Laundry and dry cleaning sectors will meet with new technologies and services at Texcare International 2020 on October 24 – 28. Sustainability, digitalization and automation will be the main topics at the fair, which will take place in Frankfurt. New solutions for unbroken process flows and transparent commodity streams that is crucial on the productivity of the laundry will be presented to the visitors.
Thanks to increasing digitalisation and consistent integration of data, the through-put of textiles in laundries is being continually improved. The solutions required for automation in the sector are therefore a high priority at Texcare International. VDMA Textile Care, Fabric and Leather Technologies (TFL) is also the concept sponsor of the fair, which is preparing to transform into a worldwide platform, and they announced that they have high expectations.
Main topic of Texcare International 2020: sustainability
Sustainability is still becoming more and more important and will play a role across all exhibitors. The consumers’ awareness of sustainability is also increasing and with it the demand for more sustainable and resource-efficient industrial production. The EU Commission is also prioritizing the topic. The EU Commission’s Green New Deal will also concern and shape the textile care industry in the coming years. In this context, the Circular Laundry topic is also rapidly gaining in importance.
Potential through digitalization
The advancing digitalization in particular offers enormous potential to further advance these issues. Automation and artificial intelligence, among other things, are pointing the way ahead. Companies are thinking ahead on the topic of laundry in order to improve connectivity and digitization and to drive forward the digitization of the entire value chain. Resource conservation, efficiency and hygiene are the most important goals.
Due to worldwide changes, such as rising hygiene and living standards, the industry has extremely positive expectations for the future. “The growing global hygiene standards offer many new opportunities for the entire Textile Care sector. Therefore, our industry as a whole, is positive about future prospects”, commented Elgar Straub, Managing Director of VDMA TFL. Straub said that companies have great expectations of this year’s Texcare International edition because it will set the course of the sector for the coming years.
Elgar Straub disclosed that digitalisation is already widespread in the textile-care sector, especially when it comes to logistic processes. Straub continued saying that accordingly, the industry will present numerous innovations that go a step further; and take account of the demands of the smart factory at next Texcare International 2020. Other digitalization elements include new business models, online shops and apps, and e-learning among laundries or dry cleaners, and customers and/or suppliers.
The sector’s economy shrinked in 2019
Commentary made by VDMA Textile Care, Fabric and Leather Technologies (TFL) noted that last year’s tense political and economic situation also affected the laundry and dry-cleaning industry. The trade conflict between the USA and China and the unsettled Brexit situation were only two of the geopolitical crises that disturbed the markets. As these are all important target markets for the industry, the conflicts are unsettling customers and reducing investment. It is precisely for this reason that Texcare International 2020 is expected to provide positive investment impetus.
After many very successful years, the entire German VDMA Textile Care, Fabric and Leather Technologies industry is looking back on an unstable year 2019; and economy experienced a significant slowdown. Incoming orders for the entire TFL industry (including garment and leather technology) dropped by 7 percent in real terms in 2019; but are still above the average for incoming orders in the mechanical engineering industry in general. In the same period, sales declined by 6 percent in real terms compared to the previous year. In the laundry and dry-cleaning technology segment, German exports fell by 11.4 percent in the first eleven months of 2019.
VDMA represents more than 3200 companies in the medium-sized mechanical and plant engineering sector. With more than 1.3 million employees in Germany and a turnover of 232.5 billion euros (2018); the industry is the largest industrial employer and one of the leading German industrial sectors.