Innovations drive AYM Syntex’s growth

Established in 1983, AYM Syntex (formerly known as Welspun Syntex) is engaged in texturising, draw twisting and twisting of polyester yarns. It also first textile company in India to adopt new standards in carbon foot printing. With plants located at Silvassa and Palghar (Maharashtra), AYM Syntex is well equipped to meet the domestic as well as international demand.

The company’s state-of-the-art polyester, nylon 6 and PP BCF yarn manufacturing facility at Silvassa (India) serves the carpet industry. These lines are capable to manufacture specialty yarns, first-of-its-kind across the globe. The plant is equipped with an R&D facility for Master Batch colour development, pilot spinning (BCF, POY and FDY) and sample tufting (MTUFT) for customer’s tailormade needs.

In an exclusive tete-a-tete with ITJ’s Senior Sub Editor Karthik Muthuveeran, SM Khire, Director – Operations, AYM Syntex, discusses about the various synthetic yarns, and the plans for expansion and diversification.

After the recent restructuring of the group, what are the expectations from AYM Syntex. Give us a brief profile of the company since its inception.

AYM Syntex was launched more than 30 years ago and was the under the Welspun umbrella. We started with texturing followed by dyeing. Post that we ventured into backward integration and speciality products. Since its inception AYM Syntex has grown manifold and today is amongst the largest manufacturers and exporters of polyester texturised filament yarns and nylon filament yarns from India.

We have plants at Silvassa and Palghar (Maharashtra). The Silvassa plant is equipped with the latest technology indigenously redesigned for optimum production capacity and flexible manufacturing system to produce a wide product range in POY and processed polyester filament yarns, which include micro deniers, cationic dyeable, dope dyed, easy dyeable, trilobal, semi-dull and bright, mono semi-dull, bright and dope dyed and many more specialty yarns, which are continuously researched and upgraded into newer qualities. The plant is also capable of producing nylon POY, nylon texturised and twisted grey and dope dyed yarns.

The Palghar plant houses one of the most advanced dyeing plants of polyester, nylon yarns in India. It boasts of state-of-the-art computerised colour matching system and dyeing technology with an automated colour-kitchen. This plant includes package dyed polyester and nylon texturised yarns, dyed and twisted bright trilobal polyester filament flat yarns, polyester texturised yarns twisted or untwisted on plastic perforated dyeing tubes, twisted raw white/bright trilobal polyester texturised and flat yarns, shrunk wrapped dyeing tubes for optimisation of productivity of customers, small weights and precision wound dyed yarns.

AYM Syntex has branch offices at Surat, Bengaluru, Erode, Sale, Tirupur, Madurai, Karur and Belgaum to cater to the requirements of all types of customers. You cannot call it restructuring. There has been no significant change in the company. It is more of a succession plan.

Abhishek Mandawewala, son of Rajesh Mandawewala (Managing Director, Welspun Group), is leading the company. Otherwise the management and other day-to-day activities remain the same. Abhishek, a young, dynamic, qualified man, offers a lot of new ideas on the table. With him on board, AYM leadership has defined its vision to create a legacy by touching lives globally through innovative products, processes and business models.

How’s the market for the various synthetic yarns being produced by AYM Syntex?

AYM has been into speciality products for long. Market has really matured for these products now and we are quite optimistic about the market we are in. I want to say that we were never a commodity player. We are more into speciality products.

What are the various products recently developed? What are the USPs of the products/technologies offered?

We are largely into polyester filament yarns and nylon filament yarns. We have dyed varieties. We have micro yarns. We have yarns for home textiles like bath rugs, carpets, etc. We have launched products namely REZILIA for resilience with elegance, SORENYL having silky touch, POLYMAGIC for moving from white to bright, COMFEEL for comfortable feel, WONDERFEEL for redefined décor and fashion, POLYCYCLE – a green product, BELEAF for a sustainable future and ASSURA for shielding from fire. USP for these products is that these are being offered for the first time in India.

Speaking about carpet yarn (BCF) yarns, what developments have taken place since its launch? How is the market for BCF yarns?

It is a tough market to enter into. The carpet yarn (BCF) market has not become any easier and yarn prices are under pressure. The time has passed when yarn producers were able to take the time to invest in the distant future in a relaxed way. We are fortunate to have Welspun India as one of our main clients and they will continue to be one, in future too.

Which countries do you export?

We export to more than 40 countries worldwide which include Turkey and Latin American countries.

In future, we are planning to increase our export volumes. We will add more countries whenever the opportunity exists.

Are your plants—Silvassa and Palghar—ZED compliant? We want to know more about the success story of this ETP plant? When was it started? More details…

It is not a success story. We should take it as a social obligation. Our promoters have clear view on this. They are advising that we should not manufacture anything that damages environment. The zero liquid discharge (ZLD) technology was implemented since 2011 at Palghar.

As a 100 per cent environmentally-compliant company in the synthetic yarn industry, we also remain steadfast in our commitment to eco-friendly practices. Our ZLD technology ensures water used in the dyeing process gets recycled and reused over and over again. Our effluent treatment plant reuses as much as 85 per cent of the water. Products such as PolycycleTM reiterate our efforts to preserve our planet and to conserve resources.

What sustainability steps have your company taken?

Socially responsible and ethical business practices are the defining tenets of AYM’s corporate philosophy. At AYM, Ethical Business Conduct is given the highest priority. We strictly follow and practice the principles of accountability, honesty and integrity in all aspects of our business and strictly comply with all applicable laws and legislations.

AYM strives at all levels to conserve natural resources and energy. Optimisation of consumption and well planned wastage control and recycling measures are implemented at all facilities. Going beyond just compliance with applicable Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) legislations, we strive to ensure that all managerial decisions like selection/procurement of materials, machinery equipment, placement of personnel and setting up of projects are integrated with the broader goals of our CSR policy.

Now that AYM Syntex has become independent, what are the plans for expansion and diversification, if any?

We are a small player doing small projects. In the future, we will definitely increase our expenditure on super speciality products. We have to react to the market competition. We are planning to get a new machinery and technology from developed countries in Europe, Japan, etc. We are always more inclined towards innovations. Our future plans would be to increase the basic drive towards exports and improve our financial strength.