Omax Cotspin Pvt. Ltd, located at Dhrangadhra, Gujarat, is one of the fastest growing textile companies in international markets with all the modern integrated facilities in 25 acres of land with 75000 spindle age capacity.
Jayesh Patel, Director at Omax Cotspin, replied to a questionnaire sent by the Textile Value Chain.
Excerpts:
What were the Challenges that you faced during the Pandemic? How did you handle them?
During the first wave of Covid-19, it was weak demand: we were feeling that demand has weakened across most of the industries due to weak consumer sentiment, job losses, and as consumers defer their non-discretionary purchases and focus on buying essential items. The supply chain disruptions: The curb on movement of people and non-essential goods has affected the supply chain, leading to shortage of raw materials. The coronavirus outbreak in major raw material supplying has affected due to movement of raw materials across the country.
Labour/capacity underutilization: The exodus of unemployed migrant laborers to their native places has further added to the ongoing problems of industries. The worry remains whether they will return to work soon given their recent traumatic experience of job losses and travel hardships. The shortage of manpower and shorter duration of work hours have affected the capacity utilization of industries and there is no clear sign when normalcy will return due to the ongoing uncertainty about finding a cure for the pandemic.
Workforce health and business in “New Normal”: Maintaining the health of workers in “New Normal” also remains a challenging task for industries in the absence of proper guidelines.
They had to temporarily shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. … For established companies, the challenges came from increased administrative bottlenecks, and issues with reduced logistics services and infrastructures,
The complete lockdown and partial lockdowns had both demand-side and supply-side impacts on the manufacturing sector. On the supply side, the limited movement of goods, services, and personnel affected the production network.
The situation improved gradually and confidence towards the business outlook for production rose as a phased reopening of the economy was announced. However, with this recovery and subsequent gradual reopening of the economy, the country succumbed to a second wave of the virus.
A second wave was witnessed towards the end of the 2020 financial year. The country’s optimistic recovery was thrust into further uncertainty as cases increased far more rapidly than the first wave. The fatality rate amongst individuals increased as several States introduced restrictions and curfews to mitigate the loss of life in the second wave. Healthcare infrastructure in the country faced a total collapse as citizens ran helter-skelter in search of beds, oxygen cylinders, and resources to survive the second wave.
This widespread devastation further instilled fear amongst the citizens as new variants proved to be more potent leading to a mass breakout in the Tier I cities and a surge in the rural regions. This led to individuals being confined to their homes, more out of choice and fear. The number of people working during the second wave was much smaller as compared to those working during the first wave, which translated to slower economic recovery. With lockdowns slowly being reimposed, States allowed certain relaxations and permissions to keep the economic impact to a minimum.
While the second wave is expected to upset economic growth, the overall impact is expected to be moderate as businesses and States have adjusted their businesses and cycles to the COVID situation prevalent.
In the handling of pandemic corona, we ensured effective communication with employees. How leaders behave during critical moments leaves a lasting mark on their companies and people. Therefore, a consistent and effective communication and interaction with employees have strengthen the company and enhanced the culture. We shared the up-to-date and relevant information about COVID-19 symptoms and disease prevention recommendations among company employees. We used only credible sources of information, such as the World Health Organization. We have established a dedicated hotline or conduct a series of remote seminars with relevant health professionals to facilitate question and answer sessions with your employees.
Besides, we provided a psychological and financial support to our employees, such as emergency assistance, additional insurance coverage, regular payroll payments. We focused on organising a safe work environment: purchase of medical equipment and supplies (e.g., thermometers, antibacterial products such as mask sanitizer), self-monitoring of employees’ health, and disinfection of workplaces. We developed and communicated clear rules and obligations for employees who are at risk These include the requirement for a 14-day self-isolation of such employees and cancellation of all meetings with the clients and co-workers. We have ensured the safety of working environments by thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting workplaces. In the event that an employee is suspected of being infected with COVID-19, a clear process must be in place for removing that employee from the facility, and for proper treatment of the facility. We updated our travel and meeting policies.
Besides, we made sure that your social media policy is properly defined for this crisis. It is provided clear guidelines with regard to how employees can talk about your business and the impact of COVID-19 on operations and employee health and safety. We provided employees with an internal communication channel to report what they are seeing and feeling within the organisation to ensure direct communication as an alternative to social media. We worked through the most difficult scenarios and prepared appropriate communications for our employees in advance because our task is to provide a constructive response.
- As you are involved in 3 sectors: Garment, Fabric & Yarn, so how is the situation now?
The domestic textile industry, which had seen demand slump in fiscal 2021 owing to onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, is firmly on course to recover in fiscal 2022 on the back of reopening of businesses, educational institutions and retail outlets with increase in the vaccinated population. The Government announcements such as the Production Linked Incentive scheme, setting up of mega textile parks, and extension of the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies scheme are also supporting the sector. The global textile industry is changing to meet the needs of the new market. With new trends in technology, domestic sales, green textiles and environmental sustainability, textiles will no longer just be clothing anymore. These new trends have started to increase growth in the market as well.
We recognised both the opportunity and the responsibility for business to take a lead role in addressing pressing global issues. As we continue to embrace change and position our company for long-term success, we believe that CR will help us achieve sustainable growth by managing risk, maximizing efficiency and driving value. Through our collective efforts, we seek to create value for society, the environment, and our business, all while moving the industry. Explore opportunities for automation and efficiency upliftment as well as plan and implement up-skilling of employees to prepare them for the re-engineered processes/ systems.
There is a high demand for yarn. There are orders for the next three months lined up. The textile industry continues to be the second-largest employment generating sector in the India
3.Tell us about the Research and Development efforts in the last few years.
We have undertaken a CO 2 PROJECT to reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption for our suppliers to stabilise our environmental impact.
We have launched a GREEN COMPACT PROJECT. We have converted normal spinning into compact spinning yarn to increase the production, quality to value addition. We have presented recycled product.
Rotor spinning also known as open-end spinning has been taken up. It uses a carded sliver that is fed onto a succession of single-spiked rollers that run at high speed. These rollers open the sliver so that the fibres can be fed almost individually via an airstream onto a grooved funnel that spins at a fast rate.
In Compact spinning, the Elite Compact spinning system incorporated for 23000 spindles, which organises fibres in a parallel, close position before twisting, thereby reducing hairiness and improving tenacity. It also reduces imperfections. It improves evenness and reduces the ends-down rate.
- What about the technologies and machinery for all the segments?
We have installed bobbin transport system in unit 1 spinning. We have incorporated spindle monitoring system. The mill has installed pinters individual monitoring system. This helps us in avoiding rough spindles idle spindles. the automatic winders are connected with visual manager and integrated with smart support system. Through this we can monitor daily performance. We have also incorporated roving stop motion in all the spinning to control the roving waste.
5.Which are the New Products that you have launched for these 3 Sectors & what are their USPs?
In yarn: 1. Compact yarn. 2.Recycle yarn. 3.Lycra yarn. 4.Organic yarn
In Knitting: 1. Rib type. 2.Lycra. 3.Honey comb. 4.Picku. 5.Two thread fleecy. 6.Single rib. 7.Lycra rib. 8.Turbe. Drop needles
In garment: 1. Basic rib neck. 2.T Shirt. 3.P Q-T Shirt. Brand: Indian Archers
- What are the different fabrics and yarns that you make?
Omax Cotspin has a production line which can manufacture yarns of various counts ranging from 16s to 50s hosiery weaving yarn. The production capacity is around 50000 kg per day. We have also started manufacturing fancy yarns such as LYCRA & SLUB.
Omax Cotspin has a production line which can manufacture OE yarns from count range to 4s to 20s with the production capacity of 20000 kg per day.
In knitting fabrics, Omax Cotspin has extended its capability into knitting and hosiery fabrics, manufactured with our own best quality of yarn. The fabric width will be ranging from 18 diameters to 40 diameters. We are also into manufacturing LYCRA & SLUB Knitted Fabric.
- Future of your company in the years 2022-2023?
The textile industry is expected to attract higher investment by 2022-23 and create about 35 million additional jobs in the process. Exports are also expected to rise. The upcycle fashion uses either pre-consumers or post-consumer’s wastes to manufacture new products. The process reuses old clothes without going through the recycling process. The fashion industry is going to be more sustainable with repaired, redesigned, and upcycled fashion.
