For many companies the journey of growth is a memorable experience which not only defines the milestones of the company but also the defining moments of the industry. Started by his father P. Mangilal Jain in 1974, M L Jain, Director, Mahaveer Industrial Suppliers, is very humbled by the way the industry stalwarts like Dinesh J Hinduja (DJH), the former MD of Gokaldas Exports, were catalyst in their growth, guiding and supporting new initiatives. In a nostalgic mood, Jain who is popularly known in the industry as Raju Jain, shares with Team StitchWorld the changing face of the industry and how he always responded to the change to stay a favourite supplier to the industry.
Always open to new ideas and quick to pick up evolving needs of the industry, Jain joined his father’s business in 1982, which also proved to be the turning point for the company. “We were initially into supplying electrical goods like wires, cables, switches for the same industry, but it was Dinesh ji who advised us to get into the garment finishing industry, as the area was fast picking up in the 80’s,” reminisces Jain. Later it was again DJH who showed them the direction for investing in the equipment spare parts in the late 90’s.
A humble man, Jain is fast to add that apart from DJH, owners of Shahi Exports, BRFL Scotts Garments, Creative Group , Meerena Creations, Gemini, Texport Group, Indian Design, Prateek Apparels, and many other industry stalwarts have supported him wholeheartedly in his pursuit of innovation and helped him to reach the position he enjoys in the market. “They not only gave me business but also guided me with ideas, as the industry at that time was depending majorly on Japanese and German companies for parts, which were very expensive, so we needed to create products to suit the industry in both quality and price,” recalls Jain. It was from the need generated from the industry that the company started importing steam irons, spares for Sussman, Trevil and other finishing equipments brands.
[bleft] The most important service to the industry is to deliver the spares on time, so that production is not hampered and is of good quality. [/bleft]
The industry started to invest in new imported machines in the 90’s, as buyers became very quality-conscious, with many German and Japanese companies supplying to the country. “It was in 1994 that we decided that there is a big market for sewing machine spare parts in the country, and we also stepped into this market segment and started importing spare parts from Taiwan, Germany and China under the brand name Gauge sewing machines and spares. With time China became a big player in the machine segment and today nearly 75% of our imports are from China,” says Jain. The first few companies that Jain started working with were Strong H, Toniy Attachments and KH Company/Kenlen.
The next major milestone for the company came a few years later with the advent of attachments to make operations simpler and faster. “An important division of our company today is that of attachments and folders, which was started in 1995-96, when the labour-reducing productivity revolution started in the industry. We first developed the folders in Taiwan, but when the quantities increased after 10 years or so, we started getting it manufactured from China,” informs Jain. The folder and attachment segment of his business is very innovative, as one is always striving to find new solutions to aid production, and Jain travels regularly to China to develop them as per industry demands. “This is not a straight product import business and we interact regularly with the industry to understand their needs and then get it developed,” says Jain.
The company takes two weeks for new developments and it is possible because of strong backward links. Also there are no minimum order requirements, but there is a minimum cost of development, which has to be borne by the industry. Gokaldas Exports was the first company that placed an order for attachments, while Toniy Attachments in Taiwan was the first company that Jain worked with for attachments.
[bleft] The folder and attachment segment of his business is very innovative as one always has to find new solutions to aid production, and Jain travels regularly to China to develop them as per industry demands. The company takes two weeks for new developments and it is possible because of strong backward links. [/bleft]
Today, Bombay Rayon Fashions is the single largest buyer for the company for attachments, spares and machines of FDM. In fact, Aman Agrawal has personally been with Jain to China to see the manufacturing plant of attachments and was very much impressed with the setup. “Both Aman and Prashant Agrawal are very proactive and discuss in detail what they need and based on that we source various attachments to support them. Naseer Ahmed of Scotts Garments is another exporter who has continuously guided us with new ideas,” avers Jain.
In fact, industry responsiveness according to Jain is their biggest strength and asset. “All our ideas are generated from the industry’s needs. There was a time when people used to talk about safety safety of the workers at their factories while others laughed at the thought, but we sensed the change and started importing safety items like gloves,” avers Jain. He recalls the time when they started importing hand gloves, which used to cost 6 times more compared to now.
All of the value adds that the company has expanded into are now very critical to the industry and it is serviced from the Bangalore headquarters. For this, the company has tied-up with Blue Dart/First Flight to ensure that all the orders received before 6:30 pm are dispatched to the factory on the same day. Servicing for Mahaveer is about responding quickly to needs. “We have a website, where all the products can be seen, but it gets very difficult to take orders on the website as we have 45,000 inventory items so we have an email system, where clients can send us pictures of the products they require and we send counter samples for their approval within a maximum lead time of one hour,” informs Jain.
Having worked with the industry for three decades, Jain understands the nuances of the business well and since 50% of the parts are interchangeable among the various brands of machinery, the company can serve its clients 90% times within 24 hrs of the demand generation. “To earn the reputation of a one-stop-solution for all machine spare parts and attachments, the company maintains stock levels 90% of the times,” says Jain.
The most important service to the industry is to deliver the spares on time, so that production is not held-up and is of good quality. maintain timely execution. “I personally check the quality of each spares in China/Taiwan and then select the supplier for the parts… We live by our slogan, which says – ‘Your productions will never stop’,” avers Jain.
Jain is confident that his business can only grow. “As labour is still cheap as compared to other countries, the focus is certainly on productivity tool and that is where folders and attachments come handy,” reasons Jain. Among the products which are most popular with the Indian market is – Strong H spare parts, which is a Taiwan based company, that Jain claims has very high quality spare parts at a reasonable price. Other popular products include Edge make hook sets, Edge garment marking pens, Edge invisible markers, Loopers, Toniy pressure foots and Toniy folders.
Not losing focus, Jain admits that the biggest challenge in the future is “How competitive we are. Business is not going to be a big issue, but running it competitively is the challenge and by 2014 we want to have online ordering system so that we remove all middle men and reduce the transaction cost. We also want to make folders and attachments at an affordable price, for this we plan to start manufacturing in India by 2014-15, because the labour cost in China is growing so it will be difficult to sustain,” concludes Jain. His vision is supported by his two sons – Mahaveer and Hitesh Luniya who are now a part of the business, leaving him free to concrete the vision with greater focus on sourcing better and affordable products while they handle the operations part of the business.
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