Arihant Spinning Mills (ASM) is a flagship spinning unit of Vardhman Group located in Malerkotla, Punjab. It was established in the year 1981 with an installed capacity of 25,000 spindles and at present has 94,512 ring spindles along with compaction and 400 vortex drums.
The unit specializes in melange yarns, and is a state-of-the-art facility equipped with contemporary technology sourced from Japan, Germany, Switzerland and India.
The company is led by Shri S P Oswal, Chairman and Managing Director of Vardhman Group. He is one of the most respected names in the Indian textile industry. Accompanying him is Mrs. Suchita Oswal Jain, Vice Chairman and Joint Managing Director; and Mr. Neeraj Jain, Joint Managing Director. Mr. Sumit Aggarwal is looking into the operations of Arihant Spinning Mills as the Business & Unit Head.
In this article Mr. Sumit has shared detailed insights into a variety of topics, including ASM’s products and solutions, manufacturing infrastructure, USPs, sustainability focus, automation initiatives and future plans, among others. The company offers mélange yarns as ‘Rangoli’, a term that signifies ‘profusion of colours’.
We began the interaction with a query on the products and solutions offered by the company. Here are the edited excerpts.
Products and Solutions offered
The company offers a wide portfolio of products to suit all kinds of apparel. Mr Sumit shares the details:
We develop our products keeping in mind our customer requirements and offer them in 100% cotton, recycled cotton and in blends.
Rangoli melange yarn is offered in over 1,500 colours from our shade card. That apart, any colour can be produced against a customer’s requirement.
Our in-house brand labels for specific properties in melange yarns can be summed up as follows:
• ‘Fashionova’ comprises innovative fancy range of melange yarns aligned with the current trend. It is a gentle play of colour with smooth fancy texture in yarn. The innovative mélange collection is derived in combination from technology, process and raw material. It comprises jaspe, slub, neppy, siro, spectra, injection, grindle, flaky, snow and CSY melange.
• Sanspill’ is a new-age melange yarn that emphasizes on enriching lives by providing comfort and fit for any fabric, be it work wear or active wear. It is an everyday luxury with innovative features such as low pilling and clean appearance, manufactured using air jet technology.
• ‘Infeel’ is a melange yarn with a soft touch to your skin, crafted especially for delicate inner-wear. It is extremely soft and breathable and uses fibres like viscose, modal, micro modal, tencel, micro tencel, silk, seacell, feel fresh, bamboo, hemp, etc.
• ‘Performa’ is an active wear melange yarn. It takes your fabrics to the next level in the field of athleisure, active wear, outdoor wear, sports inner wear, etc. It has several innovative features such as moisture management; stays cool and fresh all day long with add-ons like Coolmax, Cocona, Kooltex, etc.
• ‘ProGreen’ is a range of sustainable melange yarns with the unique quality that it can re-enter the ecosystem at the end of its lifecycle, thus saving the precious resources of our planet. The sustainable melange yarn is available in 100% cotton and blends through our in-house fabric cutting shredding plant. The recycled fibre is used to offer recycled yarn either 100% cotton or in blends.
World-Class Manufacturing Facilities
The company has always been known for its robust manufacturing infrastructure. Arihant Spinning Mills have state-of-the-art machinery sourced from manufacturers like Rieter, Trutzschler LMW, Murata etc. The machines have digital systems for monitoring metrics like ring, card, POC, lab data, etc. All the melange yarns are processed through a tuft blender for accurate blending ratio and also processed through latest eye clearer, the Uster Quantum 3.
The company has a very strong research and development facility which has advanced technologies approved by Uster and an in-house knitting facility in which not only all yarn quality parameters are tested, also knitting trials are taken before sending to the customer so that they receive trouble-free yarn. The unit is certified with GOTS, GRS, OCS, Fair Trade and Oeko Tex.
Innovations and Investments
Talking about the emphasis of organization on innovation and development, Sumit states – “Technology up-gradation is a continuous process at Vardhman, including Arihant Spinning Mills and our plant is having all kinds of latest machinery. We recently installed Air Jet Spinning Vortex machines from Murata. In near future, we intend to expand our production capacity in ring spinning and air jet (Vortex) machines to meet our valuable customers’ needs in specialized and recycled melange yarn”.
Arihant also has an in-house product development center and design team. Based on the research on trend forecasts, theme ideation, colour and texture analysis, seasonal shade cards are developed by them. The team also works in coordination with designers from leading brands to collectively develop their seasonal collections.
Pointing out the competitive edge that the company has in its favour which makes it the ideal sourcing partner for its customers, Sumit says, “ASM is a manufacturing setup of the Vardhman Group, a trusted name in the industry. The unit has been delivering excellence for close to 40 years. While working with us, the customer gets peace of mind in the form of ‘trouble free yarn’, consistency in quality and shade matching, in time delivery and strong after-sales service.
Employee Engagement Drive
Going into details regarding the total number of employees at ASM, we were informed that the company gives employment to about 2,000+ people, out of which about 55% are women who come from rural areas. More than half of the total workforce resides within the factory premises.
“We have in-house bachelor male and female hostel and also family accommodation that provides comfortable and hygienic living conditions besides other facilities”, tells Sumit.
The organization is committed towards workers’ safety and ensures all the necessary safety measures are adopted with utmost sincerity,” he adds. Vardhman Group is already conducting an employee engagement drive with the motto ‘Respect for All’ to provide an environment which is comfortable and contains opportunities to grow. Such initiatives help build ownership and a pleasant workplace environment.
Sustainability
Vardhmam Group has always been considered a front runner when it comes to sustainability initiatives and is no different in the case of Arihant spinning Mills. In the words of Ms Suchita Oswal Jain – “At Vardhman, it has been our consistent endeavour for over five decades to enhance the positive impact of our textile operations as much as possible. We are of the firm belief that as an organization we must proactively protect and rejuvenate the environment. We are also certain that all our actions must dovetail into making us a responsible organization that empowers all sections of society including farmers and employees”.
Automation and Growth Initiatives
Giving an overview of the company’s automation initiatives in its manufacturing process, Mr Aggarwal says – “We are upgrading our machinery with new technology and have introduced automation in spheres like ring data, air monitoring, machine data, online lab monitoring and CAYC to provide ease of work and are also offering digital shade library and virtual plant tour to our customers.”
The company has ambitious growth plans lined up for the future. Sharing the vision of the company for 2025 and beyond, Sumit states, “By 2025 we are aiming to have 1.50 lakh melange spindles, offering ring and air jet melange yarn in 100% cotton, blends and recycled melange to our valuable customers in order to become “A preferred choice of all leading international and national brands for melange yarns”.