Maco promotes access in India

Speaking at the Excon exhibition in Bangalore, India, in November, Maco sales and service manager Venkat S told AI, “We are planning roadshows in one location a quarter starting in January 2008 ... We need to create the need for powered access to a certain extent, because people are still using ladders and scaffolding. We need to show people that these machines are quick, safe and level.”

According to Maco's senior marketing manager, Praful Panchangam, the company has sold 120 platforms since taking up the national distributorship two years ago. “That's good for a country where there's not much focus on safety and a lot of traditional methods like scaffolding and ladders,” he said.

Most of the machines sold have been straight and articulated boom platforms to industrial applications including shipbuilding and airports. Mr Panchangam said very few platforms had been sold in the construction industry, and that almost all had gone to end-users rather than to rental companies.

He added that Maco was considering setting up its own rental operation in India “a few years down the line.”