Posted July 25, 2017

 

By Seshadri Ramkumar

 

BENGALURU, India – Five tenets of innovation will enable textile sector to develop as a value-added sector.

 

Practical experience and lessons learned from 25 years of experience in specialty textile chemicals industry has helped Ganesh Srinivasan, director of Innovation at Bengaluru, India-based Resil Chemicals to develop high-tech products involving a myriad of collaborations from around the world.

 

In an interview with this scribe in Resil Chemicals’ campus at Bommasandra, Bengaluru, Srinivasan articulated five principles of innovation that his company practices. These involve: 1) focusing on customers; 2) creating new products based on customer expectations; 3) utilizing collaborations from all corners to achieve results; 4) communicating with stakeholders; and 5) being involved in the community.

 

Resil, whose annual revenue is about U.S. $30 million, produces 15,000 tons of specialty chemicals catering to textiles, pharmaceutical and agriculture sectors. In fact, it has about 500 formulations related to textiles.

 

A valuable asset that Resil has is its vast network of collaborators in India and abroad. These collaborations have turned laboratory research into commercial products quickly. One such example is its collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi that has resulted in a cost-effective silver particulate technology for antimicrobial textiles. A tie-up with Acticell of Austria has resulted in eco-friendly denim finishing technology.

 

Resil’s clients include key global brands such as Wrangler and Van Heusen.

 

Srinivasan opined that the textiles sector should focus on collaborative R&D to move forward.

 

Dr. Seshadri Ramkumar, Ph.D, FTA (honorary), is a professor at the Nonwovens & Advanced Materials Laboratory at Texas Tech.

Resil Chemicals director explains company’s principles of innovation