The impact of the economic and financial crisis was a dominant feature of the 2009 financial year for the Rieter Group. The unfavorable market conditions had an adverse influence on the trend of business at both divisions, and resulted in a substantial net loss. Despite a drastic slump in sales in the past two financial years totaling 1 973.8 million CHF – equivalent to some 50% – Rieter successfully defended its strong market position in the textile machinery and automotive supply businesses.
The difficult overall conditions subjected the group as a whole to a severe test. Rieter faced it successfully thanks to the strenuous efforts of management and personnel as well as thanks to the confidence of the shareholders. By focusing at an early stage on bolstering equity capital and managing liquidity, Rieter had a strong balance sheet with a sound equity ratio and positive net liquidity at year-end.
New orders received and sales by the group fell steeply in the year under review, but a slight recovery in the markets became apparent in the second half of the year. Rieter believes that activity in both sectors in which the group operates bottomed out before mid-2009. In the year under review Rieter made progress with the sustained improvement of its cost structure through restructuring and also took advantage of numerous opportunities for short-term cost economies. These measures in conjunction with improved capacity utilization due to higher volumes enabled the Rieter Group in the second semester to significantly reduce losses at operating and group level in the second half of 2009 compared to the first six months.
Investments in innovations and market development were reviewed against the backdrop of customers’ restraint and prioritized to enable the projects of greatest strategic importance to be implemented nevertheless. With a strong market position and attractive products Rieter is thus well placed to benefit from the next upswing.
Due to the unfavorable market environment, which affected the first half in particular, orders received by the Rieter Group in the 2009 financial year as a whole were 24% lower at 1 935.1 million CHF. Order intake in the second six months was 9% higher than in the same period of the previous year and 30% higher than in the first half of 2009. This positive trend was attributable to a significant increase in orders received by both divisions. Over the year as a whole group sales fell more steeply than orders received. They were 38% lower (35% lower in local currencies) at 1 956.3 million CHF. In the second half of 2009 this figure was 21% lower than in the same period of the previous year and 17% higher than in the first half of 2009.
On their Stand B 03 in Hall W 2 at the ITMA ASIA + CITME 2010 in Shanghai, Rieter will present the new G 32 ring spinning machine alongside the E 66 combing machine which is already successfully established on the market. In addition to these two main attractions, samples and end products from ring yarn, the Com4 compact yarn, ComfoRo rotor yarn and ComforJet air-jet yarn will be displayed on the Rieter stand.
With the presentation of the G 32 ring spinning machine at the ITMA Asia, Rieter is responding to the requirements of the new markets. The new machine typifies Rieter’s response to customers’ needs.
G 32 ring spinning machine
This machine is a new development. With up to 1 440 spindles and an excellent price/performance ratio, it has been specifically targeted to fulfil the needs of the new markets. The familiar production quality and efficiency of Rieter ring spinning machines is reflected in the G 32 and is achieved due to the well-established functions such as the automatic cop change ROBOdoff or doffing without unwinding with the SERVOgrip.The G 32 ring spinning machine is ideal for customers who want to modernize with long doffer ring spinning machines.
E 66 combing machine
72 kg/h combed sliver – that is the real performance of the E 66 semi-automatic combing machine. This was developed on the basis of the wide experience gained over recent years with the more than 7 800 combing machines sold. Together with the Computer-Aided-Process-Development – C•A•P•D500 – the combing process is optimized with regard to movement, applied load, air and power consumption. The high performance of 72 kg/h is achieved with 500 nips/min, 80 g/m lap sheet fineness, ideal running behaviour and highest quality.
“Either you’re in or you’re out” for Heidi Klum of ‘Project Runway,’ and Brother International Corporation is “in,” yet again, for season seven. Returning as the Exclusive Sewing and Embroidery Licensee for the popular fashion reality television show, season seven marks the company’s fourth year as a licensee.
The relationship with ‘Project Runway’ has proven to be very successful for Brother who has seen tremendous branding exposure and has attracted new, younger customers since being named a licensee in 2007. The partnership has reenergized the sewing industry and has brought sewing back into fashion. Each week viewers tune in to watch contestants race against the clock, perfecting every last thread with Brother sewing machines. As Tim Gunn gives the aspiring designers their final countdown, viewers see a Brother-branded clock tick away, revealing those last, crucial minutes before their designs are showcased on the runway.
“‘Project Runway’ has brought incredible publicity to the Brother brand,” said Dean F. Shulman, a senior vice president of Brother International Corporation and head of the company’s home appliance division. “Brother dealerships are experiencing younger and younger customers who want the ‘Project Runway machine.’ Acquainting new customers with Brother sewing and embroidery products is invaluable.”
Brother has advocated that the latest fashion trend to hit the runway isn’t a piece of clothing— it is the machines that make the trends possible. Offering the tools needed for fashionistas and fashionistos to succeed in designing, personalizing, and embellishing apparel, Brother provides a line of “Project Runway” Limited Edition sewing and embroidery machines that are perfect for any skill level. With advanced features such as built-in designs and automatic needle threading, trendsetters can start to create with the push of a button.
With 40 built-in stitches including five styles of one-step buttonholes, variable speed control, super-wide stitch selection and seven-point feed dogs, the ‘Project Runway’ Limited Edition Innov-ís 40 imparts style and panache to designer creations. Skilled sewing room veterans find the added capabilities of the ‘Project Runway’ Limited Edition Innov-ís 80 ideal for intricate stitch work and monogramming flair. The Innov-ís 80 includes the features and functionality of the Innov-ís 40 plus 40 additional built-in designs, including five one-step buttonholes, 55 alphanumeric characters and the ability to combine stitches. And for designers that require even more creative potential, there is the ‘Project Runway’ Limited Edition LB6770PRW computerized sewing and embroidery combination machine. This machine was designed to give added inspiration with 70 built-in embroidery designs, five monogramming fonts and 120 frame pattern combinations. Using the 67 built-in stitches, 98 stitch functions and 10 styles of one-step automatic buttonholes, modish mavens are able to add dimension, color, texture, imagery and sophistication to any project. For greater differentiation tailored to a designer’s unique vision, the built-in embroidery card slot allows the use of thousands of optional Brother embroidery designs. Included with the purchase of this machine is a fashionable rolling bag, a $100 value, which is perfect for the designer who is always on the go, much like the contestants on ‘Project Runway.’
150 years of evolution is a long time for any industry. In 1860, the Pony Express was established; written communication has certainly come a long way since then. At the same time, clipper ships transformed Trans-Atlantic travel, shortening the sometimes months-long journey to fourteen days. A fourteen-day ocean cruise is now considered a luxury vacation. Prominent sewing machine manufacturer and distributor, Janome America is proud to commemorate 2010 as the 150th anniversary of its founding. In 1860, William Barker and Andrew J. Clark, founders of Janome America, began producing sewing machines in Orange, MA. By 1882 they had named their company New Home, and were producing 500 sewing machines per day. In 1960 the Janome brand of Japan purchased New Home to establish its footing in the United States, consolidating manufacturing but not changing the name. Then, in 1995 the company was renamed Janome America, Inc., a reflection of the reputation established throughout the world for quality, reliability and ease-of-use. It's surprising how far the sewing industry has come over the past 150 years. Those outside of sewing circles often regard the sewing machine as a historical artifact -- something their grandmothers used to create clothes during the Great Depression. Certainly not something stocked in modern-day retail stores. However, a visit to a local sewing machine dealer reveals a thriving, technologically-advanced product. Janome America's 150th anniversary marks a high-point for achievements in the sewing and quilting industry. The company's founders wouldn't recognize the machine manufactured by their modern counterparts. Janome's top-of-the-line machine, the Memory Craft 11000 Special Edition, can produce embroidery as well as sew traditional stitches, offering 358 built-in stitches and 170 embroidery designs. It features a 640x480 color touchscreen, can link directly to a PC or will accept data from a USB drive, and can store 3MB of data in the sewing machine's own memory banks. It even utilizes technology built for high-precision industrial robots to ensure every stitch is accurate to the thousandth of an inch. And yes, it does thread itself!
The Government of India under the aegis of the Ministry of Textiles had introduced the Technology Up-gradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) to help the beleaguered textile sector modernise its technology and equipment and which turned out to be one of the highly successful schemes implemented by the Government of India.
In the third part of this series, Fibre2fashion brings to you; our valued reader, state-wise data, with regards to actual number of applications received, amount sanctioned and disbursed to the entire value chain of the textile sector across India.
In the first part of the series, we had delved on disbursals done by 122 banks to the textile and its allied sector from the inception of the scheme in 1999 and in the second part we covered year-wise statistical data related to applications received, amount sanctioned and disbursed, from the time the TUF scheme was conceived.
From the day of inception of the scheme in April 1999 till June 2009 till which date, data has been collated, textile industries from 24 states across India have availed benefits of TUFs. The combined applications received from the entire 24 states total to 26,087 for a project cost of Rs 182,269.91 Crores against which the requirement of loan stood at Rs 84,747.01 Crores.
Against this 25,893 applications were sanctioned for a project cost of Rs 179,856.38 Crores and the sanctioned amount stood at Rs 78,306.20 Crores, of which Rs 66,283 Crores was disbursed covering 25,777 applications.
Textile and its allied units from Tamil Nadu took the majority share from among all applications sanctioned and disbursed under TUFs. TUF received 5,714 applications from the state with a project cost of Rs 36,816 Crores and the loan requirement was Rs 21,369 Crores.
Against this, Rs 18,850 Crores was disbursed during the entire period from the time TUFs was conceived. The amount disbursed in Tamil Nadu accounts for 28.50 percent of the total disbursed across all the 24 states.
Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat and Rajasthan stand at second, third, fourth and fifth ranking, respectively with regards to disbursals of TUFs.
Quick Flight to Industry Overview
The European Union has emerged as a one large scale exporter of textile machinery in the international scenario. Some other countable and creditable manufacturers and exporters of textile machinery include Italy, Germany and Spain. In all of them Spain has sprung out as an important manufacturer of textile machinery and has secured its place by the 11th rank world wide. Diversification and innovation played a major role in the retainable position of Spain. About 69 machinery companies gain financial credit worth 245 million Euros in the Spain. This sector evolves 2600 jobs.
Spanish textile machinery industry has flourished with the structure of small and medium sized companies with the strength of less than 50 employees. These companies are still facing very tough competition with the world leaders to achieve the international standards of price, design, quality and service. Weaving machine spare parts, knitting, sewing, accessories and spinning are the different categories included under the textile machinery sector of Spain. 90% of this sector of textile machinery of Spain is occupied by small and medium scale companies which has strength of less than 50 employees.
Now-a-days maximum no. of companies are outsourcing the manufacturers of parts for the workshops designed for special purposes. Some companies have specialization in product research and development and innovations and some have in machine assembly phases.
Technical textile has grown more in the last decade. Major change is seen in “traditional textiles” so changes play major roles in products also like modifying or diversifying products of machinery. The related sectors for this are agriculture, hygiene and medicine, chemicals, packing and packaging and automotive industry.
Research and Development is a Keyword for Growth
Spain is giving special attention on the Research and Development of the textile machinery sector
and has started new centers to give way to new innovation process. Spain’s machinery companies took guidance from these centers to provide most technologically competitive machineries and due to this Spain’s textile machinery are always in demand. The export of machinery in Spain is of 70% of its total production.
The most aimed destination for the Spanish exporters is European Union and it is two third of the total exports of the country. The exports in the countries like Latin America, North America and Middle East is also noteworthy. New destinations like USA, Mexico, France, Turkey and India have new developing markets which are the reasons for the rise in the demand of progress. These destinations are five most targeted destinations for exports of textile machinery in the year 2006.
Geographical Distribution and Production
The good research & Development and innovations lead Spain in the global market in the technical textiles. The investment by this sector is 2.30 billion Euros in research and development projects and 4.60 billion Euros in new facilities and capital goods. The production in different regions of Spain is 3% in Valencia, 64% in Catalonia and 32% in Madrid of total sales. There are only two companies in Madrid though its contribution is of 32%.
Progressive Structural Changes of the Sector
Dyeing and finishing is a very much important sub sector of Spain. This dyeing and finishing sector consists of 32 companies and is the leading sector of country.
Continue Reading - Spanish Textile Machinery Industry
