LMW has changed the face of spinning solutions in India and globally
Founded in 1962 with an aim to provide Indian textile mills with the latest spinning technology, Lakshmi Machine Works Limited (LMW) is today a leading textile machinery manufacturer in India and one among the three in the world to produce the entire range of spinning machinery. The company caters to markets across Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America. In an interview with Fibre2Fashion, President of LMW’s Textile Machinery Division Sankar M discusses spinning machinery, automation and sustainability.
How has the spinning solutions sector evolved since the inception of LMW? What has transpired and what stays?
To understand this evolution, we need to first acknowledge the fact that the spinning sector itself has always been a seasonal one. This sector has always followed a sinusoidal trajectory in terms of demand and hence has always posed a unique challenge to manufacturers who make spinning machines and solutions. A year of downturn in spinning leads to two to three years of slowdown in demand for spinning machinery. The evolution of spinning machinery has hence been in compressions and rarefactions.
The situation was no different when LMW started making spinning machinery way back in 1962. The sheer nature of this industry meant that there were only two kinds of machinery manufacturers – Fairweather birds that cropped up when the demand was good, only to disappear when demand slowed down and Conventional players who played safe by providing standard equipment with age-old technology that lagged considerably in efficiency. LMW changed the whole approach to spinning machinery manufacturing. We realised that innovation was the key not just for our success, but for the competitiveness of Indian spinning sector and that is where we focused. Step by step we introduced machines that covered end to end spinning process. We focused on providing superior value to our customers by leveraging state-of-the-art technology at an affordable price.
When we began manufacturing machines, the small spinners, who make up a strong section of Indian spinners as we see today, did not exist. Our focus on delivering cost effective spinning machines encouraged the cotton growers to move up the value chain by entering the area of spinning. We ensured that our machines were robust, could adapt easily to the varied working conditions they are put through, and keep delivering superior performance. As a result, today there are hundreds of mills in India and other markets where our machines are still delivering finest of yarns even after three decades of service.
It is important to note that we realised very early on in our journey of growing the spinning sector in India that easy availability of spares and components as well as quick service would be key to ensuring success of our spinners. It is to achieve this goal that we established and still run one of the largest service networks for spinning machinery in the world. Between our senior service professionals who are subject matter experts and the vast agency network of well-trained service engineers, we cover every nook and corner of every single market we operate in. This army of service personnel gives confidence to our customers that whatever be the issue, there is an LMW engineer just a call away. Having said that, let me also point out the fact that service personnel per million LMW spindles in operation is still one of the lowest globally. What this means is that while the sheer volume of our spindles in operation warrants a large service force, the high reliability of our machines allows us to have a lean operating structure.
We have, over the decades, established a culture of working closely with our customers that enables us to foresee their evolving needs and making machines that are in line with such evolving needs. While the earlier models were focused on mechanisation to reduce human effort, the newer models focus on automation to minimise dependence on manpower, availability of which is one of the top challenges spinning mills face globally.
Our new generation machines are also built to enable remote monitoring, remote diagnosis, and real-time data analysis to ensure spinning mills make informed decisions. We are making real-time spinning machinery data part of strategic decision-making process.
In short, LMW has changed the face of spinning solutions in India and globally. We have given our customers the confidence and flexibility to choose the right machines for their unique processes that ensures their competitive edge.
What is LMW's share in the domestic and global spinning machinery market?
We are the number 1 spinning machinery supplier in India by number and value by a long way, and one of the fastest growing players in other international markets we operate in.
Where does the Indian textile industry stand when it comes to adopting automation and sustainability into operations?
As you are aware, the textile industry in India is the largest employment generator, next only to farming. Why I am saying this is because it is always need that justifies automation. The challenge is to provide automation that justifies investment for the spinning mill owner. We at LMW have understood this very well and this insight is a key component that drives extent of automation and digitisation in our machines.
Other than for spinning, a vast majority of machines across the textile value chain still get imported into India. This has led to cost escalations making it harder for Indian textile players to compete in global markets. This, along with the aforementioned manpower related factor, has brought Indian textile industry to a situation where automation is being incorporated to improve process efficiency and consistency in quality.
At LMW, we are focusing on adding affordable and market specific automation which makes sense for the spinning mill owners to invest in.
How is LMW incorporating automation and sustainability into its solutions?
R&D is one of our key pillars of growth. While it goes without saying that our R&D team is academically well qualified, we have deliberately taken care to maintain a rich blend of youthful exuberance and passion mixed with decades of domain knowledge to deliver exciting value to our customers. As mentioned earlier, the seed for improvements and innovations comes from our close collaboration with customers. As a process, our teams work closely with customers to understand their latent needs, pains in current products and services as well as avenues for gain creators.
Insights thus obtained are deliberated among our cross-functional teams, and we follow design thinking philosophy to come up with ideas for improvements, automation, and innovation.
We follow well-established processes to move from ideation to product development. Each prototype is put through a set of real-world operating conditions to ensure reliability and delivery as targeted before they are launched to customers.
Again, as mentioned earlier, at LMW the focus is on need based affordable automation that is tailor made to suit application segments across target markets.
It is pertinent to note that we put a lot of effort towards sustainability of our machines and solutions as well. As a process, whenever an upgraded machine or component is launched, we ensure Performance Enhancement Kits (PEKs) are also launched in market which customers can use to upgrade the existing or older version of our machines.
What are the R&D efforts at LMW directed towards at the moment?
Two upcoming machines that have successfully undergone exhaustive testing are Winding machine and Air-jet machine. These two shall be launched within the next few months.
Which are your major markets in India and abroad?
In India, our machines are sought after at every spinning cluster, irrespective of application. We hold a lion’s share of market in India. Among global markets, we have strong market share in Indonesia, Bangladesh, East Africa, Nepal and Vietnam, and are a trusted and fast-growing force in Turkey, Uzbekistan, China, Pakistan and Egypt.
What are the long-term goals set at LMW? What new technologies can be expected in the years to come?
Our vision is very clear. We aim to enhance customer satisfaction and our image globally and achieve exponential growth to leadership in all markets we operate in through world class products and services.
We aim to achieve this by delivering greater value to our customers by providing complete and competitive solutions through thought and technological leadership and manufacturing excellence that are responsive to dynamic market needs.
Published on: 17/10/2022
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
