Garware-Wall Ropes Ltd. (GWRL), India’s leading technical textiles company, changed its corporate brand name and identity to Garware Technical Fibres Ltd. (GTFL). The rebranding is part of a focused vision to double its profit over the next five to seven years and be one of the top two players globally in each of its major operating verticals.
“Over the past four decades, we’ve built a strong reputation for quality, value addition and application-focused innovation, and we wanted this to reflect in our name and brand,” said Mr. Vayu Garware, GTFL Chairman & Managing Director. “Our solution segments are niche and all these segments impact the larger economy. For example, among others, our solutions are focused on progress and productivity for agriculture and fisheries, which typically constitutes almost 14% to 15% of India’s GDP. The next five to seven years will be very important for us as we look forward to double our profits, and this we will achieve by being one of the top two in each of our major verticals.”
GTFL, an ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 9001:2015 certified company, is a prominent player in technical textiles, providing customized solutions to its customers worldwide. At the global level, the company is known for its applied innovation in the field of sports, fisheries, aquaculture, shipping, agriculture, coated fabrics and geosynthetics. Its products are manufactured in state-of-art facilities at Wai and Pune and marketed in 75 countries.
Garware caters to various segments like aquaculture, sports nets, agriculture, geotextiles, etc., more through our diverse range of netting products, ropes, coated fabric and others. ‘Technical Fibres’ is part of our new name, as fibres or yarns are the core of what gives its products and solutions the properties to succeed in the applications in which they are employed. This is the core of its capability. That’s why ‘fibres’.
The company’s products are technical and cater to customers who understand their application and the technology. Since both ‘technical’ and ‘fibres’ are fundamental to Garware’s value proposition, the company has decided to have these terms as part of its new name. It achieved a revenue of Rs. 506 crores during the first half of the current financial year.
GTFL has leveraged its technological expertise in the engineering of polymers and its in-house capabilities in areas such as extrusion, knitting, wet processing, fabric weaving, coating and fabrication to build a highly diversified product portfolio, which covers several industry segments. The company is today the manufacturer of multiple types of technical textiles for applications as diverse as deep-sea fishing, global shipping, aquaculture, sports, protected agriculture, environmental protection, infrastructure development, safe transportation, building construction, and highly specialized Defence requirements.
The end-users range from individual entrepreneurs to large corporations and government agencies. Significantly, in each of the application areas, value-added products constitute a large share of the business, giving the company the financial muscle to weather unfavourable business cycles in particular segments or geographies and invest in application-focused research, market development, strengthening of distribution channels and enhanced customer servicing.
Strategizing for excellence
GTFL has made strategic moves to improve its manufacturing, marketing and delivery capabilities and enhance its most valuable asset, namely, its people, to achieve excellence in all areas of its operations. Both the manufacturing plants of the company are ISO-certified and follow global practices of operational excellence like Jishu Hozen (JH) tools for autonomous maintenance, Total Quality Management (TQM), Kaizen for continuous improvement, and the 5S framework for efficiency and effectiveness.
Working on a long-term strategic plan, the company has identified its niche in the large and growing global market for technical textiles and drawn clear plans to expand its presence in specific sectors and product lines. Increasing its knowledge of applications and bolstering its connect with customers and markets, the company has planned and executed sharply defined and closely monitored efforts to improve relevant processes.