Fresh growth, expansion targets set
On October 4, 2016, Itema opened the doors of its new offices at a grand ceremony to celebrate a new milestone for the company in India, one of its most important markets and a country with a strong potential for continued growth. In the presence of the Italian Consul General, Mr. Ugo Ciarlatani at the event, the Itema management presented targets, goals and innovations to allow its customers to produce high quality fabrics and achieve maximum success. Besides the Itema India team, the Itema Group CEO, Mr. Carlo Rogora, was present at the ceremony.
Mr. Rogora had the chance to wish all the best to all his Indian team and to meet some of the leading customers who participated in the event, in an appreciated proof of the strong partnership that Itema firms up with its customers.
We spoke to Mr. Updeep Singh, Managing Director, Itema India Private Ltd., at the inaugural of the new Indian headquarters and the company’s future plans for the Indian market
What does the new facility mean for Itema in India?
The new Itema India office in Mumbai is in a strategic location closer to the international airport, with easier access for customers and partners coming from all regions. The new office is situated in a state-of-art facility with modern and ergonomic new premises perfectly fitting the avant-garde and innovative Itema spirit.
India is a key market for Itema and the decision to move the main site in the country in a bigger, modern and strategic location is linked to this concept. Since Itema is growing in India, it needed a proper place to meet customers, comfortable and reflecting our mission to offer always the best to our partners.
What is the infrastructure created by Itema to sell and service machines in the Indian market?
Itema is present in India since 2002 with its sales and aftersales teams, technical support and advanced repair centers in Mumbai, Coimbatore, New Delhi and Ichalkaranji to ensure the highest possible standard of weaving solutions, with a complete offering and service to its valuable customers in the Indian market. Recently, we established a new electronic repair center in Ichalkaranji, where highly qualified engineers take care of all the electronic components of our weaving machines, ensuring the best assistance to our customers.
Mr. Updeep Singh, it is less than three years since you took over as Managing Director of Itema’s Indian operations. How has the journey been so far?
Having worked in some of the most major textile companies in India, I started my job in Itema with the customer’s perspective, and during the last three years I have been committed to accomplish the company’s mission of being a partner and not just a supplier. Moreover, Itema is an innovation-oriented company, capable of answering with tailored solutions to every customer’s need. Since I joined Itema, leveraging all my know-how of the textile industry in India, we doubled the number of weaving machines sold, reaching new heights of success both in rapier and airjet technology.
What would you attribute as key reasons for success of Itema in India?
In India, we have some of the most renowned textile companies of the world, and our weaving mills are reaching, year on year, higher levels of modernization. The Indian weavers require today, more than ever before, the latest technologically advanced machinery to answer their market needs, both in terms of fabrics range to produce and to meet the fashion brands and trading consultants equipment requirements.
Itema offers best-in-class rapier, airjet and projectile weaving machines along with a real time after-sales service, and the key reasons of our weaving machines success in India are the superior textile performance of the machines and the unrivalled expertise of our technicians. Moreover, we are so confident of our machines’ reliability and performance that we are the only weaving machine manufacturer to offer a two-year extended warranty.
Coming to our customers, we are honored to count among the growing ranking of our valuable Indian clients either big names coming from the corporate field and medium and niche weavers, producing some of the most sophisticated fabrics of the country. To name a few, D Décor Group, leading producer of refined furnishing and home textile fabrics, is a loyal, long-term Itema customer who weaves its superior quality fabrics on our rapier machines, nowadays totalling more than 100 machines only for the latest model, the Itema rapier R9500. In Ichalkaranji, where our customer base is booming, we can highlight Nimbark that The Textile Magazine recently wrote about – a modern, dynamic, quality-oriented company weaving the widest range of apparel fabrics on the Itema airjet A9500p, with top performances and no limits for creativity.
Do you expect the good trend to continue. What are your plans for the future of Itema in India?
Yes, we strongly believe that the positive trend will continue. In general, we see that the market is growing for fabric producers in India, mainly due to two factors: internal demand of the market is increasing and also the worldwide leading fashion brands are looking more and more for partnerships with Indian weaving mills. We, at Itema, are ready to be closer to the Indian weavers, providing best-in-class weaving machines and timely assistance, thanks to a well-structured organization with offices in all the main textile areas of the country.
Finally about Itema at India ITME 2016?
India ITME 2016 is for Itema the perfect stage to show to our customers and to the weavers which haven’t yet entered the ranking of our successful and satisfied clients, our best-in-class weaving machines, fine-tuned and equipped for the occasion with new innovative technical devices perfect to answer the specific needs of the most diffused applications in the Indian and surrounding markets.