The shimmering legacy of success: Mehala Machines

The journey for Mehala began in 1974. Since then Mehala has not only created a widespread network for itself but has been a big name in the technology category. From a humble beginning as a proprietary firm Mehala has risen steadily to become a group of companies of repute. Mr. C.Subramaniam, an enterprising entrepreneur and a visionary, founded the Mehala Group in 1974.

‘MEHALA’ is a “Total Solution Provider” to Indian Apparel Industry. Their product basket includes everything ranging from Cutting machines, CAD/CAM systems,  Sewing machines, Unit production systems, Embroidery machines, Finishing Equipments, Packing machines, Material handling systems, Factory Ventilation/Cooling System and the list goes on.

Mehala represents some of the Leading Brands in the Market like Siruba (Taiwan), DUERKOPP ADLER (Germany), Macpi(Italy), Bullmer(Germany), INA Systems(Singapore/Canada), Damei (China), KM(Japan), Orbito (Singapore), Assyst (Germany), AMP Pisani (Italy), Threadsol (Singapore) Schips(Switzerland), LKM knitting machine (Taiwan)  and many more. They have also diversified into solutions for the leather, composites, technical textiles and automotive Industry.

Mehala today holds a widespread network and their operations are spread over the country with 15 branches, which does show the vast support Mehala brings to the market. Mehala has been in the market for about 45 years now.  The group has got its allied businesses like Spinning Mills, Wind power generation, Modern machine-shop for engineering components, motor manufacturing, healthcare, petrochemicals etc, and the group sales turnover is around USD 100 million per annum. Mehala Machines is also an Engineering Company who takes credit in production of many indigenous products for the Apparel & Textile Industry

Triumph through strength

Mehala Machines, as one of the largest marketer of industrial sewing machines in India is the only PAN India garment machinery distributor with ISO 9001:2000 certification. Mehala is equipped with India’s largest and only ISO 9001:2008 certified sewing machine service centre in India. The phenomenal growth of Mehala is a story worth reading and narrating and still in years to come the same will only get better to verse.  Mehala believes not only in selling products but also in building a long term relationship with its customers ensuring complete customer satisfaction.

"In the last 5 years we have been able to achieve consistent growth not only in terms of revenue, but also with respect to market share, product range, manufacturing capabilities and technical capabilities etc. Our foreign principals, Indian product development team and our marketing team have all worked in synergy to help us grow," articulates 

Mr. S. Bharath, Director, Mehala Machines Ltd. The market sentiments towards Mehala are positive and favourable. With a cascade of right products coupled with a dedicated team, backed with adaptive strategies with respect to the ongoing products & market demands Mehala stands ahead in numerous ways. The values that Mehala believes in and solely adapt to are based on strong relationship with their PRINCIPALS and CUSTOMERS and therefore they see that all the stakeholders in our value chain are looking forward to an era of growth and prosperity which in turn will push Mehala ahead in the growth curve. 

Doing the greater good

Mehala is a strong advocator of energy efficient technologies. They have taken special efforts to promote energy efficient Orbito range of servo motors for over 10 years, which can be used as a replacement to the traditional clutch motors used in sewing machines. They begin by studying the electricity consumption pattern of machines which use motors with obsolete technology, and then offer Mehala’s ORBITO motors to test in order to prove the energy savings. Compared to the traditional clutch motors the Orbito brand servo motors not only save energy, but are also compact in size and doesn’t generate much head as in the clutch motors. With these motors the sewing productivity is also improved by atleast 20% due to the quick response time of  Orbito energy saving servo motors.  Apart from this, most of the Mehala’s factories are powered by their own windmills. With respect to the company's CSR activities, the group focuses on healthcare, skill development and entrepreneurship.

With a  healthcare wing set up exclusively to offer highly discounted & affordable medical diagnostics and preventive health checks such as MRI, CT scans, blood tests etc, for the needy, Mehala reaches to the lowest strata of the society with ease. This is managed by their internal entity “MEHALA SOCIAL SERVICE”. Mehala's skill development team focuses not only on internal trainings for their own people but also they offer free skill development programs to several colleges and educational institutions. For budding entrepreneurs in the textile sector they offer free consulting, trainings and also financial support to a great extent.

True as their company philosophy goes, 'committed to customer delight', brand Mehala is always ready to provide solutions to the toughest of problems to the entire textile value chain and has been through the decades steadfast to take care of their partners with care and understanding. But at present when the Indian economy and specially the Textile and apparel industry is undergoing many a changes we decided to converse and understand how Mehala is taking care of the issue in hand with a smile. In conversation with Mr. S. Bharath, Director, Mehala Machines Ltd.

With China giving such a tough competition, how far do you see brand Mehala striking a deal for India made machines with the textile industry?

Most of the machinery for the Indian market is sought from China or abroad in general. Indigenous manufacturing mostly catering to the bottom of the market with few exceptions of reasonably high value products are also manufactured in India. Major share of our business is sales, distribution & service of world renowned brands such as Siruba (Taiwan), Duerkopp Adler (Germany), Bullmer (Germany) , PFAFF (Germany) , Macpi (Italy) , Pisani (Italy) etc.  However MEHALA being a techno-sales company we have a strong team to support manufacturing wherein we manufacture products such as tubular spreaders, ironing & finishing equipments, band knife cutting machines, etc. And to answer your question, only in few product segments we are able to fight Chinese competition and we choose only such segments if it makes a good business case. Also we take up customization projects for some special applications which requires close interaction with the users with regular feedback and in such cases we don’t see any scope for Chinese companies to enter.

Demonetisation in recent times, has changed the geography of trading to a great extent. How far have the same affected Mehala?

Yes there was a temporary slump in sales especially with customers manufacturing for the domestic market. Garment manufacturers catering to the export markets continued to place orders with us. But we expect that in due course this would settle down and things would return to normalcy.

With more and more brands breaking into the machinery market and bringing International technologies to India, how do you find yourself adjusting to the competition?

With more and more brands entering India, competition is becoming fierce. But customers are wise enough to look at the credentials of not only the manufacturer, but also the local partner. It is not easy to march through this fierce market just by adjusting the prices. Customers are wise enough to consider factors like after sales service, maintenance costs of machinery, reputation of the local partner etc. For a new entrant it is not easy to score well on all the above factors which impact the decision making of customers. Finally as in any business consolidation would take place leave the market space for the one who understands and adapts to the ever dynamic market.

With technological advancements and newer innovations making way into the textile industry, where do you think the Indian make machinery stands in the race of advancement?

'India made' machineries still have a long way to go with technological adjustment. It is not that we don’t have the capabilities to develop new technologies or advanced products, but when it comes to developing them at a reasonable price, we fail. Again we have failed in getting a global reach for India made technology and therefore have failed in marketing of our products globally.

What is the present status of Mehala's International trading?

Major portion of our business is import of capital equipment and related technology for the apparel, automotive and soft goods industry. Our export business comprises machined parts and components for the engineering industry.

With the government introducing several policy changes, how do you see the technology up gradation in the textile sector improving in the time to come?

With rising labour costs and falling labour productivity in India, the textile & apparel sector is very much on the lookout for affordable technology to reduce dependency on labour and improve efficiency & productivity. Be it subsidies with TECHNOLOGY UPGRADATION FUND or any move by the government to reward adoption of new technology is going to be of strategic importance, in terms of our products being globally competitive, in turn  directly contributing to the growth of the industry. Apart from the TUF, the recent announcement by the government that the job working units can now claim duty benefits under EPCG scheme will also help boost the textile & apparel sector.

What are the most sought after products from your product basket?

There is increasing demand for machines which come with features that reduce human handling, and elimination of manual processes. With use of robotics, there is reduced human handling resulting in consistency in quality and output. Our product basket comprises basic and automatic sewing machines, embroidery machines, CAD/CAM systems, automatic cutting & spreading machines, finishing machines etc. Apart from our own Orbito range products such as ironing-finishing equipments, band knife machines, CAD software, sewing machines, tubular spreaders etc, we in particular have seen growth with our automatic solutions particularly with machines from Duerkopp Adler, PFAFF, BULLMER, Macpi, SIRUBA, Schips and Pisani.

Tell us a little about your client base. Which companies are the highest buyers?

Our clientele range from big corporate houses to domestic households. We have solutions to cater to all of them. I may not be able to specify individual customer names as we want to give the same importance to all our customers irrespective of the volume of business they provide us. Small or big, anyone who is our customer is of at most importance to us.

When we talk about sourcing machinery, it is not always a big corporate looking for the right machinery for setting up a production line. How difficult/easy it is for a small set up to survive and source the right machinery for a smaller production capacity? Does Mehala assist these segment of the textile chain too?

As I said, our customers range from corporate houses to domestic households. For smaller factories who may not be able to go through the import procedures, we cater with local stock sales, as we always carry enough inventory of machineries both in our own warehouses across the country and in bonded warehouses as well. Additionally, for the factories which cannot afford to have its own industrial engineers to set up right production lines, our dedicated industrial engineering team would pitch in to help such customers. Not only we offer the right solution with respect to line planning, machinery selection etc, but also provide them trainings for skill upgradation.

Standing at the cross road where in even Indian garment manufacturers depend on machines made abroad and does not really seek to establish manufacturing by using the machines made in India, brands like Mehala try to revive the idea of manufacturing with their humble efforts and supportive tactics. By standing beside customers, understanding their demands and machinery needs, Mehala supervises the best possible solution and they are surely on the mission to revive manufacturing in India through the use of indigenously manufactured machines. Keeping their market share at a high quotient through systematic coverage of the market to mark a steady growth is the motto for Mehala. And they are certainly fulfilling their ambition with by increasing their market presence through their network of branches, service centres and effective dealers. Delivery quality at every level without thinking whom they are catering to and following the path to excellence makes the tag 'consistent' quite apt for Mehala in every way. The brand extends their responsibilities to every level and adapting the dimensions of sustainable development Mehala envelops their commitments to business as improving the quality of life of the fellow citizens. And as a responsible corporate they shoulder an obligation for their employees and clients, as well as to society at large.