Century Rayon

In the wake of India’s independence, with the initial industrial boom in the offing, Syt. B. K. Birla nurtured the idea of starting a viscose yarn factory at Kalyan in Maharashtra under the banner of Century Textiles. Having got the blessings of his father, the late dynamic Syt GD Birla, he ventured into a 5-6 crores scheme for establishing the factory with a projected production of 5.5 tons per day of viscose yarn in the early fifties. It was an ambitious dream in those days when know how that goes into such ventures was hard to come by. Undeterred by these misgivings, Syt. B. K. Birla set the foundation of the company in 1952 that eventually was to become one of the leading producers of rayon filament yarn in the country. The manufacturing plant was installed in 1954 by Kohorn, an American firm. Prior to this Syt B. K. Birla had already acquired some 122 acres of land for the purpose in Shahad, Kalyan, a remote thickly forested area populated mostly by tribals in those days, at a distance of 56 Km from Bombay. Syt B. K. Birla, then 31 years old, indulged in deep study of the project and with sheer hard work and dedication fulfilled his dream by September 1956 when the newly established factory commenced production of 5.5 tons of Pot Spun Viscose Filament Yarn per day. With the initial objective achieved it was thereafter a matter of time that Century Rayon showed progressive growth in the coming decades, to eventually emerge as a leader in this product. The Company continued to increase its daily production of pot spun yarn to finally achieve its present output of 45 tons per day in 2007 In 1963 in collaboration with Algemene Kuntzidjeune NV of Holland and Glanzstoff of Germany, the Company installed the Tyre Cord plant in its premises with the projected initial output of 10 tons viscose tyre cord yarn per day that later in 1968 was expanded to 30 tons per day. The entire tyre yarn produced in the company was to be exported to European countries and Japan only thus making it a hundred percent export unit of the company. With sophistication in industrial manufacturing processes, the more advanced version of Continuous Spun Yarn was undertaken with the help of M/s Snia Engineering of Italy in 1998. The new plant was expanded to give an output of 7 tons per day by 2003. With these developments in hand, the company accomplished self sufficiency in totality wherein with its captive power plant and regular supply of water, it maintained continuous production of all its products without a break for decades after decades, except of course when external factors, beyond the company’s control influenced the environment. In addition to the viscose based products, in due course the company went in for backward integration and established plants for the production of various industrial chemicals. The Century Chemical plant was established in 1964 for the production of Caustic Soda, liquid Chlorine, Hydrochloric acid and compressed Hydrogen. In addition, plants for producing Carbon Di Sulphide and Sulphuric Acid were earlier established in 1960. Some of these products are utilised in the various manufacturing processes of the company’s main product line while the remaining surpluses are sold out to the market. While the vibrancy in upgrading the company’s basic and subsidiary products continued to grow to peak levels, a conscientious vision of Syt B. K. Birla ensured that the company met all health and safety norms in its multi-faceted operations and be environmental friendly in every respect. The company today prides itself in being a star rated and accredited Quality Management System ISO 9001-2008 manufacturing unit. Besides, all the plants of the company, including the chemical units, have since been accredited with the Environmental Management System ISO 14001-2004 and the Occupational Health and Safety Management System BS OSHAS 18001-2007 standards. Besides these quality certification standards, the company in keeping with its pursuit for excellence, is also authorised to use the Oeko-Tex standard mark in its products of pot spun and CSY filament yarns. With a large work force, today the company is a principle employer on whom a considerable segment of the local population is dependent. Century Rayon, right from its inception has always maintained fair and cordial relations with all its customers in pursuit of sound business ethics that has always kept the company free of any encumbrances. The company has always stood by its obligations to the state in meeting all statutory requirements as far as running a clean and responsible industrial complex is concerned. Today Century Rayon with its manufacturing plants is not only a major job provider to many households in the region, but also it meets its many social responsibilities making it perhaps the only industrial group in Mumbai that has immensely contributed in the field of education and spiritual upliftment.