Visiting net suppliers in India
Earlier this year, Adrienne David, Keith Petrie and I travelled to India to visit Garware Technical Fibers. The purpose of the trip was to quality check the existing net and tarp orders MOWI Canada West has placed, it was great to see them in production as we were there. We were also there to communicate new specifications for nets and tarps as well as to review the testing methods Garware use on the nets and ropes and to review the results. The visit also included discussions regarding cost reduction strategies and also discussions on research and development on new products to be offered by Garware.
Garware has been the primary supplier of nets to MOWI Canada West for the past 7 years. Their aim is to be a leader in ingenuity and cutting-edge technology. The core products supplied include netting, ropes, coated fabrics, and geosynthetics. They have two locations of operations in Pune, where their head office is based, and Wai, where they have their netting production and construction facilities as well as the coated fabric construction.
From MOWI Canada West’s perspective, we have a very high standard and expectation of our suppliers and we were very impressed with the quality systems they have in place in both Pune and Wai. The technologies were really cutting edge and it is great to see their business develop and to see how much they have grown over the years. Keith and I have been multiple times and this was Adrienne’s first visit. I am always impressed with how eager they are to offer solutions to the challenges we face.
The relationship that MOWI Canada West has built with Garware is a great example of the collaboration we have with suppliers, we work together with their R&D team to create solutions for any issues we face on the West Coast of Canada. Our focus for R&D this trip was gill health and predation. We are in the process of trialling one of their new developments at our Cyrus Rocks site this summer. The new material is a HDPE (high density polyethylene) with anti-foulant properties and was developed to slow the biofouling we experience on our nets. This is an exciting development and we look forward to the results of this trial. There are also some exciting new netting materials being offered for predation, which we will be considering and hoping to get in to the water starting in 2020.
By Jeanine Sumner