Four decades of successful partnership with Indian machinery manufacturers
The history of the technical development of web run without controls into process-controlled web guiding is the history of Erhardt+Leimer. In its 100 years of operations, E+L has developed from a maker of industrial clocks and signal systems to a globally known, competent partner for system solutions on moving webs in the textile, paper, printing, packaging, corrugated cardboard, film, tyre, rubber and nonwoven fabrics industries. Ganesh Kalidas speaks to senior executives of the company’s management to get a sense of E+L’s global and Indian operations
It takes guts and passion to rise from the dust, but taking on the dynamic market and moving forward with futuristic vision is what leads to growth in the present industry. And this is absolutely true in the case of Erhardt+Leimer. With every innovation that the company has introduced, it has grown leaps and bounds. The enterprise started as a small clock-making workshop and gradually turned into a million-dollar conglomerate with branches all over the world. Bit by bit, the company has expanded into textiles, paper manufacturing, printing, nonwoven fabrics and also forayed with pioneering projects into the space of digital technology. Today, it celebrates a century of setting milestones for generations to follow.
Erhardt+Leimer India
Erhardt+Leimer (E+L) set foot in India in 1970, intending to change the Indian textile processing industry. They were not just another company but a wave of new thought. At the time, India was a closed market and most goods were domestically produced. The strategy was to explore the textile market as the company’s roots were set deep into the sector. However, the initial days posed many hurdles for Erhardt+Leimer. At first, the company had licensed the products to Indian companies but they soon realised that only by having a more direct presence in the market would they be able to make an impact on the market. Thus was born Erhardt+Leimer India (P) Ltd. in 1978 as a joint venture with ATE which was representing European textile machinery manufacturers like Truetzschler, Stork, Karl Maier, etc.
But the entry of E+L in the Indian market was like baptism by fire. The commencement of operations in 1981 coincided with a year-long strike in the textile industry that led to a structural change with composite textile mills giving way to a new format consisting of companies specialising in spinning, weaving or processing. In its fight for survival, the company management at the time decided to diversify its operations to include non-textile products to fill up capacity as well as reduce its exclusive dependence on the textile industry. And so, it was able to survive the hit as well as establish itself in the dividing market.
Within two years the planning and implementation of a newly devised strategy brought unforeseen success to the company. “We have truly crossed several milestones in our journey. In 1983, with the after-effects of the textile strike which resulted in the closure of 40% of textile mills, we decided to open another revenue channel by offering products for the flexible packaging industry,” recalls Rajaram Seshadri, Managing Director, E+L India. This was the turning point in the company’s fortunes. Starting from 1983, the company has been continuously introducing new products for applications not only in the textile and flexible packaging sectors but other industries as well, offering solutions in its area of core competence – web control and automation.
Today the company is a market leader for most of the products in all the industry verticals it operates in, which include textiles, printing and packaging, paper manufacturing, rubber and tyre and corrugating. The company also has a separate control and automation division offering customised solutions for machine and process automation. Presently, it exports to 19 different countries across the globe, including the US, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, China, the Gulf nations and parts of East Africa. Hannelore Leimer, President, E+L GmbH, believes that entering into the Indian market was a learning experience. For over 40 years, gaining insights into the Indian market and how the workforce and consumers operate has been a significant learning curve for the Indian subsidiary.
In fact, the Indian operations contribute significantly with 60% of E+L Group’s total business derived from the Asian region. Interestingly, starting with manufacturing and marketing products solely for the Indian market the company is now developing as a manufacturing hub for the E+L Group. Dr. Michael Proeller, CEO, Erhardt+Leimer GmbH, remarks that the company has always seen a lot of potential in the Indian subsidiary and expects E+L India to lay a larger role in the E+L Group to achieve its global objectives. Although Asia as a whole is an important market for the company, E+L India contributes by manufacturing specific products for its global requirements which are sold by all E+L subsidiaries around the world.
Education and training
Achieving goals is always a long-term affair and not only takes time but also rigorous effort to build a company. The reason why E+L’s Indian subsidiary is progressing at a commendable rate is the adoption of German technology and methods. According to Dr. Proeller, Indian employees pick up the processes very quickly and accurately. The production of products as per German quality norms requires a highly skilled and motivated workforce. “To reach the targeted milestones a company has to progress continuously. We are selling a technical product and certain standards are to be taken care of to develop it and certain skills to implement it accurately,” he says.
Within Erhardt+Leimer, research is given high importance. Innovation takes a significant amount of time and a skilled team is needed to carry out the task flawlessly. The company has always been engaged in breaking its records to produce the best products. “Each time one buys an Erhardt+Leimer product it is a given fact that the quality is assured and that is the reason why quality and reliability are two of the best known features of their products,” Dr. Proeller says. And to achieve such benchmarks, E+L gives importance to providing the right training to its staff. Dr. Proeller also believes that education is a huge factor in determining the success of any country in any field.
“With India, it is not simply about having a company and focusing on profits alone; society as a whole needs to grow. India’s growth does not lie only in technology but in providing correct education to all,” he opines. Given this vision, E+L India will soon have a high-class training centre where the potential and existing workforce will be able to polish their skills. Dr. Proeller believes that to handle and implement complex technology there must be thorough knowledge of the subject at all levels of the workforce. “Today we are a medium-sized company with 270 employees and now in a position to pay serious attention to education and training. We have the necessary bandwidth to do so,” he says.
The new Indian scenario
Erhardt+Leimer’s current facility is spread over 52,000 sq. metres. The manufacturing facility is spread over 9,000 sq. metres while 2,500 sq. metres is used for office space. Expansion of production facility by an additional 12,000 sq. metres is on the cards over the next 2-3 years. Expansions are a critical part of any company’s growth and Erhardt+Leimer would like to make the best use of the available opportunities to spread its wings. Currently, exports account for only 10-12% of the company’s revenue but the scenario will change soon, according to Seshadri. By 2021 the company aims to double its exports which will not only require resources but skilled manpower too.
Getting skilled manpower has been a big challenge for the company and is one of the reasons why it aims to build a vocational training facility which will serve a social purpose also. The company and its employees have grown significantly in their quality and quantity since Erhardt+Leimer commenced operations in India. One of the important milestones for the Indian company was the implementation of the SAP system in the year 2000 that has enabled it to integrate its operations with the parent company. Today, the E+L Group has integrated the operations of all its 14 companies through SAP and monitors the performance of the entire group.
Hannelore Leimer, who first visited India in 1970, mentions that India has witnessed tremendous growth over the last four decades and there are more opportunities for the young generation to explore, professionally. The country’s infrastructure has also developed. “Unlike many other countries, including China, India’s infrastructure has seen uniform growth in all regions of the country while in China certain cities that are economic centres have seen tremendous development while other regions have lagged behind,” she says.
The Indian market, Leimar observes, is quite significant for Erhardt+Leimer’s growth as it is still a developing market. The clientele is open to trying new products and better technology. The consumers want better quality products and leave space for any new venture that offers them what obsolete technology can’t. “For a company like E+L, which survives on being a pioneer in bringing innovative products to the market, India has been a rewarding experience,” she states. In India, for E+L all businesses have been growing at 10-12% CAGR and given India’s population and market size, E+L is bullish about the future.
Past, present and future
In 1977, when her father died, Hannelore Leimer, a woman with exceptional entrepreneurial skills, became the chairperson of the board and hasn’t looked back since. Under her supervision, the company’s technology progressed and innovations were developed at a steady gait. In its first year of operations in 1981, it achieved sales of Rs. 30 lakhs. When the company moved into its own premises 25 years later in 2006, the company’s turnover was Rs. 30 crores. According to Seshadri, the company has grown 400% from 2006 with budgeted sales of Rs. 120 crores in 2019. Hannelore Leimer sees sizable developments for the company in the coming 10 years. “We are currently focusing on our project of building a two-storey production facility along with a full-fledged training centre. I want to start manufacturing new products in India and make India a manufacturing hub for certain products,” she states.
Inspiron
Inspiron was formed out of ATE Group of Companies in 2006. Inspiron was a manufacturing division of ATE which started its activity in 1974 with production of aluminum alloy flyers for speed frame.
Our association (as part of ATE Group of Companies) with E+L Germany dates back to the year 1975. In 1978, a joint venture company Erhardt + Leimer Pvt. Ltd. was formed between E+L Germany and ATE, as partners. Prakash Bhagwati was a Founder Director in Erhardt + Leimer Pvt. Ltd. from the inception of the company till 2013.
Prakash Bhagwati, Chairman, Inspiron, said: “Two products of E+L has greatly enhanced the quality and technology of our Motex 15000 Stenter. They are KRS60 Infeed Device with FR55 Sensors and BTA8013 Edge Trimmer. The acceptance and success of our Motex 15000 Stenter machine for knit industry located in Tirupur area was achieved by use of above two devices from E+L. The waste generation of knit fabric on ends was greatly reduced when it was processed in open width form in our Stenter machine”.
“We wish E+L many more years of their existence. Further, we wish that they will remain market as well as technology leaders in providing effective solution by introducing newer products for handling of all types of webs including textile, paper, plastic, etc., for another 100 years”, said Prakash Bhagwati.
Stovec
Stovec’s association with E+L in India began in the mid 80’s and it has been a good experience with E+L products for more than 3 decades. Shailesh Wani, Managing Director, Stovec Industries, said: “Our parent company SPGPrints B.V., Netherlands (formerly known as Stork Prints) is also associated globally with E+L since 60’s, procuring web guiding equipment to control cloth positioning in the textile printing machines. At Stovec Industries, we are the pioneers in textile printing industry in India offering total system solutions, from textile screens, lacquers, inks and digital engraving to a broad range of rotary screen and digital printing systems since 1974. E+L is a competent partner for providing system solutions on moving webs and offers a range of various cloth guiding and centering solutions for different kind of substrates like stretchable knitted fabric with spandex, which is extremely important for a good quality printing. We have been dealing with E+L for their products like Edge guiders, Edge spreaders, Web spreaders & centering device to be used on our Infeed in Rotary screen printing machines and the journey so far has been prodigious. It has reaped benefits for both companies.”
Citing the reason for choosing E+L, Shailesh Wani observed: “It was chosen as the provider for the company after thorough market research, as every company looks into the technology, user-friendliness, machine’s accuracy and cost-effectiveness of the machinery. Commitment to consistency and quality has made E+L one of the most trusted brands for web guiding & spreading system solutions provider. They are market leaders for same from the past 100 years and will continue to remain so if it works with the same zeal.”
We appreciate ability of technical team of E+L for understanding our need and providing us solution on time for equipment’s supplied so far. Having used a lot of machine of other companies earlier, the experience with E+L has by far been the best.
“It is nice to be associated with E+L team and all the best to them for another prosperous 100 years in the Indian textile business. Stovec is proud to be a partner of this successful enterprise”, concluded Shailesh Wani.
Kuesters Calico
Sushil Verma, Managing Director, Kuesters Calico, said: “Since our inception from the year 1996, we have been using E+L products. E+L is known for their edge guider as well as other opening devices used for woven and knits articles. The most important for us is the product reliability, once we install it runs without any problems. As most of our machines are exported hence reliability plays an important role so we stick to the best suitable product and offer E+L accessories with our machines.
Recently, we have used LGA and SWS series of opening devices in our steamers and accumulators in close technical cooperation with E+L. We installed these devices in our newly designed steamers and accumulators and results are excellent. Such an example gives confidence to our valuable customers as we resolve their queries by providing correct solutions and in this process we get adequate support from E+L.
We are fully satisfied with their quality and timely technical support when ever required. We wish E+L better prospects in coming years and lets continue our efforts to revive and innovate new technologies which for sure will benefits our valuable customers at the end.
Yamuna Machine Works
Yamuna Machine Works has been working with E+L for more than 2 decades. Prashant Mangukia, Yamuna Machine Works, said: “E+L has played an important role in enhancing the quality of fabrics finished on our machines with their guiding systems. Certain accessories from E+L have also supported us in upgrading our technology as well as optimising the products produced on our machines.”
E+L has always supported us in development of new products where in their accessories have played an important role in the success of the project. One such project we recall is a special application in our technical textiles machine for nonwoven wherein we were able to accomplish a particular requirement from the customer by using E+L electro pneumatic brakes and tension control system for web guiding.
It has been a wonderful experience partnering with E+L during all these years. We wish them all the success and best wishes to keep contributing to the textile industry with their expertise and dedicated R&D.
Chopra-Dhall Group
Founded in 1959, Chopra-Dhall Group is one of the fastest growing brands in finishing and processing of woven and denim fabrics with over 2,500 clients across 30 countries. Our association with E+L spans over two decades and they have played a pivotal role in delivering high-quality, well-engineered products for our targeted applications. From Weft Straightening Device to Cloth Guider Assemblies – the entire portfolio of E+L has been used across our ranges for both local and export quality production environments.
We congratulate the entire E+L team on the 100th anniversary celebrations and look forward to a glorious future together.