They say that when strong winds rise, the brave ride along. The metaphor is certainly true for A.T.E. Enterprises – one of the pioneers of the textile industry who have stood triumphantly in the face of economic, geo-political and other dynamic challenges since its inception. The company was established as one of the voices of freedom in the Indian Industrial system in 1939 and brought in German technology to compete with the British. Since then, it has stood at the helm of innovation in all arenas of textile machinery development and manufacturing.
A third-generation entrepreneur set-up, A.T.E. also has a global expanse of principals and caters to more than 5000 customers. It is now a star export house, recognised by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India.
In this exclusive interaction, Mr Abhijit Kulkarni of A.T.E. Enterprises reveals to Mr Ganesh Kalidas how their cutting-edge solutions carry the legacy of their founders. The group aims to dissect vexing issues faced by players still tangled in traditional textile value chains and provide streamlined, one-stop solutions.
The Visionary Way
A.T.E. is a multifaceted engineering group with an established agency business and manufacturing facilities. A.T.E. has six business units – Textile Engineering, TeraSpin, HMX, AxisValence, EcoAxis and A.T.E. HUBER Envirotech, which provide a variety of solutions and services for a wide range of industries.
EcoAxis provides IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) solutions, A.T.E. HUBER Envirotech provides wastewater treatment solutions (in a technical collaboration with HUBER SE, Germany), AxisValence brings a host of value added equipment manufacturing for the printing and textiles industries and HMX manufactures and supplies industrial and commercial cooling and heating solutions.
Mr Abhijit Kulkarni leads the Textile Engineering business unit for the group. The Textile Engineering Group consists of spinning machinery and accessories, fabric forming, processing machinery and accessories, effluent treatment, automation and machine upgrades. TeraSpin manufactures precision spinning machinery components for the textile spinning industry.
During 2021-22, the group registered a record-high order booking and invoicing. Due to the shortage of components from Europe & China, delays in order delivery made a mark in their previously unbroken record. However, A.T.E. is working with its principals to ensure that they meet every customer’s delivery on time.
Talking about A.T.E.’s unique position in the Indian textile industry, Mr Kulkarni explains how A.T.E. amalgamates products and services to produce holistic results and thus add value for the customer. He says, “We are not machinery sellers but integrated solution partners. For instance, if a client is interested in investing any vertical – spinning, weaving, processing or otherwise, we can help them with insights like market size, market development, risks and opportunities, issues or concerns associated with the markets, technologies, and segments. We then provide solutions in line with the customer’s vision and help facilitate their overall growth.”
The Game Plan
According to Mr Kulkarni, even though the current market has slowed down this year, on a medium- to long-term, the Indian textile market is poised for a steady growth. The group’s spinning segment will grow at a CAGR of 10%. Spinning is a matured market in India and while the group does not predict exponential growth in the spinning segment, a long-term steady growth is probable.
A.T.E. expects higher investments in India in the fabric forming and processing segments as well as more integrated operations in the textile value chain. A.T.E. has tied-up with SMIT S.R.L. (Italy) to provide rapier weaving machinery to meet heavy demand markets such as Surat.
A.T.E. has set goals for their future that include focus on emerging and growing segments like home textiles, technical textiles, synthetics, recycling, water treatment solutions, to name the few.
They are on a path to capturing the global market by exporting products made in India by A.T.E. The group has the aim to grow worldwide in services, effluent treatment and automation solutions. These measures will allow customers to fully optimize their investments and forge strong partnerships with A.T.E.
A.T.E. is also focusing on the ‘Make in India’ scheme and plans to gather more resources for additional investment throughout its India-based units.
A.T.E.’s five-year plan involves adding more value to agency business, international expansion in manufacturing operations, services, automation and digitalization. Agency business is prominent segment for the company’s growth, and they are positive that their partnerships will last a long run. The company’s primary focus will also take its manufacturing capacities to the next level.
A.T.E.: We are a family
While the organization is high performing, it also counts its employees as a reliable support system. Their highly competent and motivated team of 130 members, including 40 service engineers, are a second family with common goals. Mr Kulkarni proudly mentions that their employees have backed them at all times and have fuelled the group’s revenue, growth and development through the years. Says Mr Kulkarni, “It is the people in the company who will carry the operations during challenging times.”
Welcoming The Future at ITME 2022
ITME 2022 is one of the most important exhibitions in the Indian textile scene. In line with its endeavour to provide breakthrough solutions to the Indian textile industry, A.T.E. plans to host a showcase for a new range of products and solutions. Stakeholders of the group including Truetzchler, KARL MAYER, MAG, and LUWA will have stalls at ITME. TeraSpin is set to unveil new products and developments in spinning at its own stall. Many of A.T.E.’s principals including Fong’s, Monforts Fong’s, ColorService, Mahlo, Stalam, CEIA, Zimmer, Corino, CMC, and Danti Paolo as well as A.T.E.’s own brands – HMX, AxisValence, and A.T.E. HUBER – will be housed at the 500+ square metre A.T.E. pavilion.
Mr Abhijit Kulkarni believes this showcase will provide huge opportunities to both customers and its principals. A.T.E. and its principals have a combined space of more than 2000 square metres at the expo. In Mr Kulkarni’s words, “This is going to be an exceptional exhibition for the customers who are into traditional spinning, weaving and processing in terms of future growth prospects.”
Anticipating Technical Textiles as the future of Industry
With its extensive approach towards sustainable textiles, A.T.E. plans to include more focus on non-woven and recycling segments. The company has implemented sustainable solutions for non-woven, technical as well as synthetic textiles – segments with an ever-increasing demand in the market.
The industry is producing increasing amounts of cotton-based non-woven textiles sustainably by taking cotton as their base. Measures are also in place to recycle and reuse waste materials and minimize the production of toxic waste.
Technical textile is also a high performing segment as they are widely used in the automotive industry, defence and medical industry all across the globe, which also benefits exports. Within the Indian textile ecosphere, knitting has become a high-performing segment, mainly as office wear has shifted from woven to knitted products.
The evolving lifestyle of the end customers after the pandemic has also pushed industry players to look into active wear and athleisure segments. A prominent part of which are magnetic fibres used to manufacture smart clothing. A.T.E is taking note of all these developments to add to their vision. Mr Kulkarni mentions, “We are a cotton-driven industry, and it will remain so. However, the percentages of both synthetic and technical textiles will go up in the time to come. The lifestyle of people is changing, becoming more active and conscious of sustainability. Hence the clothing choices will also be favourable to active wear, sportswear and sustainable textile solutions.”
Riding such a turbulent and demanding scenario requires great leadership comprised of both visionaries and realists. A.T.E., through its journey has proven that their strong roots, values, organization culture and new leaders will take the company and its stakeholders towards an innovation-led, sustainable future in the textile industry.