Micro Concrete Roofing Technology : Towards A Sustainable Commercial Environment

The First Asia Regional Roofing Advisory Service (RAS) Seminar on MCR technology took place in New Delhi from 7-11 March 1995.  It was organised by Development Alternatives and SKAT (Swiss Centre for Development Cooperationg in Technology and Managment).  With MCR technology gaining considerable momentum in several countries of Asia, its promoters felt the time was ripe for an Asian level gathering.

The primary aim of this seminar was to share lessons learnt in the dissemination of MCR technology and successfully transfer the global emphasis on “Marketing of MCR” created at the 9th RAS Central Seminar in St. Gallen, May 1994, to the Asian continent.

Participants focused on “increased chances for commercial sustainability of MCR entrerprise” as their objective.  They sought to achieve this through increased knowledge and capacity in (a) aggressive marketing of MCR tiles (product marketing) and (b) supply of support services at a decentralised level (technology marketing).  The Seminar methodology stressed ”learning by doing”.  Short presentations were followed by interactive sessions full of visual representation on each subject.

On day one, after a round of introductions, Karl Wehrle of SKAT gave a brief historical background of MCR technology and described its current status.  Reports from the recent Latin American and West African Seminars gave participants a flavour of progress in other parts of the world.  Individual expectations were pasted on the wall and grouped to arrive at a consensus on which aspects of MCR needed to be emphasised in the Seminar.

The day’s high point was undoubtedly the annoucement made by Shri T.N. Gupta, Executive Director, Buildings Materials and Technology Promotion Council, Govt. of India, during hsi inaugural speech that MCR technology had been validated in India by the BMTPC.  He formally handed over the validation document to Dr. Ashok Khosla, President, Development Altrernatives.

In the afternoon, participants made poster presentations on their experiences in MCR and the current situtation in their countries.  Looking at the posters it was obvious that everyone had responded gallantly to guidelines sent out earlier and really taken trouble to prepare their material.  There was a wealth of information shared amongst participants and even though it usefulness is difficult to measure, it was surely very high.

The second day of the Seminar was devoted to the main theme “Marketing of MCR”.  In the morning, Mariquita Dimamay of MSU-Illigan in the Philippines facilitated a module on the marketing of MCR tiles.  She asked participants to consider the marketing managment orientation that their organisations have and consider the basic percepts of market segmentation, target marketing and product positioning (STP).  These would enable them to set marketing objectives and develope marketing strategies for their own countries.  Participants then broke into groups to look at these aspects from the point of view of an entrepreneur in four country situations.  They came up with interesting results.  For example, the India Group decided on the following for rural enterprises:

Marketing objectives:  Profitability (minimum 25% return on investment); 90% capacity utilisation with minimum 150 moulds/day; Orders always in hand; Growth rate of 75 moulds/year.
Target market:  All rural domestic roofs over secondary rooms for low to middle income groups and main rooms for the poor; house extensions and cattle sheds for all income groups; Workshops, dhabas (highway restaurants); Primary schools; Temporary shelters.
Product:  TARAcrete Concrete tile roof (except in areas where tiles sell on their own).
Positioning:  “Best quality at a price you can afford”-durable (permanent), fireproof, uses less understructure.
Price:  Rs. 120 to Rs. 150 per sq.m. (US$4 to 5).
Distribution:  Through sales representatives and roof installation teams.
Services offered:  `On-the spot’ estimate and complete roof installation.
Market research:  Learning from giving complete user satisfaction, suggestions, feedback and sample surveys.

In the afternoon, Seminar participants got into a much more conventional mode to discuss key aspects of technology marketing in MCR.  Presentations were made by SKAT on “Support Services”, by MSU-Illigan Market development experience in the Philippines” and Development Alternatives on “Enterprise Development”.  Participants were now ready to start thinking on their main group work, “Designing Strategies for Successful Promotion of MCR Technology”.  B. Narayanswamy of Indica Research, a market research group specialising in user satisfaction, introduced the exercise to participants and focused their attention on the two vital links of user/buyer to producer and producer to support service provider.  This was done with SKAT’s representation of a typical “Regional or National- MCR Business Support Systems” as a reference (see figure above).

A field trip on day three of the seminar took participants to two enterprises in the Uttar Pradesh - Madhya Pradesh border area, 200 km south of Delhi, where they saw first hand the market segments that these entrepreneurs were catering to, their response strategy and its influence on tile and roof quality.

The Seminar went on to discuss issues related to the large scale dissemination of MCR technology.  Dr. Urs Hiereli, Head, Swiss Development Co-operation, New Delhi used the Treadle Pump experience in Bangladesh to lay out a route map that the participants, as promoters of MCR technology were likely to follow in the coming years.  V. Suresh, Director-Corporate Planning, Housing and Urban Development Corporation, India presented a mechanism for transferring alternative building technology to users through an institutional framework that nurtures innovation, training and largescale demonstration.  He explained how the Building Centre Movement in India functions.  Dr. Ashok Khosla defined the basic technical, financial and managerial supports that entrepreneurs require to start a business.  Important breakthroughs from all over the world in technical aspects, quality control, equipment, alternative roof sub-structures and roof design were discussed in sub-groupw on Day Four of the Seminar.  At TARA Nirman Kendra (the DA building centre) participants took stock of the TARA Tilemaker production kit, sample roofs and work on ferrocement understructure elements.

Participants presented the outcome of their group work on the last day.  They had clearly made progress towards designing a success strategy and had, in fact, even been able to project their findings into a sustainable common environment for the future.  The India Group looked at their task as a Support Service Provider and drafted a set of services that entrepreneurs were likely to demand after the consolidation phase in MCR (see table above).  The Seminar closed after participants evolved individual action plans for the coming year and a common Action Plan that defined the responsibilities of different partners in Asia in strengthening the global network of MCR technology promoters.

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