This Thrissur-based firm aims to provide top-class customised products to industries

Robin Thomas returned from the Middle East to his hometown Thrissur with an aim to provide new opportunities and employment to the people in his region.

Robin, along with his friends Pradeep K Vijayan and Komalam, set up Coiners Engineering in Thrissur, Kerala in 2011.

The company also aims to provide world-class infrastructure to industries along with various customised products and services to its customers in India and abroad.

Coiners Engineering is involved in the manufacturing of various steel products, material handling systems, material storage facilities and other customised engineering products for India and other countries. It also sells and manufactures products such as conveyor systems, conveyor rollers, conveyor belts, etc., in Kerala and also does rubber roller repairing service.

The company was started with an initial investment of around Rs 20 lakh, and has an annual turnover of nearly Rs 3 crore.

The journey so far

Robin Thomas (43) and Pradeep Vijayan (42), both mechanical engineers, are currently running the business. Robin has previously worked for three years in Dubai and at other places in the Middle East in different rubber manufacturing companies. He quit his job and came back to India and decided to start his own manufacturing business as a partnership firm.

Coiners Engineering is planning to become the most-preferred facilitator for the industries by utilising its expertise in the supply of specialised material handling systems in bulk and also diversifying into various other engineering products as per the needs of its customers.

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Coiners Engineering manufacturing facility

The company currently has a team of 30 qualified and well-experienced engineers and supervisors, along with a group of skilled workers.

Robin says, Coiners Engineering has managed to receive various government approvals for the expansion and diversification of the business and setting up of new projects, and at the same time, enjoys a wide range of customers and suppliers as its associates. The reason behind it, according to Robin, is because the company strives to maintain and improve the quality of its products and services to the highest level.

“Customer satisfaction meeting industrial specifications, along with maintaining international standards at all times is what makes the company stand out from its competitors,” he says.

In order to increase its customer base, the company is trying to target its potential customers through social media marketing and by using the business directories to directly contact its customers.

Robin says he believes in proper documentation of all the dealings and ensures a proper payment with a follow-up along with it. He says, managing these areas requires support from others and the trust factor is extremely important in this.

Challenges

Robin adds, “We feel Kerala doesn’t really have a conducive atmosphere to run businesses like these. There are a lot of formalities and procedures involved in setting up new businesses, in acquiring land and machinery. The entrepreneurs have to wait for around a year even after land allocation, because of licensing formalities and various other checks. It is very difficult to get all the approvals from the government in a short time.”

He says: “The MSMEs need the support of government at all times to run smoothly and the government policies should be business-friendly so that more and more people engage in businesses and entrepreneurship.”

“The government should respond to our requests and applications at the earliest and use its discretionary powers so that the delays are reduced,” he says.

In future, Robin plans to increase his exports to other countries and focus on his foreign clients, and also intends to supply to the multinational corporations in India.

(This story has been published in partnership with the MSMEs Ministry to showcase success stories of SMEs)