Interview with Umesh Sharma

Lucky Spinning Co Ltd is the only one in its class in terms of scales of production, innovation, product development and quality of output, which underpins our drive to be a leader in our yarn textiles industry. Lucky Spinning has a set of 55 vortex machines, 45,000 ring spindles and 7000 rotors in Thailand. Currently, Lucky Spinning manufactures about 150 Tons of yarn per day. We cover count range from Ne 6s to Ne 60s. Also, we have 2ply and multiplied industrial yarn productions. 'Lopil' yarn, a brand by Lucky Spinning, has promoted a widespread message on the positive attributes of vortex spun yarns to the textiles fashion industry both for knitting and weaving industries. We are a modern and proactive company with advanced technical set-up and know-how, which enables us to become more competitive and differentiated in an increasingly demanding and selective market, as well as take over the strategic partner role of its customers and suppliers.

Without exaggerating, I can say Lucky proved over a long time to be a sort of world leader in air vortex yarn production. Our global presence is second to none, not just from a quantity standpoint, but also in terms of new product development, introduction and brand creation. What is even more important to us is that we provide innovation, interact with the customers intensively, and manufacture new products that can add value to end-product fabrics or garments customers are making. We have been positioning our Lopil vortex yarn for the uniform segment. Many clothing brands are nominating our yarn for fabrics and garments production. Also at the same time, we have got good recognition for our contamination-free segment.

The answer is 'yes'. You don't buy clothes - you buy an identity. Innovation and product differentiation is the only way to survive in everyday changing fashion industry. The value of a product is enhanced by its differentiation from existing products, and with our Lopil brand in vortex, we could add that value to our customers. We are always the first in introducing new products in market. One can find and realise a visible qualitative difference when Lopil yarn is used in their fabrics. We have made significant R&D efforts in collaboration with fabric manufacturers (knitters/weavers/dyers) and presented the resultant products to international brands. They have accepted Lopil products as they have experienced a qualitative difference. The supply chain integration effort by Lucky Spinning has assured them of the availability of Lopil products on a continual basis. Japanese and European brands started gaining confidence in fabrics made by using Lopil yarn in Thailand, and converted it into apparels in the ASEAN region. International brands have approved our products from knitters and dyers in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

We have compared all the three major spinning systems namely ring spinning, open-end, and vortex technology in our mills, and found vortex technology to be better in many aspects. The most important advantage of air-vortex spinning is that the yarn geometry is approaching ring-yarn, and all leading ends of fibres coming out of roller drafting zone are tucked into the core of the yarn structure, thus reducing hairiness. We have practically observed this with a comfortable count range of Ne 16s to Ne 60s, especially in medium range Ne 20s to Ne 40s, occupies over 70 per cent of the apparel segment. Ring spinning would be replaced by vortex spinning machines in the next decade, similar to the shift for rotor spinning from ring spinning, for coarser counts as energy and labour costs are two important factors to make big difference in coming years.

We have always tried not to rely on one market, and we have always, as a group, successfully managed the ups and downs of business by managing operating costs and new market research - finding niche markets. We believe in combined strategic, balanced approach with value additions and value engineering in various fields to make each and every kilo of production appreciated and accepted by our customers. Our ultimate goal is to provide a one-stop service to our customers, providing different types of conventional and specialised yarn. We are working very actively with several Japanese brands and customers to develop new products. In addition to raw white, we are now enlarging our product portfolio by adding dyed and melange yarn produced on open-end and vortex spinning.