Lakshmi Ring Travellers (CBE) Ltd. (LRT) will focus on Express Travellers at ITMA 2011. This is a breakthrough technology which has set industry benchmark in performance of ring travellers and is the result of years of R&D in this sophisticated field, says Mr. J.M. Balaji, Head – Marketing, LRT.
At ITMA, LRT will be displaying the entire range of ring travellers and application tools. Mr. Balaji says: “As LRT is the largest manufacturer of ring travellers in the world, the main focus at ITMA would be to connect with the customers better and provide solutions to our customers to further enhance the productivity and quality of yarn by understanding the customer needs better”.
Express travellers are manufactured with unique process for better and uniform microstructure. Further, an advanced coating has been done with fine dry lubricants. This combination facilitates attainment of higher speeds, better glidability, lesser heat generation, improved wear resistance hence longer life, enhanced corrosion protection and helps in achieving maximum speed in synthetics quickly.
LRT, part of the LMW Group, started its operation in 1974. LRT has two units manufacturing ring travellers, one at Hosur and the other at Anamallai, near Coimbatore. The company is currently expanding its capacity by setting up a new plant. “We are presently expanding our manufacturing facility by setting up a new plant in Coimbatore. The plant should be operational by the end of this year. We foresee a good growth in future, and hence to meet the customer requirements in time we are expanding our facilities”, says Mr. Balaji.
LRT is clearly the dominant player in the ring traveller segment with a 76 per cent market share in the Indian market and 30-70 per cent market share in most of the other countries in which it operates. Currently 30 per cent of LRT’s business is from exports to over 40 countries, and travellers manufactured by the company are working in over 45 million spindles worldwide. “Our objective is to be the preferred source for ring travellers in all countries we operate in. At present we are either number 1 or 2 in most of the export markets”, adds Mr. Balaji.
LRT has a joint venture with CAIPO Automazione Industriale SRL for manufacturing slub & core yarn systems in India. In just three years Lakshmi Caipo has established market leadership for slub and core yarns in India with over 250,000 spindles running with Lakshmi Caipo slub and core attachments.
Slub & core yarn has gained worldwide acceptance as fashion yarn, especially in denims, home furnishing fabrics, shirtings, women fabric and knitting products. In fact, variations of slub yarn are the basic inputs for fabric in almost all the denim products in the market. The international market for slub yarn is currently pegged at around 2-3 per cent of all yarn produced in the world. Demand is expected to grow to double digits in the next few years.
Value-added products like slub yarn command a good premium compared to the normal yarn. In today’s highly competitive market where margins are very thin for the normal yarns, it is more profitable for spinners to venture into fashion yarns. India by default has a huge potential to supply fashion yarn to the world market. In the near future India will be one amongst the leading suppliers of slub & core yarn to the global market.