“Challenging applications with Staubli products”, that’s the motto of Staubli this year at ITMA Asia 2014. Mr. Patrick lltis, Textile Division Manager, Staubli says, “Staying permanently at the forefront with high-end products requires continual development. This applies to both the weaving industry and machine manufacturers, and it requires broad market knowledge and excellent understanding of customer needs. As a machine manufacturer, we must continually adapt and further develop our products to meet evolving needs and new requirements, just as weaving mills are constantly creating new textiles and applications”.
“Remaining a leader in our field thus requires constant dialogue with our partners, and that’s why close contact with customers is so important to Staubli. ITMA Asia is an outstanding opportunity to continue this contact, but it is no substitute for the ongoing partnership that can be maintained only through a local sales office. Staubli has been well aware of this for a long time, and established its own organisation in the huge Chinese market nearly two decades ago”, Mr. Iltis added.
Excerpts from an interview with Mr. Iltis and Mr. Fritz LEGLER, Vice President, Staubli Sargans AG.
How was the response for Stäubli at ITMA Asia 2014?
ITMA Asia/CITME in Shanghai was a very satisfactory exhibition for our company. The high number of trade visitors from China and other neighboring countries or textile hubs like India, Pakistan, Turkey and Thailand was beyond all expectations. The level of decision makers was on a very high level too. All in all, it was a worthwhile event which enabled us to interact with our existing or prospective customers.
What were the key highlights of Stäubli’s participation in ITMA Asia 2014?
Stäubli presented its well-known technologies in active warp control (i.e., shed forming technologies based on dobbies, cam motions or Jacquard machines, the SAFIR S30 drawing-in machine, multi-layer machine OPAL as well as warp tying machines). Under the brands of Schönherr and Deimo carpet weaving solutions respectively electronic control systems were on display. On top of this, our service and spare parts solutions were shown to our global visitors. Stäubli was omni-present at the exhibition with a total of 11 Jacquard machines and 60 dobbies and cam motions used on all leading international or domestic brands of weaving machines.
Novelties were our latest versions of direct or independent drive concepts for Jacquard machines, thus enabling their efficient running without any mechanical connection to weaving machines. The combination of a Stäubli Jacquard machine, being independently driven, in conjunction with a water jet weaving machine attracted a lot of interest. In carpet weaving, the group company Schönherr showed further developments on its new carpet binding technologies which enable creative patterning like, for instance, the Magic Weft Effect. Finally, in the area of warp preparation, the latest developments on our new SAFIR drawing-in line were shown – with its high-speed/high sensitivity yarn selection to prepare perfect warp beams for subsequent weaving.
How was the first six months of 2014 and what is your outlook for the rest of the year?
Performance in the last six months was as expected. After the very high investment activity for weaving capacity in 2013 it was to be expected that there will be a little cooling off and adjustment in 2014. This mainly happened in China. Thus, current market activities are within the usual cyclical business spells. Discussions held during the recent ITMA Asia/CITME as well as general market trends suggest that there will not be any major changes during the 2nd half of 2014.
How is Staubli’s presence in China and how do you see Chinese weaving machine manufacturers competing in the global market?
Needless to say that China is an important domestic market for our group company in Hangzhou. They provide our local weaving machine customers or end users with our local shed forming technologies (i.e., dobbies, cam motions and Jacquard machines). These Stäubli machines are used domestically. It is not up to Stäubli to judge the quality of weaving machines – be it machines from China or from other countries.
Customers of our OEM customers are the judges of success of any weaving machine brand. As holds true for Stäubli – i.e., strong and continuous innovation is key – it is also imperative for any machinery manufacturer to remain successful also in future.
How is Staubli’s business in India in 2014?
The current year started with a higher activity compared to 2013. Some of the delays seen last year (e.g., with the new TUF regulations) helped boost decisions in 2014. For some of the orders concluded last year, LCs materialized early on in 2014. As such, we are satisfied with the business activity in your country.
As for the new government, I think that it is still too early to judge if there will be any positive changes going forward. It is clear though that expectations are very high.
Looking at the budget highlights 2014-2015 of the new government, there do not seem to be many new incentives for e.g. weaving companies. The jury is out on the new government. There seems to be a clear intention to push exports of textiles and apparels which should basically also support business opportunities of domestic weavers.
The key attributes that customers are looking for in a machine today are higher productivity, less downtime, lower service and maintenance cost, energy efficiency and longer life. How does Stäubli ensure that it offers the best solution in each of the above factors?
We live in a very competitive world today. Our customers are very well informed and educated. They are fully capable of judging Stäubli’s innovative drive to fulfill the requirements mentioned by you in your question. We have set ourselves high standards to comply with reasonable TCO (total cost of ownership, incl. ecological footprint), fitness for application, and serviceability. Optimal service is ensured through quick and local response by trained and versatile service workforce as well as high availability of spare parts and so forth.
With increasing population of Stäubli machines across India, how do you ensure proper service?
Stäubli has been active with its own Indian set-up since 1993. We keep steadily increasing our local team based on our growth in line with the Indian market. We have a fully-fledged operation in India with a current strength of 27 members in our Textile Division with 20 well-trained service engineers and support staff. We are also starting to establish our organization outside Mumbai, with local support for our customers down south.