Page 7 - Yogesh Kusumgar Flipbook

Receiving a National Award for Indigenisation by India’s former Minister of Defence
The second big break for YKK was an order for parachute fabric that Kamala Mills got but could not deliver, for
five years. YKK got that tender when
it was issued afresh and was able to deliver. The parachutes were made with specialised fabric that needed a more scientifically-specific approach. They would have to be thick enough to break the wearer’s fall and yet allow for a gradual descent.
This boosted the company’s profile and, more importantly, the Indian military took notice. Over the next few decades, he made his mark. He developed
and manufactured: poncho fabrics
for India’s Defence forces at Siachen Glacier, rayon fabric for ISRO’s Space Satellite Programme, high-altitude fabrics for soldiers during the Kargil War, and Combat Free Fall parachute for the DRDO. He also developed the brake parachute fabric for India’s MIG aircraft and fabric for ISRO’s Space Recovery Capsule in collaboration with DRDO... the list is endless.
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In addition, YKK developed and manufactured computer printer
At that time, the term for this fabric was industrial textile. YKK saw the need for engineered textiles grow exponentially over the 1960s. From reinforcement
The transition from being a weaver to a coater of specialised fabrics especially gave the company the confidence
to ascend to the next level. Over the years, Kusumgar Corporates rigorously
ribbons in nylon fabric in 1982 –
when computers were the size of
small rooms. He developed and manufactured Band-aid’s “Flexi“ fabric for Johnson & Johnson as an import substitute. Those years saw a lot of import substitution work – whereby the Indian Government encouraged Indian inventors and manufacturers to aid in the country’s self-reliance by innovating products that could replace imports.
In 2002, YKK consulted on geogrids
– a neat little project to develop a geosynthetic material that could run parallel below roads. Not only would they allow rainwater to seep through and collect as essential groundwater tables but also hold the soil below the road surface in place and prevent it from expanding upwards and forming cracks upon the roads. That was the first project of geogrids by Techfab who went on to become a leader in this area in India.
for tyres on the ground to industrial- strength fabrics developed for the space suits of astronauts and cosmonauts, even the sky was not the limit, saw YKK. India was meeting its own needs at the time with European imports and growth of this field was reactive – each new need that was discovered fuelled a jump in demand.
YKK conducted many seminars on geo textiles and presented papers on them, eventually going on to become the last word in industrial fabrics in India. His name was of such repute that international companies asked to work with him and went by his recommendations in other cases.
From military parachutes to the fabric for Kevlar bullet vests – Kusumgar Corporates went from strength to strength in the five- decade period of YKK’s active professional journey.
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1982 1988 YKK was the first He developed to develop brake the first nose parachute fabric for cones for LCA MIG aircraft with aircraft in Neeru Silk Mills. India.