Overall optimism despite global challenges
With sales of around EUR 110 million in 2018, Mayer & Cie. looks forward to doing better in 2019. Inspite of considerable fluctuations in the textile machinery market, the family-owned Albstadt firm held its own during the year.
“2018 was a very challenging year,” said Benjamin Mayer, Managing Director of Mayer & Cie., commenting on the past 12 months. “We had a great first half until trade policy developments led to a marked decline.”
Mayer & Cie. was affected most by turbulence in Turkey, traditionally one of the company’s most important markets. In addition, the trade conflict between the US and China unsettled the entire global economy. “2018 again made it clear that the textile market and with it the demand for circular knitting machines is repeatedly subject to strong fluctuations,” he concluded.
Against this backdrop the integration of a successful line of business, the manufacture of braiding machines, should prove to be a good investment in the future. Unlike the currently declining market for circular knitting machines the outlook for sales of braiding machines is excellent. “From today’s perspective production of braiding machines is fully booked until the end of 2020,” Benjamin Mayer said. After comprehensive preparations in 2018 series production began punctually in January 2019 at Mayer & Cie.’s Albstadt headquarters. In establishing a second mainstay that is independent of the first, Mayer & Cie. is making itself significantly less reliant on the state of the textile economy.
In the circular knitting machine sector the downturn in demand can be offset by in-house measures. Mayer & Cie. is also looking at countries like Uzbekistan and Bangladesh where developments are positive. The company particularly anticipates a positive impetus from the leading industry trade fair ITMA to be held this June in Barcelona. That is why Benjamin Mayer’s outlook for the new year remains confident. “We are looking forward to 2019 in spite of all of the challenges,” he said, “because our company is well positioned as regards our portfolio of machines, our corporate structure and our market position”.
Strengthening position in India
India is one of Mayer & Cie.’s most important markets worldwide. In India’s premium and midrange market segment the German knitting machine manufacturer’s market share is 36 per cent. This means that at least one in three high quality machines India imports is a Mayer & Cie. (MCT) machine. The company has a very strong and successful partnership with Batliboi in the Indian market for many decades now. Batliboi has looked after Mayer’s numerous Indian customers for many years, and the collaboration between the two companies is closer now.
Mayer and Cie. along with Batliboi, recently participated in the Knit Tech in Tirupur. Mayer & Cie. has always had a special bond with Tirupur, not surprising considering that one is the world leader in knitting technology, and the other is the knitwear capital of India.
In a brief chat at the event, Mr. Timo Schramm, Area Sales Manager, of Mayer & Cie., in charge of India, Iran, Indonesia and Uzbekistan, stated that he sees encouraging trends in 2019. Elaborating on the same, he said: “If you see in India, the spinning mills are investing in knitting. These spinning mills are looking at value additions. They are looking at both woven and knitted fabrics. Understanding their requirement, we are introducing our highly productive single jersey machine.”
Continuing further, Mr. Timo Schramm observed: “While we are already popular in the southern part of India, we are also strong in the Surat area where a number of polyester manufacturers are buying warp and circular knitting machines. We have succeeded in getting good projects in the region.”
Throwing light on the company’s game changing ‘Spinit’ systems, Mr. Timo Schramm said: “As the world’s largest textiles markets, India is one of our key markets for the Spinit 3.0 E. Furthermore, India has a very high level of expertise in ring spinning, so we need to convince a demanding audience. It is not a technology that you can sell to anybody in the market. You need to have a certain kind of set up for the machine to be really useful to you”.
Speaking about the relationship that Mayer & Cie. shares with Batliboi, which represents the company in India, Mr. Timo Schramm said that the latter has been one of the key factors behind the success of the brand. “We have a good market share and a very efficient after sales support service system. Batliboi has played a crucial role in all this. The entire aftersales service part is taken care off by Batliboi. In fact, we use their technicians for attending to service issues in other parts of Asia too. They are that good. All in all, we share an excellent rapport with Batliboi”.
By M.K. Prabhakar & K. Gopalakrishnan