Onduline, an international player offering complete solutions for building systems is providing lightweight roofing for the past 70 years. On the sidelines of Roof India 2016 held in Chennai recently, Onduline’s Country Head Sameer Deshpande speaks to B2B Purchase and explains the USP of the company’s products.

Onduline came as one of the front-runners in India among your line of products. What sort of acceptance do you have in India right now?
We have excellent acceptance and appeal for our products. The whole roofing market is categorised in two swings where you have products that are absolutely functional and there are products that are aesthetic. We offer a unique combination of aesthetic and functionality and that’s why people really like Onduline products and we see this market as well as Onduline to grow in a big way in next 3 to 5 years.

Which region of India is more appealing for you?
It’s an interesting thing! There are lots of players in roofing market dominating certain regions. We are a company having sales across the geography right from Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir in North to Kerala and Tamil Nadu in South.

You were talking about the aesthetic as well as functionality of your products. How well your products will go with the green building and energy efficiency concepts?
In the first place our products are made mostly out of recyclable material. So, on the green building side we call ourselves and our products as ‘green’. Energy efficiency is a different subject. In India there are no mandates for energy codes right now. There is ECBC (Energy Conservation Building Codes) which is in prescriptive form and not all the states have adopted it.So energy efficiency will take some time in India. Our products cannot be called as insulating products. They give some sort of thermal comfort. For us, if anybody is talking about energy efficiency we have to talk about insulation. No roofing product can give energy efficiency – it can give you thermal comfort at the most.

In India, the urban market is grooming. Many tall buildings are coming up in India. How will Onduline products fit to these projects?
There is a thumb rule: The taller the building, the lesser the scope for us and the shorter the building, the more scope for us. Further, the entire roofing industry is split in to two: flat roofs and pitch roofs. Our products play significant roles within the pitch roof category. There are not many tall buildings whose roofs are pitched. Tall buildings will be only when the roofs are flat and we have a very little role to play there.

When someone goes for roofing options whether it is clay tile, concrete or metal, how should this preference comes to pitch level? What should be the priorities?
Metal sheets are more functional whereas concrete and clay tiles are all about aesthetic. The end-user needs to make the choice whether he wants a completely functional product or wants to increase the beauty of tops. Once that is made, he can then drill down to the next category. Other features that one should look include weight of the product and waterproofing strength. The weight of the product also decides the weight of the overall structure because that is the weight which is going to get added on a building.

From a customer’s point of view, if someone is looking for lightweight roofing, which product should be chosen?
One should choose a product which is light weight. In ascending order, Onduline is the lowest in terms of weight. Concrete tile is the highest in terms of weight, then come clay and metal.

In terms of waterproofing, Onduline is the only company which talks of 10 year waterproofing warranty on its products.

Also Onduline products are best in terms of aesthetics. Our product Onduvilla gives unique 3D designs with different colour option.

Can you list 5 benefits why someone should go for Onduline products?
Light weight: Our products are lightweight because they are manufactured using cellulose and bitumen. The uniqueness is that, though the products are lightweight, they are equally strong as compared to any other product.

Waterproofing: That is the best thing that our products offer complete waterproofing as no other product needs to be mixed with that. This is a primary roof that one can use.

Colours: Onduline products are beautiful and available in unique colours which normally are not available in the market. 

Acoustic comfort: This is an important criterion. You install a metal roof, and if we were to have the conversation while it was raining here, we would not be able to speak. By the virtue of physical properties, Onduline roof sheets act as sound barrier and can reduce unwanted noise by up to 30dB.

Design support: Design support is fifth benefit that locally Onduline provides. We are now on the verge of creating a catalog of designs where a customer can choose not only a product but also a design for his type.

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We are a company having sales across the geography right from Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir in North to Kerala and Tamil Nadu in South.

Sameer Deshpande, Country Head, Onduline