Pune, to have the best
environment link production where 鈥渢he company not only produces but also designs portable
compressors, lighting towers and also industrial compressors.鈥澛營n regards to the impact of the shutdown on the factory and maintaining social distance norms,
Herbruggen says, 鈥淭he factory was completely shut down in April, but now production is
picking up again. For us the most important [priority] is the well-being of our employees. We
have introduced a lot of rules due to Covid from social distancing and so on, but the factory is
working very efficiently again.鈥�
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