Roots Multiclean is one of the most important companies of the Roots Group and you have been very much involved in its growth and operations. How passionate are you about cleanliness and hygiene?
Ramasamy: It is true that as a country, in India, we face low levels of cleanliness and hygiene. Travelling around the world, we see how clean other countries are and we always have a yearning that we would like India to be as clean as those countries one day. This is also a dream shared by millions of Indians and our Prime Minister. To think that our products in some way help us get closer to that dream gives me a lot of satisfaction.
There are changes happening. Still, cleaning is by and large done manually across India. By mechanising cleaning, we not only improve the efficiency of cleaning manifold, but we also make it economical and most importantly reduce health risks and remove the dogma attached to cleaning job. The job description is now getting changed from a sweeper to that of a machine operator.
Varun: It is always challenging to follow the footsteps of someone who has achieved so much and it becomes even more challenging when the person is your father. There is a constant pressure to perform. But I try not to dwell on those things and always try to look at the road ahead. Our family business, like most family business is built on trust and values. It was very important for me that whatever changes I bring in, I should never shake those values, but rather build on it. When I took over the company, I was faced with many challenges.
India being an extremely price sensitive market, one of the major challenges has been to maintain a healthy bottom line despite the fact that we were doing a reasonable turnover. So, we had to do quite a lot of course corrections internally and implement a number of systems while at the same time empowering people to take quick decisions. One of the biggest strengths of RMCL is my team that is with me 100% and that has made things easy and because of which we turned around the situation quiet quickly.
What are the changes you have experienced over the years in terms of marketing strategies, sales approach, success rates, consumption pattern, target segments, etc.
Ramasamy: When I started the business, the market was not ready for the product. As the labour costs were so low, industry did not want to invest in cleaning machines. It was very difficult to convince the managers to go for mechanized cleaning even after explaining to them that the quality of the cleaning would be much better and also the cost would come down eventually. It took at least 10 demonstrations to realize one sale. As a result, cost of sales was much higher than the machine cost itself.
Those days trade union movement was very strong which had posed several challenges to the sales of cleaning machines. Even our machines were put to misuse by the workers thinking that the machines would take away their jobs. On many occasions we had posted permanent site maintenance engineers at the customer’s factory premises to immediately repair or replace the damaged parts and restore the machine. Now the situation has changed because, the operators feel honoured to become machine operators rather than being branded as cleaner.
Recently the cost of labour has increased substantially. This combined with nonavailability of manpower has paved the way for mechanized cleaning.
[box type=”shadow” ]With regards to growth, we have been consistently growing at a steady pace year on year to become the Country’s largest cleaning equipment manufacturer today. With the importance given to cleaning and cleanliness in general, I am certain we will be able to maintain high growth rate in the years to come.[/box]
Globalization and the introduction of quality systems such as ISO9001, ISO/TS 16949, ISO 14001, AS 9100, etc., have emphasized the importance of keeping the shop floor clean for better product quality, operator safety and reduced cost. To achieve the above objectives, the only solution is mechanised cleaning.
From day one, RMCL always believed in investing in R&D due to which we could develop many machines which are required for the Indian industries. We could offer our machines at an affordable price to our customers. Also, the maintenance cost becomes economical for our customers. This has resulted in better market penetration.
Whereas now, the trend is changing with contract cleaning becoming the norm. Now our focus is to contact and convince the facility management companies to go in for our machines explaining to the economics of operation and offering better after sales service. The concept of selling has changed from convincing the individual user companies to convincing the facility management companies. We do have direct sales to the actual user companies, but the percentage is shrinking.
RMCL has established extensive direct marketing and service network across the country by having our own branch offices. We do operate through a few of our distributors/dealers who realise the importance of customer satisfaction.
When the mechanization was introduced in the early 90s by our company, companies bought smaller machines as they did not want to invest in large machines. Whereas now, they have realised the importance of going in for the right size machine for efficient and economical operation. Therefore, now the industry trend is moving towards larger machines.
Varun: What cleaning meant 25 years back and what it means now are completely different. We no longer have to instil or sell the concept of mechanised cleaning like before. People are aware of it and know it’s the only way forward. The market is opening up in a very big way in India and the need for cleaning equipment’s will only keep increasing more and more.
Our mission is to “Enrich people’s lives by providing sustainable and innovative cleaning solutions”. Sustainability and innovation are two areas where we are focusing heavily. To come out with innovative solutions which are user friendly, cost effective and sustainable in the long run — This I believe is the key. Our team of over 45 R&D engineers is working round the clock to roll out products which do just that.
From manual to semiautomatic to automatic and now robotic… what has been Roots Multiclean’s transitional journey?
Varun: When we started off 25 years back, our manufacturing product portfolio had just one product, a basic walk behind sweeper (Flipper). The rest of the product portfolio was imported directly from Hako (Germany) and Minuteman/Powerboss (USA). But now, right from a simple mop to a Truck-Mounted Runway Sweeper, we make almost everything in-house.
During the course of time, we realised that importing these machines was a very expensive affair and was increasingly becoming unviable to sell in the Indian market and the only sustainable way forward was to develop them in India.
We started to design and develop the complete range of sweepers and scrubbers in-house. For example,10 years back, we were offering an Imported Truck- Mounted Sweeper for around Rs1 crore per unit. Today, our manufactured machine which is designed and developed for the challenging Indian conditions, is offered at less than 50% of the same price. Customers get double benefits – a better solution at a much affordable price
You are the single largest cleaning equipment manufacturer in India and also the producer of international brands. What has been the penetration into the international market so far?
Varun: One of the biggest challenges for us as a pioneer was to introduce the concept of mechanised cleaning to the Indian market. It was indeed a real hard sell. Hence, early on we had started to look at international markets where our products could be sold. Our first export OE customer was Truvox from the UK. We started to export one of our mini floor scrubbers to them and it was a big hit. Till today, they are one of our biggest customers and are very happy with all our products. To date we have exported over more than 85,000 machines of just that particular model, apart from many other models.
Today, Roots Multiclean Ltd is truly an MNC, with the acquisition of Victory Sweepers Inc, USA. Victory is a very well-known company in USA, and we have acquired its assets and product portfolio. Roots Multiclean Inc will cater to the American and other nearby markets.
Roots also boasts of a hardworking and excellent team. What is your mantra of employee satisfaction and workforce strength?
Except Roots Multiclean Ltd, all our other Group companies are headed by people who have started as apprentices many years back. Every company has an ethos and a culture. In our company, we empower people to work freely and we always put the customer first before all else. This in short is described by my father’s mantra to all the employees, which is — “Think like a customer, Act like the owner”.
What according to your analysis and views would be the market scenario and the growth of the Indian cleaning industry?
Varun: The Indian cleaning industry is growing at a tremendous pace although one does not exactly know to what extent as there are no published figures available. Cleanliness and Hygiene has not only become an important aspect in private sector, but with the launch of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan by our Prime Minister, the public sector has also started to give a push to it. This is helping the industry to grow at a much faster pace. We are also looking at a market shift from cable operated machines to battery operated machines. With the battery technology improving drastically day by day, the pace of this shift is expected to only increase.
Varun: Our Manufacturing facility is located at Kovilpalayam, between Coimbatore and Pollachi. We are very much a vertically integrated company. We do the complete sheet metal fabrication right from laser cutting to powder coating/painting in house. All the plastic parts and die casting are moulded and cast by us. From Mop to Runway Sweeper Manufacturing, most processes are done in-house and we do very little outsourcing. Being a Quality obsessed organisation, such vertical Integration helps us have tight control on all the processes and to maintain high quality levels.
We have 16 branches covering the entire length and breadth of India. The branch offices are strategically located in all the major cities to ensure that we are able to serve our customers in the best way possible. We have a dedicated staff of over 300 in sales & after sales service stationed in all the branches. The branches also act as stock points for all the critical spare parts needed to service the machines on the field.