Heiner Rupperath
Director of Industrial Printing Business Brother Internationale Industriemaschinen GmbH
Industry has no choice but to adopt IoT for DTG printing
Brother Internationale is known in the industry for sustainable, durable and innovative products. The company’s product range includes a variety of industrial sewing machines and direct-to-garment (DTG) printers. In an interview with Fibre2Fashion, Brother’s Director of Industrial Printing Business Heiner Rupperath discusses European machinery and DTG printers.
How would you describe the current state of the European textile machinery industry?
The European textile machinery industry is currently very unpredictable. Some areas are booming and running well, while others are suffering due to many reasons, including the happenings in the last two years.
What kind of impact does the Russia-Ukraine crisis and rising inflation have on the textile machinery sector in the EU?
We are still in the middle of a pandemic and the war in Ukraine is still raging, creating a terrible situation. Both crises have a very big impact on the global society and economic systems. The increasing inflation rates and the interest rates are slowing down investment day by day. In addition, the increasing energy costs are driving more and more producers to look for alternative machines that consume less energy.
What kind of challenges does this pose for you as a machinery manufacturer?
Every crisis has a threat and brings new opportunities. We as a manufacturer will use the time to support our customers in these difficult times by providing new products such as our new ‘myze’ software platform to increase their business. In addition, we try hard to limit any price increases as much as possible.
Which are your major markets in Europe and outside of EU?
Any market is important for us, but what we can say is that each market has its specialty. The fashion industry in Italy or the screen-printing market in the UK are for sure extraordinary examples for major specific markets. Anyway, the diversity of innovative businesses in Europe, Middle East and Africa are great and we also learn from our customers’ new applications.
At the moment, however, we see the trend that many producers are coming back to Europe. The next few years will show whether this will continue.
What kinds of DTG printers are in high demand?
We launched our new GTX600 DTG printer at the beginning of 2022, and the feedback for this equipment is outstanding positive. This new industrial printer is made for high-capacity use and brings new features for a sustainable working environment by saving waste and maintenance parts. In addition, the demand for other models like GTXpro and GTXpro Bulk are also good.
Which economies are slowly adapting to IoT powered DTG printing machines?
The industry has no choice but to adopt IoT for DTG printing, while an efficient production process is essential to remain competitive. The reshoring trend and sustainability enforcement are pushing the digitalisation forward.
What kinds of innovations and technologies have been adopted in the last two years at Brother Internationale?
Brother used the last two years to listen carefully to customer needs and transfer them into new product launches we did recently. In case of hardware, we introduced the new GTX600 high-capacity printer, and we introduced the new ‘myze’ software platform during FESPA 2022 in Berlin. Furthermore, we are working on several new technologies for our customers, which will be introduced within the next few months.
What are some of the industry trends you see in DTG printing in the next five years?
Local productions in MicroFactories format, automatised printing processes and sustainable on-demand productions. All these trends will be forced by the higher raw material, logistics and energy costs. One more factor is also influencing in addition to these, i.e., the missing dedicated manpower.
How do you incorporate sustainability into your products and operations?
The Brother headquarter in Japan defined and launched the Vision 2050 and Targets 2030 with clear goals to reduce the CO2 impact. The three goals of ‘Reduction in CO2 emissions’, ‘Resource Circulation’, and ‘Biodiversity Conservation’ set forth in Environmental Vision 2050 will help us achieve ‘At your side’ for the environment, focusing on sustainability and on leaving as small a footprint as possible, which At your side 2030 aims to pursue.
These values and targets are already reflected inside our new product developments like the GTXpro Series and the new GTX600, which have new technologies to reduce the waste in case of inks and maintenance parts. Furthermore, we digitalised our service by introducing the TECNET platform for faster support and higher efficiency.
What are the short-term and long-term goals at Brother Internationale?
Our short-term goal is to support our customers during these difficult and unpredictable times so that we all together stay successful and in line with the higher consumer expectations. We are constantly in close contact with our customers and can therefore react to their problems and challenges and support them with individual solutions.
Our long-term goals are to provide further improved technologies such as hardware, consumables and software in line with the trends of the markets mentioned before and to reach our targets to become CO2 neutral (Scopes 1 and 2) company.
Published on: 14/07/2022
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
