Swiss textile machinery manufacturers, dominating the global textile industry for many years with their engineering and competence, have prepared for ITMA 2023 extensively in order to consolidate their strength in the coming period. In the meeting organised by Swissmem, the umbrella organisation of Swiss textile machinery manufacturers, for the industry media in Bern on March 16-17 and 18, manufacturers presented both their new solutions and their visions. The event, providing a strong interaction, gave clues about what kind of developments could be possible in terms of digital transformation, automation and sustainability in the textile industry. During the three-day event, 18 companies made presentations on ITMA 2023-oriented innovations and sustainability and officials answered the questions of journalists. As Textilegence, we followed the event on site and shared the ITMA excitement of the companies.
CEMATEX and Swissmem President Ernesto Maurer made a welcoming speech and addressed the 24 invited textile media representatives and exhibitors.
Maurer underlined that sustainability is no longer just a buzzword and pointed out that the industry has to move faster to adopt the sustainability agenda in order to secure the future of their business. Maurer said: “During the pandemic, many of our members channelled their resources into R&D activities. ITMA 2023 is perfectly timed to offer our exhibitors an opportunity to showcase these new products and cutting-edge technology. If and when R&D is paired with sustainability efforts, this will be the formula for success.” Swissmem Secretary General Cornelia Buckwalder was closely interacting with the sector representatives during the event, enabling them to get more information.
The main topic is sustainability and digitalisation
Saurer, Steiger Participations, Autefa Solutions, Swinsol, Santex Rimar, Jakob Müller, Ceralet, Itema (Switzerland) and Stäubli Sargans made presentations on March 17. Presentations of Uster Technologies, Rieter, Rieter Componentss (Bracker, Graf, SSM), Luwa, Retech, Heberlein, Loepfe, Benninger and Bluesign took place on the last day of the event.
Marcus Rennekamp from Saurer addressed circularity in the textile industry in his presentation and provided information about the strategy of Saurer Group in this regard. Rennekamp stated that to achieve this goal, the company has successfully introduced the E3 label with mandatory machine design guidelines to reduce energy consumption and to foster the recycling rate. Rennekamp disclosed: “Already today, Saurer is offering machinery for processing recycled and regenerated fibres. With ‘Recycling Extreme’ Saurer launches a new patented performance kit for processing ultra-short fibres into yarn. The new solution will actively support the Saurer customers in their efforts to produce more yarn out of recycled material.”
Stäubli Textile Global Head of Marketing, Sales and Service Fritz Legler gave brief information about the innovations they prepared for ITMA Milan. Saying: “Product innovation, automation, sustainability and digitalization – we will have a lot to share with you,” Legler noted that they are looking forward to presenting more to customers at the exhibition.
CSO of Benninger Group Rolf Erik Schoeler explained that Swiss textile machinery manufacturers are really on the road to netZero with innovation. Schoeler stated that decarbonisation solutions and new technologies that reduce downtime and increase turnover of their customers will be presented at ITMA 2023.
Spinning technology specialist Rieter shared important tips about its technologies that will be prominent at ITMA during the meeting in Bern. Per Olofsson, Managing Director of SSM, which is under the roof of the Group, said in his speech that NEO-FW precision package winder and NEO-FD precision assembly winder will be introduced to the market at the exhibition. He also presented the new SSM digital suite called Nema, which enables real-time insights by providing transparency of process performance.
Rieter Machines and Systems Head Marketing and Systems Franziska Haefeli elaborated on how Rieter has become prominent in the short fibre field and the increasing demand for recycled yarns. Haefeli said: “Out of the 89 million tones annual fiber production, only 1% is recycled from pre- or post-consumer textiles. Rieter is supporting customers in the development of new yarns from chemically sustainably produced or mechanically recycled fibers.”
Brigitt Anonia Egloff from Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts provided information about the Texcircle Project in which Rieter is involved. This project links several Swiss industrial partners of the textile value chain with the goal of closing the textile loop.
Loepfe Brothers Head of Products and Solutions Sandra Meier said they are already feeling the optimistic anticipation in the air for the upcoming ITMA 2023. Highlighting the innovative sensor technology developed by the company, which effectively reduces material and energy waste in textile production, Meier disclosed: “With sensors strategically placed in the production process, there is a direct positive impact on the social, economic, and environmental aspects of the industry. The market-leading YarnMaster® PRISMA clearer utilises complementary sensor technologies that monitor yarn quality while giving mill and quality managers the flexibility to balance targeted yarn quality vs. contingent productivity losses.”
Uster Technologies Vice President of Marketing and Business Development Sivakumar Narayanan’s presentation also focused on sustainability. Stating that in order to actually trigger this transformation of sustainability in the world of textiles, one of the key points to unlock the potential is going to be quality, Narayanan talked about the role of Uster Technologies in this period: “We see our role as enabling the acceleration of this. So, we want to play a role by enabling the creation of knowledge, setting the definition and creating the standards. This is not unknown to us, this is being in the foundation of Uster.” Narayanan announced that Uster will be releasing the next edition of Uster Statistics at this year’s ITMA exhibition, and said that this triggers technology changes and growth, as well as raw material and processing developments that move the industry forward.
Walter Wirz, Assistant Manager of electronic warp let-off systems for narrow and wide weaving as well as warp knitting machines at Crealet AG, expressed his pleasure to meet with the industry media and shared the first information about the innovative ECR warp tension control to be exhibited at ITMA.