T.Vijayakumar’s competent leadership
Behind every successful business there is an idea brought into existence by the pioneers and taken ahead by the executors.
Indah Jaya is an archetype of one such business idea and the most efficient execution, with a blend of innovation. In its lifetime of more than half a century, Indah Jaya has created many milestones and has emerged as the biggest terry towels manufacturer in Indonesia.
Mr. T. Vijayakumar, who became a part of this journey in 2005, has been like a ladder for the company ever since, and has helped Indah Jaya achieve even greater heights. He is currently the Technical Director of the company, handling projects and all technical part of the mills.
With its current record and progress, Indah Jaya has become a company to be reckoned with. The company which was already a leader in terry towels which were sold under its own brand, started spinning with second-hand machines in 2002 with 65,000 spindles and it was already producing 18 tons of cotton yarn every day for its own use and for local market.
Mr. Vijayakumar joined the company in 2005 and it flourished further. It modernized and increased its capacity; it also added a new company, called Spinmill. By 2010 the company raised the total number of spindles to 1,80,000. This included high tech ring spinning machines, pre spinning and rowing machines from LMW and Rieter, using which the whole mill was modern model. From 2005 onwards the old mill Indah Jaya, with second-hand machineries, were modernized with latest technology machines from Rieter and LMW and the capacity was increased to 80,000 spindles in Indah Jaya and in totality the company owned 2,60,000 and 4,000 rotors in 2010, setting a benchmark for the textile manufacturers at the time.
The company recently expanded in weaving sector by adding around 90 looms of Dornier make and gaining ownership of around 200 looms. The company joined hands with Apak-Inti Corporation in 2016-17 and undertook job work for the mill. The well reputed mill was the biggest denim manufacturer and became a notable part of the group when Indah Jaya took over the company in 2017, by holding major share.
Apac Inti Corporation has around 3,50,000 spindles. The company’s future prospects include modernizing the acquired mills, 
and as a first step most of the carding machines, finisher drawing machines, ring spinning and autoconers were modernized and more than 15 million invested last year and investment worth 10 to 20 million has been planned for the present year.
The group has created new milestones each year since its inception, and presently, it owns six lakh spindles and 8,000 rotor machines. It plans to expand its weaving facilities in order to accomplish the target of consuming 50% of in-house yarn production. The company has been producing its own fabric too and aims to expand fabric production further.
Indah Jaya is predominantly a cotton yarn manufacturer, and one of the top companies of Indonesia. Today the company produced best quality yarn at appropriate prices which can give competition to any global player. The company produces 230 tons of cotton yarn per day, at Indah Jaya and spin mill alone.
Another mill produces 150 tons of cotton and synthetic yarn every day, which the company plans to take up to 220 tons per day, within a year. The company’s major hold is on the spinning sector, but it is expanding continuously. It recently took over a knitting and processing unit for diversification and growth purposes.
The company uses the latest technology machinery to keep an edge above the competition. It has 100% compact mills with 40% Rieter and 60% Lakshmi spindles. The mills also have Lakshmi rowing and 20% Lakshmi combing machines and ringframe 50% Rieter and 50% LMW. The mills also have Rieter cards in Indah Jaya and spin mill and LMW cards in Apac Inti.
They have recently started employing RSBD 40 and are currently the biggest customers of RSBD 50 of which they have 28 employed. For winding the company uses Schlafhorst ACX5, AC6 and SAVIO POLAR (40%), and a 50:50 combination of Sudokoma and Donear. Sizing and warping machines of Beninger. The company is buying machines from Prashant as well.
The company also has a small, separate kitting and processing division which produces 4 tons of goods every day majorly for the company’s own consumption and also for selling in the market. It has taken over 100 knitting machines from a mill in Jakarta.
As Mr. Vijayakumar stated, what has taken Indah Jaya this far as a group is its aim for continuous growth and investment to accomplish that growth. What has helped accelerate the group’s growth is the fast decision making by the management.
When he joined the group, he was told “we have to be the biggest” and that is how Mr. Vijayakumar was a part of the organization to help accomplish the group objective. He has worked towards making the company stand tall in the Indonesian and international market. In the beginning the group had only two mills, but today the number has risen to seven, and another seven from a different branch, making it a total of 14 mills situated at three prosperous locations in Indonesia.
Mr. Vijayakumar, like many others, was from a middle class family. On his father’s advice he studied textile engineering and with his tremendous hard work created a name for himself in this field. He got his B.Tech in Textiles from PSGH College of Technology. Before getting into textiles job he served as a professor, and later worked for many renowned companies of the textile industry. In his entire journey of finding the right place for himself, he always wanted to do something different and intriguing.
In 2005 he got an offer to join Indah Jaya. After taking his first walk around the mill, Mr. Vijayakumar was faced with the question, “with these machines can we sell the yarn?”, and he became a driving force for the company after he replied with an “yes”.
Initially the quality of yarn produced by the mills was barely up to the mark, but it started improving with Mr. Vijayakumar’s guidance. He started maintaining all the critical areas and focused on improving all the major areas in which the mills lagged behind. The company was ready to sell the yarn within a month of his joining and within a year the company was among the top segment players of the sector. This gave the company confidence to expand and explore other areas as the yarn was already enjoying a lot of demand. This led to the setting up of another yarn production unit.
Mr. Vijayakumar excels in raw material management and utilization. It is due to his expertise that the company can give a tough fight to any big multinational producer in making the best use of the cheapest raw materials. As he said: “Cotton is a segment where you can manipulate raw material, buy a cheaper raw material and work on it to make a better yarn out of it.”
Improving the quality of the raw material is something that cannot be done with synthetic fibers and, therefore, the company keeps its focus completely on cotton.
Because of his knowledge of handling raw materials, Mr. Vijayakumar was into bale management from the very beginning. Many mills don’t get into details of bale management, but he has tried different combinations and improved the concept over the years, and so he applied that knowledge in the best way to extract most out of the available raw materials.
According to him, the biggest USP of the company has been the kind of raw material used to make the yarn. Cotton is imported from the US, Australia and Brazil, with clearly defined specifications which makes it a very unique type of yarn.
Previously Mr. Vijayakumar’s role was to undertake all the spinning-related operations, but starting in 2017 he is also given the responsibility to help in weaving. He aims to make this department as big as spinning by expanding the workforce and innovating this sector for the company.
Quality products of the company
By 2010 Indah Jaya was already turning out top quality products and has expanded its capacity several times. A project taken up by the company in the same year made it very popular in the Chinese market. In totality, the company sells 220 tons of yarn in China and a small part in the Japanese market. The yarn has gained so much popularity in the market that it does not need any marketing managers or marketing strategies and campaigns to attract buyers. It is sold as soon as it reaches the market.
The company was nominated for the best manufacturer’s award and was highly recommended. The products are highly popular praised as the yarn is very rare and not easily available. The yarns are sold with low-profile agents in China. This is because not many manufacturers produce carded compact yarn, and even if they try to manufacture it the yarn is not contamination free. The reason why Indah Jaya can make this type of yarn perfectly is the kind of raw material they use. The company use only 100% American cotton for its carded compact yarn, and this type of cotton is not very easy to handle.
The company has mastered the use of this cotton with the help of Mr. Vijayakumar and the expertise gained by handling volumes of raw material at once. The company produces a very consistent cotton yarn quality and this is one of the biggest importers of cotton fibre in the world.
The company future
The company imports 11,000 tons of cotton every month and the future goal is to increase this number to 13,000-15,000 tons. The company is slowly moving towards expansion in home textiles, a future prospect for which the company is searching a good marketing team. A fully-owned, in-house brand might also be introduced by the company for apparel, which terry polymer’s powerful presence in the Japanese market could be a big aid.
Mr. Vijayakumar’s Vision 2025
In the next few years the management has aims to increase the in-house yarn consumption to minimum 50% although the target is 70%. Also, the company will focus on having an in-house apparel brand, in Indonesia at least. It plans to make investments in weaving and processing sector could be initiated as well.
The company is already the best in the spinning sector, both in terms of efficiency and quality. In fact, as Mr. Vijayakumar quoted, “the yarn doesn’t even have to be marketed, it sells itself.” The company faces no competition when it comes to the spinning sector, and it has never face reduced production in the past eight years.
The weaving segment of the company is moving further with each passing day. Although it is not the best, the company aims to add it in the top segments within a year. There are possibilities of acquisitions and investments as well in this sector.
Moreover, the company does not want to venture into any other markets in the short run at least, but expansion in garments through its own brand is possible.
Comments on the Indonesian market
The Indonesian business is at a critical point with the Chinese players entering the Indonesian markets, which has restricted the local manufacturers. Commenting on this situation, Mr. Vijayakumar said that Indonesia has a much disciplined workforce, but the advantage that the Chinese companies carry with themselves is their modernized machines. Ten years back, the Indonesian market was flourishing and even now TC yarn produced by the Indonesian manufacturers faces no competition and the air jet yarn has no parallels. No country is as good as Indonesia, and the yarn with all the suppliers is top class. The companies are very systematic and well organized, the only limit being lack of modernization.
In Indonesia, labor and power is not an issue, but all the cotton has to be imported and is very difficult to handle. But Indonesia has the knowhow to handle the raw materials efficiently. The USP here is proper mixing and blending of cotton and efficient bale management tactics.
Even at Indah Jaya, the average lot cut is 15 days. One can only imagine how efficient the systems have to be to manage such short-term lot cuts. The systems have to be perfect and there can be no loops, which is the specialty of the company.
Sustainability and Industry 4.0 measures
For its efficient working in the future, Indah Jaya focuses on implementing proper sustainability and Industry 4.0 standards. The company is already working towards these standards and the machines are already being connected to the company’s own server for monitoring and maintenance. The company has already signed a contract with Rieter for UPTIME and installed online monitoring system with KALKI and continuously working with such suppliers to improve the components life which help to maintain and quality in the long run.
As Mr. Vijayakumar said: “Our mills are working aggressively towards further upgradation, and these processes have been carried out manually for 5-6 years already and will be done automatically, soon.”
The new standard will not only help the environment but will be a great opportunity to save a lot of cost on machinery as well, because through these new innovations the machinery life can be prolonged by 5-6 years. “Data is going to be the future”, Mr. Vijayakumar said. One can become very efficient and productive; instead of routine maintenance one can do predictive maintenance which would save a lot of time and energy.
Technology today is focused on developing solution through which one would want to change the existing machinery because it has become obsolete and not because it is no longer functional. It is not only a revolution but also the need of the hour.
With the help of Mr. Vijayakumar, Indah Jaya has accomplished a lot and has developed several-fold. It has been innovating and improving its work standards continuously, and incorporating these innovative solutions and aiming high for the future, Indah Jaya is moving towards an ever more prosperous path in its journey.
Systems have helped to run the mills with minimum technically qualified people and without supervisory staff.