NMK Textile Mills, owing to the growing demand of its quality goods, is planning to double its production capacity in the next 18 months with a new greenfield state-of-the-art made-up manufacturing unit. It plans to invest in automation not only in production but also in quality assurance, robotics and data analytics to bring out efficiencies of scale and reduction in defect rates to near zero
Established in 2006 in Mumbai, NMK Textile Mills India (P) Ltd. is an award-winning, leading player in product development, manufacturing and export of home textile products such as bed linen, duvet covers, pillow covers, quilts, comforters and other bedding products commonly referred to as ‘made-ups’ to leading retailers and now e-commerce sellers, globally. NMK Textile Mills has produced goods for private labels and national brands for departmental stores, mid-price stores, discount stores, speciality stores, catalogues and D2C brands in North America, South America, Europe, the UK and Japan.
The company has won several awards in the past, the most remarkable being the ‘ET Now Leaders of Tomorrow – SME of the Year 2020 – Textiles, Garments, Accessories’. Recently NMK Textile Mills has been ranked 7th in ‘India’s Top Exporter MSME 2021’ by The Economic Times ET RISE. The company’s Managing Director Rohit Mehrotra has also been selected as one of the seven ‘Global SME Champions’ by International Chambers of Commerce (ICC). When queried on the product range of the company, Mehrotra mentions that NMK Textile Mills designs, manufacturers and exports home textile products with the focus being on natural fibres, primarily 100% cotton.
According to him the company has a socially audited, C-TPAT-compliant made-up manufacturing facility in Bhiwandi on the outskirts of Mumbai. The unit has the capacity to produce over 1.2 million bed linen sets annually. “The company believes in the ‘Lean’ philosophy and has been following this journey of excellence for many years now. All our employees are well-versed with Lean culture and continuously use Lean tools like 5S, Kaizen, etc. as demonstrated at our workplace and in our products’ quality and services,” Rohit Mehrotra states. He further highlights the typical improvements the company has made in this Lean journey for excellence.
These include:
• On time in full (OTIF) supplies to customers
• Near to zero reduction in customer complaints and returns
• Creation of value-added process flow from raw material receipt to finish goods’ dispatch
• Improvement in overall throughput rate
• Improvement in overall equipment excellence (OEE)
• Improvement in labour productivity
• In-process rejection reduction
• Optimised inventory management
• Low-cost automation
• Creation of improvement-oriented culture
Sharing details about the company’s expansion plans in the near future, Director Bharat Mehrotra who looks after the operations of the company, states: “The competition is straightforward and it depends who can add more value for a customer and do a better job. NMK Textile Mills, owing to the growing demand of its quality goods, is planning to double its production capacity in the next 18 months with a new greenfield state-of-the-art made-up manufacturing unit. It plans to invest in automation not only in production but also in quality assurance, robotics and data analytics to bring out efficiencies of scale and reduction in defect rates to near zero. We are not in a sprint to beat others, but we are here to stay and take care of our long-term trajectory.”
As far as the company’s focus on innovations and technology is concerned, Rohit Mehrotra points out that NMK Textile Mills from day one has focussed on producing highest quality innovative and technologically superior products. It has been a front runner in not only developing newer products but has also been very successful in commercially producing them for its customers. “Be it various finishes, weaves, thread counts or innovative product packaging, NMK Textile Mills has always been a frontrunner in offering those to its customers. Cross-industry adaptations – be it from fashion world or from the furniture world – we have always been adapting those technologies and innovations and bringing them to the home textile industry,” he says.
Focus on Exports
NMK Textile Mills is export-focused. All its business comes from exports. Being a closely held private company and having non-disclosure agreement with most of its customers, the management does not disclose its customer base but is proud of having on board leading retailers and e-commerce sellers . Elaborating about the competitive edge offered by the company over its competitors, Rohit Mehrotra says: “Yes, every customer has many options. But it’s not about sourcing or producing or selling but more about building great partnerships, and NMK Textile Mills does that with each of its customers, employees and vendors. We believe in various mantras that have helped us achieve success.”
Mantras for Success
As Rohit Mehrotra puts it, there are some well-defined mantras that the company has adapted to help it move ahead at a consistent pace. These are:
• Your business is ‘very’ important to us. We focus on what you need and ensure every product we develop and every market that we sell to has customised solutions to cater to your customer in a cost-effective and on-time delivery schedule.
• We listen and react. Be it customer complaints, be it product quality or be it new technology, we listen to you and we ensure you get the best of what you are looking for. We just don’t sell goods – we design, develop and provide you solutions.
• We work with you as a team. We design and develop products by working with your product development team, your planning team and bring those products to the market in a timely manner by working with your quality control and supply chain team – it’s not about shipping an order – it’s about ensuring consumer delight when they get the products you have sold them. And then we work with your replenishment team to ensure that the correct product in the correct quantity is replenished to you in the timeframe that it’s needed in.
“Doing it right the first time by producing highest quality near-to-zero defect goods, we have the advantage of not charging the customer for defects or remaking. Our customers also enjoy a cost advantage and highest level of customer satisfaction due to near-to-zero returns. We have the highest level of customer reviews – which is now even more important than ever due to the ever-increasing demand of goods being sold online and reviews being a very important factor in influencing sales. We are able to achieve this by implementing world-class manufacturing systems and process improvements and we work with a team of highly qualified experienced professionals who are guiding and training us to become a world-class organisation,” Rohit Mehtrotra states.
Impressive Growth Rate
The company has been clocking impressive growth rates over the years. “Both top-line and profit margins of the company have increased year over year in a healthy manner; hence, adding shareholder value .We are growing at 22-25% on YOY basis – both top-line and bottom-line,” he informs. Throwing light on the company’s workforce, he points out that NMK Textile Mills practices gender equality. “We have an empowered women workforce and they add value and inspiration to our operations. In fact, they are the major pillars of our growth journey. We ensure utmost hygienic, safe and resourceful working environment for women employees. Our total team strength is 400+ members of which about 40% are women,” Rohit Mehtrotra informs.
Focus on Sustainability
The company has a strong sustainability focus. Sharing some of the key sustainability initiatives, Bharat Mehrotra mentions: “At NMK Textile Mills we place great emphasis on sustainability and are well-known as a supplier of sustainable home textiles. We follow the tenets of sustainability with responsible manufacturing through our policies, processes and certifications like GOTS-certified 100% organic cotton, STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX®, STeP by OEKO-TEX®
Prominently, NMK Textile Mills has a competitive edge since it is well-known for its high quality standards and emphasis on sustainability.”
Adapting Automation
The company has also been adopting automation in a big way. Sharing details, Rohit Mehrotra states: “We are focused on adopting automation in the manufacturing process. At NMK Textile Mills we have invested in ERP and all the production processes, inventory, etc. are monitored and controlled through this system. We are planning to install fabric inspection software for online quality monitoring and are also planning to invest in online monitoring software to capture live productivity in our product lines. We are setting up to progressively augment automation in all possible areas in the shop floor.”
“With the diversity in demand, the need for hybrid and highly fragmented value chains has increased. In order to emerge in effectively adopting digital technologies for rapid rate of high-quality production, accepting the revolution of Industry 4.0 becomes mandatory,” he adds. “The rapid advance of digital operation technologies and Industry 4.0 solutions represents a great opportunity to increase the competitiveness of the textile manufacturing industry. The increasing connectivity of functions across the value chains, smart connected products and data-driven services ensure a productivity increase of around 20%, savings in services and maintenance costs of up to 10-40% and increase in time to market of around 20%-50%,” he further states.
Ambitious Growth Plans
Sharing the company’s growth plans for 2025 and beyond, Rohit Mehrotra comments, “NMK Textile Mills has ambitious growth plans lined up for the future. We are now a recognised and formidable player in the bed linen product category. We also plan to enhance the infrastructure and base to grow as a much stronger player from India in the home textile category and we are very optimistic that our sales turnover would increase two-fold by 2025. The Indian textile industry has strength across the entire value chain from natural to man-made fibre to apparel to home furnishings. Its share in the nation’s GDP is 6% and in exports is 13%.”
“The textile sector is the second-largest employer after agriculture. Its share of global exports is around 5% whereas it was expected to rise quickly towards China’s level. The Chinese share in global exports is 39%. Vietnam and Bangladesh have shown remarkable success. Vietnam could achieve a peak export growth rate of 30% while Bangladesh could achieve a growth rate of 18%. Considering the targeted growth in exports, India should by then have a market share of 15% to 20% of the global textile market. This would maximise employment generation and value creation and NMK Textile Mills aims to be a world-class organisation and a large contributor in India’s growth journey,” he adds.