The Indian textile industry is now on the threshold of a virtual revolution. A new government at the Centre, positive sentiments across the textile value chain, recovery of lost businesses, etc., would hopefully revive the fortunes of the industry that touched the bottom a couple of years ago, and put it on a speedier growth path. Significantly, the weaving segment of the textile industry which has not been paid as much importance as to the spinning segment will start receiving a steady flow of investments for growth.
A.T.E. was once again the star attraction at the textile show held in Mumbai last month for its surprising move of joining hands with the Chinese loom maker, Hangzhou Huahong Machinery Co. Ltd., of Hangzhou province. Though this is not the first time that A.T.E. has joined hands with a Chinese company, the engineering enterprise is always known to cater to the requirements of A-class and B+ customers in the market. This A.T.E. move clearly shows the vast untapped business opportunities in the unorganized sector of the textile industry.
Hangzhou Huahong Machinery of China is an established name for its slow speed simple rapier looms, with over 200 looms already operational. The company offers a variety of products for different applications, ranging from apparel, terry towel, home textiles, furnishing fabrics to technical textiles for manufacture of canvas fabrics.
Even though European and Chinese loom makers are bringing out a similar kind of products, they are actually not competing with each other. Both of them have their own market share. Corporates generally prefer to buy Japanese or Europeans brands, while the decentralized sector invests on Chinese looms due to the lower capex involved.
Now all the players in the unorganized sector are evolving at such a rapid pace that they are no longer to be ignored.
In an interview with The Textile Magazine, Mr. Rajendra Ghatge, General Manager – Weaving Division, said: “The decentralised sector does not generally get proper guidance and after-sales services. Servicing is A.T.E.’s core competence, and we are committed to provide proper guidance and services to this sector. We foresee tremendous potential at the bottom of the pyramid.”
Initially, A.T.E. plans to sell a little more than 100 machines in the first year. With the response and feedback from the customers, the company plans to invest in more service engineers and stocking of critical spare parts in the following year. The first year is more about spreading the word in the market. This Indian agent plans to focus on special pockets like Solapur, Ichalkaranji, Erode, Surat and Panipat as a first phase of brand building exercise.
Hangzhou Huahong offers its customers an array of products to meet their different needs. Weaving looms depending upon various applications are being offered to the Indian customers. With high local reputation, the Chinese loom maker has also supplied hundreds of machines to Vietnam and Indonesia.
At the GTTES 2015 show, A.T.E. displayed the Hangzhou Huahong’s GA738-I rapier loom equipped with dobby. The different models of GA738 series terry rapier loom equipped with either dobby or jacquard shedding mechanism meet the demand for designing of terry towel for export and domestic markets. A special feature of multiple pile height adjustment as per program through servo motor while the loom is running adds high value to quality of terry towel. Moreover, precise let-off control on ground/pile warp through frequency controlled motors and take-up control through servo motor certainly contribute to a great extent to the quality of terry towel.
“A.T.E. has done adequate ground work in the last couple of years, and based on the study, we see a good percentage of business coming from the unorganized sector. The response we have been receiving at the GTTES 2015 show for our looms gives us confidence that we are on the right track”, adds Mr. Ghatge.