Viscose
Staple Fibre
Grasim
is India's pioneer in Viscose Staple Fibre (VSF),
a man-made, biodegradable fibre with characteristics
akin to cotton. As an extremely versatile and easily
blendable fibre, VSF is widely used in apparels,
home textiles, dress material, knitted wear and
non-woven applications.
Grasim's VSF plants are located at Nagda in Madhya
Pradesh, Kharach in Gujarat and Harihar in Karnataka,
with an aggregate capacity of 333,975 tpa.
Nagda
Nagda is its largest unit producing a wide range
of VSF to suit customer requirements in terms of
length, denier and colour and also second and third
generation fibres like Modal, Excel and Solvent
Spun fibres, respectively. Nagda is also the largest
producer of spun-dyed specialty fibre in the world.
Harihar
The Harihar unit houses facility for manufacture
of both VSF and rayon grade pulp, the basic raw
material for VSF. The company's Rayon Grade plant
was the first in India to use totally indigenous
wood resources with in-house technology for producing
rayon pulp with an innovative oxygen bleaching
process to reduce the use of chlorine.
Kharach
The
VSF plant at Kharach, set up in 1996, employs the
most modern technology giving it a competitive edge
in the export market.
Joint Ventures (JV)
Grasim has the following overseas companies:
AV Cell and AV Nackawic in Canada
AV Cell supplies dissolving grade pulp to the
Group’s VSF units in India, Thailand and
Indonesia. Commencing August 2008, AV Nackawic
will produce dissolving pulp to meet the captive
pulp requirement.
Tembec Share has been reduced to 5 per cent recently
in both companies. They may no longer be considered
as a joint venture since 5 per cent is notional
equity left now with Tembec.
Birla
Lao Pulp & Plantation Limited in Laos
To further strengthen the backward integration
in pulp, Birla Lao has been formed as a JV with
other associate companies for raising captive
plantations at Laos. This will provide a low cost
source for wood to meet future requirements of
a green field pulp plant in due course of time.
Birla
Jingwei Fibres Company Limited in China
The JV with Hubei Jingwei Chemical Fiber Company
Ltd. was formed in 2006 for manufacturing VSF. Currently,
this plant has a capacity to produce VSF of 35,000
tpa. It is being doubled in a year's time.
This spread and scale of operations make the Group's
VSF operations very cost competitive. Moreover,
vertical integration into plantation, manufacturing
of rayon grade pulp and horizontal integration into
production of principal raw material required for
VSF production, namely, caustic soda, intermediate
inputs namely CS2, sulphuric acid along with captive
power and steam generation facilities, further enhance
its competitive edge.
Reasearch
& Development
Grasim has established a very strong R&D base
covering different stages of the value chain.
Grasim
Forest Research Institute, Harihar is involved in
R&D of forestry. Birla Research Institute for
Applied Sciences (BRI), Nagda is involved in the
development of different generations of cellulosic
fibres. Textile Research Application Development
Centre (TRADC) at Kharach, a NABL accredited Lab,
is involved in addressing research and development
related to downstream textile value chain comprising
various fibres, yarns, processing, garments, etc.
With the capability to offer the entire range of
cellulosic fibre under the umbrella brand of “Birla
Cellulose”, Grasim has positioned itself as
a dependable supplier of cellulosic fibres for “Feel,
Comfort & Fashion” across global markets.
To penetrate into niche market segments and to grow
further, the division has ventured into the production
of high performance viscose fibres aptly named Viscose
Plus, High Wet Modulus Fibres (Modal) and new generation
Solvent Spun Fibres and Birla Excel.
Grasim is also the largest producer of Sodium Sulphate,
a byproduct of VSF manufacture. This chemical is
widely used in the paper and pulp, detergent, glass
and textile industries.
Capacities
at a glance
|
Division
|
Capacity
|
Viscose
staple fibre
(Nagda in Madhya Pradesh, Harihar in Karnataka
and Kharach in Gujarat) |
333,975
tpa
|
Joint
venture — Birla Jingwei Fibres Company
Limited
(China) |
35,000
tpa
|
Rayon
grade pulp
(Harihar in Karnataka) |
70,000
tpa
|
AV
Cell Inc.
(Atholville, New Brunswick in Canada)
|
120,000
tpa
|
AV
Nackawic Inc.
(Nackawic, New Brunswick in Canada) |
189,000
tpa
|
Contact
us
Century Bhavan, 3rd floor
Dr. Annie Besant Road
Worli, Mumbai - 400025
India
Tel: 91-22-2421-0182-86
Fax: 91-22-2422-892 / 24300579
Email: msamuel@adityabirla.com
|
