Jayajothi - Spinning Beyond Benchmarks

Company Performance

Jayajothi - Spinning Beyond Benchmarks

In Pursuit Of Excellence

It is a pleasant one and half our drive from Madurai on NH 208 towards south west to reach a beautiful town called Rajapalayam which is a known textile hub in South India. The town, apart from its nearby popular tourist spots, today is an emerging industrial town backed by the textile entrepreneurs who have diversified to several other industry segments. But at the core, it is the textile mills which prod and boast of the town's legacy. Textile Excellence in its endeavor to commemorate excellence in textile manufacturing travelled the path to Rajapalayam to be with Jayajothi & Co, a flagship company of Sri Jayavilas Group and a prominent textile mill in India.

Spinning Beyond Benchmarks

At Sri Jayajothi's spinning mill in Alagai Nagar, Rajapalayam, after filling the visitor's register, we were guided to the General Manager's office. As we walked into the large neat compound with factory sheds, we were greeted by the typical whiff of a spinning mill and the humming sound of machines brought in a vibrancy too. There we met a dynamic man Venkatesh, the GM of Jayajothi Spinning Mill, with whom we exchanged pleasantries before settling down to business. We discussed economics, politics, the textile business, moving on to productivity in mills. As the discussions on productivity progressed, so did our astonishment. So much so, that we could not believe our ears, we hesitated to ask Venkatesh to repeat what he had just mentioned! Noticing expressions of surprise and disbelief on our faces, the GM showed us the production data obtained through an ERP system, on his computer screen. The computer screen displayed the production per spindle per 8 hrs for 60s cotton compact yarn count for the past week. The maximum was 103 gms and minimum around 100 gms! That too using indigenous cotton! And now we could not believe our eyes! There was a conflict between the data in our mind and what we saw on the computer screen!

As far as our knowledge of the industry norm goes, the maximum productivity figure which could be achieved was around 75 gms in 60s count cotton compact yarn. We had heard that those who tried beyond this level of productivity had ended up with bad quality and even customer claims. "That is the mindset", staring us squarely into our eyes, Venkatesh explained. "Really it is all because of the mindset that the people have, which hinders them from attempting to go beyond certain limits." He briefly paused for a few seconds as we keenly hung on to his every word. "The figure what you saw was not achieved overnight. It is because of the systems that we have implemented five years back. It allowed us to brace ourselves for stretching slightly beyond the limits every day, every week, every month and every year. Now, we have attained this amazing figure of productivity even without our conscious knowledge. You might know that small changes either on positive or negative side will not be noticed then and there! We never faced any stress for this achievement." A flash of a satisfied smile appeared on his face when he finished his explanation. We nodded our heads in agreement and our quest for excellence was quenched for the moment.

The Sri Jayavilas Group and Sri Jayajothi

Sri Jayavilas Group is an industrial conglomerate which was founded five decades ago by Sathu Ramasamy Naicker and Sathu Avadai Ammal. Today, the group has business interest in textiles, wind energy, public transport and logistics, cement, with a topline of Rs 1500 crore. Sri Jayajothi & Co. Ltd., is a flagship organisation of this prestigious group with its core activity involving spinning of yarn. The company along with its sister concern (Jayalakshmi Textiles) has a capacity of 150,000 ring spindles and 3200 rotors, 230 powerlooms and 15 airjet looms as well as a garment division. The company deploys best of the machinery from Truetzschler, LMW, Rieter, Schlafhorst, Savio etc. to produce 40 tonnes of premium quality yarns per day using 'clean energy' from its own wind firm. The company is supported by over 3000 skilled employees who are proficiently trained in modern methods of quality management like 5S and Quality Circle to achieve TPM and TQM. To achieve company's motto 'Punctuality and Quality', all efforts are made to have the best of man, material, machine and methods.

Jayajothi's Product Range

Spun Yarn

1. Pure Cotton yarn 2. 100% Polyester yarn 3. Polyester Cotton blended yarn

Type: Carded, Combed, Compact and Slub yarns

Process: Ring Spinning and Rotor Spinning

Count Range: Ne 2 to Ne 120

End use: Weaving, Knitting

Fabric

1. Grey fabric: Width 36" to 120". 2. Gauze cloth 3. Hospital dressing 4. Healthcare products 5. Terry Towel 6. Shop Towel 7. Industrial fabrics

Market: Domestic and Export

Exports are to USA, Canada, Belgium, Spain, Far East, Italy, Turkey, Israel, Bangladesh, Switzerland, Korea, Sri Lanka, etc.