With sales up by more than 10 per cent in 2015, a record order level in the first half of 2016 and a market share of around 20 per cent, there are no longer any signs of the difficulties that forced Mayer & Cie. (MCT) to file for scheduled insolvency in 2009.
This year the circular knitting machine manufacturer is likely to make 200 more machines than last year and to further increase its sales revenue. Capacities are being increased at all production sites. The new factory at Vsetín in the Czech Republic is almost ready and the Czech subsidiary is about to move into the 5,000 square metre production building.
Over the past 10 years the circular knitting machine market has reached a volume of about 300,000 machines. The market is highly fragmented, with many small-scale manufacturers. Mayer & Cie.’s share of the global circular knitting machine market is 15-20 per cent in value terms. That makes the Albstadt-based knitting machine manufacturer the market heavyweight, and Mayer & Cie. has every intention of achieving this position in respect of the number of machines sold.
Benjamin Mayer, Managing Director of Mayer & Cie., says: “We have good preconditions for increasing the number of machines sold with our Double Jersey and Jacquard machines and with the S and the D line.”
In 2016, the knitting machine manufacturer can look back on EUR 91 million in previous year’s sales at the main factory in Albstadt-Tailfingen alone. Group sales in 2015 totalled around EUR 100 million. In Tailfingen 330 people help make circular knitting machines and around 450 employees are on the group’s global payroll.
The Mayer sales network consists of about 80 representatives all over the world. In 2015 Mayer & Cie. manufactured and sold over 1,300 machines. This year’s total is likely to be 1,500.
Capacities are more than fully booked at all production locations – in Albstadt, Vsetin and Shanghai. The new factory in the Czech Republic with a production area of 5,000 square metres was opened in early summer 2016. Mayer & Cie. China moved into larger and more representative premises in May 2015. The MSC 3.2, a machine specially developed for the Chinese market, is assembled there, as – since January 2015 – is the corresponding Double Jersey machine, the MDC 2.2.
Demand situation in 2016
For Mayer & Cie. the demand situation is currently outstanding. MCT Sales Director Wolfgang Müller says the trend to high-quality machines was apparent at last year’s ITMA industry fair. “The trend runs through the entire market, from Bangladesh to the United States, and the quality segment, such as Double Jersey or Jacquard machines, has always been our strong point,” he says.
In addition to the tried and trusted MCT quality a variety of factors are increasingly leading customers back to the longstanding Albstadt-based company. One is the trend toward sustainability. More goods are being produced locally to local standards and requirements. In procurement the trend is toward closer to home, which eliminates long shipping routes and gives buyers greater flexibility.
Time to market is the keyword, says MCT Sales Director Müller. The fashion industry is enormously short-lived and requires short response times that are virtually impossible over long distances. “In short, along with the increasing importance attached to quality more goods are being produced in the traditional textile markets where Mayer & Cie. is very well established,” Müller explains.
When he refers to traditional nearby textile markets he mainly means Turkey where customers are ordering many high-quality Jacquard and Double Jersey machines. More distant regions with a long textile industry tradition, especially in Central and South America, are also placing more orders. Economic circumstances, including exchange rates, are also responsible for the increase in demand from, say, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. But the No.1 market is China.
Mayer & Cie. and its customers
Satisfied customers and successful collaboration over many years are an important basis for Mayer & Cie.’s success. Worldwide the company has an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 customers who regularly buy MCT machines and whose machine park consists largely of such machines. They include a fair number of customers who have stood by Mayer & Cie. since the mid-twentieth century.
Hans-Jürgen Speidel, General Manager of the lingerie manufacturer Speidel in Bodelshausen, has relied on the Mayer machines for years. Speidel knits its own fabrics and last year took delivery of the 70,000th Mayer & Cie. circular knitting machine.
“We appreciate the constantly high quality, the high level of machine know-how and the continuity of Mayer & Cie. Special requirements that we have of our new machines for production reasons are reliably taken into account and implemented in the course of development,” says Speidel.