While conceding that “uncertainty is certain in the new normal,” the Managing Director of spring mattress manufacturing major Peps Industries Pvt Ltd, K Madhavan, said that this would not deter him from going ahead with his expansion plans.

The company is gearing up to double its production capacity to meet the rising demand.

Stating that the company has been facing a huge challenge in meeting the demand for spring mattresses, he said “our production capacity has proved to be insufficient; while there is scope for increasing the efficiency of the plant and production processes, we also felt the dire need to scale up our capacity. Our outlay on the new plant would be of the order of Rs 50 crore.

“The plant would be located at our existing site at Uthupalayam, Arasur Post on the outskirts of Coimbatore. It is expected to become operational in 12 months.

“Once ready, the annual mattress production capacity would jump from 4 lakh to 7.5 lakh,” the Peps MD said.

Demand surge

The company has been witnessing a surge in demand for its mattresses in the last couple of months, he said, and pointed out that the waiting period has risen from two-three days to close to a week at present.

Without divulging the order book position, Madhavan said “every month, we find that we have been unable to fulfill supplies for around 10 days.”

The company has effected an upward revision of 6-7 per cent in the price of its products.

He said the company closed FY 2019-20 with a turnover of Rs 478 crore. “We should have surpassed the Rs 500-crore mark, but for Covid-19,” he added.

The company has been growing at a CAGR of 15.75 per cent in the last three years across its entire product range, including spring, foam and accessories such as bed linen, mattress protector, pillow, fitter sheet and so on.

On the transformation initiative, Madhavan said: “I don’t see any difference in demand for consumer durables products in the aftermath of Covid, excepting for the way it is marketed at present. While giving emphasis to digital sale of our polyurethane products, the footfalls at our Experience Store is by no means less. We do not want to leave any stone unturned.”

Peps would focus on digital marketing initiatives going forward, he said.

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