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Swiss firm Spuhl AG, now part of the US-based Leggett & Plat Inc, a global manufacturer of machines for production of spring units used in upholstery and mattresses, opened its first showroom outside Switzerland in India in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
With spring mattresses accounting for less than five per cent of the total mattresses sold in India, Spuhl is betting big on the domestic market. It has so far sold about 30 machines, with a capacity of 80 springs a minute each, in India, including to top players such as Kurl-on and Sleepwell.
The NYSE-listed Leggett & Plat, which acquired Spuhl in 1997, is one of the companies that pioneered sleep technology when it introduced its bedspring over 125 years ago – today it has 140 facilities in 18 countries.
“We see India as a big market. We have plans to introduce our other products, including a higher-capacity spring-making machine and pocket spring-making machine here in a phased manner,” Mr Magnus Baumann, Sales Manager, told Business Line .
It has tied up with Hyderabad-based Veda Marketing to cement its presence in India. “We are aiming at selling about 10 units of this model of spring-making machines next fiscal,” Mr M.V. Ramesh of Veda said.
Spuhl, which sells about 200 units of this model globally, with each costing about Rs 1 crore, will be particularly focusing on smaller players in the mattress market.
One segment that has been looking at diversifying its sleeping products by introducing spring is the domestic coir mattress manufacturers, who have been hit by rising latex prices and increasing competition from the foam mattress industry.
Mr S. Sundaresan, president of the All India Coir Mattress Manufacturers Association, who was present at the launch of the showroom, said the local coir mattress industry was looking at introducing coir-based spring mattress to offset the rising price of latex. At present, this industry offers rubberised coir mattresses, with rubber accounting for 30 per cent of the inputs for this product.
The coir mattress industry is looking at producing new specialised products such as hard mattresses for government hospitals and specialised mattresses for those suffering from back pain and other related ailments.
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