In this edition, we bring to you another tale from the floors of one of our clients – Texel Industries Limited, leading geomembranes manufacturer of India. Mr. Shailesh Mehta – Managing Director of Texel Industries shared his views on the challenges and opportunities in the technical textile industry and how progressive organizations from the geomembrane manufacturing sector have been working towards continual improvement and organizational transformation. Below is an excerpt from the interview

Faber Infinite (FI): We have a subscriber base of around 20,000+ readers across 8 countries, our readers would want to know more about Texel Industries – a global manufacturer of Geomembranes.

Mr. Shailesh Mehta (SM): Texel Industries Limited is engaged in manufacturing geosynthetic textile products which have various applications in agriculture, aquaculture, civil engineering and disaster relief. Over a period of 30+ years, we have made several pioneering efforts in India to introduce geosynthetic textile-based solutions, particularly in the field of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Civil Engineering. Our products are known for their strength and durability. We are now also providing turnkey solutions for water conservation and aquaculture and waterproofing of buildings.

FI: That’s wonderful Sir! We understand every industry has its own challenges. What are peculiar challenges unique to your industry?

SM: Our industry is a labor-intensive industry like any other technical textile industry, and we take pride in providing employment to thousands of people. But having said that, the labor-intensive nature of the operation brings in challenges like delivery of goods and services on time and of correct quality. Some of our products are cyclic in nature, overcoming the challenges becomes a primary objective of the organization. Our products are being used by farmers for water conservation, which makes it imperative to ensure correct quality as water is a precious commodity for the farmers. If not stored in the proper manner, it can bring about great suffering due to the loss of crops. These are a few of the challenges unique to our industry.

FI: Progressive teams of Texel are charting their own success path and setting trends for others to follow. What is the core philosophy that differentiates your organization from others?

SM: Since its inception, Texel has always been a pioneer and innovator in terms of new products and technologies. We as an organization continuously evolve various innovative solutions for optimum utilization of our products by our customers. Innovation is a way of life for Texel. This core philosophy differentiates our organization from others. We are proud to say that we brought in the concept of water conservation and water storage by using reinforced Geomembranes to line water reservoirs on the farms across the country and it has helped immensely to increase the rural livelihoods. We are the first company to manufacture Geo Tanks, used for small scale aquaculture activities which can bring path-breaking innovation in fish farming.

FI: We are delighted to know that Sir! We would love to understand more about the transformation journey at Texel Industries Ltd.
SM: Texel started as a small company in 1989 with a top line of 500 – 700 lacs per annum.

As mentioned earlier, the innovative spirit of the company was entranced right from the humble beginnings, the research and development activities carried on by our dynamic Technical Director Mr. Naresh Mehta who is BS and MS in Plastics Technology. We have developed various products like Pile Liners and Reinforced Geomembranes. The management gained the courage to expand due to the fast market anticipated for water conservation and water harvesting technology. Texel expanded in 1994 with ultra-modern machinery and pioneering efforts in introducing the concept of water harvesting ponds on the farm itself. The government of Maharashtra and other states took our advice to formulate the schemes for farmers wherein the farmers were encouraged to put up water harvesting ponds on their farms by extending subsidies for such activities. Correct methods and correct technical specifications were formulated by us and presented to various state governments which led to substantial conservation of water with result that 1000’s of ponds are made today all over the country and a huge quantity of water is harvested and stored in the farm itself bringing a revolution in the field of horticulture and aquaculture.

Besides introducing innovative products and technologies, Texel undertook the transformation journey to raise the bar in the quality and efficiency standards on the shop floor. Faber Infinite worked with Texel to help the company in its journey towards operational excellence. The results are encouraging, and the journey continues within the organization to achieve higher excellence.

FI: We appreciate that under your able leadership the organization has shown great results in the continual improvement journey. We would love to know your views on Faber’s role in the growth numbers.

SM: Faber Infinite has been instrumental in bringing awakening at the lowest level on the shop floor, in areas of operational excellence and innovative production process. We can say the journey is still on and Texel hopes to achieve the highest level of excellence in its operations which will prepare the organization for creating further innovative products and technologies in the coming future.

We sincerely thank Mr. Shailesh Mehta and team Texel Industries for being a part of iFaber – the official newsletter of Faber Infinite and sharing their valuable insights.