J.M Balaji
Head – Marketing
LRT and Lakshmi Caipo
TEXTILE VALUE CHAIN Interviewed Mr. J M Balaji, Head – Marketing LRT and Lakshmi Caipo. Mr.J.M, Balaji has over 25 years of experience in the Textiles, engineering and water treatment field. He has completed Master of Management studies (MMS) from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (Pilani) and also has a specialization in Master of foreign trade from Pondicherry University. He is Chairman – Events and Publications Sub- Committee , ITAMMA and is presently heading the global marketing operations at LRT
- How has been the journey in manufacturing since the beginning?
LRT was incorporated in 1974 and we started manufacturing Ring Travellers in collaboration with a Swiss company. Initially we started manufacturing record finish Travellers. As we wanted to be a global company, we came out of the collaboration in 1999 and ever since then we have developed many new profiles and finishes. Today we are the largest manufacture of Ring Travellers in the world catering to over 6000 spinning mills in over 45 countries. Our Travellers are used in over 60 Million spindles worldwide.
- What are some of the latest products introduced in the last few years?
We have developed many new products in the last few years for different applications. For compact, we have over 6 different profiles in various finishes for our customers to choose from. Many of them have been developed in the past few years. Many factors determine selection of travellers in compact. Major ones are – compacting system, spindle speeds, material twist per meter given and counts processed. We are proud to inform that we have the maximum range for compact and can proudly call ourselves – Compact Specialists.
All our finishes have gone for process changes which give improved life compared to the past. Our R&D is working on continuous improvement and this has been our strength.
Apart from Travellers we have launched new Manual and battery operated Fluff cleaning guns recently, which is a big hit.
- Automation is the latest in all industries. How has your company done in this section?
We are one of the very few companies who offer Traveller inserting devices and Travellers in Auto packing for decades now. This saves on manpower costs as well as time for insertion. It also reduces the wastage of Travellers in a big way compared to manual insertion. We have further developed on the existing devices and new models will be launched in the market shortly.
- What features have your company put on the top list of priority? What are the results?
We take pride in the fact that we are a “One stop source for total Traveller solutions”. We have the widest range of Travellers in our basket catering to all count ranges , spindle speeds and materials being spun now. We have a team of technologists to offer solutions to our customers for productivity increase, quality improvement and get the best out of our Travellers. After sales service is something we pride on and one of the reasons we are global leaders in this field. We have stock points in most countries we operate in. Availability and quick delivery anywhere in the world is our USP. All these systems we have in place helps us to be a dominant player in this industry. During Covid, there were various challenges from the supply side . We were able to manage these difficult situations with ease due to our stock points in different places. Our pre planning also helped us greatly during this period.
- Sustainability & circular economy. What is your company contribution to these?
For Synthetics we have also developed new profiles. With sustainability and the circular economy taking centre stage now , the usage of recycled synthetic products have increased and will further be on the rise. These processes require specialised Travellers which we have developed which reduces the slow speed time as well as increase the life of the Travellers which are the main challenges here.
- What are your shares in exports? What are the future plans in this field?
In value terms our exports are more than our sales in India and presently we export to over 45 countries. In most of these countries we are the market leaders. We would like to further enhance our share in these markets.
- Looking ahead, what strategy does your company plan to tackle competition?
Our strength has been to anticipate the future requirements of the customers and develop products. We had done this successfully in the past for compact and recycled products even before the boom happened in these sectors. We will continue to do this. Also we will further strengthen our distribution network globally , introduce new products which will delight the customers. We will continue to work closely with the customer and support them to achieve their goals. We are sure if we do this well we would be able to further grow and improve our share.
