ITEMA: R9500terry Is An Extraordinary Weaving Machine For Terry Weavers

Rendezvous

ITEMA: R9500terry Is An Extraordinary Weaving Machine For Terry Weavers

ITEMA Weaving – a prominent name in weaving machinery and technology business had a large booth at ITMA Milan. While they were busy attending customers, Textile Excellence decided to steal a moment to understand the new developments at Itema Weaving. Here is an excerpt of the conversation we had with Fulvio Carlo Toma, Group Sales & Marketing Director, Itema S.p.A. and Updeep Singh, MD, Itema Weaving India during ITMA.

Itema at ITMA, Milan. So what was new from you all at ITMA?

Fulvio Carlo Toma: Itema already stands on a strong and outstanding history of more than 60 years. One can find quantitatively and qualitatively evidence through the 300,000 weaving machines of ITEMA running all over the world. But when we think new, the first thing that we would want to mention is our new management. Since the time this new team has come to action we are under a changing process, innovating every single day.

R9500terry is the new on board presented at ITMA. What are the key features of the same?

Fulvio Carlo Toma: Besides the strong technological inheritance, what makes R9500terry an extraordinary weaving machine for terry weavers are three exclusive key factors:

1. R9500terry builds on the success of its predecessor Silver DT, the most popular rapier terry loom in recent years with more than 6.000 weaving machines running around the globe.

2. The machine’s sturdy structure and the advanced technology come from the Itema absolute best-seller, the rapier R9500, a market phenomenon now also for the benefit of terry weaving.

3. Itema’s cutting-edge R&D worked with the final goal to meet and exceed the exact requirements of Customers, both when it comes to current needs and future desires.

How is the customer going to benefit with this upgrade from R9500 to R9500terry?

Fulvio Carlo Toma: R9500’s unique features have been implemented on R9500terry to maximise efficiency, speed and reliability, such as the Turboprop – the exclusive rapier drive system, the Direct Drive Motor – a unique motor for easy operations and settings, and the innovative SK rapiers. The textile quality is enhanced due to a winning trio of innovative devices: the new positive pile back-rest roller, the new pile formation unit and the new ground back-rest roller. The Itema Airjet Portfolio, launched one year ago during ITMA Asia in Shanghai, was present in ITMA with two of its top models, the A9500p, featuring a new innovative technical improvement. Tell us a little about this machine.

Fulvio Carlo Toma: the A9500p is the most innovative airjet machine offering the highest operating speed of all Itema airjet looms. Born to run fast, which is a unique and fundamental feature in case of airjet machines, A9500p set you apart from your competitors by giving you the edge with faster and high-tech weaving mill operations. It will also help you save money by significantly reducing your costs, cutting the power consumption by as much as 30% compared to the previous models and optimising the air consumption to a bare minimum. Machine efficiency and superior fabric quality are furthermore ensured on the Itema A9500p by a brand-new innovation introduced during ITMA: the double tandem nozzles. The double tandem nozzles guarantee a perfect distribution of the pushing force on the weft using a lower air pressure, thus leading to a double benefit: a reduced stress on the yarn allowing top fabric quality and the possibility to weave with a lower pressure ensuring energy saving.

How do you account for the growth that Itema has experienced in India through the last year?

Updeep Singh: A 100% growth. We are experiencing the 4th year of growth in a row and our sales have just doubled through the last year and we have sold lots of machines. To be precise, I can say we have sold 1000 plus machines through the last year. We have sold both our rapier and airjet machines in good numbers. We have sold good amount of machines for all the three important sectors in India that includes the Denim, Apparel and Home textiles. And not surprisingly we see growth in the Technical textile sector as well. We have had considerable demands in this area too and Itema is well equipped to offer the best technological solution for the widest range of technical textiles.

The Chinese economic slowdown. Do you think India has a potential to grab the top spot owing to these conditions?

Updeep Singh: China in world trade enjoys a 40% share and India is a distant second with 4% world trade. China slowing down definitely gives a scope to India to improve and grow manifolds in the near future. Provided there is a positive flow of investment towards the textile industry in the time to come. But in my understanding, we are definitely going to climb up new successes within the next 3-5 years. We should be able to reach for at least 25% world trade share.

Which is the sector in the textile industry wherein you see the maximum growth in India?

Updeep Singh: Many industry insiders are predicting a strong growth within the technical textile arena. But, unfortunately, the low domestic demands for this segment in my opinion are stopping the growth of this sector. However I feel a positive growth is much due in the manmade fibre segment. If this happens, then of course indirectly the spinning and the weaving sectors will get to a new high. Today India is a leader in towels, I definitely see a very big growth in the apparel and the home textile and furnishing segment in the time to come.