Bharat Beams has been manufacturing quality warper and weaver beams. The company is supplying their products to OEM manufacturers from India and other countries in Europe, Africa, South East Asia, etc. Snehal J Panchal, Director, Bharat Beams, shares his insights on the current state of the Indian weaving industry and the innovations his company has introduced in this journey, in conversation with Divya Shetty.
How would you assess the current state of the Indian weaving industry in terms of its growth, innovation, and global competitiveness?
Currently, India has become one of the leading exporters in the global textiles and apparel industry. Owing to the current Textile Policies of various states, planning of new Mega Textile Parks as well as PM Mitra scheme, India is having immense opportunities to excel in the market, particularly in basic textiles and apparel. Many sourcing companies in the US are seeking alternatives due to global macroeconomic factors, prevailing political turmoil in the countries and challenges faced by other suppliers. While China remains a dominant player, there is a sizeable shift towards diversifying sourcing options. India is very well-positioned today to capitalise on these changing sourcing strategies, with companies increasingly looking to expand their markets across the globe.
To take the advantage of scaling factor, lot of very well established players from India have currently expanded their manufacturing capacities as well as some green field projects are also coming up in new future. Apart from the conventional textiles, the technical textile players from India are also growing considerably well, with new innovations in their product ranges. They are now penetrating lot of new markets worldwide. Undoubtedtly, India is recognised as a reliable source of supply in these uncertain times.
Can you highlight any recent innovations introduced by Bharat Beams that are shaping the future of the weaving industry?
We have supplied lot of customized extra heavy duty beams nowadays to cater to the weaving industry in technical textiles. The said beams play a very critical and crucial role as far as operational speed and Fault free performance over a very long period for their specific applications. We have invested a lot in our fully integrated manufacturing plant in special purpose machines to design, develop and manufacture such extra heavy duty beams. The investment done by us will certainly pay of considering the future requirements by our prominent customers.
In your opinion, what strategic steps should India take to establish itself as a global leader in the weaving sector?
Indian government is taking lot of steps with their incentive policies and various schemes to help the Indian textile players to enhance their production capacities with the installation of highly sophisticated machineries. This will certainly help for Indian textile players to export their high quality product ranges with very competitive prices and in huge quantities.
What are the key challenges currently confronting the Indian weaving industry, and how can they be effectively addressed?
Currently, the key challenge for Indian weaving industry is relatively slow demand in export market owing to the current global macroeconomic factors. Nowadays, the export market is gathering upward momentum and with the recent investments done by the Indian textile players in world class textile machineries as well as in solar / wind power generation and recycling will definitely pay off in short term as well as in long term. It will certainly help the Indian textile players to fulfil the quantitative and qualitative demands by the export market with the competitive prices.
How does Bharat Beams integrate sustainability into its operations, and what role do sustainable practices play in the future of the weaving industry?
We have installed rooftop solar panels, which not only reduce the usage of fossil fuels but also promotes energy efficiency. We are also doing rain water harvesting which really helps us a lot. Apart from the above, we have installed a lot of energy saving equipment in our plant which save the operational costs to a greater extent.
As far as weaving industry in India is concerned, nowadays lot of companies are investing huge amounts in Solar power and wind power generation in large capacities, which reduce overall carbon footprint.
In recent times Indian manufacturers are addressing the excessive waster water generation through innovative solutions. Some companies are reusing wastewater in their manufacturing processes and applying water recycling systems, which reduce their overall water footprint and promote water management in the sector.
What role do advanced technologies such as automation and AI play in transforming the weaving landscape, and how is Bharat Beams leveraging these advancements?
The automation and AI will definitely help in increasing the production capacities, curtailing the overall product development and its manufacturing time period as well as enhancing the quality levels upto a great extent. This will be applicable to our company as well as to the weaving industry, and will certainly help in reaping excellent benefits.
Could you elaborate on Beams’ short-term and long-term goals, and how these align with the evolving demands of the weaving market?
As such, we are currently the largest manufacturer and exporter of weaver beams and dynamically balanced warper beams from India and are catering to the textile mills for their yarn applications right from 100 per cent cotton to a very heavy duty applications comprising of kevlar, aramide and monofilament yarn. We have expanded our production capacities to cope up with the huge influx of beam orders received from India as well as from across the globe. Also, we have equipped ourselves with the latest manufacturing technologies to provide the desired product quality so as to satisfy our customers’ needs. We are innovating our products as per the customers’ specific requirement. Mainly, these practices help us to align with the evolving demands of the weaving market.