Despite the restrictions imposed by the pandemic and the slow pace of growth in the automotive industry, the company has been able to stay ahead and has even introduced new products and solutions
TEXSPIN Bearings celebrated 60 years of cooperation in Ahmedabad on December 23, 2021, with over 500 partners and stakeholders in attendance at the event. TEXSPIN Bearings was formed in 1961 by Chunilal Makwana, a brilliant technology visionary with perfect technical talents and a clear perspective of business operations and prospects. Since its inception in 1961, the company has worked closely with global automobile players, providing innovative solutions to meet their needs for bearings and other sub-assemblies. With footprints spanning continents and a reputation as a leading supplier of technology items, components and systems as well as unique tailored solutions, TEXSPIN Bearings is now a major contributor to the global automobile industry.
The grand occasion was flagged off by Param Pujya Swami and his team from the Swamy Narayan Sampraday as well as senior partner members in attendance who, as is the tradition, lit the lamp and prayed to the Almighty for blessings. Swamiji, in his inaugural address, narrated the founder’s significant contribution in transforming a sleepy village into a world-class manufacturing location that now caters to the global automotive industry, and in turn has made a phenomenal difference in the lives of the local population who are primarily dependent on TEXSPIN Bearings and its ancillary base.
Heartfelt Gratitude
Dipen Makwana, Managing Director, TEXSPIN Bearings, while welcoming the partners to the celebration, emphasised the strong bonding and relationship that they have developed over the last six decades with customers and supplier partners. The fact that clients value TEXSPIN Bearings’ innovation and relationship was evident from the overwhelming response to the event. Guests travelled from all corners of the country and overseas to shower their blessings despite the challenging circumstances. Overwhelmed by the partners’ response, Makwana expressed his thanks and indebtedness by saying, “I shall not be able to express my greatest gratitude and indebtedness to all of the partners in words.”
“And I am extremely touched by the warmth exhibited by each of you. As a result, I would like to ask my friend and well-known singer Flo Perlin to recite a song to express my feelings. When words fail, only a song can explain true feelings,” he added. Through a passionate rendition of the song “Rishto ki Dori Mein, Ek Dhaga Mera, Ek Tumhara; Duaao ki Lori Mein, Ek Sur Mera Ek Tumhara,” Perlin aptly showcased Dipen Makwana’s heartfelt gratitude to TEXSPIN Bearings’ business partners. In remembrance of his grandfather and the company’s founder, Chunilal Makwana, Dipen Makwana reflected on his early days at the company when he worked under his grandfather’s supervision.
He reminisced: “My initiation to bearing technology, production processes and machine building technology were all under his watchful eyes and under him my learnings were invaluable.” He showed an audiovisual presentation about the founder’s life and struggles as he established TEXSPIN Bearings into a world-class bearing manufacturing company from humble beginnings. The presentation was not only moving and inspiring, but it also effectively demonstrated his resilience and will to conquer any obstacles in life.
In his remarks, Chairman Bhupendra Makwana spoke about his father’s struggle to establish TEXSPIN Bearings and begin manufacturing car bearings in difficult circumstances, such as when there were no reliable steel sources and heat treatment facilities were essentially non-existent. He remembered his father’s inventive thinking and perseverance when he fashioned a heat treatment furnace out of a porcelain tub and forged bearing rings out of leaf springs. “In those days, there was only one car in the town of Ranpur and it belonged to my father. Most of the time the car was involved in carrying people who were either sick or had some urgent requirement, and he was always very delighted to lend his car,” he said.
Director Vishal Makwana spoke to the partners about the company’s culture of innovation, technology and manufacturing excellence. “We live in a joint family and it is in our culture to have lunch and dinner together. The family culture is that while having our meals we never discuss financial matters or profit but on a daily basis our discussions centre on new innovative technology solutions and ways and means of expanding and upgrading the manufacturing facilities for achieving greater excellence. That is what differentiates TEXSPIN Bearings from other family-run business. The same culture runs through the entire organisation,” he said.
The event venue also hosted a pavilion for displaying TEXSPIN Bearings’ technological capability and prowess with a full display of the new innovative technological solutions developed by the company over the last decade, mainly for the automotive industry. The technological journey and diversification into manufacture of niche technological solutions like the advanced clutch release bearings, concentric slave cylinder, patented hydro pneumatic concentric slave cylinder, wheel end technological solutions like the unitised taper roller bearings, match-set bearings, wheel hub units, kingpin bearings, zero drop kingpin solution, patented synchroniser solution, intermediate cones, detent pins, one-way clutch, traction rings and many other customised taper roller bearings, ball bearings and cylindrical roller bearings were all on display at the venue.
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“We have big growth goals”
On the sidelines of the event, Rajesh Rajgor had a quick chat with Dipen Makwana, Managing Director, TEXSPIN Bearings.
Edited excerpts:
Business in Current Times
The last year and a half have been difficult for us, as it has been for any other industry around the world. The pandemic is unprecedented and we have no choice except to act in accordance with our ideals and instincts. During this trying time, we have been guided by one of our most important values: being there for our clients and meeting their needs while also ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our employees. We were lucky in the sense that some of our customers’ output continued throughout this time. We only had a few weeks of lockdown in our production facilities and so we continued to run our plants as usual, taking every precaution to meet client requirements as soon as stage-by-stage unlocking began. During this time, the industry experienced yet another significant hurdle in the form of raw material volatility and a severe shortage of semiconductor chips; yet, we were able to develop our firm in healthy teens thanks to the almighty’s blessings.
New Products in BS-VI Era
To assist our clients in revamping their transmission, we had to make a lot of improvements to our products. The clutch release bearing is one of TEXSPIN Bearings’ core and main product offerings to the automobile sector, and owing to transmission changes in many situations we had to manufacture new clutch release bearings for many clients. Of course customers had other requirements during the transition such as modular programmes, extended warranty life and zero-maintenance concepts, and to keep up with those demands we worked very hard to develop innovative technological solutions to meet these needs. We worked on offering advanced technological as well as innovative solutions and thus unitised taper roller bearings for the wheel end, hydro pneumatic CSC for clutch release application and zero play (zero drop) kingpin assembly were born.
Plans for 2022
We have big growth goals and a five-year growth strategy and plan in place, which we are working on right now. We have grown at a CAGR of more than 20% over the previous decade, and we plan to keep growing at this rate in the future. Technology and innovation will be the two important pillars for pushing growth and exceeding client expectations in the changing environment and TEXSPIN Bearings is fully aware of this. We are working on a slew of new technical solutions that we hope to roll out over the next five years. FY22 will have a special place in our hearts and minds since it marks the 60th anniversary of our solid relationship with our valued partners and stakeholders. We have already completed three quarters of this year and things are looking well. We hope to finish the year with solid growth.