Positioned as easy-to-fit and ready-to-chill, the condensing unit is a ready-to-use unit for deep freezers (for the storage of ice cream, dairy or poultry products) and bottle coolers. In an effort to be different, the compressor unit comes bundled with accessories such as a condenser coil, fan, fan motor and other electrical accessories mounted on a base plate.

``It'll take away the pain that an appliance-maker faces in terms of warranty and selection of accessories and making world class appliances,'' says Kirloskar Copeland Ltd's all-India sales manager Deepak Takkar. He sees the new offering to be of tremendous utility to small-scale appliance makers aswell as large-scale ones like Carrier, Amtrex, Voltas, who use KCL compressors.

Following a encouraging reception in Pune, Kochin, Mangalore, Chennai, Chandigarh and Nagpur, the roadshow now moves from Delhi to other bigger compressor markets like Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Vijayavada.

Spearheaded by a fleet of 18 engineers, KCL has intensified its `product testing'-aka test marketing. Here the engineer travels with the product, fits it into the buyer's appliances and educates the appliance maker to use the product in a better way.

Complementing this drive is KCL's existing marketing network comprising 180 dealers, 23 company-owned outlets; and three Authorised Service Centres. Another area which KCL aims to highlight is training at the dealership level. Every year it sends two batches of engineers to Copeland Corporation at Sydney, Ohio, US for training who undergo a 30-day training for a specific product. On returning they impart similar training to KLC engineers and conduct a series ofworkshops aimed at appliance makers. Says Takkar, ``Every year we conduct over 40 workshops, with each workshop training between 30 to 100 mechanics.''

The company expects to take its turnover from the present (unaudited) Rs 218 crore in 1998-99 to Rs 300 crore in 1999-2000. KCL plans to sell two lakh units of commercial refrigerators, including 20,000 condensing units in 1999-2000. In terms of contribution to KCL's business, the segment ranks next to ACs, which accounts for over 65 per cent of the turnover.