A new edition of the unique Uster Statistics quality benchmarks is to be released at the end of this year. Over the past 55 years, Uster Statistics have earned legendary status, and its value is more significant than ever in the globalized trading environment today and in the future.
The forthcoming edition of Uster Statistics 2013 will underline its benefits as a vital success factor for textile companies, providing a common language to define precise quality factors along the entire production chain. Yarn producers, buyers, retailers and machine manufacturers all rely on Uster Statistics as the basis for quality benchmarking and trading and a foundation for industry-wide quality improvement. Spinners can trust the details to signpost better competitiveness, cost-optimized quality disciplines and avoidance of expensive claims and rejects.
The continuing globalization of textile trade means Uster Statistics today are more important than ever. Yarn producers must benchmark their own quality against that of other mills. So genuine global standards are necessary to be competitive in the world market.
When spinners for example from Turkey, Bangladesh and Brazil talk about ‘good’ yarn, they sometimes mean very different things. The only way to find agreement is to define objective characteristics, supported by measurement parameters, methods and instruments capable of measuring these repetitively and accurately. This is precisely what Uster achieves.
Multiple benefits for yarn producers
Yarn producers benefit in several ways with Uster Statistics. For instance, Uster Statistics make it simple for a mill to set its own quality targets – whether using the CD or online version (www.uster.com) – aided by the integral correlative quality parameters.
Spinning mills can also objectively compare in-house performance versus global best practice. With the help of the Uster Statistics, the mill can identify performance gaps and pinpoint key performance indicators for optimization of the production process.
A further benefit enables a spinning mill to enhance its competitive position, since Uster Statistics make it possible to describe yarns in a totally objective way, substantiated by real parameters. Yarn quality tested on Uster equipment is provable and guaranteed, thanks to direct comparison with Uster Statistics. This data gives the mill a factual quality description in case of a claim. Since the benchmarked quality will generally be at a favorable level, this will improve the mill’s competitive positioning as well as providing an attractive message for marketing purposes.
It is obvious that globalization has changed the trade channels in the textile industry significantly in the past 20 years. In many cases, personal relationships between suppliers and buyers often don’t exist longer. Products such as yarn and fabric are often spot-market internet purchases, so quality cannot be trusted to a firm handshake or an experienced touch of the material.
Missing specifications based on objective values led to a serious deterioration in the quality of garments or other textile goods. For many retailers, there has been a severe impact on operating profits, because of claims. Leading retailers therefore are making huge efforts to avoid such issues. In many cases, they are able to achieve lower quality costs by insisting on clear specifications for yarns and fabrics. Uster Statistics are regularly used by buyers as the platform for product specifications in commercial transactions.
With Uster Statistics – on CD or online format – traders, weavers and knitters are able to compare material from different suppliers and to optimize their yarn sources to manage the quality and the costs of their product.
The language of quality
Globalization on the one hand and increasing cost pressures on the other – these are the key factors in ensuring that Uster Statistics both today and in the future are still relevant to the worldwide textile industry. Thanks to Uster Statistics, yarn producers can benchmark and to optimize their production processes and objectively prove the quality of what they are selling. For buyers, they provide full transparency on what they are buying and a clear indication of what to expect in the finished fabric appearance.
Retailers can take advantage of the Uster Statistics to optimize costs in their supply chain by defining their specific needs according to the quoted values. Uster Statistics allow all users to speak ‘the global language of quality’ – needing no translation and easily understood by all.
That is why the new Uster Statistics 2013 will be especially appreciated by producers and buyers as a common quality language. The 2013 edition will remain the essential tool for comparing key parameters along the entire value chain, from raw fiber through sliver and roving to the final yarn and beyond, continuing to offer weavers, knitters, yarn traders and retailers the essential framework to specify and obtain the quality they need.