Strong customer relations key to the Group success
In 1936, the name Picanol featured for the first time on a weaving machine. After the release of more than 3,30,000 weaving machines and after over 80 years since inception, the Picanol brand is generally recognized as the world leader in the field of weaving machines. Innovation, quality, performance and customer service have always been embedded in the company culture, inspiring generations of employees to build ever better machines and offer ever better service to customers.
The Picanol Group realizes an annual sales volume of 688 million Euros (2017) and is present worldwide through a network of own local organizations and agents.
Over 50 years ago, Picanol started offering its machines in the Indian market. In 2008, it was decided to set up an own organization for sales and service in the Indian market. Picanol India was thus born. In order to boost its success in the Indian market, the company came closer to the Indian customers day after day. With offices in Delhi (including a print repair shop), Mumbai and Coimbatore, all important textile regions are being served. Just like Mr. P. Kasiviswanathan, Executive Director of Picanol India, many of the associates had a long experience on Picanol machines, allowing a head-start for the new organization.
Meanwhile, the local presence is even reinforced by sales and service associates in Ludhiana, Bhilwara, Surat and Kolhapur. The Picanol India team has grown in the meantime to 45 employees, who are going to the headquarters in Belgium for training on a regular basis. This enables the company to also continue with the afore-mentioned culture of innovation, quality, performance and customer service at its local organization.
But of course, even the strongest organization can only thrive if the products it sells and services are state-of-the-art. The key factor that makes Picanol machines so popular is their versatility and flexibility, combined with the highest quality and performance. Almost 99% of the fabrics can be woven on a Picanol machine. The present machines are employed in different sectors by different clients. From denim to technical textiles, the machines are known for their high performance and sturdy structure.
With 24,000 plus machines already running in the Indian market alone, Picanol has made an indestructible identity in the textile industry, and is yet to realize its full potential in this market. As Mr. Kasiviswanathan said: “There is high potential in the Indian market. We have invested on manpower in both sales and after-sales services to support our technologically innovative machines, so that we can reach our full potential as the market advances. Customer service is of paramount importance to our brand, and hence we will go and scale any mountain to satisfy the needs of this industry.”
Picanol has not just been present in the market, it has thrived too. Currently, one of the main activities is to inform the Indian customers on the wide product range for weaving technical textiles. In the existing scenario, the State Government policies are highly in favour of weaving. The policies of the Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab Governments are focused on weaving, and the demand is ever-increasing due to the population growth. No matter how severe the competition, Picanol has always been able to beat it and move ahead.
Be it technology, marketing or service, the company has flawlessly managed to meet the ever-growing industry requirements. This is one of the reasons why the company has been able to rise to such heights, by providing the customer with the best of everything. A claim made not by the company but by the industry – as you will be able to read through the testimonials given by the Picanol customers themselves.
Even though Picanol has the market spread around the country since 1956, in this edition we are giving the expert views of a few leading company customers in North India, including Gujarat and Rajasthan, after a long interaction with them:
Armaanya Textiles
“With Picanol we took a risk, but it was the best risk of our life” – Mr. Atul Mittal
Armaanya Textiles Pvt. Ltd. is the latest venture of the AB Mittal Group, incepted in 2016. Started with steel manufacturing, in 2004, the group has installed seven units and stepped into weaving with Armaanya. This diversification venture has been witnessing positive response and growth, making it a commendable success.
The plant currently has 40 Picanol OMNIplus Summum dobby looms used to manufacture denims for supply solely to Arvind. As Mr. Atul Mittal mentions, Arvind chose to do business with Armaanya when it was looking for expansion in Ahmadabad and the nearby regions. The plant mostly works with cotton and Lycra and produces 10,000 meters of fabric per day.
Mr. Mittal describes the beginning of the company’s association with Picanol as a leap of faith which was taken because of the status and popularity of the company. He said: “We knew that Picanol was one of the finest manufacturers in the world, but at that time it was not best known for its airjet looms. However, the machines performed tremendously well, and I have no second thoughts when I say that these are the best machines in the world. There were no big problems when the machines were installed, and the minor ones were promptly addressed by the company’s service team”.
The aftersales service of Picanol was highly praised by Mr. Mittal as he claimed it was one of the best service experiences that he has had. The technicians and sales representatives carry out regular checks in every two to three months and the managers have maintained good relations with the Armaanya team.
Observing such advantages was a myth breaker for the company as they had known that it was difficult to work with Picanol machinery in terms of service and getting spareparts. Today the company is highly satisfied with the Picanol machines and services and it does want to experiment with any more manufacturers for future prospects.
Armaanya has had a smooth run in the industry as it remains highly organized since the very beginning. Even the storm of demonetization and GST could not uproot the recently established company. The group has brilliant strategies to further its growth. When asked about the biggest milestone that the company has achieved, Mr. Mittal enthusiastically commented, “it is yet to come”. This reflects the company’s confidence in itself and its team.
Moreover, Mr. Mittal revealed that the company is faring well in the industry, and that when the opportunity comes, it will fix higher targets.
The company is highly hopeful of expansion in the textile segment. Through volumes and the back-up provided by Picanol and Arvind and with the overall environment, including the market and the Government support for the weaving industry, Armaanya is moving ahead to realize its latent potential.
Neptune House Furnishing
“The best machine and technology anyone can have” – Mr. Malav Shah
Neptune Furnishing started its journey three decades ago with a furnishing fabrics showroom in Ahmadabad. The company ventured into manufacturing three years later and currently owns two showrooms spread across 15 thousand square feet and 20 shuttleless weaving machines.
With a 200-strong workforce, the company is now a major exporter of products to the Middle East, the US and Australia. Registering a growth of 15-17% every year and a significant market share in the Gujarat region, it achieved a turnover of Rs. 100 crores in 2017, out of which the manufacturing sector registered 60% generated through exports.
Currently, the furnishings market in India is expanding at a reasonably good rate, with emerging opportunities for the existing and potential players. With the favorable environment in mind, Neptune plans to set up another showroom shortly.
With the company having its own retail and manufacturing unit, it is much closer to its customers and is fully catering to their requirements. This is the reason why the company has room for high customization, which is the need of the hour. The company is mainly involved in the production of upholstery fabrics, curtains and auto fabrics.
Neptune Furnishings’ association with Picanol began about four years back when the company was looking for expansion in its weaving capacity. After collecting market data and conducting a thorough research, the managing team at Neptune decided to go with Picanol which had proved itself time and again and was said to offer the best in technology.
Picanol was already a dominating player in rapier looms and had ventured into airjet with huge success. Although unaware of the flawless performance of the machines, the leaders at Neptune were astonished after witnessing the working of Picanol’s OptiMax rapier looms. They currently have six such looms in their vicinity.
It was not only the performance of the machines that was appreciated by the company Chairman, Mr. Malav Shah, but also the aftersales and other services. The Picanol team of highly efficient, local service engineers were quick to resolve any problems that the company faced during and after installation, which was aided by regular and on demand service checks.
In furnishings business, what matters most is quality. In such an industry several different types of yarn are mixed together while weaving to make the desired kind of fabric. As Mr. Malav said: “Picanol’s machines are versatile and could handle any mixture of yarn needed to meet the client’s requirement”.
With its current progress Neptune Furnishing aims to reach great heights. With the right combination of machines, the available space for expansion and the right strategy, Mr. Malav Shah and his team are moving in the right direction to attain the high target fixed.
DMP Global
“Picanol has left the competition behind” – Mr. Dashrath Patel
Emerged from a trading-based company, Global Fabrics started its own manufacturing unit in 2011. Currently, it owns a total of 103 Picanol machines, out of which 63 are rapier looms and 40 are airjet. The company undertakes job work for major brands and is also involved in production for its own consumption of fabrics for suiting, shirting, yarn dyeing, cotton and cotton blend.
The company manufactures a wide variety of fabrics and special yarns for specific use according to the customer needs. The various variations in the design and fabric emerge from the rare vision of the highly professional and creative designers at the company who are able to see the end-product even before it is made. Almost 25% of the total produce is used by the company for its own growth.
After setting foot in the weaving industry and securing a place for themselves in the market, the leaders at global fabrics look forward to processing as a potential growth prospect. This has been made easier as Ahmadabad has emerged as a hub for suiting and shirting, which has given the processing and the finishing industry a significant boost.
The company also aims to expand in the technical textiles sector, as the core ideology is to progress and innovate continuously. The company which started with 20 machines and a production capacity of 1 lakh meters per month now has the production capacity of 10 lakh meters.
Global Fabrics’ experience with Picanol’s machinery has been very positive, from the beginning. The company used Picanol rapier looms since its very inception. Not only was this the result of popularity and assurance that came with the brand name of Picanol, but due to the excellent relations of Mr. Kasiviswanathan with Mr. Dashrath Patel. As he said, “Mr. Kasiviswanathan wasn’t just a representative of the company, but he supported and advised while buying the machinery as well”.
Mr. Patel is highly appreciative of the service and other facilities at Picanol. According to him, the company has a dedicated service team of competent engineers and sales representatives. With a local office for aftersales service, any required aid is available at very short notice.
Talking about the machinery, Mr. Patel ranked Picanol’s machines as superior to the Japanese in terms of sturdiness, easy to collect data from and easier to maintain, with versatility to handle production of value-added fabrics.
LB Tex
“Picanol’s services supported us in tackling technical and commercial issues”
– Mr. Rahul Shah & Mr. Jay Bhagat
Maintaining good relations and progressing alongside the customers always pays off in the form for mutual growth. One of the notable examples of correlated growth is that Picanol and LB Tex. Though set up recently, LB Tex is now one of the fastest growing weaving units in the industry, the proof of which is its rapid expansion and major acquisitions in such a short span.
Started with 12,000 square yards in 2017 with 102 SUMMUM mainly catering to bottom wear, the company has now expanded to an additional 18,000 square yards and has acquired further 102 new looms to increase the production capacity. The new project will be predominantly a denim manufacturing unit, with again all Picanol (airjet) OMNIplus Summum machines. The produce is supplied solely to Arvind. This is the only unit of the Arvind Group tie-up which has expanded the capacity to 204 Picanol airjet OMNIplus Summum looms within 2 year record time in single location.
The State Governments’ textile policy and support from Arvind, eliminating the issue of searching for a market to sell were the two main reasons for starting the company. These are also the factors why the company was able to expand and grow in such a short time, along with the excellent management and superior product quality achieved by the company in merely three months after the production started. The second unit of denim of 102 machines has commenced production within a record time of 5 months which shows the exceptional ability of the company management in project execution.
For Arvind, this new LB Tex project was one of the greatest ventures in job work. It required more space and production capacities as soon as positive results were evident. The company initiated production with 83% efficiency and is currently operating at 90% efficiency. With state-of-the-art machines and an efficient team, the company is working on absorbing all the changes and is coping well with the rising demand and supply. It is currently operating at 100% capacity with a team of 250 professionals.
LB Tex’s association with Picanol was a result of Arvind’s insistence on installing its airjet looms for its denim production as the group was highly impressed by the previous performance of the machinery. Apart from the splendid word from the market about Picanol’s looms and Arvind’s push, the Director, Mr. Jay Bhagat’s good rapport with Mr. Kasiviswanathan was one of the reasons behind installing the Picanol looms for this venture.
The aftersales and other services by the Picanol team were also highly appreciated by Mr. Jay Bhagat, as he mentioned, “apart from the machinery that is performing extremely well, the aftersales service was excellent as well. Their guidance and service resolved all issues, be it technical or commercial”.
Previously, Arvind had Picanol rapier machines in the facility which outperformed the competition. This was one of the reasons why the leaders at LB Tex supported the decision to use Picanol machinery.
Apart from this, the flourishing denim industry and the competent team at Picanol and LB Tex have made this unit a successful venture, and now the leaders aim to make it even bigger. With 204 machines operating the production capacity of the company is currently 1 lakh meters per day with plans to add another 102 weaving machines at the same location for yarn dyed. This would make it a versatile weaving facility manufacturing shirting / bottoms and denims at one location and the single largest independent weaving facility in Gujarat at one location.
The young directors, Mr. Rahul Shah (45) and Mr. Jay Bhagat (30), are excited about the growth prospects of LB Tex, and their future plans include setting up of a greenfield processing facility and spinning is another option which they do consider.
Sri Shyam Fashion India
“The reviews are correct, Picanol is really that good” – Mr. Saurav Jalan
Sri Shyam Fashion is a well-established, four decade-old company that started its business as a small unit in West Bengal. The company shifted its operations to Kolkata in 1991 where it was mainly involved in trading. The company entered the business of supplying fabrics to garment manufacturers in 1998 with denims, suiting and shirting fabric. It commenced buying fabrics, getting it job-worked and supplying to garment manufacturers in 2011.
Mr. Saurav Jalan, Director, joined the company’s Delhi office in 2005 while continuing extension of the operations at the Kolkata office. The company slowly started picking up pace and succeeded in the market. This is when Mr. Jalan decided to expand the company’s operations and venture into something bigger, hence he turned to manufacturing.
Currently, the company owns 64 Picanol OMNIplus Summum airjet looms and has the production capacity of 25-30 thousand meters per day. Of this, 50% are dobby looms. Apart from the highly qualified managerial team, it also has an outstanding design team whose creativity is responsible for the changing collection every quarter. The company is already working at 100% capacity, and its success is proved by the fact that it is already booked for orders from the upcoming quarter.
The company is also keeps moving towards upgradation and automation to keep in pace with the growng market demand. The customer is attracted by its variety and design as well as the product quality, as Mr. Saurav said, “the product from my facility has minimal chance of ever getting rejected”.
Picanol has proved to be extremely helpful for the company as its machines are versatile and sturdy and transparent in sales and services. As Mr. Saurav said: “The representatives helped us to decide what we needed and briefed us on the technical specifications. Although these machines had a higher base price, in the long run they resulted in efficient cost saving”.
The return on investment on Picanol machines was higher than the competition as once the spares were set up there were no additional costs for the next two years, minimum.
Sri Shyam Fashion aims to expand for which it proposes to acquire 500-600 looms by 2023. The company is operating at 85% efficiency, with high prospects for growth.
SubhLakshmi Synthetics
“Superior machine quality, product and service by the Picanol team” – Mr. S.L. Panagaria
SubhLakshmi Synthetics commenced weaving operations in 1990. The company specializes in PV suiting and is a significant player in the field. The company which began its operations with 8 machines was the pioneer of shuttleless weaving machines in the Rajasthan area. In 1996, the company added imported machines, and since then its machinery acquisition has not stopped.
The company acquired Picanol machinery in 2004. Initially it installed 8 rapier looms and, after the exceedingly good performance of the looms, installed rapier looms. It added 26 Picanol airjet looms in 2006, which were imported from Australia, and some more in 2009. It currently has a total of 92 machines (28 Sulzer, 26 Picanol OMNIplus airjet and 38 Picanol rapier looms.
The current production capacity of SubhLakshmi is 5.5 lakh meters per month, which approximately is 18,000 meters per day. The company is operating at full capacity and sells its own designs under the brand name, Sugham. It is also involved in job work for other brands which comprise a good share of the turnover.
The company is majorly focused on the domestic market as 90% of the total income is generated from India itself. It is also involved in exporting. The company runs efficiently and has excellent strategies to maintain its hold on the market.
With the latest machinery and setup, the goods produced are of high quality. Now the major focus is on upgradation and innovation in the products and technology.
Apart from that, SubhLakshmi is a fully-fledged culture where the employees and customers are a part of something bigger than just business. The company currently has a team of 300 people.
The company has not just survived in the market but has made an identity for itself over the years. With the changing trends, it is keen on having the latest machinery and innovation so that when the market demand for any product goes up. It can be prepared to provide for it. Mr. S.L. Panagaria said: “We are planning to increase our Lycra share as the denims market is saturating. We have a stable strategy and the market looks good for our future prospects”.
Moving ahead, Mr. Panagaria aims to raise the company turnover to Rs. 100 crores by 2023. With the idea to be among the top three companies in the PV suiting sector in India, the focus now is on new brands and acquiring new clients with continuous upgradation and strategic planning.
Sangam INDIA
“Picanol was the best company to go with as per our research” – Mr. Shriniwas Modani
Sangam Ltd. was established in 1984 with 8 weaving machines. Today it is a strong group with a Rs. 1,680-crore turnover, with a dominating presence in spinning, weaving and processing. Started with 17,000 spindles in 1995, the company currently owns 2.25 lakh spindles, 22 knitting machines and 36 seamless garments production machines.
Along with a processing capacity of 54 million, the company also has its presence in denim manufacturing with a production capacity of 40 million per day and a total of 432 weaving machines. The company recently diversified into women’s garments and introduced its own athleisure brand.
It also owns around 2,000 multi-brand stores, and a good share of the produce is exported. With the growing domestic and international demand for seamless products, the company foresaw a great scope in this market, and hence started manufacturing in 2004.
The biggest hub of PV suiting in India is Bhilwara where 18 million tons of fabric is manufactured every month. This is around 52% of the entire PV suiting market in India. The company has around 9% share in it.
Moving ahead, Sangam aims to expand its product portfolio by adding more capacities for knitted fabrics and expanding the existing product range which is already pretty versatile. The company currently employs 7,000 trained professionals in its three spinning plants, one weaving unit, one denim unit and one processing unit, with all the facilities operating at maximum capacity.
The company also has its own renewable energy plants as a step towards power and cost saving as well as sustainability which is the need of the hour for the industry. Its solar plant has a 6 megawatt capacity, along with the wind plant located in Jaisalmer having a 5 megawatt capacity and a thermal power plant.
At present, the company owns a total of 102 Picanol Omni and OMNIplus Summum airjet machines, all employed to produce suiting fabric. Picanol looms have proved to be one of the best choices that the leaders at Sangam made, in terms of tangible results.
Mr. Shriniwas Modani, Managing Director, observed: “Picanol machines have versatility, that’s what we needed to produce denims and the other kinds of fabrics in our portfolio. As we witnessed their performance, the machines were much more sturdy compared to the Japanese machines and had speed which is an essential factor in our line of manufacturing”.
The Picanol looms also displayed superiority in terms of power consumption, productivity, spares used and the overall cost. The service of the company was also praised by Mr. Modani when he said that the engineers are competent to take care of any problems that arise, that is if they arise at all. Moreover, the company has positive and strong relations with Picanol.
With the high tech machines and a progressive vision, Mr. Modani’s aim and ambition has always been to introduce more variations in the PV suiting fabrics and to devise versatile methods of utilising the future in the industry, apart from increasing just the traditional uses and quantities used.
The company’s targetted annual growth is 10%, which is easily achievable with its far-sighted policy. According to Mr. Modani, the company cannot remain static, and a change is the essence of progress and growth.
DCM Shriram Rayons
“We have always chosen state-of-the-art technology for our products, hence we chose Picanol” – Mr. V.K. Jaitly
Shriram Rayons, one of the four renowned players in the tyre grade yarn and cord fabric, is indeed a pioneer in the field since with new ideas. The company has always taken initiatives to bring innovation into its products and has approached the customers with new ideas. It is also working towards value addition.
DCM Shriram has worked towards integrating all the processes of production, value addition and creative solutions under one roof, to become a one-stop solution to meet every requirement of the customer. For this it recently converted the grey dipped fabric facility for value addition. This enabled the company to meet 100% of the customer’s needs and gave a boost its business and also to exports which soared up to 51% of the total production.
Along with the best product quality, the company has developed market strategies to expand the market share. The current production capacity is 27.5 tons per day and the aim is to raise it to 30 tons by the next year and 36 tons later.
All this is aided by the high state-of-the-art R&D facility at the Shriram College in Kota. Mr. V.K. Jaitly, Sr. Vice President & Factory Head, observed: “Our R&D is world class, and we have facilities that can give competition to internationally acclaimed corporates. It has all the equipment and latest technology for developing products that can cater to the different customer needs. Moreover, the recent support from IIT Delhi is adding to the R&D efforts.
To manufacture yarn is one thing, but to be able to have a fabric manufacturing facility in technical textiles is actively different. The company ventured into manufacturing with its trained team of professionals who could efficiently handle the manufacture of tyre and cord fabrics, as well as types of fabrics.
The company’s market research helped it acquire with Picanol looms. Currently the company is fully equipped with Picanol OMNIplus and OMNIplus 800 TC looms.
Talking about the quality of the machines and their high performance, Mr. Jaitly disclosed that, with the ease of operating them, Picanol machines offer better control and better feedback.
A unique feature added in the machines is the use of retrofitted scanners that are compatible with the Picanol machines and can detect minor disturbances in the fabric. Moreover, the impressive service by the company engineers was also commended by him.
Currently, Shriram Rayons operates as a single product manufacturer and is investing aggressively in the sector to expand its market share. The market, as Mr. Jaitly mentioned, is growing by 6% every year and the company by 13%. To accept the changes and challenges that tag alongside the growth, the company has a policy of open communications to prepare the employees mentally, morally and physically.
DCM Shriram has the vision to raise the production capacity to 13,000 tons by 2023. It also aims to manufacture bullet-proof vests for the Indian Army, “to protect the protectors”, as he said. The company has the means, the space and the capability to be on the fast track, with due Government support.