partnerships

Multivista-Kirloskar Pneumatics decades-long successful partnership Planning to expand distribution network all over India

Mr. Mahesh Jayaraman, Director, Multivista Global Ltd.

Multivista is one of India’s most Having established itself well in the South, Multi- professionally managed companies in the vista is looking at pan-India expansion. With its strong footprint in the distribution business, the company is field of distribution of industrial machinery also exploring opportunities in manufacturing, says Mr. and components. Started in 1974 as an Mahesh Jayaraman, Director, Multivista Global Ltd. offset printing facility in Chennai, the Multivista has earned the reputation of a high qual- group started the industrial product ity offset printing facility in Chennai. The company distribution business in 1983. In the last expanded into a new state-of-the-art printing facility on the outskirts of Chennai. Currently more than 70 per 30 years, Multivista has established its cent of its printing business comes from exports. very strong presence for distribution The company’s industrial product distribution busi- and service of industrial machines and ness started with the Kirloskar Group, with which it components in southern India, particularly has enjoyed more than three decades of association. in markets like Tamil Nadu, Andhra In 1983, Multivista was appointed as a distributor for business by the Kirloskar Group. With its Pradesh and Karnataka. initial presence in Tamil Nadu, it steadily expanded its

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presence across other southern mar- 160 kw power. in Coimbatore and spent the initial kets, including Karnataka, Andhra In an interview to The Textile years understanding the industry Pradesh and Kerala. Today, Multi- Magazine, Mr. Mahesh Jayaraman and their specific requirements”. vista has eight offices and service says: “Air is available free of cost, With these requirements in mind, locations across all the three States. but compressed air is very expen- KPCL launched a range of recip- Apart from , Mul- sive, more particularly for textile rocating compressors specifically tivista represents other products industry, compressed air is the life suited to the textile industry in three within the Kirloskar Group like line for the entire unit as most of different sizes – 250 cfm, 350 cfm from Kirloskar Brothers, the operations are on pneumatic and 500 cfm. Within the next three- transmissions, Rockwell for auto- control. Compressor operating and five years, Multivista managed to mation systems, Schneider Electric maintenance was also the 3rd major make inroads in the textile industry for relays and control panel acces- component of cost for a textile in the South. Today it has close to sories and Timken for industrial mill. More importantly, the textile 850 machines working in the textile bearings. industry need oil free air as traces industry. On an average, the com- Textiles is one of the largest of oil can affect the quality of yarn pany sold about 100 reciprocating segments in terms of compressor produced. It was in 2001 that Multi- compressors in a year and Kirloskar sales for Multivista. Apart from it, vista increased its focus on offering enjoyed 98 per cent marketshare in the company works in 14 different compressed air solution along with this market. verticals, including power, steel, Kirloskar Pneumatic for the textile Reciprocating compressors need leather and pharma. market. We established an office a structured maintenance every Multivista-Kirloskar partnership Kirloskar Pneumatics Company Ltd. (KPCL) started its operations in 1958 with the manufacture of air compressors and pneumatic tools. New product lines were then added, including air-conditioning and systems, marine HVACR, process gas systems and hydraulic power machinery. The company has also earned an enviable reputation for its Systems Engineering and Turnkey Project expertise. Kirloskar is the only company to have the complete range of compressors which covering re- ciprocating compressors, centrif- ugal compressors, electric screw compressors, dry screw compres- sors and portable driven compressors. The company offers the complete range from 7 kw to

The Textile Magazine OCTOBER 2013 | 79 partnerships

pressed air in the range of 2500 to 2800 cfm. We see a growing requirement for high power, high efficiency com- pressors and there is lot of interest from our customers for centrifugal compressors. We see the market shifting towards centrifugal compres- sors in the future”, says Mr. Jayaraman. Automation systems Multivista represents Rockwell Automation in the southern market. Rockwell Automation is the world’s largest company dedicated to industrial automation with its flagship brands Allen- Bradley and Rockwell Soft- ware. In the textile industry, Multivista offers OEMs like LMW and Sieger PLCs and automation solutions. The 2,000 hours of working. Textile The compressor market has gone company has also recently started industry is a price sensitive market, through a paradigm shift in terms marketing variable frequency hence for ease of maintenance and of technology in the last few years. drives (VFDs) which can be fitted services, Multivista launched spe- From reciprocating compressors on all machines, including com- cial service kits. These contained the market has moved to electric pressors, for controlling energy a standard set of components and screw compressors which are far cost. With the recent power crisis filters which were required to be more efficient and require less in the South and increased focus changed every 2000 hours of run- maintenance. Today, the compres- on energy savings, there is a huge ning by the compressor. These kits sor market is dominated by screw demand for investments in VFDs. were priced very competitively con- compressors with an 85 per cent Textile units are looking to invest sidering the price sensitive nature marketshare. in VFDs for all equipments and of this industry. Multivista has recently sold the machines, according to Mr. Jayara- This customer-focused approach first centrifugal compressor to KKP man. ensured that close to 100 per cent of Spinning Mills. For centrifugal Multivista has now become a the customers serviced their com- compressors, Kirloskar has a tie-up one-stop shop for customers. The pressors and purchased the compo- with Cameron Compression of the company offers compressors from nents directly from Multivista. The US for packaging and marketing in Kirloskar fitted with VFD drives company has built a 20 member- India. from Rockwell. Multivista builds strong service team in Coimbatore “With large-sized units coming the VFD panels and integrates it to cater to the needs of the custom- up in the textile industry there is an with the equipment through its in ers from the textile industry. increase in requirement for com- house technical team.

80 | The Textile Magazine OCTOBER 2013 events

Seminar on air compressor technology for textile industry well attended

Mr. Deepak Subramanian, Mr. N. A. Joshi, Vice President, Director, Multivista Kirloskar Pneumatic Company Ltd.

Multi Vista Global Ltd. (MVGL), tor, said: “MVGL, along with customers, our partners and us”. along with Kirloskar Pneumatic, our principal partners, regularly Technical presentations where recently organised a seminar on hosts such interactive knowledge made at the seminar by experts “The Latest Trends in Air Compres- sessions focused on maintenance, from Multi Vista and Kirloskar sor Technology”, specifically for industry trends and regulations, Pneumatic on how to select the the textile industry in Coimbatore, technology, and product-related right compressor for a customer’s which was attended by more than updates. These sessions offer requirement and how to maximize 300 key customers. great learning experiences and its efficiency. Mr. Deepak Subramanian, Direc- networking opportunities for our w tor, Multi Vista, wel- comed the gathering and made a detailed presentation on the Multi Vista Group. Mr. N.A. Joshi, Vice President, Kirloskar Pneumatic Company Ltd., along with his team, pre- sented the compres- sor solutions offered by Kirloskar Pneu- matic specifically for the textile industry. The successful Multivista-Kirloskar team Mr. Deepak Sub- ramanian, Direc-

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Energy audits As mentioned earlier, compres- sors are high energy consuming equipments. Due to the complex- ity of the pipelines transporting compressed air across the factory to various machines, there is a lot of leakage resulting in lower ef- ficiency of the compressor. Multi- vista periodically conducts energy audits at customer locations which help identify leakages. “In the last 5 years we have done close to 660 en- ergy audits across various customer locations, which has helped in sig- nificant savings in energy costs for customers”, says Mr. Jayaraman. Multivista also takes up AMCs with clients for complete mainte- nance and servicing of compres- sors guaranteeing 90% + efficiency levels. ing at expanding the geographical 60 per cent of the cost of a new Another service provided for coverage, from the South to other backed by a one-year war- large-scale units is an Operate and parts of the country. ranty. While the refurbished or Maintain model wherein Multivista In India, there are only few pro- reconditioned equipment is an takes up the complete responsibility fessionally run distribution compa- established market in Europe and of operating and maintaining the nies. This is where Multivista sees other regions, it is still another big compressors through its own team an opportunity for future growth. opportunity in India today. This is a at the customer location. Periodic Multivista is the first distribution natural progression for a company maintenance, service and leak- company to run on SAP. The com- like Multivista with strong footprint age testing is done to ensure 90% pany has established a full-fledged in distribution and service. + efficiency of compressors. The call center for service and compo- Being a classic example of a company today has a team of 85 nents and has invested on creating family-owned and professionally- service professionals to cater to the a strong infrastructure which will managed business enterprise, requirements of customers across propel its growth in the future. Multivista made the right invest- southern India. Multivista is also seriously ments and built a strong infra- Future plans exploring opportunities in manu- structure. Although the challenge With more than three decades facturing. The company has taken will be in replicating the success of experience in distribution and a small step in this direction by set- across other geographical mar- service and with strong customer ting up a pump reconditioning cent- kets in the country, the company, relationship across 14 major indus- er at Hospet jointly with Kirloskar backed by a well-qualified and try verticals, Multivista is looking Brothers. This will be a pump experienced management team, to add few more products lines refurbishment facility for Kirloskar is all set for an interesting growth which can complement the existing and other brand of pumps. phase ahead. range. The company is also look- A refurbished pump would cost w

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