“We are a quality focused company.  We are dedicated to continuously working on our technology, processes and materials to reach higher standards of quality and service,” said Inderjit Dhuria, discussing what sets Vardhman apart from competitors in Asia.

 

The company has integrated this mission into its manufacturing processes, materials procurement and in the development of its management team and workforce.

 

Vardhman Textile Ltd. is a power player in the textile industry, with over 1.1 million spindles that spin about 600 tons of yarn per day.  The company’s 1,466 airjet looms weave approximately 200 million meters of fabric per year.  The company has some of the nation’s most technologically advanced facilities.

 

To support the demand for shorter lead times, the company maintains large inventories assuring consistent supply of quality yarn.

 

The India-based company started in 1965 and is now the nation’s one of the largest vertically integrated textile group. This offers many benefits to buyers, including most important advantage i. e flexibility, since all of the materials and processes are being handled in-house by one company.

 

Vardhman consumes nearly 240 to 245 million kgs of cotton each year.  Having set high quality standards for their products, they rely on US cotton because it is contamination free and the fibers are much uniform.  This plays a big role in the company’s total quality and contamination control effort.

 

 

Quality is the Core Standard

“Vardhman is a customer service focused company which focuses on being one of the best in quality."

 

"US cotton has a minimal amount of contamination – this is very important.  It is the best cotton in the world,” said Mr. Dhuria, Cotton Buyer at Vardhman.  “We get the best value by buying US cotton.”

 

“We need to meet our customer’s requirements and they are demanding more on quality front these days.  Certain sensitive customers are specifically asking for US cotton to meet their requirement of least contamination and better quality cotton textile product.

 

"We’re also seeing a growing demand for higher grade upland cotton which is having longer staple fibers.  We use this cotton for 60’s count.  We use about 6,000 tons of US Upland cotton each year,” he said.

 

Vardhman does 100% testing of the cotton lots that it is sourcing. We have long-term and strong relationships with our suppliers. "We are getting a guarantee in terms of quality of the cotton till the consumption of last bale of the cotton lot," he said.  In addition, the company has six factories that are dedicated to sort out the contamination from the seed cotton before taking it to the ginning mills.

 

Being a vertical integrated company, Vardhman is able not only to provide maximum quality management – from the fiber to the finished fabric – we also ensure that the buyer has total traceability of the complete supply chain for fabric they purchase from Vardhman. 

 

No Water is Wasted

Vardhman is continuously making the successful efforts to raise the level of its sustainable manufacturing by regularly reviewing all of its processes and seeking out ways to make them cleaner, as well as to reduce waste.

 

“Many initiatives had been taken all over the group which has minimized the Energy and Water consumption by 15-20 percent.  We have replaced conventional blowers, pumps and motors with energy efficient ones, renewable sources of energies viz Bio-gas and Solar Energy is used for cooking in our canteens and hostel kitchens. Tree plantation drives are conducted at regular time intervals and there are approximately 3.5 lakhs tress in and around our premises.” said Mr. Dhuria.

 

Vardhman is treating 5.4 and 10 Million KL of Wastewater through Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) and Centralised Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) respectively. In addition to this 0.9 Million KL of domestic waste water is treated in Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) installed at its units annually. Vardhman has also set up the ‘Zero-liquid-discharge (ZLD) Plant’ of capacity 4000 KLD from which 1.4 Million KL of water is recovered and reused for manufacturing process per annum. In addition, the treated water is also used for toilet flushing and watering of Green belts. The gardening system is completely powered by treated waste water.

 

The group has set up 52 Rain Water Harvesting Systems (RWHS) within its premises. Rain water is directed from roof tops through channels and then collected in a collection pit with filter. Through this, the water is recharged into the ground through bore holes. About 1.75 Million KL of water is recharged each year.

 

Where the Growth Opportunities Are

“Uncertainty is the biggest challenge we face these days. The market is not moving only on the fundamentals. Geopolitical problems are strongly impacting the entire textile value chain.

 

“We’re finding our strongest growth in Vietnam, Bangladesh, and South America.  However in China, more uncertainty exists.  Our orders from China can vary greatly from one season to the next.  Cotton consumption in China will remain strong, but we don’t expect it to grow significantly.  The growth will come from other markets,” said Mr. Dhuria.

 

Looking Ahead

“Last year (2018) was a very good for us.  For 2019, we are optimistic but are also cautious about what will happen in the global markets.  Everything remains uncertain,” he said.

 

‘The one thing that will remains certain is the continuous change’