Weavetech takes the lead with innovation

Technical Textiles Techtextil India

The company is all set to launch an innovative twisting solution for the Indian technical textile industry at the forthcoming Techtextil India 2021

Vallabh Thumar, Chairman and Managing Director, Weavetech

As one of the leading manufacturers of twisting and weaving machinery, Weavetech has carved a niche for itself. The company, a part of the Alidhra Weavetech Group, has many patented technologies and offers products specifically designed for the Indian market. The company, which started in the 1990s in the textile hub of Surat, was in the beginning focused on import substitution for performance parts and components of imported European and Japanese machineries. Soon it realised that there was a need for products designed specifically for Indian users suitable to the Indian environment. This paved way for a range of new machineries from Weavetech.

Today, Weavetech proudly belongs to that set of Indian manufacturers that have played a pivotal role in completely eliminating imported machineries in its particular field of operations. While the pandemic hit the industry hard in FY 2021, it has not deterred Weavetech from working on some key product innovations. In an exclusive chat, Vallabh Thumar, Chairman and Managing Director, Weavetech, says while FY 2020-21 may have been a slow year due to the pandemic which disturbed the capex plans of the industry and hence dealt a huge blow to Weavetech’s top-line and bottom-line, it also created opportunities in the area of automation, remote monitoring and versatility of the vast infrastructure that the textile industry has invested in over the years.

He adds that Weavetech has utilised this time in speeding up core developments in these areas by focusing on integration of IoT 4.0 technologies within its product range. “Weavetech offers solutions for high tenacity yarn twisting, cabling, cording and assembling over a wide range of yarns. Considering the low-volume and high-value nature of the industry, Weavetech has designed most of the solutions with more focus on versatility of its machines for quick adaptation to various changing needs of the industry,” says Thumar, speaking about the current product range of the company for the technical textile market segment.

Competition and Expansion

Competition in the Indian technical textile industry is getting more intense by the day. Given this scenario why should a buyer consider buying Weavetech’s machinery? Listing down the key competitive advantages that the company offers, Thumar states: “The technical textile vertical is a highly integrated segment where each segment of the vertical is highly customised for particular use cases. This requires the investor to coordinate with many equipment suppliers within many industries. When these suppliers are spread globally, it becomes a pain-point. Weavetech, with its three decades of history, has an excellent network within the Indian industry to guide and provide investors to the right suppliers for the entire chain.”

“Having customers who operate lines covering spinning to weaving to stitching, Weavetech has the knowledge and exposure to support the Indian customer as a team member, rather than just as a supplier,” he adds. Currently Weavetech has an installed production capacity of 30,000 spindles per month. It is now expanding into weaving preparatory to cover sizing, warping and coating lines for technical textiles. Highlighting some of the major Indian installations of the company in recent years, Thumar informs: “Weavetech has provided twisting solutions to reputed and globally recognised clients like Coats, Vardhman A & E, Guetermann, Fulgar, SRF, Arvind AMD, Kusumgar, Khosla Profil, Terre Arrmee and many more.”

Techtextil India 2021

The company has been participating at the Techtextil trade show’s last two editions and has found the response encouraging. Thumar feels that Messe Frankfurt India, the trade show’s organisers, has the ability to attract the right clientele, which is its biggest strength that has been very useful to the company. The company has lined up a key product launch at the Techtextil India 2021 hybrid trade show. “Yes, we will be launching an innovative twisting solution for the Indian technical textile industry. Though similar solutions have been offered by European manufacturers, this will be the first time that an Indian company will be able to offer such high-end technology made in India which will be fine-tuned for the Indian user,” reveals Thumar.

“We expect high exponential growth in the overall technical textile market in India,” he points out.

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