Susheel Kaul’s lifetime dedication to the group success
For a company to simply sustain itself and progress is a hard enough task, but to emerge as a global conglomerate is something commendable, something that not only requires hard work but true commitment to one’s vision. Arvind is one such organization completely dedicated to its identity and purpose. The company, started from scratch much before the Indian Independence and still prospering after all the market and economic structure changes, is today worth $1.7 billion.
Arvind is a customer-centric, IT-driven, technology-led design powerhouse, providing end-to-end solutions for the clients. It is one of the companies that define ‘business’ and set benchmark for many to cross. It has made its mark in innovation, technology, strategic management and the global environmental sustainability scenario.
For any company to come this far it requires strong leaders, and it is only the visionary management of a company that drives it forward. One of the business leaders of Arvind is Mr. Susheel Kaul, who is currently the CEO for Wovens & Knits verticals in the company.
Mr. Susheel Kaul’s journey at Arvind began when he joined it as a management trainee in 1993 after completing his post-graduation in textiles from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. As a man with high potential and knowledge, he rose among the ranks to take over the khaki business division in 2002. He then took over as the CEO of shirting and khaki businesses in 2007. After gracefully crossing all the hurdles and constantly coping with the market, he brought great success to the company. He soon became the CEO of Wovens & Knits verticals.
His current portfolio consists of Wovens & Knits verticals, Protective Wear Fabrics and Garments in the company. The business, comparatively new, has been experiencing a double-digit growth every year making it very successful and sizable.
With the establishment of the first mill in Saraspur in 1897, Arvind’s inception took place. Initially a saree business that became very successful, it gained popularity and established itself as a varied company with the introduction of denims in its production menu. As the competition grew, the company never let an expansion opportunity slip through and thus diversified into various businesses. It introduced India’s first internationally popular denim brand, the ‘Flying Machine’, and has presently partnered with more than 15 globally acclaimed brands due to its high quality products and a plethora of futuristic designs, innovation and creative solutions.
Arvind Ltd. presently produces 140 million meters of wovens and 12,000 tons of knits per year, out of which around 90% is in-house. The company has its focus on developing an eco-system around its work environment that integrates their partners and their systems, considering the pros that the partners bring with their work ethic.
The company today considers fashion, designing and customer-centric roles as its forte, in addition to core manufacturing. The company’s biggest business strength is being not dependent on one market, but targeting both the exports and the domestic customers. It is simply not a manufacturing company but a fashion-driven consumer focused body of strong and talented design, technology and innovation focused teams, spread all over the world.
Arvind operates on the philosophy to have a higher interaction with the clients. It does not believe in producing stocks but in collaborating their vision and the consumer’s ideas into fabric. They work strategically with the customers across the globe, producing exclusive merchandise. It is this dedication and devotion that has bagged the company partners like GAP, US Polo and Tommy Hilfiger.
The company chose to focus on product design and consumer’s vision. Having a different business aspect brought new profit sources and created new opportunities. Although the risk factor escalates, the rewards are equally satisfying both for Arvind and the partners. As Mr. Susheel Kaul said: “You have to be on your toes always, and work day in and day out, but the demand we have created is very high, the place we have established for ourselves is worth it all”.
Arvind is a company that has been differently wired by leaders. Its ‘seasons, proportions, and systems’ are different. Although it is a textiles company, it operates like a brand. The company is not just a manufacturing powerhouse, but a design and intellectual powerhouse that leverages technology to the core. It leverages technology in general and in textiles.
Customers and market standing
Arvind serves as a strategic partner to its customers. Designing the merchandise is one of the many tasks that it fulfils for the brands. It serves as the fashion partner, innovation partner, sustainability partner, manufacturing, garmenting and selling. Moreover, all of these processes are conducted in an asset light manner, meaning cost saving through outsourcing and working out all the strategies in a big ecosystem. Arvind is a business that, rather than focusing on backward integration, has set its pivot on bringing everything together, and moving ahead.
Arvind is growing fast and expanding aggressively with its attention on garmenting. The company plans new ventures in Bangalore and expansions in Ranchi and Gujarat and Ethiopia, where the facilities established will produce active wear.
Currently the company converts 10% of its fabric produced into garments and aims to increase it to 40% in the near future. The wovens and knits are doubling with each passing year, and the company foresees a great future in active wear as well, although it does not plan to have its own active wear brand.
Large facilities require a large number of hands to sustain them, providing employment to a very large number of people. With the huge expansions and facilities being set up in various destinations, along with growth for the company itself, a lot of focus would be on employment, and recruitment will get special attention.
Life at Arvind
An employee who has dedicated a lot of years to one organization flawlessly reflects the organization’s culture and ideals. He is aware of how the organization actually operates, and can present a clear view of it, and who better than Mr. Susheel Kaul, who dedicated his entire life’s work to Arvind, to reflect it.
Although he confirms that the work is not a merry lane, and the pressure of the system is present as the company is constantly growing, leaves are granted but work is not compromised.
Moreover, Mr. Kaul has been a very special part of Arvind as he has been with the company throughout his career. “What Arvind offers is very unique; there is freedom and opportunity all around, and if you have potential you can do everything”, Mr. Kaul quoted. He also mentioned the growth encouraging environment in the company. Arvind offers huge opportunities, the scope is big and prospects can be found in the way the company has built its DNA.
A lot of talents are discovered and nurtured at Arvind. It is not just a work institution but a learning platform. The supportive environment and management really helps in the personal as well as professional growth of employees. This is the reason why the company has a fast growing number of employees.
Sustainability
Arvind has bagged the Sustainability Award for three years – 100% of the water used in the textile processes is either recycled or used up completely. A very unique advantage that the company has it that it uses treated sewage water in its processes. It buys sewage water from the village’s municipal corporation, treats it and puts it into use. After the water has been used, the waste water is again recycled and made pure enough to be used for irrigation. Water recycling and other small initiatives like solar lamps, etc., have been installed in the company’s facilities.
Here, one has to appreciate the commendable foresight of the company’s management that started with such processes as early as 1997. The company has a zero discharge facility in Ahmedabad. Although the company facilities use 17 million litres of water, the loss of water in the entire process is less than 2%, primarily to evaporation.
The company leaders believe that the environment is very important. No business can sustain without giving back to the society and the environment what it has taken from it. Not only are the processes cleaner, but ultimately the profits flow in due to it.
The company has not only taken environmental initiatives, it has also done a lot to educate women and bring change in the society through social work.
“What we understand best is retail fashion”, said Mr. Kaul. He also mentioned that the huge client base that Arvind has acquired through the years, which includes all the leading global brand, helps the company to train and align themselves and their work environment. The employees are trained keeping in view the demand and the process of the market. The company operated on the basis of the consumer’s needs and the latest trends. That is how it has grown into the brand that it is today.
Collaborations educate one another. What one cannot discover on its own can discover through partnerships. Big companies often tie up to share resources. That is how they grow. A small company can operate in its own circle, but without collaboration it cannot achieve heights or contribute to the country’s growth.
Countries do not grow with single manufacturing set-ups, they grow with mutual collaboration. Partnering with other domestic or international corporations enables better technology inflow and more precise knowledge of the global market and demand for any business.
One apt example of success through collaboration is China. One company can have a limited growth, whereas collaborations share the growth. Arvind’s growth is through partnership. It has got very strong partnerships with huge international brands. The company is enormous in itself and is made stronger, more powerful through its collaborations. These enable it to easily approach customers.
The company is efficient and progressive. It is future focused and constantly works towards innovation. For the smooth flow of tasks, Arvind has special teams for all specific and important processes. It has a patent team, a process team and creative team. It is not a typical mill that just buys raw material and processes it to produce fabric, but a whole unit run by innovation, creativity and change.
With designing, fashion and customer needs as its priority, Arvind not only works as a manufacturer but as an entire learning and developing institution for customers and employees. Creating something innovative and unseen is the company’s priority. It aims to always surprise the market with new experiments with fashion, and long-lasting impactful statement clothing.
According to Mr. Kaul, countries like Vietnam and Bangladesh are getting a lot of business and witnessing huge investments because India is missing collaborations. The country has a lot of potential; all that is needed is a means to achieve it.
India has everything required for a good growth – garments, talent, manpower and technology. But collaborations are needed to expand and build capacities.
What future holds
Arvind has moved forward with its collaborations and unparalleled vision. It has made a mark on the market with its product design, IT and customer-focused environment. It is a company working under an umbrella of innovation driven vision. The company, as Mr. Susheel Kaul stated, is taking a very good shape in technology, fabric and performance. Comfort of the employees and fulfilling the customer’s ideas will always be its priority.
Arvind operates on the mantra of ‘customer is divine’. It is a company ready to do what the customer desires. It values the partnerships through which it has developed and grown in sales and size. The company itself has a vision, of looking ahead and growing further. To make a difference in the society is not an easy task, but Arvind has done it, and the company is continuously moving towards the future successes with this agenda in mind.