Delivers 1,00,000th drum to Sangam
The textile industry is full of examples of companies that rose from humble beginnings to carve a niche for themselves in various fields over the years. One such remarkable growth story is that of Coimbatore-based Reshmi Industries, the flagship company of the SNG Group. The company was set up by Mr. K.G. Balan in 1960 while working as a technician with a multinational textile firm. His discipline and agility in decision making helped him chart a steady growth path for the company. It subsequently grew from strength to strength under the able leadership of Mr. K.B. Sajan. From its modest beginning during Mr. Balan’s days, the group today has an overall staff strength of over 1,000 manning its modern facilities.
The company has moved into its brand new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Coimbatore. The Textile Magazine caught up with Mr. Vishnu Sajan, the young third generation entrepreneur, who, after completing his graduation in Textile Technology and Masters in Finance & Marketing, is now the Director – Marketing of Reshmi Industries, and got to know from him details about the company’s latest initiatives, the new facility, developments on the products front and his vision for the future.
Delivering 1,00,000th drum to Sangam
Reshmi Industries recently handed over its 1,00,000th drum winder to Sangam, the flagship company of the Sangam Group and a leading manufacturer of PV yarn in India. Sangam has evolved from a yarn player to being an integrated branded garments company having presence across India. It has a widespread network of over 100 dealers and 1,000 retailers across India, while its manufacturing facilities are located in Bhilwara, Rajasthan.
“It is a matter of great pride and joy for us that we have supplied our 1,00,000th drum to Sangam, one of the most reputed names in the Indian textile industry. We share an excellent rapport with Sangam, with our relationship dating back to around a decade. Perhaps there cannot be a better testimonial for our products than the fact that such a top name in the industry uses them,” said Mr. Vishnu Sajan.
As a token of appreciation, Reshmi Industries created a special spindle for Sangam on the occasion and handed it over to Mr. R.P. Soni, Founder and Chairman of the Sangam Group. Mr. S.N. Modani, Managing Director of Sangam, was also present on the occasion.
Global presence
In fact, the reputation of the company’s drum winders as well as its other products has crossed international borders, and today Reshmi Industries exports to 25 countries globally. Some of its key overseas markets include Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. “Our total product portfolio consists of around 20 products which are exported to different key global markets,” Mr. Sajan said.
Listing down the reasons why drum winders from the company have been in demand and what gives them the competitive edge, Mr. Sajan pointed to the key unique selling propositions (USPs) of the product. “We have focused on every performance facet of the machine. The key advantages of the drum winder include 20 per cent reduction in power consumption along with a 25 per cent increase in production than the winders available in the market. All the winders are equipped with version 7 embedded digital microcontroller system which go through an update every 3 months based on customer inputs and the latest technological market updates. Maintenance is almost nil,” he stated.
New manufacturing facility
The company’s sprawling new modern facility is spread across 110,000 sq.ft., which will exclusively concentrate on setting up an automated line for manufacturing high-speed precision winders along with various fully automatic sewing thread winders.
Throwing further light on the manufacturing process, Mr. Sajan observed: “We have the capability to manufacture most of our components in-house, which gives us better control on the overall quality of every product. Most of the components used in our machines are ‘CE’ marked since we export to a lot of European countries.”
Reshmi Industries is well known for its R&D initiatives. The company has a state-of-the-art R&D set-up where the constant focus is on improving products and new product development. All the new products are thoroughly tested at this facility before they are put up for commercial production.
Unflinching commitment to quality
A strong commitment to high standards of quality has been another key factor in the company’s growth. Speaking about it, Mr. Sajan stated that they ensured customers received products free from defects and as per customer needs through a statistical process control system that helps monitor and control the quality by tracking production metrics.
Speaking about the same, Mr. Sajan stated that the dedicated quality assurance team verifies product quality on site at different stages of production and prior to despatch. “All components are checked against specifications to meet a range of requirements, including passing international standards of the destination market. This apart, every product, before it is ready for delivery, is put through a trial run for 48 hours. So, you see, we make absolutely sure that nothing but the best reaches our customers,” the company’s marketing head observed.
Prompt aftermarket services has been another strength of Reshmi Industries. The company’s strong service back-up network covers the entire country. The service points are located in New Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, apart from the headquarters in Coimbatore. “We have personnel located out of New Delhi who take care of areas such as Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi. The technicians present in Mumbai and Ahmedabad take care of the mills in the western region of the country. The Mumbai office also takes care of service in Kolkata,” said Mr. Sajan, while explaining the geographical spread of the service team.
Referring to the marketing operations of the company, Mr. Sajan remarked:” Our marketing partners are T4 tex consultants, for Punjab, Himachal, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Rajasthan. T4 is headed by Mr. Tushar Tambe and Mr. Arun Bharghava with a 20-member team.
While the current production capacity of the company is 1750 drums per month with respect to winding machines and 800 spindles when it comes to precision machines, apart from 500 heads per month of sewing thread winders, Mr. Sajan felt that the company is fully capable of scaling up the numbers with the new facility in place.
Vision plan in place
The company has a clear-cut road map chalked out for its future. Elaborating on the future plans, Mr. Sajan said: “We have 3 more new products in the pipeline, which we have planned to launch this year. They are ‘the Alpha D2 precision dye package & assembly winder’, for sewing thread ‘Fully Automatic 5000 * metre Cone / King Spool winder’ and the ‘Precithread winder’. The existing fully automatic tube winder has been enhanced with conveyor system linked to the labelling machine which helps reduce the labour by the ratio 1:8. We are also in the process of upgrading some of our existing products. In fact, constant upgradation and innovation is an ongoing process at Reshmi Industries.”
Another interesting addition the company has come up with is an exclusive showroom, part of its premises, in its new factory. Highlighting this key feature, Mr. Sajan said: “The showroom will showcase our entire range of machines. They can even run their trials on the machines, thus aiding further in their purchase decision.”
By M.K. Prabhakar & Mohan Raj