Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Jul 02, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Jul 02, 2002 |
|
|
|
|
|
Marketing
-
New Products & Services Agri-Biz & Commodities - Coir All-woman team unveils coir trays G.K. Nair
KOCHI, July 1 A KARNATAKA-BASED woman entrepreneur has commenced production of trays made of coir fibre on a commercial scale with technical support from the Coir Board. The unit established near Bangalore under the margin money scheme of Khadi and Village Industries is an all-female establishment. Apart from the proprietor of the unit, Ms M. Chandramma, there are 19 women working in the small factory. The company, Hech Vee Inc, which began commercial production of coir trays of 15 x 12 size, also plans to manufacture table tops, egg-trays, decorative and gift items, she told Business Line. Ms Chandramma said, "I have succeeded in coir because it is available in plenty and thanks to other facilities for converting the same into coir web.'' The technology has been made available by the Coir Board's Central Institutute of Coir Technology, Bangalore. "We get the fibre converted into web on job order since it reduces the cost on transportation making the end-product price-competitive.'' The main raw material, brown coir fibre, is abundantly available in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, she added. "Given the shift towards natural products world over, I have decided to produce moulded articles using natural resources like bamboo, jute, cotton textiles, coir and other natural fibre.'' However, coir has turned out to be better and hence, the unit has embarked on manufacturing coir tray on a commercial scale. The plant has an installed capacity of about one lakh trays per annum. It will commence with 60 per cent capacity utilisation, which would be increased to 80 per cent and then to full capacity, according to Ms Chandramma. The technology is simple, she added. Over 65 per cent of the end product is coir fibre alone; the rest is resin used as bonding agent. The resin as raw material contains 3-4 per cent toxic content, which is nullified during the thermo setting process and the end-product is thus toxic-free. The unit currently has no plans to sell the products directly. Its marketing channel would be the network of Government agencies, eco-hotels, etc., according to Ms Chandramma. The product has been branded `Eco-logic' and the packaging is done in paper bags. The price is inclusive of the packaging.
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2002, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|