Rajiv Sanghavi, Managing Director, Borghi India
The simple brush used for cleaning clothes has evolved from its wooden natural fibre state to plastic today but it serves the same purpose. “However, now the demand for making cleaning tools machines with high production capacity has gone up. The Swachch Bharat awareness is giving a boost to the cleaning tools market,” says Rajiv Sanghavi, Managing Director, Borghi India.
Unlike Europe and America, India has two different markets – one that consumes cheap products and another that goes for quality products. However, the market for cheap products is much higher and this is our challenge to create awareness for quality products at economical prices.
The change in consumerism is much visible in India now. People are opting for good quality branded clothes today as it lasts longer. Similar change has to come when it comes to selecting products like cleaning tools.
Strategies for startup entrepreneurs and other segments
We have developed a small startup machine for India and it costs only `36 lakhs to fit within the budgets of small entrepreneurs. This machine is the best to start with and following resource generation, one can go for the new and bigger machines within a year or two.
Apart from startups, our focus is on the cleaning and hygiene product manufacturers. Any producer of cleaning products be it chemicals or equipment can engage in making cleaning tools as the target market segment of all the products is the same. Besides, the indoor and outdoor cleaning equipment manufacturer will need Industrial brushes for the machine like disks and rollers and with Borghi machines they can produce them in house rather than import.
Machine for cleaning tools
In a joint venture with Borghi, Italy, we manufacture brush making machines in India. Right now 85% of the machine built in India is indigenous with some parts coming from Italy. The Alpha machine enables to produce consistent and good quality products and is much more economical than handmade brushes. Being machine made recycled raw material can be used in the production process but at the same time ensuring good quality. Almost all the products can be recycled. For example, the steel wire can be detached easily and the brush handle can be recycled.
In Coimbatore, there are about 20 companies which have engaged around 40 to 50 ladies each for making mops manually. India and Pakistan are the biggest exporters of mop in the world because they have the best cotton fibre. At least 10 to 12 containers of handmade mops are shipped to Europe every day.
New machine launched
We recently launched the Mop making machine. In Coimbatore there are about 20 companies which have engaged around 40 to 50 ladies each for making mops manually. India and Pakistan are the biggest exporters of mop in the world because they have the best cotton fiber. At least 10 to 12 containers of handmade mops are shipped to Europe every day.
We have launched three different machines. The machine for making mops can produce cotton fabric or the non-woven fabric mops. It has a huge production capacity of 600 mops /per hour. These mops have different shapes and sizes that can be used effectively to keep clean houses, hotels, hospitals, malls, restaurants as they are available in various options to suit the application.
The second launch is the new broom flagging machine used for breaking open the fibre into small strands which enable the broom to pick up smallest of the particles from the floor.
We are now working on the third machine. After flagging, we need a machine to beat and spread the fibre to make the broom look much bigger and fuller. This puffing machine will be ready to be launched at the Cleaning Technology Week in January 2017 at Hyderabad.
We have always been participating in the Clean India Shows and we are very happy with the results of our previous outings at their shows.
After Sales Service
At Borghi India, there is a complete system of providing start up, installation and after sales services. There is a lot of customization that goes in from machine to machine so that each manufacturer is able to make products with unique identity. For example, clothes washing brush of a X manufacturer will be a little different from the Y manufacturer in terms of design, shape, tufting design and/or colour. We offer assistance right from the inception stage that is the designing of the injection molds and also share samples of new products from Italy and Germany to develop accordingly.
Our sales support, besides pan India, also covers Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Burma. In fact, we recently bagged our first order from Nepal.
We plan to penetrate the Far East markets like Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam because these countries are having more or less the same conditions like India. They do not make local machines and most of the machines are either coming from China or Italy. The Chinese machines are too cheap and create unhealthy competition.
Plastic waste recycling machines
We are also into machinery for waste plastic recycling and downstream machinery for pipe extrusion. Our recycling machine is versatile and can recycle most common kinds of plastic including mixed plastics; thus promoting green revolution in making cleaning tools.
The Municipal Corporations already have these machines in their dumping grounds for sorting and recycling thru private participants. We supply the machine to these private participants attached to the civic bodies. The machines are operational in the Vasai, Surat, Pune and Rajkot dumps in different locations.
Our production of machines in India is also promoting our PM’s dream of “Make in India” initiative.
