One of the first Indian companies to open its doors in Antwerp, Jayam had two roles. It was a buyer of rough for the fledgling Indian diamond manufacturing industry. It was also a polished trader in both Belgian polished and Indian polished (quite often bartered for rough).

Both roles saw phenomenal growth in the ensuing years. By the early 1970's, it was a sightholder of the diamond trading company. Towards the late 1970's, Jayam decided to diversify into the polishing of better quality, fine make diamonds. To that end, Jayam manufacturing was created with a modern factory in the Kempen, the traditional heartland of diamond polishing. At full capacity, Jayam manufacturing employed 120 people. The 1980's also saw strong growth in the Jayam group's business with the dtc. In fact, Jayam became one of the three largest sightholders during the decade; for a few years it even had the distinction of being the largest sightholder. Towards the end of the decade, it was decided that a low cost center which could polish nice sawable and sawn rough was needed. To that end, Orchid diamond polishing works was set up in Thailand in 1988 with a capacity of 700 workers.

Mafatlal Metha,founder of Jayam N.V. and recepient of many awards for his work both in the diamond industry and for charity .He has recieved the following awards: Vishwa Gujarati Award from the goverment of Gujarat. LifeTime Achievement award from the Diamond Dealers Club in New York. Manav Mitra Award from the Bharat Sevashram Sangh.

With such a large global business, the importance of professionalism in all aspects of the business is paramount. In the manufacturing, a team of experienced Belgian rough assorters assures that no mistakes can be made in the sawing and that tight yield controls can be placed on the factory. At the other end of the process, a group of expert Belgian polished assorters allows for polished assortments with high degree of accuracy; much of the polished business is done over the phone.

Though it is no longer a seller of polished Indian goods, Jayam is proud of its Indian roots. It is also proud of its Belgian upbringing which is most obvious in its manufacturing and polished operations. From India, Jayam has a strong pioneering spirit, ready to seize any opportunity. From Belgium, it has developed a systematic, professional attitude to the diamond business. By bringing these two elements together, Jayam has been able to grow at a formidable pace from its incorporation in 1960 to its present role as one of the world's largest diamond companies.

ORCHID DIAMOND POLISHING WORKS

Orchid diamond polishing works ltd. (odpw) was opened in 1988 following the decision to establish a low cost, high quality diamond factory. The factory was established with the permission of the Thai Board Of Investment (boi). Boi granted odpw certain privileges such as income tax exemption and import tax exemption for all machinery and tools. In return, odpw had to export all of its production.

The Thai workforce was trained by a team of Belgian experts to polish a make matching that of Russian goods. The Thai workers were good learners and, by 1992, only 3 foreign experts were still needed thus reducing costs without sacrificing quality.

Originally, the production at odpw consisted of Polished -11 sieve size and smaller. Beginning in 1992, 1/10 polished and 1/6 polished production was shifted from Belgium to odpw by 1995, the workforce was proficient enough to work on 1/5 polished and 1/4 followed in the next year. This process was achieved quite smoothly because it was done over a four year period; The best, most experienced polishers out of the 700 workers were chosen to make the larger, more expensive goods. Neither make nor yield had to be sacrificed in transferring the production of these larger sizes to Thailand.

The turn of the century will bring further developments. A specialized section will be created to work on polished of thirty to fifty points. Again, keeping the high quality of make as well as ensuring that yields meet expectations will be of paramount importance. It will not be an overnight process and will be smoothed out by using the finest experts from Belgium. Orchid will continue to be a growing factory with a low cost, but yet a high quality product
             

Orchid Diamond polishing works at full strength with 700 employees working in an extremly mordern diamond factory.