Company to launch two state-of-the-art machines – a latest winding machine and an Airjet spinning machine, apart from unveiling ‘LMW PACE’, a new aftermarket initiative, at the event.
Come December 8th, all roads will be leading to Lakshmi Machine Works Limited’s (LMW) booth at the India ITME 2022 trade show. The pioneer among Indian textile machinery manufacturers is all set to rock at a global mega event, once again. With two new product launches and a new customer service strategy, the company’s booth is going to be the cynosure of all eyes at the event.
The Indian spinning industry has evolved over the last few decades and one area where this is clearly manifested is the range of material being spun and technology being used. India offers entire range of yarns – from the coarsest to finest counts. One of the key drivers of this success is the contributions from LMW. It would not be wrong in saying that the growth of Indian Textile industry across the world has been had in hand with the adoption of products and solutions from LMW by the Indian spinning sector.
Founded in the year 1962, LMW is today is one of the very few companies in the world that offer the complete range of spinning machinery -from Blowroom to Winder. LMW’s beginnings can be attributed to the foresight of its visionary founder, late Dr. G K Devarajulu who understood that for India to become a powerhouse in textile sector, self-reliance was essential. It is this vision that LMW has carried forward to this day. LMW has invested heavily in R&D to ensure Indian and global customers are offered superior value through cutting edge technology. With a clear focus on sustainability and digitalisation, LMW is all set to fulfil the textile industry’s future needs as well. LMW has embarked on a mission to provide unmatched value to customers and this shall be achieved through its ‘Smart Solutions for Spinning Success’, or ‘4S’ as it is popularly referred to.
What exactly is 4S?
The SMART concept from LMW is based on 9 fundamental principles including:
- Machines and solutions that are built to deliver superior value
- Focus on Mission Critical Automation
- Leveraging technology like IoT and the world wide web to offer connected machines for informed decision making
- Incorporating technology that makes LMW machines adaptable to dynamic operating parameters
- Machines that are built to suit any spinning application
- Products and solutions that are backed by extensive in-house research
- Co-creation of customer success
- Superior customer service and
- Ensuring sustainability for the customer in a VUCA world.
Let us now look at each of these principles in detail
- Delivering superior value – What is superior value in a nutshell?
a. Giving customers the flexibility to choose from a wide range of products that suit their nature of business.
b. Every product designed to ensure best-in-class yarn realization
c. Machines that maximize productivity without compromising on quality
d. Ensuring sustainability – energy efficient solutions that maximize profits while reducing carbon footprint
e. Lowest cost-of-ownership
f. Quickest ROI
g. Hassle-free ownership experience
- Mission critical automation for customer’s competitive advantage
a. It makes no sense in cramming technology to automate every operation. Technology does not come cheap and quite often, the customer needs to accommodate higher investments to buy machines with end to end automation thereby sacrificing profitability and competitiveness. Let us take for example the case of India, where labour is still relatively cheap. Machines supplied in India should be automated just enough to ensure hazardous or physically demanding operations are automated to save time and ensure safety. Automating any other operation that can be effectively and efficiently undertaken using manpower ends up adding to cost and hampering the customer’s ability to compete globally. LMW has presented customers with configurable automation in various products and some of the examples are
i. Advanced AUTOBLEND – Delivering superior homogeneity while reducing manpower dependence and cycle time.
ii. Lap Transportation System (LTS), Roving Transportation System (RTS), Automated Can Changers, Auto Doffing – Higher efficiency with reduced manpower dependence and operator fatigue.
iii. Rapid Auto Piecing (RAP) for reduced downtime with higher productivity and consistent quality
iv. Yarn Breakage System + Roving Stop Motion (YBS + RSM) – Reduced downtime and lower wastage with minimal operator fatigue.
3. Connected machines for informed decision making – Helping organisations include live machine data in strategic decision making
a. SPINCONNECT – State of the art system using IoT and www that provides users with real time data analytics and reporting
b. Enabling users to remotely monitor health of the mill
c. Quick and preventive interventions through remote diagnosis of issues.
d. Exhaustive MIS and Dashboards
e. Smart approach – easy integration with previous generation machines
f. All information can be accessed on the go
- Machines that are built to accommodate diverse operating conditions and still deliver consistent performance:
a. Variation in raw material parameters often involves complex and time consuming setting adjustments in machines that negatively impact profitability for the customer. LMW machines come with technology that does two things- minor variations are accommodated without changes to ensure consistent delivery and in case setting changes are required, the easy HMI does the job in a jiffy
b. Delivering a wide spectrum of counts with minimal interventions is how our SMART machines make life easy for mills
c. LMW machines can take a beating and still keep going strong and long. There are multiple mills where 30 plus year old LMW machines are still working non-stop, delivering top-notch product quality.
d. Power variations are common in India and other markets where spinning sector is prominent. LMW machines are SMART – they can work under fluctuating power input conditions without missing a beat thereby increasing uptime and providing consistent quality.
- Compatibility with a wide range of applications
Versatility is in the DNA of LMW machines – be it any application- Carded, Combed, Blends, Melange, Synthetics, OE or Airjet, LMW machines are built to deliver superior and consistent quality.
- Extensive in-house research forms the backbone of imbuing SMART in LMW machines.
The company, LMW, has over the decades fostered a culture of innovation. The brightest minds are handpicked and given the freedom and infrastructure to try, fail and never give up till a breakthrough is achieved. The 250+ live patents are a testament to the company’s commitment towards innovation.
Reliability is a major factor that ensures customer success. Towards ensuring the same, the company has invested in a state of the art reliability lab that can mimic a variety of operating parameters. LMW machines and components are put through a rigorous regimen at this lab before releasing to market thereby ensuring peace of mind to customers and the confidence to take strategic decisions. LMW’s NABL certified metrology lab is one of its kind in this domain and ensures unmatched quality machines and components.
- Co creating customer success – At LMW, success is not created in their factories…. It is all about the customer.
LMW plays close heed to feedback and suggestions from its massive customer base. IT enabled systems are in place to regularly collect and analyse this valuable set of data. Voice of Customer forms a critical part of strategy making at LMW. The company focusses on regular collaborative working sessions with customers to capture stated and unstated needs. It also focusses on ensuring the mill operators are trained to get the maximum out of their machines and towards this, Mill operator training programmes are regularly held at LMW. Mill owners also benefit from knowing what mill parameters to track and from knowing the basics of the machines that make up their mills. LMW provides separate high-end training for mill owners to help them achieve exactly that.
- Superior customer service – LMW PACE
At the India ITME 2022, LMW is launching its customer centric programme for life cycle service of machines and solutions called LMW PACE. PACE stands for Professional Aftermarket Care for Excellence. PACE shall incorporate all aftermarket activities under one umbrella, thereby giving customers a seamless and hassle free ownership experience.
LMW had recently launched an online facility for customers across the globe for registering complaints, suggestions, feedback etc. This data is fed directly to relevant teams who not only ensure quick redressal but also analyse and infer this data for improvement in product and service offerings.
- Ensuring sustainability
Textile production process involves consumption of non-renewable resources, high water usage, emission to air and water, and plastic microfibers discharge to water bodies. In addition, textile production emits 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases annually. Only 1% of clothing is currently recycled back into clothing. Of the total fiber input used for clothing 73% goes to landfill. The value chain incorporates not only the physical processes, such as farms and factories, but also the business models and the way products are designed, promoted and offered to consumers. All stakeholders have a role to play in bringing about a sustainable and circular textile value chain.
LMW machines are built to achieve the following
i. Reduce environmental footprint
ii. Reduce resource dependency
iii. Minimize waste
iv. Generate increased income
The ways in which LMW directly contributes to sustainability include:-
i. Over 6 decades of expertise in Spinning Machinery manufacturing – Offering sustainable smart machinery for lower power consumption, higher productivity and superior quality
v. Reducing wastage through process control with state-of-the-art modern manufacturing facilities
vi. Utilization of renewable energy for operations (46 MW)
vii. Effluent treatment plants for recycling and effective utilization of water resources for process and greenery
viii. Skill development and manpower training for higher productivity, increased lifetime and waste reduction
ix. Reducing carbon footprint by increasing plantation and greenery, fossil fuel reduction and energy conservation and moving towards carbon neutral
x. Sustainable packaging – Reduce, Reuse & Recycle
xi. Preparatory machines for Ring and Open-End Application
xii. Ring frame suitable to spin recycled yarn
xiii. Due to recycling of yarn, approximately 8000 – 10000 litres of water used for producing per kg of cotton can be conserved
LMW @ India ITME 2022
As mentioned earlier the company is launching two new state-of-the-art machines – a latest winding machine and an Airjet spinning machine, apart from the launch of LMW PACE, the new aftermarket offering from the company, at the mega textile trade show.
In addition to the above, LMW shall also be displaying the latest Ringframe Auto Piecing solution, the wider width Carding Solution with CDS and the twin delivery Draw Frame, which is a must have for space saving in mills.