Finnish workwear firm starts Chennai ops

Leading Finnish workwear rental services company Lindstrom Oy has announced the launch of its services for the corporate segment in India by setting up operations in Chennai.

"The launch of the company's services in India follows the move by some global customers to start operations in India, particularly in Chennai. Our services are very industry-specific and client-specific," said Ajai Bhaskar, business unit manager, Lindstorm India Services.

The Chennai centre of Lindstrom will offer services like designing, tailoring, packaging, washing and transporation of workwear. 

The company has bagged the first order from Nokia's vendor Perlos, which has set up operations inside the Nokia Telecom SEZ in Sriperumbudur near Chennai. Lindstrom has bagged an order for providing workwear services to about 1,500 employees of Perlos.

Depending on the usage of workwear, a company would have to pay a rent varying between Rs 200 and Rs 1000 per employee per month.

Lindstrom will initially cater to the needs of its global customers, and later extend its focus to other industries. It has already initiated discussions with a few automobile companies here, and is expecting to finalise some orders over the next 3-6 months. The company intends to employ 20 people by the end of this fiscal to service its customers.

The Chennai facility is looking at an inventory of 50,000 garments over the next six months. It will initially be sourcing the garments from China, and expects to scale up garment handling capacity depending on market demand. "We have a modular concept of investments, and can add multiples of 50,000 garments within a month," Bhaskar said. 

Lindstrom Oy has set a five-year turnover target of 420 million euros by when the Indian operations are expected to contribute about 5 million euros (about Rs 30 crore). Lindstrom Oy expects to end 2007 with a revenue of 230 million euros (202 million euros in 2006).