India needs to increase focus on export of synthetics
Voltas's textile machinery division is a leading technology provider in India with a comprehensive product suite including capital equipment, machinery, accessories, allied machinery and services for spinning, knitting, weaving, processing and finishing sectors. Vice-president C Kamatchisundaram speaks about the trials and tribulations of the industry and the company's wide range of product offering.
How is Voltas positioned in the Indian textiles industry?
Voltas textile machinery division is a household name in the textiles industry. We have been in the business of providing technology solutions and services to the textiles industry for more than 60 years. We have been and are the market leader in each and every segment of the textiles industry. For example, in the spinning machinery market, our principal-LMW-holds a market share of more than 55 per cent. Voltas is present in each part of the value chain right from spinning till garmenting and we are market leaders in each of the segment except garmenting where we made an entry only in the recent past. We are offering latest technology machines from globally reputed manufacturers like LMW, Terrot, Brueckner, Thies, Reggiani, Benninger, Shima Seiki, etc, in each part of the value chain.
We have a footprint across the country through our branches located in 16 locations, which are strategically positioned close to the textile clusters. In order to provide services at a rapid pace, our service engineers are also located at different parts of the country which enables us to respond to the customer needs almost on the same day.
How can you improve your service support resulting in less downtime and higher productivity?
In the textiles industry, installing and servicing the machine, and addressing the complaints of the customer are categorised as hygiene services.
The Indian textiles industry went through a lot of difficulties. There were many pain areas that the customers faced for which they were looking for solutions from other stakeholders. Here we saw an opportunity to reinforce our long relationship with the customers.
There is a very good level of acceptance, but this calls for skilled people. So, we are moving forward in a steady manner but with clear thoughts. We are slowly scaling up our special services.
How well-equipped is Voltas to cater to the needs of the spinning industry?
- Voltas offers the entire range of products needed for the spinning industry.
- Our principals LMW is one of the only three manufacturers in the globe who offer the entire range of spinning machinery from blowroom to cone winding. LMW offers cutting edge technology products and solutions, which cater to the needs of different segment in the industry irrespective of the size. The spinning industry has become a leader by capturing more than 30 per cent of the market share in the global yarn trade mainly because of the quality equipment's manufactured by our principals LMW. We are proud to say that our principals LMW support the customers by supplying parts and components throughout the lifecycle of the machinery.
- We also have a comprehensive product suite of accessories and the replaceable needed for the spinning industry. While the ring travellers are offered from Lakshmi ring travellers, the card clothing needed for the carding machines are supplied by Lakshmi card clothing. Both LRT and LCC are market leaders in their respective field, serving the customers for more than five decades.
- We also offer specialty lubricants from Klueber, which not only enhance the lubricant cycles but also improve the performance of the machinery. In addition, we offer allied machinery from the following principals.
- Elgi Electric for overhead travelling cleaner, bobbin transportation system and yarn conditioning system;
- Elgi Equipments for air compressors;
- Veejay Lakshmi for two-for-one twisters;
- LEDL for electric motors;
- Airmaster for humidification plants and waste collection system.
- Further, Voltas is the largest employer of textile engineers in the country. We recruit the finest layers into our fold-around 30-40 engineers are recruited every year, both from campus and lateral. We have a structured and robust training process in place for them wherein they are given adequate training on respective machines at our principal's works as well in the mill premises. This process makes them skilled in the installation and commissioning of machines as well as process technology. This team takes care of all the service related requirement of the industry.
- We offer special services to all our customers. We have a bouquet of special services, which deliver outcomes related to the productivity, quality, power conservation and the recurring cost. Special services have been well received by our customers. We have carved out a service team into two different teams-one offers hygiene services, while the other offers only special services.
What are your growth opportunities in weaving, knitting, processing and finishing segments?
Weaving: The Indian textiles industry is poised to reach a size of $225 billion by 2021, driven by the domestic market and by enhancing the market share in the global market much from the current level of 4 per cent. However, this would be possible only if our country invests in the latest technology weaving machinery, which the industry is aware of. In the last three years, the import of weaving machinery has grown significantly; however, dominated by low cost rapier machines from Asian countries.
Nevertheless, the last couple of years have witnessed a shift with investment on high-speed airjet and rapier technology machines. As you would be aware, the major installed base of weaving machines in our country is in the weaving clusters like Ichalkaranji, Bhiwandi, Malegoan, Somanur, Salem, etc, as more than 90 per cent of woven fabrics are still produced by decentralised sectors.
Learning the insights from our customers that the high-cost European machines would be unaffordable for customers in these clusters, we have partnered with Shandong Rifa, which is the largest manufacturer of airjet and rapier machines in the world. Shandong Rifa manufactures more than 7,000 machines per year which are supplied across the globe. The weaving machine manufactured by Shandong Rifa enables customers to produce almost at the level of European machines but with much less cost in investment. Voltas has partnered with Shandong RIfa and has already created an installed base of more than 1,500 machines in the country at various clusters. Our customers are quite happy not only about the performance of the machines but also because Voltas's service team is able to meet their service needs on time. We expect that the investments on high production weaving machine would accelerate further and we are well placed to contribute to the growth story.
Knitting: We represent Terrot for circular knitting and Shima Seiki for computerised flat knitting machines. Both are global leaders in their respective segments. Terrot has the capability to offer the entire range of circular knitting machines-single jersey, double jersey and machines meant for technical applications. The USPs are productivity, quality, user friendliness and the longevity of the machines. If you take the customer voice, the customer would always rate Terrot right at the top. You can find Terrot machines as old as 30-35 years still working in the industry without any problem.
Shima Seiki is way above other players in the flat knitting industry. Flat knitting technology is relatively new for the Indian textiles industry. These machines were used to make winter sweaters/collars in the past. Shima Seiki from Japan has taken flat knitting to the next level. It is identified more as a machine for creating high fashion garments. Shima Seiki offers various models in the flat knitting itself, which enables customers to make panels with endless possibilities of design. In addition, Shima Seiki is the first to offer the whole-garment making machinery for the industry.
Processing: Thies is the global leader in soft flow dyeing machines. Exactly 10 years back, we partnered with them and enabled Thies to become the market leader in the Indian textiles industry. The knitted garment manufacturers in the knitting clusters like Tirupur, Ludhiana, Kolkata, etc, who want to produce high-quality fabrics meant for export market or for the upper end of the domestic industry always prefer Thies as their first choice.
We also have a very good installed base of Thies machinery in each knitting cluster. The USP of this machine is the dyeing quality, consistency, repeatability, low liquor consumption, and high level of user-friendliness. The consistent quality of the fabrics produced from Thies machine does not vary irrespective of whether it is a new machine or a 10-year-old machine.
Finishing: Brueckner is the market leader in finishing-not only in terms of market share but also in terms of deliverables. We have supplied Brueckner machines in the knitted segment, woven segment and also in the technical textiles segment. Brueckner is the only company which can produce Stenter with a width of 6 metres. Normally, the width of fabric used for classical textiles is either 1.8m or 3.2m in width, but the Stenter needed for technical textiles is as wide as 6m.
So, when it comes to finishing in knits or woven / technical textiles, Brueckner is the undisputed leader. The USP is the consistent quality. Anyone who wants to finish the fabric with lycra in it, the first and only choice will always be Brueckner. We have a lot of installations of Brueckner machines in Tirupur, Kolkata and Ludhiana, which are the clusters for knitted fabrics. We have also made huge in-roads in the woven segment. Almost every major player in the woven segment has the equipment from Brueckner. We have Brueckner machines in Vardhman, Arvind, Morarjee, Indo Count, to name a few.
Brueckner is also known beyond stenters. They also have a product called "Power Colortherm", which enables the customers to do continuous dyeing of the cotton fabric as well as polyester cotton fabrics. Brueckner also offers sanforisers and relax dryers. The product portfolio of Brueckner is quite rich. Wherever we have supplied Brueckner machines, we have always received repeat orders.
In the field of continuous processing, we represent Benninger, who is the undisputed leader in continuous processing. Each leading player in the woven segment is doing continuous processing mainly with the Benninger machines. Benninger machines are known for absolute consistency in processing. In processing and finishing, the value loss is a key measure. By using Benninger machine, the value loss will be almost negligible and conversion from lab to bulk is also done accurately. Obviously, if you speak of productivity and longevity, these machines are way above the others.
For digital, flat and rotary printing, we represent Efi Reggiani, who are the manufacturers of cutting-edge technology machines in the printing field. In addition to offering a range of digital printing machines, Efi Reggiani has recently launched the single pass digital printing machine which produces almost at the same level of a rotary printing machine.
How do you intend to expand your services for the textiles industry?
Voltas is already representing in the entire value chain and our plans are to grow along with market and by enhancing the market share in each product line. We would also like to enhance our product base in the after-sales segment by filling the gaps in our product range and offering special services like energy audit, machinery assessment, yarn realisation, enhancing the quality and productivity. We have made an entry into garmenting; however, since garmenting is not a capital dominant sector, our presence would be selective and to offer the engineering solutions wherever needed in the garmenting sector.
What are your impressions about the pace of growth of the Indian technical textiles market?
The technical textile industry in India has the potential to grow at a rate of 15-20 per cent annually to touch $30 billion over the next five years. Despite the huge potential, the investment in technical textiles sector has not gained much momentum in the past. There have been sporadic investments to manufacture in artificial leather, hygiene textiles, medical textiles and geotextiles, etc. However, India may need to accelerate investments quickly to encash the opportunities, as otherwise it would be taken over by other competing countries.
What solutions do you offer to the technical textiles segment?
The term technical textiles is a very broad term and it covers almost all the textiles used in various applications other than garments and apparel. There is a deceptive notion that technical textiles are made mainly out of nonwovens which is not correct.
The spinning machines manufactured by our principals LMW are used to make yarn meant for technical textiles, which include the yarns made from specialty fibres like Kevlar, Nomex, etc. We are proud to say that the machines manufactured by LMW are the only machines used in the Indian textiles industry to make such specialty yarn due to the versatility and user friendliness of LMW machinery.
The circular knitting machines manufactured by our principals Terrot are used for making special fabrics like spacer fabrics and car upholstery. Similarly, the flat knitting machines manufactured by our principals Shima Seiki are used for making 3-dimensional fabrics, shoe uppers, car upholstery, etc.
The weaving machines manufactured by our principals Rifa are used for making specialty fabrics like bulletproof fabrics from carbon filaments. The coating and finishing machines from our principals Brueckner are the widely accepted machines for finishing the technical textiles.
For the manufacture of nonwovens through spunbond, spunlace and needle punching technologies, we are on the lookout for representing the right machinery manufacturer.
What kind of research is being undertaken at the textile machinery division?
Since we are not a machinery manufacturer, our research focuses mainly on enhancing the comprehensiveness as well as quality of our services. Thus, we have launched many special services as detailed above. In addition, our engineers, based on the customer voice captured during their visits, continuously provide valuable inputs to our principals towards product development and improvement. Our principals have appreciated the quality inputs provided by our engineers which have helped a lot to bring out innovative products.
What changes will the adoption of Industry 4.0 bring to the textile machinery segment in India?
Industry 4.0 is the future. It will lead to transformational changes across the industries through IIoT (Industry Internet of Things), big data analytics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, etc. The textiles industry had already adopted this technology through networking of the various machineries in the plant, remote monitoring of high technology equipment, etc. With Industry 4.0 catching up, we are sure the concepts like IIoT would be adopted by the textiles industry at a much faster pace than ever before.
Which factors will affect the textile machinery sector significantly in next five years?
The global textile machinery sector has a high focus on India as the Indian textiles industry has a great potential driven by both strong domestic market as well as the export demand. The fortunes of the textile machinery sector depend mostly on the fortunes of the user industry and hence the following factors would have major influence on the textile machinery sector:
- The market share of Indian textiles industry in the global textile trade is only 4-5 per cent. There is a high potential to at least double this share to 10 per cent despite the challenges. This would call for initiatives by the government of India as well as by the industry themselves. Our competing countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, etc, have the huge benefit of free trade agreements with consuming countries. If free trade agreements are enabled with consuming blocs like Europe and the US, it would accelerate the growth of textiles industry as well as textile machinery industry.
- In addition, the Indian textiles industry needs to build capabilities by not only moving up the value chain but also by modernising the plants to cater to the high-end needs of the export market. This would call for accelerated modernisation in every segment of the textiles value chain including spinning, weaving, knitting, processing, finishing, etc.
- The Indian textiles industry is cotton-focused at a rate of 60:40 for cotton and synthetic fibres. The export of garments is mainly cotton-based. The industry needs to focus on the export potential in the synthetics sector to improve global market share.
- Further, the industry must find ways and means to accelerate the growth of per capita consumption of textiles in the domestic industry. Though the growth of the organised retail sector is contributing to the above, the extent of growth is quite low.
- The cumulative effect of all the above if implemented may lead to extensive growth in the textile industry as well as the textile machinery industry.
Who are your major clients in India and abroad?
It would not be an overstatement if we say that almost every textile organisation in the country is our customer for at least one of the products offered by us. This has been made possible mainly because of the array of offerings by Voltas which includes the products needed for capital investment and the products needed for operating a textile mill. Our major clients in India include Vardhaman, Trident, Nahar, Garg, Winsome, DCM in the north; Arvind, Welspun, RSWM, Sangam, Sintex, Shri Vallabh Pittie, Technocraft, Morarji in the west and Premier, Precot, GTN, Surya Group, Shanmugavel Group, GHCL, Thiagarajar group, Mohan Spintex in the south. We are an India-focused organisation and our customer base is mainly in India. However, we have partnered with machinery manufacturers in India and across the globe to bring technology solutions and services to the Indian textiles industry.
Can you emphasize on this fast-catching trend across the world?
Industry 4.0 is a very generic term. If you must classify the activities that go in to Industry 4.0, then it is automation, which includes robotics. The second part is remote monitoring of the equipment through networking (which is IIoT), which includes predictive analysis and collect a wealth of data on performance (which is big data). The third but most important part is to use analytics and artificial intelligence to derive insights from the big data and rapidly deploying corrective/preventing actions for improvement. The fourth is to digitise designs/ product samples through virtual samples to manufacture customised products. The fifth part in Industry 4.0 is how we make the business transaction happen leveraging technology to reduce the cycle time of purchase and enhance the purchasing experience. These could be online quote generation, online order placement, online tracking of the orders, etc. The above are few examples and the opportunities to leverage Industry 4.0 are abundant.
LMW has been a front-runner in offering Industry 4.0 solutions. In fact, LMW was the first to offer automation for ring frames, speed frames and automatic transport of material from the blowroom to the carding machine. Automation has become an integral part of the spinning industry today. If a spinning industry does not invest in automation, it is going to be difficult to sustain, going forward.
I would like to share an example. In the past, 60 per cent of the ring spinning machine delivered from LMW used to be a normal ring frame without automation; but today, the trend has reversed. Almost 95 per cent of the ring frame delivered is only with automation, irrespective of whether the machinery is supplied to a mega project or a small project.
As you know, availability of labour is a major problem. Labour can be divided into two segments: skilled and unskilled. Shortage of labour is in both cases. This has made the industry look at automation as a solution. It is not something which is good to have, but a must.
In monitoring and controlling the equipment through IIoT, here too, LMW was the first to offer networking of the entire plant. Sitting at one place, the manager can check the production of the plant. Monitoring power is the key to control cost. The current state of IoT allows the investors to monitor the power consumption as well.
LMW had launched a portal called 'e-spares' almost a decade back. When it was launched, customers were quite apprehensive about using it in the beginning. The customers were for this portal and the benefit of this has been very well understood by various sets of people in the plant. Today, almost 80 per cent of the orders for the parts take place through this portal. Through this portal, customers can create the quote and place the order themselves. Once the order is placed, in quick time they get the acceptance of the order, and the sales process gets completed much faster. This has also enabled us to increase our delivery performance. I am very proud to say that LMW can supply any part within 7-10 days' time. This portal is very user-friendly and most used in the industry.
Our principals in PSD also offer the features of Industry 4.0 For example: Brueckner offers 'e-Shop'; efi Reggiani, which is into digital printing, can access digital printing machine remotely from their plant. For any issue on the machine, they can offer solution through its remote monitoring system.
How did you perform in the last two fiscals? What are your expectations from the next two?
Our performance has been quite good in the last two fiscals and being a listed company, the details are available on the website. Despite the cyclical phases in the short term, we expect that the Indian textiles industry as well as textile machinery industry would do well in the longer term.
What makes Shima Seiki's whole garment knitwear revolutionary?
Shima Seiki offers various models in the flat knitting itself, which enables the customers to make panels with endless possibilities of design. In addition, Shima Seiki is the first to offer the whole garment making machinery for the industry. As you know, a garment is made by cutting and stitching, and it calls for a lot of labour. This machine eliminates the usage of these processes. In the whole-garment machine, the garment is made directly from the yarn from endless number of designs and colours. Even the design of the buyer can be adopted in the machine very easily and quickly.
The revolutionary whole-garment knitwear is produced in one entire piece, three-dimensionally, directly on the knitting machine. Consequently, it requires no expensive, time-consuming post-production labour. The advantages of this cutting technology include:
- A further reduction in materials beyond even fully-fashioned production;
- Faster time to market by eliminating the need for sewing any components;
- These factors increase cost-effectiveness.
Which are the latest innovative solutions that you offer across spinning and post-spinning needs?
In spinning, our principals LMW have been the forerunner in continuously launching innovative products which add great value to our customers. The Ring Frame LR9SX launched in ITMA Milano 2015 is the most flexible and technologically advanced Ring Frame in the market. The longest speed frame in the world with 280 spindles and drive from both sides is a key innovation from LMW. Similarly, LMW was the first to launch Comber LK69, the fastest comber in the market. Card LC636 launched by LMW is the real 1.5 mts wide card, as it has been designed keeping the current and future needs of the customers on productivity, quality, user friendliness, etc. The SpinPact, the revolutionary compact spinning system offered by our principals LMW enables our customers to produce high quality compact yarn at a very competitive cost. Similarly, many innovations have been launched by our principals in processing, finishing, part of the value chain-for example, CDR and finishing machines by Brueckner, iMaster and iCone fabric and yarn dyeing machines respectively by our principals Thies, the single pass digital printing machines by Efi Reggiani, etc.
What are the future plans at the textile machinery division of Voltas?
We are a leading end-to-end solution provider for the Indian market. We offer products and solutions for each part of the textile value chain, including spinning, weaving, knitting, processing, finishing and technical textiles. Our plans are to further strengthen our position in each area by enhancing our market share. Voltas TMD has been growing along with the market, supported by the strong belief on us as a trustworthy business partner. Our focus is on continuously enhancing the relationship with our customers not only by offering the right products and solutions but also by providing end-to-end service support throughout the lifecycle of the products. We are sure that we shall continue to be successful. (HO)
What is the USP of Voltas?
The major USP of Voltas are the following
1. Our presence in the entire textile value chain;
2. Ability to offer quality products with latest technology from global leaders;
3. Expertise in the textiles industry for more than six decades;
4. Strong customer base;
5. Long and established relationship with principals and customers;
6. Ability to offer special services to the customers.
The USP also includes services and support throughout the lifecycle of the products by a capable set-up of technologists and service engineers, placed at different parts of the country and close to the textile clusters, which enable us to respond to the service needs very quickly. In addition, and in accordance with the values of the Tata Group to which Voltas belongs, the customers are assured on the trust worthiness and the value creation.
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