Academy will move from Surat to new production site
India is an important market for KARL MAYER. This traditionally strong textile country is currently the second most important sales region for its warp preparation business unit. In some sectors such as direct beaming and sizing machines, KARL MAYER has a market share of more than 90 per cent.
Also, KARL MAYER’s warp knitting business unit is increasingly successful in India. It achieved roughly four per cent of its machine revenue in India in 2013. Since the end of 2010, there has been strong growth in the warp knitting industry, and this Obertshausen-based company is way ahead in this field.
Roughly 80 per cent of all tricot and raschel machines in India are manufactured by KARL MAYER, which is recognising the increasing significance of India for its business by broadbasing its presence there.
The service subsidiary, KARL MAYER India Private Ltd., was set up as early as 2009. The company’s own training facility, the KARL MAYER Academy India, was opened in June 2012. Now KARL MAYER has set up its first processing facilities in Ahmedabad. This new factory which belongs to KARL MAYER India Private Ltd. covers an area of 3,700 m2, of which 2,100 m2 are taken up by the assembly hall.
Here are assembled the creels used most frequently for warp preparation in India. If this slow start was a success, then capacity could gradually be expanded further. The aim was to build other types of creel step by step for India, and to obtain the necessary components as far as possible from domestic suppliers.
To ensure that the assembly work is of the highest quality, experienced local service technicians were trained to be responsible for quality assurance – a strategy that has already been successful in China. Ten to 14 workers were taken for the start of the new assembly operations.
“If we are really successful here, we can offer our customers all the advantages of local production, i.e., short delivery times, customer-specific solutions and favourable acquisition costs, without any of the tax disadvantages associated with imports,” said the Project Leader, Mr. Alexander Kistner.
A celebration was held on May 27 to mark the opening of the KARL MAYER factory in India. Among the top KARL MAYER officials who attended the function were Mr. Arno Gärtner, CEO, Mr. Roland Kohn, Head of Warp Preparation Business Unit, Mr. Jochen Schmidt, Head of Technical Textiles, Mr. Kevin Socha and Mr. Milind Mirkar, Managing Director and General Manager of KARL MAYER India, and Oliver Mathews, Head of the Warp Knitting Business Unit. Also included in the special celebrations were representatives from A.T.E., the Managing Director, Mr. Anuj Bhagwati and the Director, Mr. Gurudas V. Aras.
The opening celebration on a smaller scale will be followed by an open house event for KARL MAYER customers at the end of April 2015. In this respect, it is proposed to present a warping machine, a wider MJ model, as well as some tricot machines.
Moreover, by the end of December 2014, the KARL MAYER Academy India will move from Surat to Ahmedabad. By concentrating the service activities KARL MAYER hopes to achieve a lot of synergies. The participants in the training courses can see for themselves and be convinced of the quality of KARL MAYER’s location in India and can also have a look at the machines produced there. On the other hand, KARL MAYER benefits from the proximity to its customers.