Textile activity in the western world has a long tradition, which accumulates experience.
Daniel Lippuner, CEO of Saurer Group, provides an outline of the textile machinery industry in an interview with Fibre2Fashion Correspondent Ridaa Saiyed.
Synopsis:
Saurer is a leading textile industrial group mainly specializing in machinery and components for yarn processing. The Group unites the brands Schlafhorst, Zinser, Allma, Volkmann, Saurer Embroidery, Accotex, Daytex, Fibrevision, Heberlein, Temco and Texparts. With around 1 billion CHF annual sales and 3.800 employees and locations in Switzerland, Germany, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, USA, China, India and Singapore, the group is well positioned to serve the world's textile markets.
Daniel Lippuner is the CEO of the Saurer Group. A Swiss citizen aged 44, Daniel Lippuner is the former Managing Director of Oerlikon Textile Components. He worked for 6 years in OC Oerlikon, of which 3 years as Corporate Controller. Daniel Lippuner worked for 8 years with Hilti in various finance and general management functions and 5 years with Rieter Automotive (now Autoneum). He spent 6 years of his career in Asia (China, India and Thailand).
Excerpts:
Can you discuss a few recent achievements by Saurer?
2013 was an eventful and successful year in the history of Saurer - we became SAURER again and achieved a clear growth in business. Despite the high cost for labor and raw material in China, Saurer has a successful outcome in 2013 especially for the Zinser Ring Spinning, Volkmann Twisting and Saurer Embroidery machines. The brands within the Saurer Group stand for innovation and highest product quality in the textile business worldwide.
Saurer Zinser is the ring-spinning specialist and has the most versatile portfolio of ring frames ranging from course to super fine counts for all raw materials. Today Zinser is the only manufacturer to offer ring-spinning machines for both cotton and worsted spinning.
In close cooperation with the customers, Volkmann has developed machines, which are able to meet the changing requirements of the market while offering the user exceptional cost efficiency, flexibility and outstanding product quality.
In the wide-ranging market for staple fibre yarns, fashion trends such as, super fine yarn counts and the associated quality demands are still the decisive factors for success. The need to reduce energy costs and increase profitability are the basic parameters which are very important in today's globalized market place which for us means targeting our development process and creating technologies with which mills can manufacture high quality products, lower their energy costs and thus further optimize their profitability.
Which countries/regions are likely to prosper in the textile machinery industry in the coming years? Give reasons.
I expect India can further strengthen its position during the next years. Nearly 80% of the new machines in spinning mills are being equipped with automation this year, such as auto doffing.
In China, the times have gone where big capacities were built up which consumed manpower. Because of higher wages, the industry must raise its productiveness in order to remain competitive. This means a further reduction in manpower and increased investments in automation. Smaller companies who do not invest will likely become unprofitable and eventually close. Nevertheless, China remains one of the most important markets. On the Filament side there is no alternative to China's dominance, as 75% of the worldwide capacities are installed there.
Pakistan and Bangladesh will recover and invest forcefully again, as soon as the right basic conditions return. Low wages and energy costs are among the main advantages of these countries.
In general South-East Asia, especially Indonesia and Vietnam will push ahead, also due to the drift of Chinese companies to this region. Besides this, we also pursue the development in potential new markets.
Do you think that the staple yarn processing method still exists, in spite of the growth in the use of the processing and spinning machines?
There has been and always will be a certain competition between different yarn production processes. Once upon a time, the ring spinning was said to lose market share to rotor spinning due to the lower productivity of ring spinning. Then air jet spinning came along and was supposed to succeed both ring spinning and rotor spinning. Today filament is growing faster than the staple yarn business. Still most of the things we wear closest to our body are staple ring spun cotton or cotton-mix. The touch and feel of the ring spun yarn is the benchmark for all the other processes. As long as there is a demand for such products, there will be traditional spinning mills. One day we might consider pure cotton a luxury product.
What is the importance of machinery in the textile industry?
The machines used in yarn and fabric processing are clearly the most important investment as the efficiency and quality of the machines are the main driving force behind output quality and of course profitability.
Quality must be built bottom up and this always starts with the machinery, for example, a low quality machine will always produce low quality yarns and be limited in scope of production. High quality components can help in manufacturing of course but it is never a finite solution to an underlying quality issue.
What are the recent developments in the textile machinery industry and how has it helped the manufacturing of textile products?
The development over the last 15-20 years has been remarkable. If you look at the extended range of textile uses today such as functional, medical, industrial, we have come a long way from the origins of the textile industry. Today, sustainability is an important question and this is how the modern machines are contributing considerably - automated quality controls, lower investment and process cost, lower energy use and waste minimization. When it comes to traditional textile industry, the modern machines also offer flexibility and efficiency. Being able to produce small lots at reasonable cost allows the manufacturers to react to accommodate the fast changing fashion of today.
What are the problems faced by the start-ups or the textile machinery companies of the developing countries?
Textile activity in the western world has a long tradition, which accumulates experience. These countries can draw on their traditional handcraft; know how; qualified and experienced people. A good and innovative idea must be proprietary, namely through a patent. In term of a patent, there is always the question of costs and whether they are sustainable. Most of the textile companies in the developing countries are fighting such problems, which is of course an obstacle to establish oneself in the market.
Another big advantage of the western countries is the good customer connections, which result out of many years of networking. An International network is a must. Many companies in developing countries are still at disadvantage when it comes to necessary resources to create a worldwide customer network that will ensure sustainable demand. A strong local customer base means a lower cost for customer relationship management however; it also concentrates the risk in case of a regional financial crisis.
What is the role of sustainability in the textile machinery industry? What steps should be taken by the textile machinery manufacturers for sustainable development?
Sustainability becomes more and more important because of rising energy costs. A high level of automation will become a must and no more an option! With both points, the European machine producers have a strategic advantage compared with the competitors from Asia: We have launched such automated products with lower energy consumption already more than 20 years ago in the market and, therefore, can fall back on a long experience, which cannot be copied.
How do you foresee the growth of the global textile machinery industry in the coming future?
Textile market growth is influenced by the increasing buying power of the middle class in the emerging markets as well as the growth of the worldwide population. However, the textile machine market will reach at best low, one-digit increase rates because the machines become more and more productive thanks to new innovations. Unfortunately, the cycle time will not decrease because the markets are synchronized worldwide and the government influence in big textile countries has increased recently. In this sense, in particular, the Chinese government plays an important role, when and how it decides in the question of subsidies to the Chinese cotton producers.
