Known for its quality stenters, Inspiron has been creating waves in the Indian textile market and has also managed to influence textile manufacturers in the highly competitive Bhilwara market, says the company’s Chairman Prakash Bhagwati in this exclusive interview
How was business for Inspiron in 2022-23? And what are your expectations in the current year?
Last year being the first year post the pandemic, we did better than the conservative sales target we had set at the beginning of the year 2022-23. Secondly, we also had several orders for retrofit where chambers were added, heating media conversion was done and features related to automation were also added such as process control sensors, SCADA system, remote access, etc.
With regards to the current year, it is for the first time in our journey of almost 30 years of stenter manufacturing that we have collected firm orders, the execution of which can utilise considerable production capacity. Looking at inquiries and firm orders received from the Bhilwara market, we have decided to increase our manufacturing capacity.
Inspiron stenters have been well-accepted by key Indian customers, including Arvind Limited and Vardhman Textiles, who have many such machines in operation. How did you break into the Bhilwara market which was not your stronghold?
You are right. We have supplied 15 stenter machines to Arvind Limited. Similarly, after purchasing the first machine, Vardhman Textiles has given us two repeat orders. With both the groups we have established superiority in the performance of our machines compared to European machines. The Bhilwara market is mostly processing polyester-based suiting and bottom weight fabric. However, this market is transforming itself rapidly to cater to the growing demand of better suiting material which even could match export quality.
The transformation of existing units is achieved by modernisation of processing equipment where investment into high-quality stenter will be of the utmost importance. New units are also coming up in Bhilwara with state-of-the-art equipment which will mostly be export-oriented units. Our stenter with its proven performance is now preferred over other Indian-make stenters which so far had captured the Bhilwara market, leaving no room for us.
What are the attributes of your machine which have caused preference over other Indian and Global brands?
We have been successful in creating permanent loyalty from new as well as old customers on account of our professional and customer-oriented approach. It starts with making an offer for the machine. Whatever features are required by the customer is followed by a clear offer with layout drawings committing the performance of our machine. On delivery of the equipment the packing boxes can be opened in the right sequence as they are built by our expert erection staff.
For wiring and running trials a schedule is prepared and in case a customer is able to provide sufficient number of labour and utility facilities timely, the machine can be commissioned within 4-5 weeks. Due to the readiness of the manufacturers in Bhilwara, our machines will be able to engage in a regular production run within 5-6 weeks. Our machines are at least 15% more productive and the energy consumption is less compared to competitors’ machines. Rejects are much less as fabric moisture from end-to-end across the width of the fabric is evenly evaporated due to uniform temperature.
What research and development efforts have Inspiron made to make ‘Motex’ stenter superior in performance compared to not only local machines but also imported machines?
Inspiron has continuously collected information with regard to user-friendly features from customers. Based on their wish list in this regard, our research and development team has developed the following features:
• Increasing the squeezing capacity of the padder by 10% without compromising fabric structure, which is well-appreciated by processors who manufacture knit material.
• Nozzles are redesigned (patented design) which increase drying efficiency of Motex 15000 stenter by 15% compared to the older model Motex 4560.
• With remote access we can provide service support enabling customers to quickly resolve any problem.
• Machine is made Industry 4.0-compliant on request of the customer either by retrofitting or along with supply of new machines including IoT system.
• Improved chamber track design which allows higher fabric stretch.
• Width adjustment control by encoder system for smooth and easy operation.
InspirOn Engineering Private Limited (IEPL), set-up in the year 1973, is the world’s largest manufacturer of high performance aluminium flyers having manufactured and sold over 5 million of these critical textile components around the world under the brand name of InspirOn Flyer. In addition, IEPL has established state-of-art equipment for producing non-ferrous castings which can be processed in-house on CNC machines.
The company has emerged as a global leader with over 35% of the flyers turnover being exported to OEMs in European countries like Germany, Italy and Spain. IEPL products meet the global replacement demand in countries like Argentina, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, Taiwan, the United States, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
“We have been successful in creating permanent loyalty from new as well as old customers on account of our professional and customer-oriented approach. It starts with making an offer for the machine. Whatever features are required by the customer is followed by a clear offer with layout drawings committing the performance of our machine,” said Prakash Bhagwati, Chairman, Inspiron.