Steelbird Helmets: Blending Safety with Style, Comfort & Durability across Diverse Product Segments
With a legacy of 55 years, Steelbird Helmets currently stands as a name to reckon with in the auto accessory industry of India that manufactures a spectrum of helmets and other safety accessories. The Global Group President of Steelbird Helmets, Shailendra Jain has exclusively articulated about his company’s journey till date, products portfolio, USP and many other aspects with siliconindia. Here are the excerpts!Brief us about your professional experiences along with your current role at Steelbird Helmets.
Prior to joining Steelbird, I was working for diverse companies such as Minda Industries, Tube Investments of India, LML, SKF India and 3M India, wherein I had played a variety of roles both at national and international levels. Altogether, it has been almost 24 years I began my professional journey where I had gained immense exposure across businesses like OEM, co-operative, online, export, media, sales, marketing, branding, promotion and a lot more. Speaking of my educational background, I pursued B.Com Honors followed by an Advance Course in Marketing Management and MBA. I am also a Certified Digital Marketer.
"Our mission and vision has always been that no person wearing a Steelbird helmet should die when met with an accident. We also go by the slogan -‘If you want to wear a helmet then wear Steelbird helmet’."
Currently, I oversee the end-to-end management & operations of almost five organizations of Steelbird Group. Being associated for more than seven years with Steelbird, I’m happy to say that it is more of a personal-professional relationship I have with the organization. My prime focus is on driving Steelbird way above other conglomerates in the industry, even in the years to come.
How are your products developed in accordance with the current demands & trends in the auto accessory industry?
The auto accessory industry has evolved a great deal over the past few years. People, especially the youth started looking beyond the frontiers of mere safety in helmets into variegated designs,materials, styles and technologies. Safety, light weight, durability and style are on the top of their minds besides budget, while exploring helmets. This drastic shift in their tastes is indeed pushing us towards innovations in helmets and other accessories that we currently offer.
Our mission and vision has always been that no person wearing a Steelbird helmet should die when met with an accident. We also go by the slogan ‘If you want to wear a helmet, then wear Steelbird helmet’. Clearly, safety always stays as the topmost priority for our company. Today, we take pride in our company’s range of brands Steelbird (flagship brand), Steelbird Air with Air Pro technology, Hi-GN with hygienic & antibacterial plating, Ares for professional riders with visor, soft lining, comfort and style, KUKKA with high & open face for Indians, and IGNYTE for high-end professional riders. This way, we have a dedicated brand for each segment of customers in tune with their budget and requirements.
Today, we are proud to be associated with OEMs like Hero Honda, Yamaha, Royal Enfield, Suzuki, and many others along with international brands like KUKKA, PROJECT FOR SAFETY and Blair. We also have
strong presence across online portals like Flipkart, Amazon, Cloudten, and others.
What do you consider as the major factors driving the helmet industry in India?
Firstly, it is the strict rules set by the Indian Government with respect to wearing helmets along with a lot of awareness being created by NGOs and other organizations on the same. Today’s youth are the biggest driving factors for this market, as they are willing to invest volumes in helmets with safety, style, comfort, durability and other features akin to that of a foreign brand. Given the scenario, a swarm of helmet manufacturers today are engaged in lot of R&D and innovations, which is again a catalyst to the industry’s growth. Moreover with the rise in the women riders these days, manufacturers are innovating on stylish, open face helmets on a large scale, thereby giving the industry an additional momentum.
Walk us through the excellence of Steelbird’s manufacturing facilities.
Steelbird presently has three manufacturing plants with an overall production capacity of around 40,000 helmets and 3,000 side boxes per day. While most of our production operations are carried-out across India, we also ensure to adhere to the European standards for exports. Our chief manufacturing plant Steelbird Hitech India Ltd. spans around two lakh sq. ft. of area with a production capacity of 15,000 helmets per day, worldclass automatic painting lines (9,000 helmets per day), and robotic visor lines (900 visors per day).Our second plant GNL Industries (under construction) also spans around two lakh sq. ft. of area with a production capacity of 18,000 helmets per day, automatic painting lines, and robotic visor lines. Located very near to this is our third plant 3Generations (under construction) spanning two lakh sq. ft. of area with production capacity of 6,000 helmets per day, and 3,000 side boxes per day.
What are your company’s future plans?
With rigorous R&D going-on across all our manufacturing plants, we will soon be launching new technologies, brands, and products under various segments. Recently, we have unveiled HF(Hands-Free) helmet which has witnessed huge acceptance from the customers. Even across sales & marketing, we own great range of businesses including Government, aftermarket, online, export, franchisee, and many others besides a strong online presence via social media.
While having associations with 2,000 direct dealers & distributors and 10,000+ retailers, we are planning to procure close to one lakh retailers in the coming years. Through our new Malaysia 2020 retail scheme, we will be taking 2,500 channel partners to Malaysia at one go, which no other company in the helmet industry has achieved so far. Further with respect to retail outlets, we will be augmenting our current eight exclusive RiderZ Shoppe retail outlets PAN India to 2000 more in India, as well as abroad with our first outlet in Cambodia (under construction). Altogether, we have business expansion plans of plunging into Tier-2 & 3 cities, and across Nepal, Africa, Dubai and Bangladesh for exports.
Key Management:
Shailendra Jain, Global Group President
Shailendra is an epitome of a global business leader with rich experiences across diverse verticals. He is currently responsible for all end-to-end operations and verticals at Steelbird Group of Companies.
Corporate Office:New Delhi
Brands:
•Steelbird
•Steelbird Air
•Hi-GN
•Ares
•KUKKA
•IGNYTE
•MOTOZIEL
What do you consider as the major factors driving the helmet industry in India?
Firstly, it is the strict rules set by the Indian Government with respect to wearing helmets along with a lot of awareness being created by NGOs and other organizations on the same. Today’s youth are the biggest driving factors for this market, as they are willing to invest volumes in helmets with safety, style, comfort, durability and other features akin to that of a foreign brand. Given the scenario, a swarm of helmet manufacturers today are engaged in lot of R&D and innovations, which is again a catalyst to the industry’s growth. Moreover with the rise in the women riders these days, manufacturers are innovating on stylish, open face helmets on a large scale, thereby giving the industry an additional momentum.
Steelbird presently has three manufacturing plants with an overall production capacity of around 40,000 helmets and 3,000 side boxes per day
Walk us through the excellence of Steelbird’s manufacturing facilities.
Steelbird presently has three manufacturing plants with an overall production capacity of around 40,000 helmets and 3,000 side boxes per day. While most of our production operations are carried-out across India, we also ensure to adhere to the European standards for exports. Our chief manufacturing plant Steelbird Hitech India Ltd. spans around two lakh sq. ft. of area with a production capacity of 15,000 helmets per day, worldclass automatic painting lines (9,000 helmets per day), and robotic visor lines (900 visors per day).Our second plant GNL Industries (under construction) also spans around two lakh sq. ft. of area with a production capacity of 18,000 helmets per day, automatic painting lines, and robotic visor lines. Located very near to this is our third plant 3Generations (under construction) spanning two lakh sq. ft. of area with production capacity of 6,000 helmets per day, and 3,000 side boxes per day.
What are your company’s future plans?
With rigorous R&D going-on across all our manufacturing plants, we will soon be launching new technologies, brands, and products under various segments. Recently, we have unveiled HF(Hands-Free) helmet which has witnessed huge acceptance from the customers. Even across sales & marketing, we own great range of businesses including Government, aftermarket, online, export, franchisee, and many others besides a strong online presence via social media.
While having associations with 2,000 direct dealers & distributors and 10,000+ retailers, we are planning to procure close to one lakh retailers in the coming years. Through our new Malaysia 2020 retail scheme, we will be taking 2,500 channel partners to Malaysia at one go, which no other company in the helmet industry has achieved so far. Further with respect to retail outlets, we will be augmenting our current eight exclusive RiderZ Shoppe retail outlets PAN India to 2000 more in India, as well as abroad with our first outlet in Cambodia (under construction). Altogether, we have business expansion plans of plunging into Tier-2 & 3 cities, and across Nepal, Africa, Dubai and Bangladesh for exports.
Key Management:
Shailendra Jain, Global Group President
Shailendra is an epitome of a global business leader with rich experiences across diverse verticals. He is currently responsible for all end-to-end operations and verticals at Steelbird Group of Companies.
Corporate Office:New Delhi
Brands:
•Steelbird
•Steelbird Air
•Hi-GN
•Ares
•KUKKA
•IGNYTE
•MOTOZIEL
