According to a report published by Invest India, the global demand for technical textiles was pegged at $165 billion in the year 2018 and is expected to grow up to $220 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of four percent from 2018-25. In India, the technical textile market is worth 19 Bn and growing with every year. The major factor driving and securing the onward growth is the major thrust the current government has given to the Infrastructure, Roads and Rail Projects. This will automatically assure a secure growth in the market for a very wide range of Industrial Fabrics.
However, when it comes to industrial fabrics, quality and timely delivery are the elements for sustenance in the market. There are multiple producers in the native market but not everyone has the expertise or experience to aptly meet client demands. Sanrhea Technical Textiles Limited from Gujarat is a Self Made First Generation company established by a family of age old repute in Textiles in the country.
The company has been in the market since 1997 and is now a trusted manufacturer in this segment. Tushar Patel, Managing Director, Sanrhea Technical Textiles says, “In the segment we are in, it’s all about Quality & Delivery. Our performance on both these issues has been the bone of our success. There have been instances where we have been able to give delivery to our customer within two days of a SOS demand. As a policy we maintain a certain quantity of woven but unprocessed fabric of all our regular customers. This helps us at such times”.
Operational Excellence
All of Sanrhea’s products are customer-specific, which is something no other vendor is doing. When the company entered the field, a very large segment of rubber component manufacturers had to make do with fabrics as available and then adapt accordingly. Sanrhea instead worked on designing and making products as per the critical specifications of the customer. And then, as far as the quality standards are concerned, the company always attempts to exceed the customers’ expectations.
It is reverse engineering fabrics, based on the specific and critical requirements of the customers. The company operates a full-spectrum QC regimen, covering all procedures involving inward and outward materials flow and entailing periodic in-line tests and stringent monitoring.
The company manufactures several kinds of fabrics for the Conveyor Belting, Tyre Chafer, Marine and Auto Component Industry. Sanrhea’s USP is that its products are always customer specific. On certain products the company has worked for over two years with the customer, to reach a stage of final perfection and establishment. Also, its delivery commitments on very short notice are something nobody else in the industry can match.
As far as fabrics for very critical applications like Boats, Floats, Brakes and Air-Cells, where the dynamic balance of the fabric is very important, the MD thinks that the company is most established, if not the only established and approved manufacturer in India. “We are constantly looking out for new products. Sanrhea’s vision is to concentrate and establish 85 percent of its product profile in the Specialized Fabrics segment. All new growth plans are only with such new products in vision.
We are currently working on certain specialised fabrics catering to certain different Automobile components”, mentions the MD. Sanrhea has already established these fabrics on a semi commercial scale and are producing about 10-15 tons/month. However, conservative outlook that it has, Sanrhea is waiting for a consolidation of some more time. It does see itself adding a new line of 100-150 tons/month, catering to these new developments.
According to Tushar, Conveyor Belting Fabrics had historically been over designed. This not only assured a secure and long-term belt strength, but also benefited the vendor with a higher volume of sale and a higher margin. When Sanrhea as textile technocrats entered the field it sat with its conveyor belt customers and reworked specifications of the entire Belting Fabric Range, based on the actual required specification and it brought down the fabric grammage by almost 10-15 percentage which is direct cost saving.
“We are currently working on a fabric for an Of Shore Marine Inflatable, where 16 layers of fabric are utilised to make the final component. We are jointly working with the customer to make the same product with a fabric redesigned by us and the target is to achieve the same results with 8 to 10 layers of fabric”, he states. Sanrhea has the most enterprising and driven team most of which has grown from in-within. There’s never a NO in their vocabulary.
According to the MD, “If someone is doing it, then why can’t we! With a technically sound and driven team like this, we made it our endeavour to reverse engineer fabrics, specific to each customer needs. We didn’t look at volumes, but instead made it our drive to give each customer what he needs. This assures the customer with a better and more cost effective product and assured us the confidence and a secure long term association with the customer”.
Growth Story
Starting-off its corporate journey in Industrial Textiles as a small convertor in 1997, Sanrhea today has grown into one of the most reputed and established manufacturers of RFL Dipped Fabrics in India, with a current installed capacity of 180 tons per month. It started off as a company with absolutely no experience, knowledge or technical tie-up in this field. All Sanrhea had was a very driven team with a strong textile background, and one that saw scope in this segment. Its initial years as converters for established manufacturers of Conveyor Belting and Chafer Fabrics gave it immense knowledge and in-site in the line, as well as the onwards processing and application of the fabrics they were making.
The company saw that fabric made in its plant was onwards being processed and supplied to the prime tyre industry or conveyor belt customers by its convertors. This gave Sanrhea the confidence of putting up its own RFL Dipping Plant and entering into the end product market. In fact, it ended up designing and setting up the Dipping Line entirely by itself in assistance with a closely associated Textile Engineering company. Effectively, the company was able to set up the plant at 25 percent the cost of importing the same.
“Our growth has been slow, but since we were a new company in this segment, we opted to tread with caution. We grew from internal accruals and have maintained a debt-free status. However, this has lead us today into becoming a secure and solid manufacturers catering to the most reputed of customers and producing the most specialized fabrics as per each customers critical requirements”, mentions the MD.
Our Growth has been slow, but since we were a new company in this segment, we opted to tread with caution. We grew from internal accruals and have maintained a debt-free status
Over the last year, Sanrhea has already implemented the required up-gradation and capacity installation to take itself from its current average achieved capacity of appx. 140 tons/month to 180 tons/month. It should be able to see the effect of this in the financial year 2022- 2023. Subsequent to this, the company is also working on installing its additional 100-150 tons new capacity to cater to the new products that are currently under semi-commercial approval. Its vision for growth is already set and the company is striding ahead with the same caution it has grown with till date.
"In the segment we are in, it’s all about Quality & Delivery. Our performance on both these issues has been the bone of our success. There have been instances where we have been able to give delivery to our customer within two days of a SOS demand"
Looking At The Future
With the growth of the Indian economy, demand on each segment the company is currently in, is going up. To keep up pace with this the company is also looking at increasing its capacity of the current products range. “Further, it has been a constant endeavour within us to keep developing newer and more efficient products for our customers.
Various exercises are in the trial stages with a very positive response from the customers. Based on these the company is actively working on adding an additional capacity of upto 150 tons/month of these additional RFL Dipped Product range”, concludes the MD.
