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CT Today spoke with Mr. Drish Ashar, CEO of Ashar Locker, who highlighted the company's strong emphasis on quality, innovation, and customer satisfaction. They offer a comprehensive range of screening solutions under one roof, catering to diverse customer needs with customized options.

Can you tell us about the history and mission of Ashar Locker? How did the brand come to be, and what values does it embody?

Ashar Locker is a Joint venture partnership between Ashar and Locker Group (Valmont Industries). Locker Group has dominated the screening industry in Australia for several decades and our family has been involved in similar engineering businesses for just as long. The vision was to bring world class manufacturing capabilities adopted from Australia to service the world via India. Ashar Locker is a one stop shop for all screening applications and is the only Indian manufacturer to offer the complete range of products under one roof. This gives us the ability to offer our customer complete screening solutions and prove our industry leading quality through our many on site-audits and performance reports. Passion, Integrity, continuous improvement and delivering results are the foundation for our core value which is value Creation for our customers.

What sets Ashar Locker apart from other companies in the same industry? How do you differentiate your products from the competition?

Ashar Locker’s approach to the industry is different from the competition in several ways; our engineers focus on the application and need of each customer’s unique set up to deliver a screening solution that increases throughput and reduces downtime to achieve a lower cost per ton of screening. Our performance reports show that an Ashar Locker’s screening solutions outperforms the competition by many folds in several cases. We have over five decades of experience in Screening segment & also we are the only manufacturer in India to provide complete screening range to all our customers. We procure our wires from either Tata Steel Ltd or other equivalent wire manufactures from across the world. Unlike other competitors we do not offer different quality for different markets.  Our quality is as per Global standards and therefore our customers experience the same quality across the world. Also, our unique design & state of art manufacturing facility enables us to maintain strict tolerance limits for all our meshes.

What is your most popular product, and why do you think it resonates with your customers? Can you tell us about the development and production processes for this product?

We have always believed in innovation & technology because of which our products have been in huge demand across all the minerals in the industry. Our dedicated R&D team has always focused on developing products that create value for our customers. Some of our flagship products like the Anti-clogging screens have enabled our customers to operate their plants during heavy monsoons.

These screens combine polyurethane with steel to make them high flexibility screens that allow each wire to vibrate individually from end to end allowing material to pass through smoothly even in the wettest of conditions. Ashar Locker was the first to introduce this product in India which gave our customers the capability to achieve high throughput screening all through the monsoon. Screening in those 3 months of the year had previously been a massive pain point to the industry. Poly-Ripple is a great alternative in any application where a customer encounter blinding in traditional wire mesh. Our technology used in the production process is developed in-house and is proprietary to our group.

How do you ensure that your products are ethically and sustainably sourced and produced? Can you speak to any specific initiatives or partnerships that Ashar Locker is involved in to promote sustainability?

We Ashar Locker, we prioritize the ethical and sustainable sourcing and production of our products. We use important practices and initiatives to ensure these standards are upheld. We carefully select suppliers who follow ethical practices and comply with labor and human rights standards. We assess their supply chain transparency and evaluate their commitment to fair trade principles. We have implemented a systematic approach to safety, practicing a "Safety First" culture at our factory. We prioritize the well-being of our employees and maintain strict safety protocols to create a secure work environment. We embrace Lean principles such as First-In-First-Out (FIFO), PCDA, Just-in-Time (JIT), Standard Work, Leader Standard Work, Poka-Yoke, 5S and practice many more lean methods and tools. These methodologies optimize efficiency, reduce waste, and promote continuous improvement throughout our manufacturing processes. We invest in our employees' growth and development through training programs and opportunities for skill enhancement. This ensures a highly skilled workforce and fosters a culture of continuous learning.

Furthermore, we have partnerships with Valmont Group USA and Locker Group, both known for their ethical practices and engineering expertise. These partnerships contribute to our commitment to sustainability and responsible manufacturing, Ashar Locker actively engages in sustainability initiatives. For example, many of our competitors use a chemical named MOCA for manufacturing Poly-urethan panels to which is very carcacious and has caused cancer to the people involved in manufacturing of these panels just to save cost. Moreover, when a customer uses any of such panel at their site, they are exposing themselves to harmful emissions coming out of these panels when exposed to sunlight. We at Ashar Locker do not indulge in use of any such materials which may prove to be harmful to our employees, customers & the overall environment.

Can you walk us through the typical customer experience with Ashar Locker, from discovering the brand to making a purchase? How do you priorities customer satisfaction and retention?

Once we receive an enquiry from our customer, we visit their plant or ask for the complete flowsheet of the plant to understand the exact requirement. Based on the data we analyze the correct type of screening media along with its exact specifications to maximize the output and increase the overall efficiency of the plant. If a customer is too shortsighted what he may be looking for is the lowest price on a screen, but an Ashar Locker customer is farsighted enough to see the long term cost savings involved in a quality product that outlasts the rest. We control the controllable factors which is our promise on quality delivery and service and when a customer values those three things over price then retention comes easily.

Can you speak to any specific product lines or products that you are particularly excited about, and what makes them stand out?

What is exciting is that we are always innovating, Ashar Locker in conjunction with Valmont Industries has a department dedicated to R&D/product development. Our core value of continuous improvement is our guiding force in creating a culture of innovation around our customers problems. This allows us to work with excitement when we see the results of the value creation we give to our customers. As a company, we recognize the importance of technological disruptions and are constantly looking for ways to leverage them to improve our operations and services. Our future strategies are focused on innovation, product development, and enhancing our digital capabilities to improve our customer experience. We believe that by staying at the forefront of technological advancements, we can drive growth and success in the long run.