"Oerlikon introduced about 14 innovations in the ITMA Asia show. The same line up has been showcased at ITME India as well. These innovations are in the area of spinning, fibres, yarn and texture value chain. Talking about the opportunities that ITMA Asia presented, Andre` Wissenberg, Vice President, Head of Marketing, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, Oerlikon, said, “ITMA Asia is certainly an important event. China is a very crucial market for us in the manmade fibres segment. The show gives us some positive signs pertaining to the market’s revival."

Oerlikon introduced about 14 innovations in the ITMA Asia show. The same line up has been showcased at ITME India as well. These innovations are in the area of spinning, fibres, yarn and texture value chain. Talking about the opportunities that ITMA Asia presented, Andre` Wissenberg, Vice President, Head of Marketing, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, Oerlikon, said, “ITMA Asia is certainly an important event. China is a very crucial market for us in the manmade fibres segment. The show gives us some positive signs pertaining to the market’s revival. The market for manmade fibres was not performing well for the last one and half years, but this time we got a good number of visits and interest among visitors was really encouraging. The China market is really big, it has big clients & companies and the kind of negotiations we witnessed there were clearly indicative of revival.”

India opportunities

The investments in manmade fibres segment have really gone up in recent years here. There is no doubt that the market for synthetic fibres is dominating the textile sector globally and India is no exception to this trend. Big investments in polyester segment are taking place whether it is the Indian market or the overseas markets. The centres for manmade fibres are China, Turkey, India and US. The US for PCF, turkey for polyester and Nylon and China for polyester are doing absolutely good. About 80 per cent of the total polyester production is done by China alone. India holds a huge potential of course in the manmade fibres segment, big investments are pouring in here and so do Vietnam, Bangladesh and Indonesia. “The country is growing organically, and we take this as an important market after China,” avers Wissenberg.

Innovations at Oerlikon

The popular is ETY solutions and EIFK HQ launched first time in India. HQ stands for ‘high quality’ and ‘high quantity.’ This is the first four deck texturisation machine in the world which gives 50 per cent increased productivity than any other machine in this category, it also helps saving energy, it is also one of the largest machineries in its league. Customers are quite positive about this product. The second thing is we provide the Indian consumer future-oriented customer services. This technology has been developed in a partnership with the help of Microsoft. Through this technology, you get augmented reality in the plant. You receive additional info into the glass. You have skype connection with it. This helps operator to fix the problem instantly. Through this, the experts in Germany or China can have a look at the problem the way it is before the operator and both can fix the problem together. This is a win-win situation for both. We save money since we don’t need to send experts to the place where there is a problem and the client gets the benefit of instant resolution to the problem, it saves money, labour, time and without any interruption in the production. This is called intelligence plant control (IPC). The service is customised and expensive, so we are having constant consultation with people interested in the technology. In this technology, we can fix the problem from any corner of the world, elaborates Wissenberg.

Competitive landscape

“We don’t see any competitor for us in this technology as far as the fair is concerned. People are working on these lines but have not been successful the way we have been until now. But innovations are constantly happening. We are the frontrunner as of now. We are trying to find the best solutions for the customer. We have been showing new winding machines also. We have some new recycling concepts,” felt Wissenberg.

Tech acceptance

Talking about the technology appetite of Indian companies, Wissenberg said, “In India, we have big companies like Reliance which produces not only for the domestic population but has a fair share of export market too. Since we are the number one in this segment, people are very likely to come to us. Indian market is growing and quite big, we are sure to make our mark here. Of course, there is competition but we are doing good. Also since the market is growing, we will have good demand for our products. Especially the eastern part and Silavasa area in Mumbai are witnessing a good growth, requiring big investments in spinning and weaving. There is traction in the market. We are focussing on Silvasa and New Delhi area.”