Esstee Exports bets on IoT platform Texplus to boost textile factory efficiency by up to 20%

In a bid to make the garment manufacturing operations more efficient, faster, and seamless, Tiruppur-based Esstee Exports has developed an advanced IoT-enabled solution, Texplus, to enable exporters to track real-time production updates.

The solution, available through Esstee’s subsidiary Texplus Technologies, can be accessed through its device. The company claims that its device can boost factory efficiency by around 15-20%. Esstee Exports has already sold 2,000 devices to five textile companies even before its official rollout in September.

Designed specifically for the apparel manufacturing sector, Texplus offers a digital platform that connects every stage of the manufacturing process through real-time monitoring, QR-code traceability, production analytics, workflow automation and AI-powered decision support.


Thirukkumaran Natarajan, Chairman, Esstee Exports, says that digitisation and automation are the need of the hour for the textile industry. “We are already facing a labour shortage, and we need solutions that can help overcome this challenge,” he says.

Natarajan says that the government has set a target of reaching $40 billion in apparel exports from the current $16 billion; this can only be achieved with operational efficiency. “Such solutions will play an important role in achieving these objectives.”

While the device (hardware) costs around Rs 17,000, the software is priced approximately between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, depending on the number of machines. Texplus Technologies has invested around Rs 2 crore in R&D to develop the hardware and software for this solution.

Natarajan says that India has a huge opportunity which it needs to capitalise on with the FTA agreements that are coming up. “We are already seeing strong interest from buyers in the UK and Europe. They are de-risking their sourcing away from other countries and increasingly looking at India because we are politically stable, have abundant raw material resources, and are a major manufacturing destination. To fully capitalise on this opportunity, however, we need to improve productivity. That is one of India's biggest challenges today. Among textile manufacturing nations, India ranks among the lowest in terms of productivity,” he says.

Tiruppur-based Sahana Clothing Private Limited, which manufacturers 40 million garments annually, has ordered 500 devices from Texplus Technologies. “It has been very useful for us. In any other device, we have to manually make the count of the pieces, but here it is all done automatically. We have 2,000 machines, and I took the initial lot to try. The results have been good, and we would like to purchase more for the rest of our machines too,” says S. Manikandan, Industrial Engineering Manager, Sahana Clothing Private Limited.

Manikandan says that their efficiency has increased by 10% after using this IoT solution from Texplus. “It tracks all relevant cycle data, such as time study, needle study, skill mapping, and wash study through AI. Prior to this, there was no such clear data, and we had to be completely reliant on supervisors for their input,” he adds.

The exporter states that countries such as Vietnam and China use the hanger system for garments in manufacturing, which is far more expensive. An automated garment hanger system—an overhead conveyor network moving clothing parts between production stations—boosts factory efficiency by 20-30%.

Himani Gulati, Director of MEX Exhibitions, a specialty trade fair and B2B exhibition platform which is also organising the upcoming textile fair Gartex Textile Expo 2026, says that AI and automation are no longer conversations about the future; they are becoming part of how competitive textile businesses operate today.

“Across global markets, we are seeing manufacturers use these technologies to improve everything from quality inspection and production planning to predictive maintenance and supply chain visibility. I strongly believe India is certainly moving in that direction. Many companies have already begun investing in automation and digital manufacturing, and it is encouraging to see even MSMEs recognising that technology is becoming a business necessity rather than a choice,” she says.

Going forward, Esstee Exports plans to offer complete end-to-end tracking—from fabric production all the way to dispatch—with this solution. “Indian exporters are termed the lowest in efficiency standards. We want to change that image. We want India to become one of the best-performing manufacturing destinations in terms of productivity,” Natarajan says.