Separator

MAGSOL: Reinventing Car Care Products Industry with Innovative Product Solutions

Separator
Yogesh Badgujar, Director,Abhay Pote, Director

Yogesh Badgujar, Director

Abhay Pote, Director

It’s no sub rosa that the car care market in India has always been under the shades of foreign ‘products’ with Indian companies endeavoring to produce clones, while our country needs 'solutions' that address the nuances of India-centric predicaments of OEMs, aftermarket, and end-customers. With challenges ranging right from the decades-behind road infrastructure and uncompromised maintenance & refinish needs, close to 2,50,000 cars registered monthly in our country make it a real game for these stakeholders.

To make things worse, the existing maintenance-products (mostly chemicals) are often toxic in nature and they come in bulk packaging, wherein the accountability (per end-user) and specific use of the material are affected. For more than a decade, Yogesh Badgujar, a passionate Researcher, lent his ears to hear about such pain areas of his customers, while working as regional head of one of the largest car care product companies in the world. Unlike many others, he couldn’t turn his head away from this crater and hence set-off in pursuit of solutions.

Yogesh along with his close friend Abhay Pote (an architect and a successful businessman) established Elixir Soltek Pvt. Ltd. (ESPL) - an innovative & diversified technology company, which addresses even the smallest of pain-points of OEMs, car care community, and mechanic fleet through novel inventions, and a bunch of products & services under the brand name ‘MAGSOL’ that set new quality benchmarks for car care solutions. ESPL within six years from its inception has filed more than five patents encompassing some of the most impressive intellectual properties (IP). This includes Magsol Dry-Form Wash (waterless car wash solution), Mask-it (damaged & rusted nuts & bolts removal solution), Annisen (Non-Toxic & Water Soluble Thinner), Disposable Painting Cup (a groundbreaking solution for car-painting Bodyshops), and much more.

Finding Solutions to the Unsolved Predicaments
“All the patents we have filed over the years are built on the philosophy of comprehending pain-points of the bottom layer, conducting intricate researches, devising a plan and effectively addressing that pain areas with solutions of intact quality,” asserts Yogesh, Co-Founder & Director, Elixir Soltek, who is an MSC Chemistry & MBA graduate and the think tank behind all of these IPs. The Alchemist of ESPL, Yogesh’s words echo great sense, as all the MAGSOL products have one unique proposition in common alongside its quality – making a specific job easier for the technician.

In fact, it’s not the base formula that needs correction, but little things that could change the game completely. Taking the bull by its horns, ESPL pioneered the ‘per car’ concept, offering a wide range of straw-attached (as the existing products failed to reach-out to some parts of the engine) aerosol products in 100 ML packaging with replacement guarantee, making them accountable per customer and saving a lot of time for the workers. Indeed, the process has boiled-down to as simple as technician taking product from the parts department, using one unit per car and transparently charging from the end-user. In addition, it also offers an array of ‘Do-it-Yourself’ products.

Well, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The entire stack of aforementioned products solve such minute, yet troublesome pain areas of workers and car care companies. A perfect example being Mask-it, the paste that finds solution to one of the biggest predicaments in the garage as well
as drivers in the middle of their journey - removing rusted/damaged nut from the bolt. Akin to this, it has replaced the highly-toxic thinners (used for removing paint-stains from body), which cause severe environmental hazards and health issues to the workers, with Annisen - a non-toxic, 100 percent water soluble (environmental friendly) thinner. One of its latest inventions, Disposable Painting Cup enables 360 degree rotation of the painting-gun, unlike the conventional almost-static metal cup. Since this recyclable plastic cup doesn’t call for any cleaning in between the painting job, it saves a lot of paint and thinner as well. Well, these products have engendered happy-fountains in the hearts of mechanics. Wonder how many companies in this niche industry have made such an impact!

"All the MAGSOL products have one unique proposition in common alongside its quality – making a specific job easier for the technician"

The Yellow Brick Road to Success
Nevertheless, ESPL’s success has not only taken a month of Sundays, but also the intact vision & efforts of Director-duo and their families. When Yogesh and Abhay started this journey together in 2012 with a lucid business blueprint and product formulas, their wives, respectively Neeta Badgujar (CFO & HR) and Swati Pote (COO), reluctantly offered helping hands in all other coordinates of forming as a company. When Yogesh’s knowledge-base & awareness of customer needs, and Abhay’s business knowhow gave rise to a matchless combination, their wives shaped a perfect roof to the organization with a hugely appreciated work culture.

Keeping the company’s profit margin low, the duo had problem-solving innovations for breakfast and built their brand as a synonym of quality with an entire gamut of cost-effective products. And it worked too. Started from Pune, ESPL spread like a wildfire across the A Class market to achieve tremendous shelf-spaces across India through country’s best distributors. In the years that followed, the market witnessed MAGSOL solving long existed challenges with perfectly crafted business strategies, and dominating the aerosol segment in India.

“We believe in manufacturing indigenous products in world-class quality, and hence forayed into the demanding A Class market (high-end workshops, body shops and OEMs), in competition with MNC brands,” asserts Abhay, who holds the bridle from the business end of ESPL and lays the carpet for future. Abhay is referring to legacy brand-names that blind its loyal customers from any new product in the market. Needless to say, penetrating through those intangible, yet staunch walls is a Herculean task. Well, the way ESPL penetrated through and carved-out a niche for its brand ‘MAGSOL’ was quite exemplary; it literally mixed chemical components with continuous innovations that save time, efforts and struggles of car care workforce, not to mention the intact quality. Even the MNCs started cloning their products, which took ESPL into filing patents. In other words, ESPL deciphered its brand name (Magical +Solutions = MAGSOL) through no talks, but walks; delivering truly magical solutions to the car care industry. The company has built a product portfolio of more than 60 products till date, most of them projected towards car maintenance.

The Most Deserving Recognition
Well, such sparkling performance and game changing innovations never go unsung. When DuPont - one of the world’s largest chemical conglomerates, wanted to collaborate with an Indian company in order to democratize their wide range of car care products in India, they didn’t have to think twice to join hands with ESPL. “We take pride in divulging that we were the youngest company with lowest turnover in the DuPont’s shortlist of 10 companies,” adjoins Abhay. While usually such big fishes are into just supply agreements, ESPL has cracked a unique high-level Trademark Licensing Agreement,
which allows the company to manufacture and sell DuPont’s products across the country. The credit goes to ESPL’s innovative approach, and the ideology of directors, discipline, compliances, and much more.

This in fact gets way better. Apart from the DuPont-agreement, lately, a couple of largest four wheeler OEMs(MNCs) in India have also opted for direct supply of various products from ESPL over the conventional products, post rigorous testing and quality checking. Undeniably, this is a prestigious recognition for a six-year old startup and a clear omen of changing trends in the industry, wherein this innovation driven company stands right on top of it.

Exponential Growth Curve Ahead
Having spread its wings broadly across all the two & four wheeler brands PAN India, ESPL has no intention to take its legs off the accelerator, be it innovations or growth. As a result of continuous requests from its customers, the company today has several prototypes waiting on the deck, including an aerosol solution inspired from face-packs, which will protect the vehicles in stockyard in showrooms from rain and other climate changes by forming a protective layer over the vehicle, just like the face-pack. On the other hand, ESPL is looking forward to market the products of MAGSOL and DuPont across workshops and body shops PAN India (Tier-I, II & III cities) along with car accessory shops, spare parts shops, oil & lube shops, and automobile paint shops.

"We believe in manufacturing indigenous products in world-class quality, and hence forayed into the demanding A Class market, in competition with MNC brands"

In order to keep abreast of DuPont’s facilities, apart from its fully automated factories in Gujarwadi–(Pune)(bulk chemical manufacturing)and Shindewadi(Pune)(packaging), ESPL is building a brand new facility near Shindewadi (Pune), spanning across 29,000 sq. ft. As the fully automated state-of-the-art facility will be launched as early as 1st Quarter of 2019 from now, the company is setting its wings on fire to sky rocket the production.

“Above all, we are all set to launch an automotive e-marketplace ‘Magdu’ which will be an ‘alibaba.com’ of India with car care products from multifarious vendors,” asserts Abhay. Projected towards being more like a community of car care stratum with videos and articles posted, the new avenue will operate as a separate entity namely Magdu Ecommerce Pvt. Ltd. led by Sankalp Chandelkar (CEO). “We also plan to extend our digital presence to leading e-Commerce websites,” continues Abhay. The omens are quite clear. Having set the benchmarks of quality and with the DuPont’s licencing agreement in hand, ESPL is making its products available to the B & C class markets, moving fast towards the Rs.100 crore revenue mark. “Though the mission remains the same - improving efficiency, reducing costs, and integrating usage of envirofriendly products for Auto & Hospitality Sector,” concludes Yogesh.

Key Management:
Yogesh Badgujar, Director
A Chemistry Postgraduate from Mumbai University & MBA graduate from Symbiosis (SIBM), Yogesh, who loves the Chemistry, handles Research and Innovation at Elixir and also formulates Sales and Marketing Strategies.

Abhay Pote, Director
A former lecturer in Architecture Department JN EC Aurangabad, Abhay practiced for 16 years as professional architect and has a business experience in the field of real estate development. He currently handles Admin & Finance at Elixir.

Offices: Pune (Headquarter) & 50+ other locations

Offerings:
• Mechanical Aerosol products
• Car Care Products & Accessories
• Bulk Pack Detailing Products
•‘Do it Yourself’ Products
• Speciality Greases and Additives