Tightening of environmental norms is good for Archroma

Headquartered in Switzerland, Archroma is a global colour and specialty chemicals company that operates with 3,000 employees over 35 countries and with 25production sites. It serves industries such as packaging, paper, construction, paint, as well as apparel and textile– delivering specialised performance and colour solutions to meet customers’ needs in their local markets, touching and colouring people’s lives every day, everywhere.

Anjani Prasad, Managing Director and Head of Brand Performance Textiles Specialties, Archroma India speaks on how Archroma has been faring in the Asian markets, particularly the Indian market.

Excerpts…

In today’s world of textiles, sustainable solutions are the talk of the industry. What is Archroma’s contribution to this, especially to technical textiles?

Archroma is a producer of speciality chemicals. We work on our domain of how we manufacture the chemicals, and what are the raw materials used. Archroma takes care of that part –the right chemistry and the right solutions to make those products.

Once the products are manufactured, we package it, and then help the customers to use it in a proper way.We can try to form packages and give those systems that are more eco friendly –uses less water, power reduction,and productivity improvement, among others. We also educate them on how to reduce the defects and use the right kind of chemistry. This will help them in sustainability.

Archroma offers to manufacturers, brand owners and retailers the tailor-made system solutions that they need in their specific production process and market.We guarantee support to our customers with respect to MSDS we make and also the norms that are there from various brands. We check everything from our end and then only give it to our customers. A lot of processes are involved in the plant. Also we understand the consumer properly, and also look at demand. If anything from the chemistry can be done in recycling point of view, we will definitely have a look at it.

ADVANCED DENIM allows massive water and resource savings, and is today used by brands such as Patagonia. And, for designers and brands who long for authentic indigo inspiration, Archroma’sDenisol range of pre-reduced liquid indigo dyes, manufactured in a “zero water discharge” production facility, offer a GOTS and bluesign-certified option.

Archroma is there to support the textile industry towards more sustainability. This is how we aim to make a difference – through innovation that supports the needs and creativity of our customers and our commitment towards protecting the Earth and its inhabitants.

How has Archroma been doing in Asian markets, particularly the Indian market, in the last few years? Most of the technologies developed by Archroma for global textile market are available to the Indian market too. From fibre to finish, Archroma therefore can play a key role in India throughout the entire textile supply chain, with special chemicals for pretreatment, dyeing, printing and finishing of textiles.

We are strong in chemicals, pigments and also sulphur. We are pretty strong in speciality dyes too.

Archroma has recently joined the ZDHC Foundation. What is the significance of this move?

We work with ZDHC Foundation which plans to club different certifications in one. We at Archroma think it is a good step forward towards sustainability. We will support all kinds of sustainable initiatives either it is coming from Bluesign or ZDHC or any other organisations.

With so many mergers and acquisitions, Archroma today is a giant is dyes and chemicals. What are its plans for the Indian market?

Archroma has been growing organically. We acquired the global textile chemicals business of BASF in July 2015, and M. Dohmen, an international group specialising in the production of textile dyes and chemicals for the automotive, carpet and apparel sectors. These acquisitions will help us grow and thus better support the challenges faced by our industries.

Indian and global markets both of the same importance for us. We have acquired companies so that we can get better leverage, better serve our customers and consolidate the market going forward. If there is any local player coming forward, if it makes any business sense, we will [definitely] try to evaluate that.

With environmental norms tightening and wastewater problems becoming major issues, how do you see the future of Archroma and its relevance to textile industry?

Tightening of environmental norms is actually good for Archroma. If they are tightening the right products, it will benefit all of us on the planet. I can still see that some suppliers are using banned products like solvents, VOCs, etc., these things should not be used. If there is any legislation coming in and if it gets stronger, it will be a success in a way.

Any plans of expansion? Wherever the market moves, we will try to expand there. In India, what are the various challenges faced by Archroma?

Challenges will be definitely be there in a growing economy. We have customers facing challenges in wastewater management, technical challenges, etc. and Archroma provides solutions and technical expertise to tackle these. Customers are looking at brands requirements and also at the ecological and sustainable limitations. There again, we help them with our knowledge and experience, as well as with our ONE WAY Process Simulator that helps them to select products and processes aimed to support their own productivity and sustainability goals.

What is your wish-list for the industry and the Government to better the lot of the colour industry in this era of eco concerns?

There are many things. Our industry requires a lot of funds for the working capital. There are issues with the interest rates too. Smaller companies require support for common effluent treatment plants (ETP) because everyone cannot go for zero discharge. This is because their scale of operation is less. If these kinds of supportare given, obviously the industry will do better. Also in garment sector, with labour laws, getting skilled labour can be a challenge.

We could probably gain from support in the area of higher education, trade agreements with other countries, or tax rebates to support the investment needs of the textile industry, for instance in wastewater management.