Interview with Mr. Raghunath Khadilkar, Director, Phoenix Textile Engineering Pvt Ltd

 Could you please let us know more about Phoenix Group and products, goals and success story?

The foundation of Phoenix was laid in 1991 with a vision for building a world class company catering to needs of yarn and fabric manufacturers all over the world. Within a short period of the set up of in-house manufacturing facility, the company won the certificate of most preferred supplier of knives and anvils for Electronic Yarn Clearer machines from Uster, Switzerland. Gradually, our exports to Europe increased as we bagged volume orders of blades and cutters from renowned companies like Stuber, Germany and GRJ Meerschaert, Belgium.

We gained expertise in making cutters for all types of Rapier, AirJet & WaterJet Looms of various brands and makes and blades and scissors for autoconers, splicers and EYCs. Soon after, we included yarn suction guns and yarn splicers to our product basket.

Our vision is to make best quality of products and services accessible to yarn and fabric manufacturers who are in constant search for a long lasting business relationship with dedicated suppliers.

What do you think about Middle East and Africa textile and garment market and it’s potentials?

Lot of exports has already been made from this region to US due to trade agreements which also developed textile manufacturing zones in several of these countries. Local demand has also driven lot of business. In many countries textile is either number one sector in business or second only to oil in Gulf countries. Gradually, MENA is becoming an attractive investment destination for other countries as well, especially, countries like Turkey, UAE & Saudi Arabia.

Do you have export to the region? Which countries in Middle East and Africa are your main destination? 

We are not doing much business in MENA currently and are very much interested in entering into business partnerships and increase sales in this region, especially, Turkey, UAE, Saudi Arabia & Egypt.

How do you evaluate textile machinery and spare part industry in India and Globally? What kind of innovation is expected in your future products?

Growth in fashion sector, increased influx of tech textile and their finished products, growth of ecommerce and increased marketing reach, increase in purchasing power of people, better trade relations between countries, overall peace and prosperity  shall attract more interest towards the textile business and influence existing manufacturers to start more Greenfield projects in other parts of the world. This will result in increase in sale of textile machinery and spare parts as well both in India and globally.

To address the need to conserve energy and resources, we are focusing on making more energy efficient yarn suction guns and pneumatic yarn splicers. We keep improving our products by taking technical feedback from our customers who have rich practical experience with textile machinery.

Snapshot of recent product developments is given below –

• Pawan Yarn Suction Guns – Models like V1000 which can save air consumption by 10-15%.
• Pawan Bandh Yarn Splicer P311 – An advanced version of existing P310 model. It is designed specifically for high bulk and multi ply carpet/ glass fiber and high tenacity yarns which become challenging to be cut after splicing is done. P311 can be used to join yarns by stapling multiple times and tail ends can be cut by blade mounted on the splicer.
• Pawan Bandh Yarn Splicer PC31 – Designed for delicate yarns within count range 20  to 4000 dtex.
• Falcon Loom Cutters & Assemblies – Improvement in Pneumatic Tuckin Selvedge Cutter and Assembly for Picanol AirJet Looms.
• Falcon Loom Cutters + Falcon Autoconer/Splicer/EYC Blades – Various modifications  blades and cutters to suit special applications, improve performance, maintenance and inventory cost.

How big is the your market for textile machineries and spare part in Middle East and Africa?

Replacement business in loom cutter and spinning/EYC blades product lines as well as new business for yarn splicers and suction guns look promising. Market is pretty lucrative since the countries are doing lot of in-house manufacturing and ambitious with inclination to exports especially countries like Turkey, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.