We Are Keen On People Using Our Technology To Enhance Quality Of Their Products

Rendezvous

We Are Keen On People Using Our Technology To Enhance Quality Of Their Products

Datacolor is a computerised colour matching systems solution provider to the textile industry. Datacolor Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Director - Sales & Support ISC Sanjay Paranjape spoke to Textile Excellence about the company's solutions and plans for the immediate future.

Please tell us about Datacolor's products and systems.

Datacolor is in the business of computerised colour matching systems. We manufacture laboratory dyeing machines, spectrophotometers and software for the textile industry.

These are quality control systems which are used by buying houses, garment makers as well as mills. Mainly, the formulation systems, laboratory dyeing systems and laboratory dispensing systems are used by process houses in laboratories.

How aware is the Indian market about the need for quality in terms of colour matching?

I believe the awareness exists. Today, when communication has largely gone digital, it is necessary to have the required solutions to do so accurately. We have introduced colours on screen with accuracy but that has a limitation in terms of the monitors used. All the colours cannot appear on screens, for example fluorescent colours or glossy colours. However, when you see the standard of the batch on the same monitor, you get pretty good information about how colours have different shades. So, it is not necessary to have extremely accurate colours on the screen.

Are there particular varieties of fabrics which present more challenges in terms of colour matching?

When we did a survey a couple of years ago, we realised that 60 per cent of the articles which the local industry uses cannot be measured by our spectrophotometers for communication of colours. This was noticed especially with regard to lace. So, newer solutions have to be found to meet these challenges which the industry faces.

What is the awareness versus implementation gap in the industry?

I can see that awareness is actually growing. For the last 20 years, I have been looking at the Indian market. I can tell you that there is a vast improvement in terms of awareness. Fifteen years ago, decision makers were not taking any interests in colour matching but today they do. The young generation are educated & understand the need of colour consistency. So, decisions about purchasing colour matching systems are no longer dependent purely on dyeing masters, as they once used to be. Now people have become extremely choosy. When they come to us, they already have a shopping list with them. They already know what exactly to ask us. That was not how it used to be, even a couple of years ago. Earlier we used to work only with dyeing masters but now we involve the marketing people as well as production people & even their info-tech people, because ultimately they are ones who actually use our machines. The idea is to work in synergy.

How critical is colour matching for the finish of products?

Colours tend to change as it is processed. In every process, the environment is different. Besides, the man behind the machine also plays an important role. They can order the best systems but if they do not know how to put them to use, all the effort is wasted.

Do you train customers?

Yes, we do train people. We do audits of laboratories. We do these things not only for users of Datacolor customers, but also users of other systems. Our team is multi-dimensional. We have experts from various fields. So we already know what needs to be checked and what needs to be improved. We know how and where we ought to help or intervene. So, our after sales support and training is exhaustive.

How many customers do you have in India?

We have more than 400 customers in India. Out of this, more than 70% are repeat customers. On an average around 20 or 30 new customers get added to this list every year. The figures I have given you are approximate figures.

In terms of geography, where do you see new customers coming from?

We see new customers coming from big textile clusters. As far as Datacolor is concerned, the Tirupur, Ludhiana Surat and Ichalkaranji clusters are emerging market for us.

Typically what are the problems for which your potential customers seek solutions?

Most of them usually ask us how they can reproduce colours accurately or how they can communicate colours accurately.