Within just five years of acquisition of the company from the original founders, Mr. Karan Suratwala, Managing Director of the Surat-based Key Textile Accessories, is hiking capacity in an already overcrowded market with several companies into manufacture of healds and drop wires.
Key Textile Accessories is expanding monthly capacity from the current 1.5 million healds to 2 million healds. Alongside, he also aims at raising the monthly production capacity to 3.30 million healds, which is double the current capacity. Once implemented, this expanded capacity, he says, will account for 50 per cent of the Indian textile industry consumption of healds.
Mr. Karan Suratwala is the scion of a family that has dealership for SKF bearings since last 100 years and is also among the biggest SKF dealers in India.
Key Textile Accessories has been set up as a joint venture by the Suratwala family with another well-known family into textile machinery manufacturing – the Rajnikant Bachkaniwala-led Himson Group. With a rich legacy going back to 1952 it was taken over by the two families in 2010 after it was shut down in 2009. It later revived the plant and the sales network.
According to Mr. Suratwala, the company is the biggest manufacturer of healds in India and the key brand has built a reputation by using the best raw materials available in the market. “However, unfortunately, weavers still do not consider a heald as a priority and take any quality of heald is okay as long as it weaves the fabrics. They do not understand that a good quality heald will last much longer and also deliver better quality fabrics,” he says.
Key Textile Accessories imports all its raw materials like steel from Germany and South Korea and uses steel strips of grade AISI 420 / 403H. It gets the steel hardened and tempered for making healds at the Samsung plant in South Korea.
Mr. Suratwala further says that, if the monthly target of 3.30 million healds is met, setting up of a steel tempering plant may be considered.
Key Textile Accessories offers the full range of healds like ‘C’, ‘J’ and ‘O’ types for all high-speed looms like airjet, waterjet rapier, shuttle-less and also conventional looms and two types of droppers – ‘Open’ and ‘Close’.
Though the company products are priced higher than those offered by the competitors, it has a stable customer base due to the high quality healds offered, including the likes of Arvind Ltd., Raymond, Jindal Overseas, Himatsingka and Chiripal Group.
With more than 60 years of market leadership, they are the weavers’ first choice, mainly due to the assured supply of quality healds and drop pins. The company healds are suitable even for weaving delicate yarns like silk and also coarser counts. In order to expand the customer base, free trials are offered to potential customers, adds Mr. Suratwala.