Birla Cellulose, the fibre business of Grasim Industries and part of the Aditya Birla Group, has been steadily increasing its engagement with its customers with solutions ranging from fibre to yarn and to fabric and apparels, with a view to collaborating and adding value to its product offerings. As part of its initiatives to have a closer connect with all the different stakeholders in the textile supply chain, as well as to disseminate information on the latest technologies and strategies that can help its customers optimize their produce, Birla Cellulose has been regularly conducting workshops. The latest was the ‘Birla Cellulosic Fibres Technical Workshop’ held in Coimbatore on February 15.
The workshop featured a series of informative presentations made both by the company’s executives and representatives from other organizations. Mr. Ashwin Ladhha, Senior VP – Sales – India, welcomed the gathering on the occasion. A brief overview of Birla Cellulose’s business was provided by Mr. Natarajan, General Manager of the company. This was followed by the technical presentations, the first of which dealt with the benefits of modernization of spinning mills by Mr. Srinivasan, Head – L&C, South India Textile Research Association (SITRA), Coimbatore.
The textile industry has been at the receiving end of the topsy-turvy global economic upheavals in recent times. Recessionary trends have had their debilitating impact on the textile industry. The trends have necessitated greater emphasis on sustainable manufacturing strategies and investment.
In his presentation, Mr. Ramanthan, GM – Sales & Marketing, Lakshmi Machine Works (LMW), spoke on how technical solutions could help unlock value with minimum capex. This was followed by insights into new technology updates with respect to spinning systems from LMW by Mr. Baskar, GM – Technical Sales of the company.
Unlocking value and optimizing the production process was once again the underlying theme of the next presentation from Mr. Shankar Babu, Sales Manager – South India, Inditech. The focus of the presentation was on effective sizing and weaving and looking beyond spinning to unlock value. Mr. Shankar Babu gave insights on the topic citing examples of Inditech’s experience with Tsudakoma weaving machines, a top Japanese brand that the company represents in the Indian market.
It is a well-known fact that Birla Cellulose is a pioneer in producing viscose fibre. The Birla Cellulose Textile Research and Development Centre (TRADC) has been playing a key role in new application and product development. The Vice President of Grasim – TRADC, Mr. Sushil Hada, threw light on the R&D initiatives of the company, and offered inputs on a key technical solution vis-à-vis processing and improving piling at the fabric stage.
The presentation from Mr. Rajesh Vatalia, AGM, Grasim, dealt with LIVA, the new age fabric using natural fibres and LIVA Accredited Partner Forum (LAPF) and the expectations of its members. This was followed by two more interesting presentations on ‘New Fiber Development: Value Proposition’ and ‘Journey of Quality Assurance Improvements’, by Mr. Vishvajit, AGM, Grasim PFIC, and Mr. Mitul, Grasim PFIC, respectively.
The Aditya Birla Group is known for its innovative ideas. The latest innovation is an engaging and interactive portal, ‘Hello Bosstomer’, exclusively meant for the group’s employees to come out with and share solutions that enhance customer centricity.
The final presentation of the day, from Mr. Natarajan, gave an outline of this unique initiative and how it is enabling creation of value for the customer as well as the group’s businesses.