S.N. Barathi, Managing Director, N B Yokesh, Joint Managing Director, Airmaaster, and K.S. Palanikumar, CEO, Lakshmi Impex
Airmaaster Tecnolozies India (P) Ltd, a name which has been synonymous with energy-efficient air engineering products is stepping into the next phase of growth. Our team caught up with the Managing Director S N Barathi and Joint Managing Director N B Yokesh of the Coimbatore-based company for an exclusive chat to understand the reason behind their phenomenal growth in recent times. The father-son duo gave detailed insights into their redefined marketing strategy with emphasis on customer satisfaction and a strong service support.
The 20 year old company has more than 900 installations to its name and offers a wide range of products including humidification plants, waste collection systems, automatic baling systems, centrifugal fans and axial fans which are used in various industries.
A New Chapter
Airmaaster Technolozies was being marketed by Voltas on a Pan-India basis until recently. Barathi, a Gold Medallist in Electrical Engineering from PSG Tech, points out that “We had a long and healthy relationship with Voltas for more than a decade and their support helped us to get new customers on a Pan-India basis. A year back Voltas were rationalizing their product range since the market was dull and they also wanted to allot the available man power to areas of their strength. Our agreement was also due for renewal at that time and we mutually decided that we should part ways since they wanted to focus on their core strengths like the production machinery and we also wanted a different marketing approach. It was a mutual decision taken considering both our interests.”
When asked to elaborate about the redefined market strategy, Yokesh, a Mechanical Engineer from College of Engineering Guindy with Post Graduation in Management from IIM Lucknow further adds that “After parting with Voltas, we advocated a more regionalized approach to marketing our products. We have also strengthened our marketing team with some very experienced people. We have made service as a key pillar of our marketing strategy and we have put in lots of effort to provide round the clock immediate service to our customers”.
On an Expansion Spree
The company had appointed Lakshmi Impex as its agent for the South India market almost an year back. “ Mr.K S Palanikumar, CEO , Lakshmi Impex had been very active in marketing our products when he was a part of Voltas. Hence when we came out, it was an obvious choice for us to continue our relationship with him. He has been doing outstanding work and has been very instrumental in our resurgence. We are also very happy to announce that Mr.Palanikumar has recently become a Director in our company”.
Yokesh adds, “Similarly, we have appointed agents in Rajasthan and West Bengal who have already started booking orders. Some of our agents provide spares support to our customers so that we can immediately address stoppages. In addition to our agency network, we are also marketing directly in the other regions and we have a strong customer base in states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, MP, Delhi, Haryana, UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab etc. We are actively looking to appoint agents in these states and in rest of India as well”
The Current Scenario
“We had used the period to strengthen our products with lot of R&D. We have never been stronger and our order books are flooded now. Our current delivery time is 5 months due to the large number of orders in our pipeline. This is inspite of doubling our team strength and expanding our manufacturing facility. But we are happy with this situation since it is a good problem to have”, says Barathi.
Yokesh comments, “Our current team strength is 90 and we have added around 40 employees post the first Covid lockdown. We have recruited lot of experienced and key personnel in marketing and service, headed by Mr.Elango an industry veteran with 30+ years of experience across various Air Engineering companies. We are extremely happy with the current setup we have and we can only grow stronger and stronger from here”
Offering the Right Solutions
“While we cater to a wide range of industries, textile remains our core. All our research and development and products are indigenous. All our products including centrifugal and axial fans, electrical panel boards etc are manufactured in-house (Except for bought out items like motors and pumps). This gives us better control over quality. This is what makes our products more efficient and our fans are sought after by a variety of industries,” points out Yokesh. Listing the key reasons which make the company stand out from the others, Barathi states, “First of all, almost all of our products are customised. Our aim is to not just offer a product but a solution.”
“Secondly, our fans are considered the best because we have done retrofitting of axial and centrifugal fans where people have been able to get energy savings ranging from 10% going up to 40% in some cases without any compromise on the performance. We are not stopping here and currently we are in the process of developing a new range of centrifugal fans and are also carrying out design changes and improvements in our axial fans to improve the efficiency even further. The third factor is that we offer a value for money proposition. We go to the customer’s place, study and analyse the requirements and then offer the right solution. It is not about only branding or marketing. We genuinely want to serve the customer to the best of our ability,” he adds.
He further adds, “For secondary filtration we use Multi Drum Filter which is a very unique product. This product is extremely energy efficient and it had also won the ‘Energy Saving Product of the Year’ award granted by CII on a Pan-India basis”.
Taking a Leading Position
According to Yokesh, some of the top customers of the company include marquee names like Vardhman, Trident, Precot, GHCL, MR Weaving, MSUM, Sangam, Gimatex and strong regional players like Sangeeth, Vasudeva, GVG, Jagathguru, Sivajothi, VKSM, Muthur Murugan, Sri Kumaran, Jayanthi etc.
“Majority of our customer don’t go anywhere else once they have experienced our product. We have done a lot of repeat orders with these customers”, adds Yokesh. A mere glance at some of these names itself stands as testimonial to the quality of products and the energy efficient technologies being provided by Airmaaster.
