LRT is the market leader in ring travellers business

Lakshmi Ring Travellers (LRT) has been in the ring traveller business for over four decades. Today, LRT caters to more than 74% of the Indian market for ring travellers. Besides, it supplies to over 65 million spindles globally to over 3000 spinning mills in over 40 countries. In this interview, Sushanta Pattnaik, CEO, Laxmi Ring Travellers (Coimbatore) Pvt Ltd, highlights on the market dynamics of ring travellers and LRT’s growth plans.

As a pioneers in ring travellers, how do you see the evolution of ring travellers market in India.
The spinning industry has undergone tremendous changes over the past few years. Today, the focus on productivity in spinning has gone up significantly as compared to the past where the customers are increasing the spindle speed, expecting reduction in start-up break/end break, going for longer (more spindles/ring frame) machines and reducing the frequency of maintenance schedules. Ring travellers plays the vital role in achieving the above said requirements. In addition to these, there is a need for the ring travellers to be consistent in quality and reliability for different spinning parameters. The customers now expect the required travellers on demand with smart SCM.

What has been the contribution of Lakshmi Ring Travellers (LRT) to the evolution of ring travellers industry (local as well as global)?
LRT has been in the Ring traveller business for over four decades. We always understand the demands of the industry in advance and proactively develop solutions. As and when new requirements came up like the growth of compact spinning, different types of fibre used and so on, we had the required solutions at the right time to support the need of the customers. We have developed more than 2000 varieties in 7 types of surface finishes that caters to any kind of requirements with respect to count, material, spindle speed, type of ring and so on making us the One Stop Source for Total Traveller Solutions. In addition to this, we have a dedicated team of experts to support the customers not only in ring traveller selection/usage but also in other textile related end to end process requirements in the spinning mills to manufacture good engineered yarn.

In tune with the Make in India Initiatives, LRT takes the pride of announcing that we cater to more than 74% of the Indian market for ring travellers by providing the best in class of ring travellers as compared to others from across the globe. In addition to this, LRT is supplying to over 65 million spindles globally to over 3000 spinning mills in over 40 countries. This is the testimony of LRT claiming to be the market leader in Ring Travellers business.

What makes LRT products unique from those of the competitors?
We have solutions for every ring traveller related requirements and constantly upgrade/develop new solutions for future requirements of our customers. There are huge challenges in compact spinning due to change in spinning angles and the strength of the yarn. LRT has the right solutions for different compacting systems, counts and materials. We have maximum profiles in compact spinning as compared to any other competitor. Our products helps in reducing the start-up breaks and works well with increased spindle speed thereby increasing the productivity. We take pride in claiming that LRT is The Compact Traveller Specialist.

How do you see the performance of LRT in 2021-22 compared to previous year? Do you see uptick in demand?
Yes, there is significant increase in demand in 2021-22. In addition to this, we have increased our market share substantially in many markets. This has resulted in excellent growth for us.

What is the contribution of exports to LRT’s business? Which countries/regions are driving demand for your products?
Export has been our growth driver for last many years. Presently it contributes to more than 50% of our business.
We export to more than 40 countries. However, our growth in China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, Turkey and Uzbekistan has been very robust this year.

Most of the companies are focusing on automation and Industry 4.0. How is LRT adopting these trends in the company?
We have already started the groundwork towards Industry 4.0. IIoT and ML. We have clearly defined the roadmap for the same which we plan to achieve in a phased manner.

What are the emerging trends in ring travellers market?
Due to constraint in labour availability, spinning mills are looking for ways to run the units with minimum work force. In this context, the customers are expecting longer life of ring travellers. The spinning mills are also expecting to have minimum inventory. In this scenario, the spinning mills demand quick delivery of ring travellers based on their changing requirements due to market dynamics. The mills also prefer to deal with total solution providers with respect to their ring traveller requirements. The demand of compact spinning is in the increasing trend and accordingly the expectations are towards getting better performing ring travellers.

What are your short- and long-term growth plans for LRT?
LRT product range includes ring travellers and application tools. In case of application tools we will be shortly launching new, robust and sturdy cleaning tools both manual and battery operated. We constantly upgrade our manufacturing process to improve the quality and reliability to stay well ahead of competition both in domestic and in the international market.