Basic HTML Version
The Textile Magazine
JUly 2012
|
113
Q: Can you tell us about the current state of your
industry?
A: Our activity has rebounded since 2010 but has not fully
recovered the best levels it achieved before the financial
and economic crisis which hit mostly North American and
European markets. ITMA 2011 in Barcelona was a very ac-
tive and professional fair. Textile producers came with very
interesting projects and many have turned into orders but
quite a number have not yet. I believe this is mainly due to
the increasing financing difficulties. Textile producers are of-
ten family run companies looking for long-term growth and
not for short-term profits. They want to open new markets or
develop the existing ones, they want to optimize their pro-
ductions processes and have very well-planned investments
projects.
On the other hand they can be constrained by the economic
slowdown in Europe and, more recently, even in China.
The US now seems to be on a growth path again which may
contribute to boost the global economy. The other obstacle is
the credit crunch, we European have been dealing with it for
quite a while and therefore have found creative solutions.
Altogether most of our activity is now secured for 2012,
but visibility is still limited into 2013. For the long term,
we remain quite optimistic as we trust our strategy is right;
our industry will continue to innovate and its structure will
evolve. Reorganization in the machinery industry has been
quite active recently all over the world, in France too.
Q: Can you tell us how UCMTF participates in the
long-term strategy of your members?
A: Concerning R and D, UCMTF is active promoting the
energy savings that the textile production processes can fa-
vour. Concerning our marketing strategy, I already explained
our collective approach of some strategic markets. As an
association we promote our members’ participation in the
major textile shows and work closely with the textile media.
Another important objective of our association is to
promote our industry among engineering and manage-
ment schools. For that purpose we organize a Forum and
finance an UCMTF prize through the prestigious “Challenge
ITECH”.
It is important to remind that France is the sixth textile ma-
chinery exporter worldwide. Together the 35 manufacturers’
annual exports exceed 1 billion Euros ($1.3 billion). UC-
MTF, a member of CEMATEX, owner of the ITMA brand,
has its website www.ucmtf.com
w
ITMA Asia + CITME 2012