Volvo CE bets big on operator skills, holds event to test them

Sweden’s Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) has placed greater emphasis on improving skills and training among CE operators and drivers in India, not only to ensure better productivity and efficiency, but also an enhanced livelihood for the said professionals.

According to Dimitrov Krishnan, Vice President and Head of Volvo CE India, “Today, one of the biggest challenges is getting the right driver/operator for the right machine and right role, one who understands technology and its usage well. Hence, skill development is important.”

Krishnan observed that while CEs (which include hydraulic excavators, backhoe loaders, contractors, and so on) are expensive equipment to invest in, their operators are paid quite low. Many of them are not precisely trained to man them, and tend to pick up rudimentary skills along the way. “Based on how operators use their equipment, productivity and profitability is determined. Hence, it is important that along with skills being imparted, one must also make it more rewarding,” he said.

Accordingly, Volvo CE India just concluded the first edition of its Operator’s Championship, an annual event spanning nine places across India, which took off 18 months ago. Around 500 CE operators took part in the event, with a select few qualifying for the final round in Bengaluru recently.

“The purpose of the championship is to value the skills that the operators possess. At each event, around 60 operators participated. They were trained, post which they sat through some tests, and a final fuel test, in order to qualify,” he said. The equipment used for the event was a hydraulic excavator, which was put through real-time activities and scenarios to test participants. The winner was awarded a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, while the runner-up received Rs 2 lakh.

India needs 20 million CE operators by 2020, and Volvo CE India claims to have trained around 5,000 of them till date. New Delhi, pti: State-owned Coal India arm CCL on Saturday said that it will not go ahead with the proposed buyback plan worth Rs 1,001.8 crore.

“The board of directors of CCL at its meeting held on March 10, 2017 have after reviewing the limited reviewed unaudited financials of the Company ended December 31, 2016, based on the Revised Valuation Report submitted by Merchant Banker, decided not to proceed with the proposed buyback,” Coal India said. Central Coalfields (CCL) had a few days back approved a share buyback plan worth Rs 1,001.88 crore.

“The board of directors of CCL, our wholly-owned subsidiary, at a meeting held on March 3, 2017, considered and approved the buyback of 5,21,000 fully paid equity shares of face value of Rs 1,000 each from the members of CCL on a proportionate basis through tender offer,” Coal India had said.

The equity shares are proposed to be bought back “for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 1,001.88 crore... at a price of Rs 19,230 per equity share payable in cash, subject to the approval of the shareholders of CCL,” it had said.

The equity shares proposed to be bought back by CCL represent 5.54% the total number of equity share capital in the paid up share capital of CCL, the company had said. Coal India accounts for over 80% of the country’s domestic production.

In another filing to BSE, CIL said its board had approved to tender the shares held by the PSU in its arms — Mahanadi Coalfields, Northern Coalfields and South Eastern Coalfields — in their respective buyback offer.