UK based Amba Projex Ltd designs, manufactures, and installs industrial coating and lamination equipment, converting machines and automated processes for clients all over the world. In an interview with Fibre2fashion, Barry Goodwin, managing director, Amba Projex, discusses about the company's achievement in high end, high value products that are considered for critical or extreme end uses in the technical textiles market.
How was Amba Projex formed? Who are the founders of the company?
Amba Projex Ltd was formed by myself and my wife and co-director Amanda Goodwin in 2011. We have earlier occupied senior roles in the high value, special purpose machine manufacturing sector for over 25 years. We have managed to install machinery in over 53 countries on 5 continents and have a design and manufacturing team of 175 specialised personnel at our disposal.
What are the different types of traditional and technical textile machines you manufacture?
The focus of the business is and always has been to add value to traditional textile products by coating and laminating. The range of machines produced for technical textiles by us is quite diverse and the company has found a niche in high end, high value products that are considered for critical or extreme end uses.
We produce materials on our equipment employed in aerospace, military, mass transportation, marine, automotive, medical, horticultural, filtration, and auto-sport and F1.
What kind of after-sales services do you provide?
We provide after-sales service that is second to none. This keeps the robust client portfolio coming back time and time again for more equipment. Repeat orders and recommendation is key to our operation and the experienced and established network of global agents we have on the ground provide considered local, responsive support. We have an established agent in India Jayessh S Nanavati of Sainite Exports Mumbai.
Where is the manufacturing/ production done? What is your installed capacity? How is the demand and supply worked out?
We have 4 manufacturing sites, 2 in the UK and 2 further afield in Europe for specific machines. Our company is very particular in only engaging with the most serious clients. We manage each bespoke installation with pride, care and precision, evidenced by many testimonials from satisfied clients. Demand in the machine building industry can fluctuate somewhat but with 4 sites there is no bottleneck, and when things get busy -- each site can focus on different elements of supply. We keep our sales funnel full by exhibiting all over the world and we also speak at international conferences.
Who are your biggest competitors in the international market?
Our biggest competitors for sure lie in Europe and the US but there are not so many left considered credible anymore, what we do is very niche and very specific and you require years of experience to do it properly. Some East Asian competitors try to emulate what we do at lower prices but clients who perhaps have not engaged with us have found to their dismay if you "buy on price you will buy it twice".
How much do you invest in the annual maintenance of your machines? How much budget is earmarked for R&D?
Our machines could end up in the Tundra, a tropical climate, or a hot dry environment in Rajasthan. These are some of the many places we have processes already present, the machines we produce are reliable and robust and maintenance costs are kept to an absolute minimum. We are constantly improving what we do, and we are driven by the demands and ideas of our clients as well as our own inhouse R&D, of which 20 per cent of our budgeting is focused on constant improvement.
How sustainable and energy-saving are your machines?
We replace old technology with new and with a slant on sustainability and efficiency, this includes the control of emissions and power consumption. We avoid the use of polluting process outputs and solvents in the processes we supply. Our machines can be considered modern and environmentally clean processes.
What kind of research and development are you doing with respect to your niche?
This is mainly driven by our clients we supply equipment to research facilities all over the world. They have invested in pilot lines and multi-functional development systems designed to further develop the involved country's next decades of technical textile products. Our current drive and detected trend is in the prepreg composites sector for both thermosetting and thermoplastic prepreg.
The Internet of Things, Industry 4.0 - all machinery is being increasingly geared towards that. How is Amba Projex keeping pace with that?
Yes we are in the midst of digitisation for manufacturing and it can't be ignored. It will create significant transformation in the machine building industry in years to come as it has done already! We are learning and adopting this novel way of working on a case-to-case basis and we have attended many seminars on the subject. All our software is cloud based and backed up in the same manner. We can communicate with and control our machines from anywhere in the world and wherever they are located. We are currently able to offer autonomous maintenance and remote diagnostics on all the machines we manufacture, it's not currently for everyone and does carry some additional cost.
Please share details of the last two fiscal years. What is the sales target set for the next 2 years?
We have celebrated 10 years of profitable trading with clients all over the world. We wish to increase our level or turnover and keep our business niche and reactive, thus providing a quality service to all our client portfolio.
What are your future plans?
We wish to continue to grow in an organized organic non-forced way as we have seen other companies who have done it aggressively and lost their client focus as a result. Without our clients we are not a business. We were once described as a "boutique engineering partner providing a level of intimate service with knowledge you simply can't get from a larger organisation". We wish to remain that way in the future. (PC)
Published on: 22/03/2021
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
