For any student at Jaipuria Institute of Management, after a certain point in time it is quite natural to get mixed up about industry visits since the curriculum includes so many of them! But if there is one industry visit that simply stands out for us at Jaipuria Indore, it is the business study trip to Pratibha Syntex.

However digital we grow and however flat the world grows, the smell of fresh yarn in a textile industry always pulls us back to basics. That was exactly the feeling that ran through the 20 students of the Batch of 2013-15 on the 31st of August 2013, when we entered Pratibha Syntex – one of the most trusted brands for all kinds of yarn manufacturing at Indore. The best part about Pratibha Syntex is that it is ideal for a student desirous of studying the entire manufacturing chain in the textile industry. Starting from cotton farming, to yarn manufacturing, fabric weaving and ultimately ending in the finished product- garment production– Pratibha Syntex does it all. We had the opportunity to visit one of their plants, which produces 100% Bio-Organic cotton yarn and fabrics. Meeting Mr. S. K.Chaudhary, CEO, Pratibha Syntex, was quite a revelation for all of us as, upon meeting him, we realised that entrepreneurship serves a purpose beyond business itself. Mr. Chaudhary seemed almost duty-bound to the 1000-odd employees, whose skills he used to generate employment for them.

The students of Jaipuria Indore were taken through various Quality Control and Quality Assurance systems and shown the CRM policies of an organisation that has as its clients, iconic brands like NIKE, ADIDAS, WALMART, WOOLWORTHS, CONFRO and PATAGONIA. Pratibha Syntex is one of the leading exporters of yarn to USA, Canada, Mauritius, South Africa and China, bringing in much needed FOREX in these trying times for the Rupee. Our journey began with the warehouse area, where raw cotton fibres of different lengths and density, purchased from different parts of India, were stocked. In order to get optimum density and quality of yarn, a process of blending and removing is undertaken, followed by Mixing, Blowing, Combing, Carding and then the Ring-frame process. After all these stages, the output is sent to a yarn conditioning plant. Once the yarn is manufactured, the ‘knitting’ department further converts it into fabric. The fabric is then subject to stringent quality inspections and processed for dyeing, where it is washed with chemicals and ‘discoloured’. The process continues seamlessly from ‘fabric’ to ‘garment’, and and finally culminates in printing and packaging as per the specifications of the brand.

As the day passed, a picture of the overall Scheme of Operations began to emerge before our eyes. We began to understand how resources were put to their optimum utilisation, and how the entire unit actually operated on set ethical and moral standards which staff, workers and even visitors had to comply with.

As is always the case when you are deeply engrossed in something, the time simply flew. Since our exposure and understanding was on-ground, hardly any of us faced any problems in filing our reports to the Placement Committee– which is mandatory at Jaipuria Institute of Management after every field trip or industry interaction.

Ayush Garg
PGDM Batch 2013-15