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The Textile Magazine
JUly 2012
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25
the requirements of the Asian mid-end segment and
comes in weaving widths of 190 cm and 220 cm.
As for the rapier machines, the highlight is an Opti-
Max weaving a technical fabric. At ITMA Barcelona
Picanol presented the OptiMax in a guided positive
gripper execution. Although available in all widths (up
to 540 cm), this especially opens new perspectives in
technical segments such as coating fabrics, primary
and secondary carpet backing, geogrids, etc.
The other rapier machines on display were the
GT-Max with jacquard and GTXplus, both machines
produced in Suzhou.
As one of the world’s leading weaving machine
manufacturers, Picanol has always had a very close
relationship with the Asian textile industry. This
relationship is not a matter of chance or coincidental
development. On the contrary, it is the result of long-
term strategic planning by the Picanol management.
In this firm belief, Picanol sent its first pioneers to
explore the possibilities in the Far East in the early
1950s. It took part in one of the first international
exhibitions held in Beijing. This was the period when
the company sales managers, still based in Ieper,
criss-crossed the Orient to promote its weaving ma-
chines at exhibitions and technical seminars.
The growing installed base of Picanol machines in
Asia, as well as the increasing demand for a higher
level of service and support resulted in the establish-
ment of the Picanol Service Centre, which was set
up in Shanghai in 1987. A network of local service
engineers was also established to serve the other
Picanol to recruit 50 additional workers
for Ypres plant
The Picanol Group has announced that it is soon recruiting 50 additional temporary workers at its Ypres plant.
As of now, the global market for new weaving machines is still characterized by volatility, forcing the Picanol
Group to focus heavily on flexibility in order to handle production peaks.
To successfully meet global customer demand in a timely manner, Picanol is planning to adjust the production
capacity in Ypres in the short term. The increase in demand for its weaving machines is supported by the success
of the new weaving machines and the competitive euro exchange rate.
To handle the current production peak, the Picanol Group is looking to strengthen the workforce in Ypres with
50 temporary workers. The profiles that the group is looking for include technicians, production workers, CNC
operators and deburrers. In addition, it has approximately 25 other vacancies, such as for R&D engineers, field
technicians and international trainees.
The vacancies are published on the corporate website www.picanolgroup.com. Currently, the Picanol Group
employs 1,230 people in Ypres.
The Picanol Group expects growing demand for its weaving machines to continue in the coming months, and
is confident about the second half of 2012. It will announce its results for the first half of 2012 on August 28. The
group predicts a fall in turnover for the first half of the year, in line with that of the first quarter.
ITMA Asia + CITME 2012