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2022 · Lakshmi Machine Works (NSE-listed)

Cots & Apron

A process automation tool for an NSE-listed manufacturer, replacing paperwork with software.

~$60kannual cost removed

Phone screens from the Cots & Apron internal process tool.

01 · the problem

The client is a listed textile business in Coimbatore, a company old enough and large enough that its internal practices predate any software they might now be moved into. This process ran on manual paperwork: forms filled in, carried, filed and totalled by people. It is the kind of internal workflow that never appears on a balance sheet as a line of its own, and stays invisible until somebody adds up the hours it consumes across a year.

02 · what i built

An internal tool that automated the process end to end, plus the infrastructure to run it, so the paperwork step disappeared rather than being redrawn as a screen. That distinction is the whole job on internal automation: moving a form into an app leaves the work exactly where it was, and only removing the handoffs between the steps actually returns any time.

03 · what happened

Roughly $60,000 a year of manual paperwork cost taken out of the client’s operation.

Questions

What people ask

What are cots and aprons?

Rubber components in the drafting system of a spinning machine. Cots fit over the top rollers, aprons guide the fibre between them, both wear out on a cycle, and both have a direct effect on yarn quality and on how efficiently the machine runs. They are consumables, which is exactly why tracking them by hand gets expensive.

Why does an internal tool matter more than a customer-facing one?

Because the cost is real and nobody is looking at it. A manual process inside a manufacturer does not show up as a product problem, it shows up as headcount and as time. This one was worth about $60,000 a year once it was totalled.