OrthoLite reported that it has expanded its India facility (OIN) in Ambur, Tamil Nadu, India, and opened a new sales office in Chennai, due to recent growth under new leadership.
The company said in a media release that the new building “expands OIN’s footprint by threefold and enables increased capacity to two million pairs of insoles per month. It also bolsters OrthoLite’s leatherwork capabilities. OIN is now fully equipped to make leather footbeds.”
The new facility “makes OrthoLite India the largest insole manufacturer in South Asia,” said the company.
OrthoLite opened OIN in June 2021. It is one of six vertically integrated global facilities for Ortholite.
The company said, “OIN is poised to expand local capacities to meet the needs of OrthoLite’s growing number of brand partners in the region through increased investments in the region and key new hires in supply chain management and operations.”
In June 2023, OrthoLite announced that it appointed Vikash Bajargyan as the new GM of OrthoLite India. He is responsible for overall operations at OIN, including leading manufacturing and business development and establishing and managing relationships with brands and Tier 1 factory partners. Ortholite said that “his leadership has been instrumental in this expansion.”
“Vikash has been a strong leader in helping us grow our business quickly to meet our growing demand in this important region,” said Glenn Barrett, founder and CEO. “India is a thriving market both for our domestic consumer and export business. OrthoLite’s expanded facility will also serve as an important hub for leather insole craftsmanship and other forthcoming innovations within our company.”
Under Bajargyan, OIN is growing its team. Sweta Kannan came on board as OIN’s Operations Manager. With a BA and MBA in Business Administration, Kannan most recently worked as the GM running operations for a textile factory in Ambur for the past ten years. She also has “significant experience in running lean line manufacturing,” said Ortholite.
Earlier this year, OIN hired Sureshbabu Seenivasagam and Anbu Sundaram, who have over 25 years of experience in merchandising, global supply chain and warehousing logistics in footwear.
OIN is a manufacturing facility that employs local-for-local production and service. Ortholite reported, “61 of OrthoLite’s 550-plus global brand partners produce in India, and the region represents part of OrthoLite’s global production strategy to align its factories and provide efficient and exemplary service directly to local partners and T1s.”
