At Proposte: D’Decor Business Bounces Back
September 10, 2021
Yuraaz Arora
COMO—"The pandemic has had an impact on every aspect of Business As Usual at D’Decor Home Fabrics,” says Yuraaz Arora, the next generation of the Arora family ownership of D’Decor.
“We faced a difficult and uncertain FY21 like every other organization, but by the advent of FY22 we had managed to achieve operational stability and equilibrium with the fluctuating global scenario,” he adds.
According to Yuraaz, the first quarter of FY21 was the most challenging period with a global lockdown, complete shutdown of operations, and the majority of the blue-collar workforce migrating back to hometowns. The major impact of Covid on employee turnover, raw material sourcing, and cash flow, made restarting operations that much more challenging in the second half of Q1, he says.
Fortunately, just as the pandemic hit, Yuraaz says "the organization was already in the midst of moving to a digital meeting culture with the adoption of Microsoft Teams, which proved to be a timely shift, allowing a near-seamless interaction with both internal and external stakeholders and ensuring an unbroken line of communication with timely meetings and town halls, that addressed queries and concerns of all involved."
"The pandemic created a substantial growth in demand for home textiles by the end of Q2, which prompted us to ramp up production to capitalize on the opportunity, while ensuring the health and safety of our employees and compliance with pandemic regulations, which we were able to achieve, as the organization exceeded its lifetime EBDTA when annualized in the second half of FY21, improving our cash flow and allowing us to build up resilience to face the challenges of the subsequent waves of the pandemic,” Yurtaaz explains.
"Focussed risk assessment thorough scenario analysis of the P&L to optimize cost during tough times, timely decisions on investments, RM sourcing, inventory & production planning and process improvements, a near-complete digital transformation of a traditional physical business through product digitization, 3D technology, and customer experience platforms, and prompt and transparent communication with all stakeholders providing them visibility on changes and future, allowed us to function smoothly through a tough period, not to mention a stoic and confident top management and a resilient and committed workforce."
“We faced a difficult and uncertain FY21 like every other organization, but by the advent of FY22 we had managed to achieve operational stability and equilibrium with the fluctuating global scenario,” he adds.
According to Yuraaz, the first quarter of FY21 was the most challenging period with a global lockdown, complete shutdown of operations, and the majority of the blue-collar workforce migrating back to hometowns. The major impact of Covid on employee turnover, raw material sourcing, and cash flow, made restarting operations that much more challenging in the second half of Q1, he says.
Fortunately, just as the pandemic hit, Yuraaz says "the organization was already in the midst of moving to a digital meeting culture with the adoption of Microsoft Teams, which proved to be a timely shift, allowing a near-seamless interaction with both internal and external stakeholders and ensuring an unbroken line of communication with timely meetings and town halls, that addressed queries and concerns of all involved."
"The pandemic created a substantial growth in demand for home textiles by the end of Q2, which prompted us to ramp up production to capitalize on the opportunity, while ensuring the health and safety of our employees and compliance with pandemic regulations, which we were able to achieve, as the organization exceeded its lifetime EBDTA when annualized in the second half of FY21, improving our cash flow and allowing us to build up resilience to face the challenges of the subsequent waves of the pandemic,” Yurtaaz explains.
"Focussed risk assessment thorough scenario analysis of the P&L to optimize cost during tough times, timely decisions on investments, RM sourcing, inventory & production planning and process improvements, a near-complete digital transformation of a traditional physical business through product digitization, 3D technology, and customer experience platforms, and prompt and transparent communication with all stakeholders providing them visibility on changes and future, allowed us to function smoothly through a tough period, not to mention a stoic and confident top management and a resilient and committed workforce."
