WORLD FOOTWEAR
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011
penetrating the entire ambit of the machinery for these
branches of the leather industry.”
He goes on to remark: “The point I wish to make here is
that one has to identify an area of activity for which the
basic infrastructure is available in one’s own country, but
development of the sector is still lacking. One’s own
strength in the peripheral areas such as sources of supply
and knowledge of the product area should be known and
then exploited to one’s own advantage.”
A SUCCESSFUL PACKAGE
Having successfully established the necessary supply
base, it was not difficult to find customers for the
machines. At the same time, Razdan realised that the
machines he sold must run efficiently and that for this to be
achieved, technical assistance in the form of servicing and
spares was essential. He therefore proceeded to hire
suitable engineers and send them to Italy and Germany for
training on the machines which he had identified as being
saleable in India.
He stresses the importance of this aspect as follows.
“The key point here is that a machinery supplier has to be
conscious of the customer’s needs because, once he starts
using a machine, he becomes so dependent upon its
performance and out-put that even a brief breakdown
makes him nervous and he becomes anxious to repair the
machine. At such a time, the presence of a qualified service
engineer gives him a psychological boost until he is fully
relieved as his machine is once again in production.
Several competitors who sold machines at lower prices
than I did but who did not develop a servicing capability,
gradually disappeared.”
The next move was to identify the relative importance
of certain machines in leathergoods and shoe factories.
The key ones that immediately became obvious were
clicking machines, splitting machines and skiving
machines, so he concentrated on these three and identified
the best in terms of quality, performance and price.
“I also looked for what was missing in the still grey
areas of the production of leathergoods and footwear. It
took me three years to realise that unless good cutting dies
were also readily available in India, imports of clicking
machines would remain low. I looked around and got on to
26
Gold Medal awarded to HK Razdan in 1975.
CREDIT: HK RAZDAN
Bending a strip steel knife to the board pattern.
CREDIT: HARMAN GROUP