ROYAL BRUSHES (P) LTD.

In Conversation

Polymerupdate Team : How did you start this business?
Dinesh Kenia : After graduation in 1981, I decided to start my own business of manufacturing toothbrushes under the brand name Royal in Mumbai. I was helped in this endeavour by my brother who was studying in the US and would send and bring samples of tooth brushes of famous brands like Colgate or reach of J & J . We came out with the Royal Angular brand which was a huge success. Initially we used to get the production work done from outside.

Polymerupdate Team : How did you expand from there?
Dinesh Kenia : In 1982, we had our own plant installed with tufting machines from Germany. Handles for the brushes were made from PP and SAN while bristle used to be made from nylon 6.6. We were the first to come out with blister packing in India in 1985-86. Started production with raw material consumption of 3 tons of PP per month.

Polymerupdate Team : What are the difficulties encountered by you during this period?
Dinesh Kenia : In 1986, I went to USA to check the market there. I had to struggle for 15 days to find a new buyer. At the end of 15 days I received my first order. I exported my first container in February 1987, 4 months after getting the order. Now we export 4 containers every week.

Polymerupdate Team : Can you tell us something about your production facilities?
Dinesh Kenia : I started out with my first plant in Champaklal Industrial Estate in 1981. At present we have two units in Mumbai and Vasai and one production facility in China. We have a production capacity of 200,000 brushes per day.

Polymerupdate team : Kindly elaborate on the technology used in your units?
Dinesh Kenia : We have 10 automatic injection moulding machines from Taiwan installed in our units. For tufting nylon bristles we have cnc machines from Germany and Belgium. Packaging machines are from Taiwan. We also mold 2 component handles which is current trend .

Polymerupdate Team : Do you have an export market for your products?
Dinesh Kenia : Our superior quality products have taken us beyond the shores of India and supplying to clients of international repute. At present, we export our brushes to prestigious markets in the USA, Europe, Africa and Russia. Our European clientele includes Carrefour, System U, Auchan and penny Market. The US clientele includes Dollar stores and Super Max in USA. From 1988 till 2000, we were the largest exporters of toothbrushes from India .