Thangadh : Most Affordable Sanitary ware goes Huge….

The New India….Emerging Giant….

India is one of the fastest growing economies of the world. The Industrial Super revolution in on in India. The rate at which new industries, residences and offices are opening are phenomenal. The real strength of India, Rural parts of the country are getting a total overhaul in living standards. From traveling to housing to fashion, all is changing, at a fast rate. Government is promoting health and sanitation on a large scale.

Sanitary ware Demand….Sky rocketing…

All the above factors point at a very important direction as regards Sanitary ware demand. It is sky rocketing. In India, Sanitary ware manufacturing is still highly labor intensive, because labor is far economical as a factor of input compared to Technology. Further, Labor can be reduced if demand shrinks. The same is not true of technology that is totally automatic.

Labor management is an issue most entrepreneurs would like to do away with. Specially when the supply of labor is decreasing. The rates as well as behaviors of labor pose a very uncomfortable situation. This challenge acts as a barrier for new entrants in the industry. So, the new capacities that come is are with direct investment of old players or new entrant with assistance or direct partnership of old player in the Industry.

World’s Most economical Sanitary ware….

India has two regions where the Sanitary ware manufacturing clusters exist. The Morbi region and the Thangadh region. While Morbi is known for its superlative growth in a multiple industries, though the majority still remains ceramics, Thangadh is renowned for its price of goods. Througout the world if you talk of price effective sanitary ware, the common answers will all lead to this word called Thangadh, the city of good affordable sanitary ware.

Thangadh…..Know it…

Thangadh is a very small town located in Gujarat. It is a major source of Than Plasa clay, the main ingredient for manufacture of high quality sanitary ware and ceramics. The Travel Pundits regard it as the town of Heritage Event the Tarnetar Mela, very popularly recognized in the whole of western world. An Event that brings history of the region to life.

It once was ranked third in Per Capita Income of India, an achievement that has made people of the town proud. It is felt that it is still a very good labor generator and the payouts to the people are generous as well.

Thangadh and Ceramics

Thangadh is the Economy Capital for Sanitary ware in the world. It has domestic as well as international supply.

Thangadh and Ceramics share a long history. In fact this was a place where potters first made common clay utensils. As the fables go,  Thangadh was a junction in those days. An entrepreneur passing by stopped to have tea and saw the utensils. He inquired for the manufacturer and found that there was something different about this ceramic utensils. He took some clay to Mumbai (Then Bombay) for testing and found that this was the ideal clay for Ceramics.

The Nature had blessed Thangadh with Rich Land of Main Raw-Material for Ceramic – Fire Clay, which was main cause of the development of Ceramic Industries at Thangadh situated in Surendranagar, District Gujarat State of India.

After all the research, the entrepreneur started pouring investment in the area to start factories. This is believed to be the start of ceramics in the Thangadh. Industrial development is believed to have started in 1913. The pioneer in Ceramic at Thangadh was Shri Sorabji Dalal The initial growth was very slow and was totally controlled by a few big investors who put up factories. In the Eighties, more factories started coming up and export to various countries started. Exports were largely to Middle east but some part of Europe got a taste of the Thangadh sanitary ware.

The Maturity of Ceramics In Thangadh

Post Liberalisation, India saw a very huge change in things, which actualized in later part of the 90s. Thangadh Ceramic Industry wasn’t far behind the impending growth opportunities. However, the methods were age old. Technology was being timed out and machinery was largely non existent. The kilns used were down draft or shuttle type which gave limited production. Transportation inbound as well as outbound were very slow. IN short, the state of the affair was not good enough for the industry.

However, as necessity is the mother of inventions, the new breed of entrepreneurs with the help of traders from around the world started changing things and patterns of working. The mechanization was introduced in certain areas. Movement of material systems were upgraded. Kilns started being replaced to Tunnels which could give better throughputs. Battery casting was also introduced in some units. Colors and glaze qualities improved. Laboratory set ups were promoted in some units that dealt in international markets. All this change saw the markets for the products improving. The industry and the industrialists had matured to take on the big leap in the next century.

The Scenario Today….

The Entrepreneurs of Thangadh has put the city on the world map of ceramics. It is probably the smallest cluster of closely placed ceramics industries in a very small area. In the past year itself there are more than 12 new units established. The capacities in the earlier years was around 600 in limited units. Others had even smaller capacities of pieces per day. Today the same is believed to stand at 1000 per unit. With more units as well as more capacities, the region rolls out more products than any other cluster including Morbi.

There were only white and plain colors earlier. Today there are more than 20 colors to design with. There were very limited range and large production of Orissa Pans was seen. Today, there is a wide variety that boasts of more than 180 shapes. The surface finish was plain earlier. Today, Vitrosa and Hand painting have taken over. Not to mention stickers and other surface treatments to the sanitary ware.

Keeping their tradition of being price effective, Thangadh now offers a stylish and exquisite sanitary ware. If you are looking for sanitary ware that is affordable yet luxutious, Thangadh is the place to go.

Markets

Thangadh Caters to total India. There is not a nook of the country where there is Sanitation but there is no Piece of Thangadh Sanitary ware. In fact most of the government sanitation drives have been successful due to the price advantage of Thangadh products.

Thangadh companies are now also into building of brands as they have the quality that can be very successful in Metros and cosmos of India. The companies are going in for better advertising, developing brands rather than stick to the HINDUSTAN range and the smart ones are really using technology as well a forward marketing to build customer base for their brands all across India.

The Challenges

Due to capacity expansion all over, there are two major concerns of business houses. First, labor rates are rising and availability is diminishing by the day. There are labor migrating from different areas of India, but the situation is getting challenging and putting pressure on the costs as well. The other challenge though expected to be temporary is the impending condition of over supply. Again due to capacity expansions taking place in a very short period of time, the demons of over supply are haunting industry players, largely new ones. The costs of inputs such as gas and raw material are going up too, inviting price rise.

However, the future of the industry on the long run looks bright due to the enhancements of quality and design of the product. Add to that the new second generation coming into industry with fresh ideas and broader vision, there is only one direction the Thangadh Sanitary ware is going, upwards.

Editor’s Message

Build Avenue has become one magazine that is read all over India in ceramic circles. It has become the accepted magazine that brings good articleship with news and views. The Magazine now needs a fresher look. This is where we will need our readers to get involved. Build Avenue is your magazine. Make it great.

You can send us your views, and ideas to the magazine’s office, online or in print to help us make it better. Your articles would be a bonus. However, if you can send us just your requests for some special subjects, we will be glad to write about the same.

Further, as the editor of the publication, we are into moving into international markets. We would like to have your photos with some text for your visits to some industrial units in some other countries like Spain, China, Italy or others. This would really help you get an excusive space in our magazine and help us bring World Class factories live in the magazine.

In this issue we have our international outlook on Thailand. Thailand is a country small in size, but big on opportunity. Its Ceramic Growth is on a positive. Probably one of the first countries we are dealing with in the far eastern markets. We are sure that we will bring about many articles for the far eastern markets which threaten to be our competition in the global arena.

We further look at Thangadh, again. The area is into a major uplift as far as capacity enhancement is concerned. It is also the major supplier of ceramics, largely, Sanitary ware. Starting from history, we have covered topics till what Thagadh business houses are experiencing now. We are sure this will be a good insight into the area.

Please do get involved in the growth of your magazine, the Build Avenue.