Delhi-NCR based Ecoste WPC has expanded its manufacturing capacity to over 3 times from 400 tonnes to almost 1300 tons by setting up new Italian lines. With new capacity addition, the company has vision to become WPC door & window solutions provider in India. Mr. Ankur Hora, Founder, Ecoste WPC door & window solutions, explained his next move during a one 2 one conversation with the Ply Reporter.
Q. You have commenced a huge capacity addition with the European line, how is it different with your present technology?
The capacity addition is not simply a capacity addition move made out of choice or interest; it is a move to provide our customers with high-quality products made with cutting-edge technology. As of now, most of the WPC made in the country is made using Chinese machines, which are not virgin material-driven. Second, as a result of this, the market is flooded with impure materials that have calcium mixed impurities in amounts that are double that of the PVC; for example, for a 50 kg of PVC, nearly 80-100 kg of calcium dosing is done & using recycled polymer too, lowering the quality of the finished products.
Not only are manufacturers suffering as a result of these unethical practices, but dealers and consumers are also suffering. The difference is that the manufacturers know that they are bleeding during the process of manufacturing because they have to make a cheaper product, while the consumers learns about it after purchasing the material that does not fit the applications, and the onus ultimately goes on the product that WPC is not a good product.
We have shifted our machine technology from Chinese to Italian in order to improve quality. Today, this is one of the largest state-of-the-art fully automated Italian technology plants in India. This is a completely clean and green facility, free of VOCs and dust that will use jumbo bags of PVC, calcium & wood fibers instead of 25 kg. This technology would allow using 30-40% of wood fibers instead of increasing the calcium dosage which reduces the dimensional stability & strength of the product.
The new product would solve all challenges of bending & screw withdwal coming in WPC doors, frames & boards. We are happy to announce that our Installed production capacity earlier was up to 400 tonnes and has increased to almost 1300 tons now.
Q. You explained the technology very well, but the finished product would become expensive for dealers, what is your view?
I can definitely say that with this technology, a very good product can be made. From the dealers' point of view, they will not get any complaints about their WPC sales if they opt for it. The dealers ultimately want peace of mind in their business, which this technology is going to provide. The cheaper product destroys their long-term customer relationships as well as their peace of mind. They will definitely get the balance between profit and quality offerings. We cannot say that the product will be cheaper than the Chinese machines made of calcium-filled WPC, but they will definitely get the right product at the right price. This will be an ideal product in the market.
Q. Using this technology, are you going to offer any new products?
We are focusing heavily on the market against all other available products in order to establish Ecoste as a leading quality WPC door & window solution brand.
Q. How will you achieve this visionary target as giving a solution is a tedious job in any segment?
This is an excellent question. I'd like to say that when this concept was in its early stages and we were planning to install machines with premium technology, our basic thought was that if we wanted to be a leader in door and window solutions, we needed to go for these machines,
The difference is that the manufacturers know that they are bleeding during the process of manufacturing because they have to make a cheaper product, while the consumers learns about it after purchasing the material that does not fit the applications, and the onus ultimately goes on the product that WPC is not a good product.
but we weren't sure how we'd get there. Till that time, we used to give our material to the dealers, and they just passed it onto the sub-dealers or retailers. Later on, we discovered a gap in the doors and window Market. We interacted with over 1,150 door and window solution providers in the last two years, either in person or over the phone, and I realised that their marketing and sales had primarily few challenges which were costing them crores:
- Not being able to attract enough right prospects to their showrooms.
- Not able to manage the enquiries well
- Not able to build authority as solution expert
- Less conversion
- Weak marketing & sales sales model
We realised there is an opportunity to help them grow. That was a turning point for us; if we can generate traffic at their showroom that will be marvelous. And I concentrated on the traffic generation process; we soon succeeded with a pilot project involving few partners first, but they said that traffic is coming but conversion is not there. Later, we identified them and realised that they were unable to convert it to sales, so we focused on customer education about the product quality, uses, and applications and trained their team to build a conversion engine for sales.
Later, we realised that their traffic management system is not strong, so we helped them build and strengthen it by implementing the CRM system. During this process, I learned that we did not proceed to resolve these issues, but instead helped them gain strength, and by combining all of these factors, we built a dealers' growth model 2.0 to succeed in the business of doors and window solutions. In just one and a half years, we have over 65 success stories, and they are earning additional monthly profit of 3-10 lakh per month using our business model. This is our growth model for window and door solutions providers.
Q. As of now, Ecoste has how many partners?
Currently, we are available at over 80 to 85 partners across the country, and our next plan is to make it up to add 50 new door & window solution partners in 23-24. We will empower, educate & help them grow to earn additional 3-10 monthy profit in their door & window business using wpc solutions.
The dealers ultimately want peace of mind in their business, which this technology is going to provide. The cheaper product destroys their long-term customer relationships as well as their peace of mind. They will definitely get the balance between profit and quality offerings. We cannot say that the product will be cheaper than the Chinese machines made of calcium-filled WPC, but they will definitely get the right product at the right price.
We are not taking responsibility for installation Part. The Partners we choose are already experts in fabrication. We just help them get the idea, education, and training programme associated with our business growth model. They need our help in marketing and sales, which we can identify and help with.
Q. Are you taking responsibility for fabrication, or is there a different strategy for business growth?
We are not taking responsibility for installation Part. The Partners we choose are already experts in fabrication. We just help them get the idea, education, and training programme associated with our business growth model. They need our help in marketing and sales, which we can identify and help with.
Q. What is the learning process of dealer growth model 2.0 ?
I have authored 5 books & out of which one book named "9 Horrible Mistakes That Costs you Crores in WPC Industry" will really be helpful for all the dealers across the country. You can reach us & I will be happy to share the copy of the same for free for all readers of Ply Reporter.
Not just this I will also be giving free online growth training which is a pre-recorded 3 hours programme which can be watched at your convenience. It would be first online training designed to help every door & window to understand the new methodology of marketing & solve all your sales challenges. Do contact us for the same. I will be happy to offer you a free 1-2-1 challenge identification call for first 50 applicants to help them understand where their real growth is stuck. Looking forward to serve & help them to grow.