Truetzschler & A.T.E. in Sintex big spindle project

Truetzschler India Pvt Ltd and A.T.E. recently completed phase-I of the prestigious Sintex Industries – its Yarn Division’s project of 1 million spindles at Rajulah, Amreli, in Gujarat. The project once fully operational will produce cotton, melange and linen yarns.

The first phase saw the commissioning of 3,20,000 spindles. A total of more than 160 Truetzschler cards were delivered with matching blowroom capacity. Of this, 54 Truetzschler cards have been installed under one roof, and this is the first installation in India where such a large number of cards are operating under a single roof. All the machines are running satisfactorily. Truetzschler machinery for the next phase is also under delivery right now.

To mark the completion of the first phase of Sintex’ project, the A.T.E. and Truetzschler India teams met the management of Sintex Industries. A small memento was presented to Amit Patel, Group Managing Director of the Sintex Group, by G V Aras, Director A.T.E., and Joseph Thomson, Director Truetzschler India. B B Sharma, CEO, and Girish Mahajan, Vice-President (Projects) of Sintex were also present during the occasion along with Ashish Sharma, Vice President, Truetzschler India, and Sandeep Bakshi, Regional Head, A.T.E. Ahmedabad.

Here the ITJ reproduces excerpts from the interview done by Rajesh Padalkar, Product Manager – Spinning, A.T.E., with BB Sharma, CEO, Sintex.

Please give a brief introduction of the Sintex Group.

Sintex Industries is the world’s largest producer of plastic water tanks. It is also Asia’s largest manufacturer of corduroy fabrics. Sintex has a strong presence in 4 continents, ie, Europe, America, Africa, and Asia. It is primarily into building material solutions, textiles solutions and custom moulding solutions. Its manufacturing activity includes a wide range of plastic products including pre-fabricated structures, industrial custom moulding products, monolithic constructions and water storage tanks. In the textile segment, the company focuses on niche segments, specialising in men’s shirting. It was incorporated as The Bharat Vijay Mills Limited in June 1931 and same year it started a composite textile mill in Kalol, Gujarat. In 1995 it was renamed Sintex Industries Limited.

In the light of Sintex’ focus over many years on other business areas, could you tell us how the plan for the mammoth Sintex yarn project emerged?

The idea to set up the plant came with the announcement of the Gujarat Textile Policy and also from the changing dynamics in the Chinese textile industry at that point of time. Subsidised interest costs under the TUFS also proved to be the major impetus along with low labour cost and the power subsidy in Gujarat.

As we were in touch with about 200 global buyers, the proximity to the Pipavav port came in handy. Finally, since Gujarat is a major supplier of cotton, we expected a lower logistical cost for sourcing the raw material. The new plant has 320,000 spindles in the first phase which is completed. A similar number in the second phase is going on and 360,000 spindles in the last phase will be completed by 2018. A total of Rs 5,600-5,800 crore will be invested and once completed it will be the largest textile mill to house one million spindles at a single location in India.

What were you searching for in making choices for machinery suppliers for this project?

Our Managing Director, Amit Patel had a vision of “no touch” yarn policy, right from blowroom till the yarn is packed after winding. Therefore our focus mainly was on the most advanced and technologically superior machinery. Best in class “automation” was the key word for us. Our project team narrowed down all such suppliers and interacted with them. We only chose those suppliers who had manufacturing capacities to match our project schedule.

Can you explain how Truetzschler machinery fit in your buying criteria?

Truetzschler has a world-wide brand value and they checked with our all selection criteria. We were totally comfortable with their technology. The best part was Truetzschler’s total flexibility to offer solutions to match our expectations. The features offered by Truetzshler in their blow-room and cards were unmatched by any other manufacturer. Also the fact that Truetzschler has a world class manufacturing facility in Gujarat itself, at Ahmedabad, lowered our transportation time and costs, which also adds up to a large sum for such a huge project.

Could you please share your experience working with A.T.E. as a business partner in your ventures?

We had the earlier experience of working with A.T.E. for our Bharat Vijay Mills. The synergy shared by both groups continued during the present negotiations also. What we liked most about A.T.E. was their partnerships with the best suppliers in the world. The need to have the latest technology made available to the Indian customers is perfectly managed by A.T.E. We appreciate A.T.E.’s aim to strive to attain customer delight through a focused approach and value added services. This also matches our philosophy of being “customer friendly and flexible to accommodate, update and innovate to be in tune with the times.”

What are your future plans and how do you see the A.T.E. group in your future expansions and modernisation plans?

Right now our main focus is on completing the third and the last phase of this project and we do not hesitate to mention that A.T.E. will surely be part of our future business ventures. We are happy to notice that be it spinning, processing, fabric forming, knitting or any of our other requirements, the various A.T.E. sales teams are always ready to offer us the right products to suit our demands.

Do you have any suggestions for A.T.E.?

A.T.E. is already doing a good job of serving the Indian textile industry for last seven decades and we would like them to continue the same.