Welspun-Saurer Schlafhorst successful partnership

The Welspun Group in India has a clear business culture: the challenges of the rapidly evolving global textile markets are best tackled by continuous change and steady progress. Within two decades this spirit of innovation made Welspun India Ltd, which was established in 1985, into one of the biggest manufacturers of home textiles in Asia. Welspun’s innovation partner in the field of rotor spinning is the market and technology leader Saurer Schlafhorst, which has revolutionised rotor spinning with the Autocoro 8 and offers textile companies triple added value in the spheres of energy, economics and ergonomics with E³.

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From right, Mr. Sreenu Lingam, President, Mr. Sanjeev Jain, Vice President – Projects, Mr. Jaikishan Gupta, Vice President – Spinning, and Mr. Girish Katti at the new rotor spinning mill of Welspun at Anjar.

At two mills in Gujarat, 24,000 employees of Welspun India Ltd. produce 100,000 tonnes of yarn annually on 300,000 spinning units. The yarn, made from cotton and cotton blends, is destined for the company’s own weaving mills. Welspun produces coarser yarns on rotor spinning machines with 4,300 spinning units in all. Of these, 2,400 incorporate the latest Autocoro 8 technology. The company covers the entire textile value creation chain up to making up and delivers to customers that are household names all over the world.

Award-winning excellence

Customer orientation and excellence are the watchwords at Welspun. All the processes in the company are geared to the requirements of the customers. This exemplary service is reflected in the many awards that Welspun has received from its customers.

IKEA recognised the company for the “Highest Direct Delivery Share”, while Target presented Welspun with the “Partner Award of Excellence 2015“. The Indian company was also given the “Best Supplier Award” by Sheridan. And George at ASDA presented Welspun with the “Best Product Quality Award for Egyptian Nanospun Towel“. These are just a few examples from a long list of accolades. For Welspun, the enthusiasm of its customers spurs the company on to become even more competitive through a forward-looking strategy for the future.

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Future strategy Welspun 2.0

Modern technologies lead at increasingly shorter intervals to fundamental economic and social changes. A company that wishes to stay ahead of the market in future must reinvent itself repeatedly. Welspun is facing this challenge with its visionary strategy for the future, “Welspun 2.0”, which sends a striking key message regarding the programme: concealed in the word “Challenge” is the term “Change”. Anyone aiming to overcome the challenges of the future must be prepared to change.

The company has set itself ambitious targets. In 2020 Welspun aims to be one of the ten most valuable brands in India. Measured against its market capitalisation, the Welspun Group is also targeting a TOP 50 position in the Indian industry.

To achieve these goals, the Indian manufacturer of home textiles is switching its production consistently to the latest technology. Innovation at all levels is the key to the future for Welspun.

The partnership between Welspun and Saurer Schlafhorst has grown over decades. It is based on common values. Innovation is in the DNA of both companies.

An innovative partnership in the strategic decision together with Saurer Schlafhorst, passion for change and innovation, sharing know how are the reasons behind sustained success together.

Autocoro with single-drive technology – the world’s most future-ready rotor spinning technology.

With the background of this corporate strategy, which is geared to the distant future, Welspun opted for the most advanced of rotor spinning technologies: the Autocoro 8 from Saurer Schlafhorst. It has the most futureready rotor spinning technology on the market, with innovative individually driven spinning units. Schlafhorst revolutionised rotor spinning five years ago with this technology, and over one thousand of the legendary Autocoro 8 machines have been sold to date.

At Welspun, this successful rotor spinning machine is now cutting spinning costs by approx. generating a marked increase in productivity and helping the company with its unique value creation to its greatest economic success.

The Autocoro 8 has separated productivity from energy consumption. Welspun is able to set a new benchmark in higher speeds like 138,000 rpm even in coarser count ranges. At the same time, the energy requirement is significantly lower than for a conventional machine with belt drive technology.

Mr. Sreenu Lingam, President, Welspun Anjar, comments: “In the highly competitive and demanding market, we are able to maintain our benchmark, quality and productivity in our most modern weaving and further with Autocoro 8 yarn.”

Mr. Sanjeev Jain, Vice President – Projects, Welspun Anjar, says: “Autocoro 8 with innovative drive system and flexibility. We could achieve new high’s in productivity with minimum infrastructure.”

The Autocoro 8 has won Welspun over not just with its unrestricted productivity and low spinning costs, however; the high yarn quality is another manifestation of its technological superiority. That has countless advantages, optimised use of raw material, without compromises regarding yarn quality, run with far fewer yarn breaks in downstream processing. It’s an outcome of systematic efforts, supported by individual drive technology.

“We are able to utilise the maximum fibre limits in terms of productivity without compromising quality”, says Mr. Jaikishan Gupta, Vice President – Spinning, Welspun Anjar.

For a vertically integrated textile company like Welspun, the end products constitute the crucial benchmark for quality and economy. Yarns must prove themselves in downstream processing. With the high-speed yarns of the Autocoro 8, fully exploit the performance reserves of modern weaving machines and maintain the ambitious standards for quality, productivity and efficiency in the demanding and competition-oriented market.