DiloGroup Is Confident Of A Good Market In 2016

Rendezvous

DiloGroup Is Confident Of A Good Market In 2016

As DiloGroup showcased innovation and shed light on numerous technological and engineering advancements at ITMA in Milan, we got a chance to talk to Johann Philipp Dilo, General Manager, DiloGroup. He voiced his satisfaction and filled us with information regarding the success of Dilo at ITMA and how the customers have received them with open arms here at Milan.

DiloGroup is among the world leaders in staple fibre nonwoven machinery. Being at ITMA Milan, how has the show progressed for you?

At ITMA Milan, we showed improvements, revolutions, new technology etc. On display were the high capacity production line with a needleloom working width of 7m including highly productive machines for fibre opening and blending as well as a newly developed card feeder, a high-capacity card with variable intermediate section and a horizontal crosslapper which ran with a web infeed speed of more than 200 m/min. In addition, DiloGroup showed a universal compact line which will be used for needling recycled carbon fibre in future. The overall response for the show has been really positive. Customers new and old have come and completely inspired us with their interests. The needling technology definitely raises our hope and makes us strongly believe that the market success will continue in this area in the future.

How do you see the market in India as far as nonwovens is concerned?

We at DILO have sold high technology lines to India for the production of geotextiles and the automotive sector. But as compared to China, we don’t yet see the trend hitting fast in India. 40% of our machinery goes into the Chinese market today. Our machines are highly productive and according to market trends, they only find use in markets which require the high capacity and quality in such production units. But definitely in the long run India will be able to stand tall in the nonwovens sector. But the growth was quite sensible over the last three years in India.

When you say ‘long run’, how soon do you see India becoming a hub in this sector?

A “hub” is a big word. Europe, United States, China, Korea etc already hold the largest share and are key players in the nonwovens market today. India of course is also moving from cotton woven to the nonwoven sector. So the growth is definitely gradual and will take time. In the next 5 years the Indian market can be predicted to open up and will eventually be able to realise the needs for technology. And within the next 10-15 years India will have a firm hold in the market. Over the last three years however India has shown considerable growth in areas like technical felts, also suitable for geotextiles.

Has the economic slowdown in China bothered the growth and sales for the DiloGroup?

We have heard such reports, but as far as DILO is concerned we have not really faced any change in our sales structure during this slowdown. But yes of lately there is a slight dip, but when we compare the overall growth this looks quite negligible. There is a slight slowdown in some specific consolidated areas, like the sanitary napkin etc. But the overall nonwoven market does not look hopeless at all. But in the future good growth rate in China can be foreseen.

How do you foresee the market progress and order intake in the coming year for the DiloGroup, post a successful warp up at ITMA?

Since 2011, until now we have had an extremely good response in the global market. We are highly optimistic about the year to come. We are hopeful that this will be an overall stable year for us and we will quite comfortably pass on to the next year through a smooth sail. We are confident and optimistic about increasing sales volume and a good market for the DiloGroup in 2016.

Which are the markets and product segments that are adopting DILO’s production lines?

We are currently having a very good market in countries like United States, Germany and China. The most important product segments for us are automotive, floor coverings, technical felts, geotextiles, filtration media, roofing, synthetic leather, nonwoven wefts find a good use in the upholstery area and wipes for both homes and industrial usage.