Developing solutions through continuous innovation
Picanol, the world’s leading manufacturer of weaving machines, offers complete solutions for the technical textiles segment. The Technical Fabrics Cell of the Picanol Group focuses on win-win relations with its customers. Its specialized team of product managers and technicians are constantly on the look-out for better solutions and for exciting, new applications in the field of technical textiles.
Mr. Kasiviswanathan, Head of Picanol India, says, “When we ventured into technical textiles 15 years ago, it was already known that this segment would witness continued growth, thanks to increasing demand and ever increasing application of woven fabrics in the industry. Higher the GDP, higher the per capita consumption of technical textile. Taking into account the fast development of Asian and South-American countries, this segment is likely to continue to grow. Picanol has used its strengths, size and technological know-how to establish a healthy presence in the segment of Technical Textiles in the last 15 years”.
With the introduction of positive guided grippers and the new OMNIplus Summum, Picanol has achieved a major breakthroughs in segments such as carpet backing, wide coating fabrics and conveyor belts, amongst others. It has also made further advances in the already established segments, thanks to innovations such as its ECOFILL wasteless system, the EFT programmable weft brakes and the new DWC backrest for industrial yarns.
All Picanol weaving machines have the latest electronics on board. The machines come fitted with the Sumo direct-drive main motor, which reduces power consumption as also the need for expensive maintenance schedules. The machines also offer electronic speed control, among many other features. Picanol offers dedicated machines for tire cord segment, the OMNIplus 800 TC airjet weaving machine, providing best-in-class solutions for its customers.
“A large part of our Picanol’s R&D activities are directed towards the development of solutions for the technical textiles market. We also experience an interesting spin-off of these efforts into main-stream machines. In other words, our machines for apparel and household segments benefit from more performing parts and systems as well. One can compare it with Automotive companies investing in an own Formula-One race car. Picanol aims to further develop its technological market leadership focusing on (weaving) performance, quality, energy consumption, robustness, waste reduction and the ease of use of its weaving machines”, adds Mr. Kasiviswanathan.
Picanol recently participated at the “Techtextil” show held at Frankfurt. Picanol’s participation at “Techtextil” goes back more than 10 years and enjoys an ever-growing attendance at this show. Picanol showcased a cut model of the latest development, the positive guided gripper model OptiMax GPG, now offered in widths of up to 540 cm. This opens up a totally new field of applications as the machine is flexible in weft insertion and gets to top speeds at a moderate operational cost. Development of this machine was the logical next step for Picanol in order to meet the increasing demand from technical markets.
“Thanks to the modular design, the OMNIplus Summum airjet and the guided positive gripper execution of our OptiMax. Our machines can be tailored towards the specific need of most technical textile applications”, he added.
At the global level, the technical textiles segment is an immense opportunity, with the worldwide industry size estimated at $130 billion. The size of this segment in India is currently pegged at Rs. 70,000 crores (nearly $13 billion), contributing nearly 15 per cent to the total domestic textile market. This segment is characterized by world-class manufacturing capabilities technology skill-sets and is expected to show strong growth in India.
Being the market leader in the weaving segment in India, Picanol is helping many of its textile customers to venture into the field of technical textiles. “It’s a comforting idea for the customer as they feel that their preferred supplier can help them to enter into technical textiles as well”, says Mr. Kasiviswanathan.
Picanol is also a preferred machinery brand for many of the overseas companies investing in technical textile projects in India.
Traditionally, the automotive sector is one of the biggest segments for technical textiles worldwide in the area of tire-reinforcements, airbags and seat coverings. Picanol’s OptiMax rapier and OMNIplus Summum airjet weaving machines are best suited for weaving airbag fabric. Both machine types can also be equipped with Jacquard to weave one-piece-woven (OPW) cushions.
Looking at future opportunities in Technical Textiles, Mr. Kasiviswanathan says: “Innovation, technology and ongoing R&D efforts remain crucial to the international success of Picanol. Depending on our customer needs and technological opportunities, we are looking at new segments and applications on a continuous basis. Picanol will continue to expand its role as technological market leader by increasing the product range of its weaving machines and by offering applications for new market segments, in which we will further focus on its added value in the weaving of technical textiles. The main challenge remains to strengthen the performance, quality and cost competitiveness of our customers”.
He adds: “Our machines will become more flexible regarding types of yarns that can be processed and the weight range per square meter that can be achieved but always in a perspective to reach the best price-performance-ratio in the business. That goal is also valid in other market-segments we serve. Our strong global and services network is an important advantage as we are present in all important textile markets in the world, like in India, where we have a local service organization with three regional offices (New Delhi, Mumbai and Coimbatore) and that explains also why customers put their confidence in a company that is around and will be around strongly in the future”.