All our machines are Industry 4.0-ready: Rabatex MD

Rabatex Group, gained experience during the initial period of their inceptions starting with manufacturing of the basic sectional warping machines, material handling and storage machinery etc., and today they are fully geared up to offer the complete range of advanced computerised sectional warping machines, the state-of-the-art single end sample warping and single end sizing machines, specialised warping creels for technical textiles with electronic controls and precision tensioner. Today, Rabatex has a pride of having their installations in all the segment of industries with many repeat orders.

Haresh Panchal, Managing Director, Rabatex Group, speaks on the various offerings from the company, and its distinguishing characteristics, in an interview with ITJ Senior Sub Editor, Karthik Muthuveeran. Excerpts…

What are your major products for the industry? What are the distinguishing characteristics and features of your major products?

Rabatex Group, established by family in 1962 started with very basic models of sectional warpers and now with the widened expertise in the domain of textile machinery manufacturing, today we are fully geared up to manufacture and offer the complete range of advanced computerised sectional warping machines, the state of the art single end sample warping and single end sizing machines, specialised warping creels for technical textiles with electronic controls and precision tensioner. Our expertise in manual and electrically operated textile material handling equipment much widened our reach in the weaving industries which directly and indirectly helping us to grow in our business verticals.

Today Rabatex has a pride of having their installations in all the segment of industries with many repeat orders in India and across the world , having installations in more than 28 countries.

Can you brief us about the marketing strategies that were applied in order to stand out in the competition among industry?

The main motto and mission of the Rabatex Group is to provide the state-of-the-art technology machinery and equipment to the textile industry. To provide the advanced products to justify the value for the investments to widen Rabatex’s footprint globally.

We are the family driven professional company where our core values are designed and developed by our founder members, they have very deep roots and hence fundamentally we are very strong with our values and commitments. Our strategy of success is due to our quality and commitments with excellent after sales service to the industry.

We feel proud that our values created opportunities for the Rabatex Group in joining hands with the world-renowned KARL MAYER and Alexander Giovanelli group to manufacture their products with our association and joint venture.

How is your company meeting the challenges of the markets demands today?

We are the customer driven company and have adopted the business change with the growing trends in the industry. We have increased our portfolio from basic sectional warpers to the advanced technology meeting the needs of Industry 4.0. We are standing at par in terms of technology and excelling in our professionalism.

Modernisation and automation is increasing across industries. What is the significance of this for Rabatex?

As informed, we are perfectly following the footprints of the industry and adopted the Industry 4.0 in our manufacturing and work culture.

All our manufacturing equipment are most advanced and hence today with our focused approach in R&D, we are able to deliver the advanced technology in the market to gain the quality output with increased productivity.

Which are your stronger markets – in India and abroad?

Thanks to our wide range of product basket which in-principle made our presence in all the textile clusters and market segment of India. We are well present in entire domestic market at corporate as well as decentralised market segment.

Our products and services are also well proven in international market. We have been exporting our equipment to more than 28 countries including all leading textiles manufacturing countries like USA, Turkey, Brazil, Spain, Russia, Uzbekistan, Israel etc.

Does your company have any future plans to expand or diversify into other related fields? Give some details, if so.

We are happy to inform you that recently we had a joint venture with the world renowned textile machinery maker KARL MAYER, Germany to produce their state of the art sectional warpers and other machinery in Ahmedabad India and with Alexander Giovanelli to get their manufacturing of electrically and automated material handling equipment from Rabatex.

Recently we have developed single end sample warping machine with 16 bobbins and most successfully installed at many customers in India and abroad.

We are also planning to increase our product portfolio and to diversify into the new area of material storage and handling equipment.

What are your suggestions to give a boost to this revolutionary concept of Make in India? What are Rabatex’s contributions?

The Make in India concept started by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi then CM in one of the first-of-its-kind Vibrant Gujarat Summit, where he could able to pull large amount of industrial investments in Gujarat and now with his continual effort as a PM of the country recently in this crisis he addressed our country with tagline – ‘Vocal for Local’.

The Indian manufacturing will have great potential to grow much higher with increased domestic and export demand. Indian will turn to be one of the major sourcing hubs for the textile articles in future.

Rabatex is one of the truly Indian company and our contribution to the Indian industrial sector is remarkable and will grow exponentially in the future

It has been more than two months since the lockdown. How it has impacted the business? What are your expectations from the government?

It is true that due to this long period lockdown our industry also came to stand still but this is not only for us but for the entire globe. It has not much impacted us as we were carrying good orders in hand and now since the lockdown is lifted in phase manner, we have adopted all the safety and precautionary measures, guidelines while restarting our operations. Health and safety are our prime concern for our employees, and we take utmost care to follow it.

We will also definitely fall short in achieving our business results where working capital will be the biggest challenge. The Government support to MSME sectors in these aspects will prove as a “Sanjivani” to the industry.

What kind of challenges are you anticipating when you resume business post-lockdown?

Like for any other industry, we will also face big issues with order intake, labour availability and increased cost of manufacturing due to the slower production rate.

Have you recalibrated your growth plan due to Covid-19?

Yes, frankly speaking Covid-19 has taught all of us some of the very good lessons of life and running the business. The famous truth is that when fisherman does not go to sea, he repairs his nets and we have also exactly adopted the same rule. We have not only sharpened our saw of knowledge and skills but also developed and made our strategy to be more cost effective and preparing our self to grab all the future opportunities. In the short-term business plans, we may struggle to stabilise and manage our business, but for the long-term plans, we see quite brighter business perspective for us and India at the large.