Bemis Associates Announces Appointment Of Michael Johansen As President

SHIRLEY, Mass. — June 20, 2019 — Bemis Associates, Inc. (“Bemis”), announced today that they’ve selected Michael Johansen as the new president of Bemis. The current CEO and president, Steve Howard, will step down from his role as president to focus his attention solely on the CEO responsibilities, such as strategic growth, innovation, partnerships, and acquisitions.

“In conducting a comprehensive search for the next President, the Board and I had the opportunity to speak with many highly skilled, strong leaders. Michael was our first choice, as his experience in managing a global manufacturing organization, track record in execution, and leadership style most closely matched the characteristics we sought to successfully lead Bemis to its next stage of market-leading innovation and growth,” said Steve Howard.

Michael Johansen is a 27-year-veteran of the Avery Dennison Corporation, where he held numerous critical leadership roles and helped bring exceptional products to market. In 2010, he was promoted to Vice President and General Manager of the Sourcing Regions in the Retail Branding and Information Solutions Group, primarily serving the apparel industry. By 2015, Johansen had risen to manage the Industrial and Healthcare Materials group, a $700 million global business, helping Avery Dennison double the size of that business in Asia by leading the acquisition and integration of two companies.

“I am excited that Steve Howard and the Bemis Board have selected me to join this outstanding organization,” said Michael Johansen. “Bemis has a long and powerful history of global expansion, technical leadership, and courageous innovation. They are a recognized leader in bonding across apparel, consumer electronics, and numerous other markets. Bemis’ value-driven culture is the type of place I am excited and proud to join. I look forward to leading this exceptional team and delivering great value to our customers and shareholders.”

For more than 100 years Bemis has served brands and factories looking for better construction, better materials, better processes, and better relationships. As one of the world’s leading bonding innovation experts, Bemis has partnered with global brands from a diverse set of industries including performance sportswear, technical outerwear, intimate apparel, footwear, consumer electronics, and industrial applications.

Posted June 20, 2019

Source: Bemis Associates

Universal Fibers Expands Finished Yarn Capabilities In Europe And Asia— Acquisitions In Gorzow, Poland And Taicang, China

BRISTOL, Va. — June 20, 2019 — Universal Fibers, Inc. advanced its commitment in Europe and Asia with the acquisition of twisting and heat-setting assets for its production facilities in Gorzow, Poland and Taicang, China. Both plants are fully integrated from extrusion to finished yarns in multiple chemistries including type 6 and 66 nylon, and serve carpet manufactures in commercial, residential and automotive segments.

“This marks another investment in our commitment to provide the highest level of quality and service to our customers,” said Phil Harmon, President of Universal Fibers. “As an expanding global company we continue to add resources and invest in our business to meet the unique and varied needs of our markets throughout the world.”

Universal Fibers offers premium solution-dyed fiber in styled finished yarns including Helix®, Silkworks® and Revolve®. These proprietary ready-to-tuft technologies are highly valued in the market and require various finish techniques including twisting and heat-setting. By expanding capacity in these areas, Universal Fibers assures the highest standards of quality and service its customers have come to expect.

Universal Fibers, Inc. is one of two business units within Universal Fiber Systems, LLC, with Premiere Fibers, Inc. the second business unit. Based in Bristol, Virginia USA with manufacturing facilities in Europe, Thailand and China. Universal Fibers, Inc. is a global leader in the production of high quality, solution-dyed synthetic filament-based fibers for the flooring, transportation and industrial fibers industries.

Posted June 20, 2019

Source: Universal Fibers, Inc.

Eastman Chemical Co. To Acquire Cellulosic Yarn Producer Industrias Del Acetato De Celulosa S.A. (INACSA)

KINGSPORT, Tenn. — June 20, 2019 — Eastman Chemical Company today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Industrias del Acetato de Celulosa S.A. (INACSA), a Spanish producer of cellulosic yarn. The INACSA yarn business and assets are expected to support continued growth of Naia™ cellulosic yarn for the apparel market and will become part of the global Fibers segment supply base.

“With the acquisition of INACSA, Eastman gains a well-respected yarn producer and a European site that will enhance our ability to support the global textiles supply chain,” said Brad Lich, executive vice president and chief commercial officer. “We look forward to welcoming the INACSA employees to the Eastman team.”

Subject to receipt of required regulatory approvals and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions, Eastman will acquire the entire yarn business and assets from INACSA, including the plant and assets in La Batllòria, Spain, formulations and intellectual property and customer contracts. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2019. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“This bolt-on acquisition is consistent with the company’s growth strategy and objective of delivering superior value through disciplined and balanced uses of cash for dividend payments, debt repayment, share repurchases, and organic and inorganic growth initiatives,” Lich added.

Posted June 20, 2019

Source: Eastman Chemical Company

Kornit Digital Brings Its Latest Innovative And Sustainable Solutions For Industrial Digital Textile Printing To ITMA 2019

BARCELONA — June 20, 2019 — Kornit Digital, a worldwide supplier of digital textile printing technology, has announced details of its presence at ITMA 2019 which is taking place in Barcelona, Spain, June 20-26, 2019.

Innovation for the modern supply chain

Driven by mega-trends, brands and retailers seek to connect with consumers, and are adapting their supply chains accordingly, paving the way to digital textile printing. The mega-trends driving for change are: personal expression in the social media era; an e-commerce environment of endless choices; and a strong sustainability imperative.

Kornit’s mission is to be the vendor of choice for apparel and home décor industry players, and to accelerate the supply chain optimization. Ronen Samuel, CEO, Kornit Digital, commented, “We work closely with the world’s leading brands to support their business innovation strategies. Kornit’s technologies enable unlimited design creativity, faster turnaround times and sustainable production.”

Fastest and most sustainable way to print on textile

The new Kornit Presto addresses the supply chain challenge head on. It is the world’s only industrial single-step solution for direct-to-fabric printing. The system is perfectly suited for the home décor and fashion markets. It eliminates the need for pre and post treatment of fabric and allows for high-quality printing on an extraordinarily broad variety of fabric types. The Kornit Presto solution uses the 100% water-free patented NeoPigmentTM process, and is the shortest process from file to finished product, making it the most environmentally friendly solution available for direct-to-fabric textile printing today.

A vision of digital eco-system for real-time production and business insights

Kornit Konnect is a cloud-based software analytics platform that enables businesses to monitor production, analyse insights and manage their fleet, to eliminate blind spots.  It includes a fleet management dashboard, data-driven benchmarks, actual production costs, and cost structures per job, making it easy for businesses to learn more, react faster and perform better.

“While businesses need to deliver high quality, faster than ever, to maintain customer loyalty, they are also challenged to maximize their efficiency and productivity,” said Omer Kulka, VP Marketing & Product Strategy at Kornit Digital. “Konnect empowers these businesses to make better-informed production decisions, with greater visibility and control over their operations. Kornit plans to enhance this cloud-based platform frequently with new features as part of our innovation strategy.”

Showcase of successful solutions

Also on show in the booth are the Kornit Atlas and the Avalanche Poly Pro systems that were introduced earlier this year. Following dozens of installations worldwide and successful ramp-up at multiple customer sites, hundreds of thousands of garments have already been produced.  Kornit will perform live printing of Adidas products on these two systems at ITMA. The Adidas mission is to be the best sports company in the world and one of their three key strategic choices is an Open Source strategy. Adidas is collaborating with Kornit to support their direct-to-garment innovation strategy, with Kornit as a key partner in digital embellishment.  Adidas has recently invested in the Kornit Atlas and Avalanche Poly Pro solutions and is looking to expand its digital embellishment capabilities further.

The Kornit booth at ITMA (Hall 3 A211) is a gathering of world class experts: application and customer empowerment specialists as well as business consultants. Don’t miss this singular opportunity to meet the people who are focused on the innovation that allows leading brands to better connect with their customers and to adapt to the rapid changes in consumer preferences.

Posted June 20, 2019

Source: Kornit Digital Europe GmbH

Some 220 Exhibitors From Germany Including More Than 110 VDMA Member Companies Offer Advanced Technology Solutions And Applications Of Industry 4.0 At ITMA 2019

BARCELONA, Spain/FRANKFURT, Germany — June 20, 2019 — ITMA 2019, the world’s leading fair dedicated to textile machinery, is once again marked by a significant presence of German companies. More than 220 exhibitors from Germany including more than 110 VDMA member companies cover nearly all different machinery chapters with a focus on spinning, nonwoven, weaving, knitting, warp knitting and finishing. The overall exhibition space occupied by German machinery manufacturers is more than 21 thousand square meters, an increase of booth space by approximately 3.5 % compared to ITMA 2015.

VDMA members show in Barcelona most advanced technology solutions and applications of Industry 4.0 (also called Industrial Internet of Things for intelligent and integrated manufacturing) including Smart Services.

During the VDMA press conference at ITMA, spokespersons of twelve renowned VDMA member companies showed how Industry 4.0 solutions are impacting the textile process chain. Here are their statements:

Alexandre Butte, Director Business Development, ANDRITZ Perfojet: “ANDRITZ has pooled its relevant expertise to offer attractive digital solutions for existing and new plants under one technology brand: Metris. Metris technologies are the very latest state-of-the-art in the IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) or Industry 4.0 sector and can be fully tailored to individual customer requirements.”

Axel Pieper, CTO, Brückner Trockentechnik: “Software innovations around textile machines are becoming increasingly important in product development.

Our newly developed mobile machine operation panels and management cockpits have increased user-friendliness significantly.

Advanced production assistance systems support the operator to maximize production output at the lowest possible cost while maintaining a consistent high-quality level.

Our advanced service tools offer new features such as predictive maintenance, video tutorials and augmented reality support.”

André Imhof, COO, Autefa Solutions: “Digitalization succeeds when the focus is on customer benefits. Our Service 4.0 covers all aspects of improving the bottom line of a production line during lifetime. Based on the availability of a permanent digital communication, Autefa Service 4.0 provides well-graded services for customer’s benefit. Autefa Service 4.0 integrates tasks from well-known daily jobs up to high sophisticated big data algorithms always focused on customer needs.”

Dierk Dornieden, Head of Sales, Dienes Apparatebau: “The DIENES MultiMode® system is the I4.0 for research. All the functionalities of the MultiMode® allow the research institutes and the industry to reduce cost and to operate fast and flexibly in the development of new products.”

Marcus Ott, Managing Director, Halo: “In our view the textile industry needs custom-tailored IT solutions to reach the highest level of data transparency – from fibre to finished product. Direct communication between man and machine does not only enable this consistently transparent presentation of all relevant data, but also gives employees flexible and, most importantly, mobile access to it.”

Antonia Gottschalk, Managing Director, KM.ON, a software start-up company of Karl Mayer: “At ITMA we will build a bridge from machine building via applications and textiles up to the topic of Industry 4.0: We will show seven innovative machines, giving an insight into the „Future of Textiles“ and present new digital solutions of KM.ON. The products of our digital brand can be used by our customers and by other textile manufacturers to considerably improve their processes in all business units. So, for example, the innovations include a first product belonging to k.production, by means of which it is possible to efficiently eliminate and analyse malfunctions during the production flow. Besides, our software start-up, KM.ON GmbH, has already set up first subsidiaries abroad, in Asia. In this way, we can sharpen the regional focus of our offers, at the same time receiving important stimuli for new developments from our main market.”

Sebastian Mayer, Member of the Management, Mayer & Cie.: “We aim to always be one step ahead. The digitization offers us valuable opportunities to stay true to our company principle, beyond the developments in technology.”

Klaus A. Heinrichs, Vice President, Monforts Textilmaschinen: “With the help of Monforts advanced sensor technology, all technical machine data are mapped in the cloud virtually and in real time. The data in the cloud indicate the current state of the system with its respective specifications and can map the entire production process, enabling targeted analysis and controlled planning and production: Insights harnessed from data analyses can be used to optimise the actual production process. The status overview in real-time improves machine availability while minimising downtime considerably. Potential sources of error can be anticipated and eliminated. The digital twin provides information on individual wear parts of a system, such as converters or gears, for example. In the future operators will be able to see how long a wearing part will last and when it has to be maintained or replaced ahead of time. Direct access to the integrated Monforts webshop allows users to order wearing and spare parts at the press of the button when they are needed, virtually preventing machine downtime.”

Wilhelm Langius, Division Head, Neuenhauser Maschinenbau: “Neuenhauser saw with the recent advances in autonomous vehicles and navigation systems that AGV’s are necessary for the spinning mill future. AGV stands for Automatic Guided Vehicles, a technology that has been around for years but has been fuelled recently by the introduction of Industry 4.0. Within shortest time, our team developed a state-of-the-art transport system using a large fleet of intelligently controlled automated guided vehicles. At ITMA Europe 2019 we will be presenting our AGV’s to the specialist audience for the first time and are very excited about the response.”

André Wissenberg, Vice President Marketing, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, Oerlikon Manmade Fibers Segment: “Oerlikon invites all visitors to this year’s ITMA on a journey into the future of manmade fiber production. We will show all our guests our vision of a sustainable and automated manmade fiber production in a spectacular virtual 4D showroom: “Clean Technology. Smart Factory.” is the motto of the future. And this is only a stone’s throw away from reality at our booth. Today we are presenting four world premieres for efficient machine and plant concepts in a new, innovative industrial design. Together with numerous other innovations, all this forms our new DNA.”

Andreas Hannes, Marketing Manager, Sedo-Treepoint: “Digitalization and the smart factory are big challenges for our customers – especially in dyeing and finishing, there is a high potential for savings and technological improvements. Sedo Treepoint as a market leader in dyeing and finishing automation has been providing innovative solutions to our customers for more than 40 years. Our new developments shown at ITMA are designed for the Smart factory and will help customers to strengthen competitive advantages. We are your Experts for process optimization!”

Dr. Christof Soest, CTO, Trützschler: “Excellent spinning preparation is crucial for yarn quality – and at Trützschler, I4.0 technologies help to make this process even smarter. By integrating intelligent, self-optimizing machinery solutions and digital systems Trützschler enables customers to take a big step towards automation to ensure consistent quality.”

Future engineers

ITMA is also an event for junior engineers. With the financial support of the VDMA, more than 300 students from eight technical universities take the chance to see high-tech live in Barcelona. An investment in the future of the sector that pays off.

VDMA ITMA Pocket Guide

Visitors to ITMA get a compact overview of manufacturers and their products in the useful pocket guide, listing all exhibiting VDMA members by halls and showing their stand location in hall plans.

Posted June 20, 2019

Source: VDMA

Institut für Textiltechnik Of RWTH Aachen University (ITA) Student Mathias Zidda Receives The ITMA Research & Innovation Excellence Award 2019

BARCELONA, Spain/AACHEN, Germany — June 20, 2019 — Mathias Zidda, master graduate of Institut für Textiltechnik of RWTH Aachen University (ITA), won the ITMA Research & Innovation Excellence Award on June 20, 2019 for his 3D braiding machine, which was rebuilt according to the 4.0 industry standard. During his master thesis “Development of a gear-driven 3D rotational braiding machine and its control concept”, Mathias Zidda was supervised by ITA doctorate candidate Martin Kolloch.

Fritz P. Mayer, President of CEMATEX and the German Engineering Federation (VDMA), handed over the prize money of 10,000 € with certificate to the lucky winner at ITMA 2019 in Barcelona, Spain.

The 3D braiding machine consists of an existing conventional mechanical system. It has now been digitised and rebuilt according to industry 4.0 standard. With the help of the digital control, eg. three-dimensionally reinforced ceramic turbine components can be manufactured as prototypes and subsequently produced in series. Together with the company ark industrie AG, Aachen, Germany, and 2C-Composites GmbH & Co. KG, Heinsberg, Germany, the control system was completely redesigned so that the machine can be monitored and operated from anywhere.

“Every machine manufacturer is looking for ways to update its existing machinery before replacing it. We provide him with a good solution in the field of digitisation and Industry 4.0,” says Professor Dr Thomas Gries, Head of ITA.

At ITMA 2015, ITA doctoral candidate Jan Jordan had already won the R&I Excellence Award for his master thesis “Development & assembly of a test bench for the analysis of magnetic weft insertion”.

The ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award was created by CEMATEX to recognize the joint efforts of the global textile industry to promote corporate sustainability through innovative solutions and outstanding industry-specific research.

The award comprises two categories: an Industry Excellence Award for textile and apparel manufacturers and a Research & Innovation Excellence Award open to Master’s students.

Posted June 20, 2019

Source: Institut für Textiltechnik of RWTH Aachen University (ITA)

Mimaki Hybrid Printer Demonstration At ITMA 2019 Emphasises Accessibility Of Textile Printing

BARCELONA — June 20, 2019 — Mimaki Engineering, a manufacturer of inkjet printers and cutting systems, today announces the first global technology demonstration of a brand-new hybrid digital textile printer from the TX300P series at ITMA 2019 (Barcelona, Spain, 20-26 June, Booth B110, Hall 3). Uniquely featuring both direct-to-textile and direct-to-transfer print capabilities, the new printer achieves unparalleled flexibility in ink combinations and substrates – opening new profitable opportunities for businesses.

The new printer is an evolution of the Mimaki TX300P-1800, with the added capability of printing direct-to-transfer. Crucially, print service providers will benefit from enhanced versatility in terms of fabrics, applications and targeted markets. This affords smaller print service providers with an opportunity to provide a full range of textile printing applications with just one system. Aligned with Mimaki’s Total Solution Provider approach, the printer is compatible with Mimaki’s full range of pre-treating, steaming and washing equipment.

“The textile market is still relatively early-on in the adoption of digital printers, with most textiles being printed in the conventional way and a lot of large players dominating the market. With this new hybrid printer, Mimaki has provided an affordable solution that lowers the barriers to entry for smaller print providers,” says Ronald van den Broek, General Manager Sales EMEA. “For larger volume production houses, the printer is valuable for smaller runs and the myriad benefits digital production provides.”

Interchangeable platens enable the hybrid nature of the printer. When printing direct-to-textile, excess ink that penetrates through the fabric is drained by a platen with an ink-receiving ditch. This can quickly be swapped out for a vacuum platen, suitable for printing onto heat transfer paper. The printer can also be configured with three different ink combinations, comprising textile pigment/direct sublimation or textile pigment/sublimation transfer or direct sublimation/sublimation transfer. This means more versatility and more possibilities, making it an ideal entry model.

Reliable productivity is assured with Mimaki Core Technology including a Nozzle Check Unit and Nozzle Recovery System. This enables the printer to automatically clean print heads when nozzles malfunction, and when nozzles are not repairable, switch any missing or damaged nozzles with working nozzles without stopping production and without affecting final print quality. An adjustable head gap also means the distance from print head to substrate can be changed preventing print heads from touching substrates.

“The features of this new hybrid printer will enable textile and garment manufacturers to achieve unparalleled flexibility and enhanced application opportunities for increased business growth. With this product Mimaki is effectively democratising accessibility to textile printing, and with solutions like this in the market, we expect to see improved growth of digital printing in textiles,” van den Broek concludes.

Posted June 20, 2019

Source: Mimaki

Hygienically Clean Healthcare Releases Best Practices Training Video

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — June 20, 2019 — Hygienically Clean, the quantified, validated standard and measure for hygienically clean textiles in North America since 2011, has recently made available a new training video for its customers, The Six C’s: Handling Clean Linen in a Healthcare Environment, available via USB flash drive at no cost at www.trsa.org/cleanlinendrive.

This new video represents Hygienically Clean Healthcare Advisory Board and TRSA’s Healthcare Committee’s continuing effort to provide informative, educational resources for laundries and their customers regarding best management practices based on international standards and measures. TRSA’s Textile Services magazine and newsletters have published hundreds of articles on laundry and linen management practices regarding the proper processing and handling of healthcare textiles. TRSA’s long-standing Healthcare Committee has developed dozens of resources to educate the textile care industry and healthcare professionals including The Six C’s of Handling Soiled Linen in a Healthcare Environment training program that has been distributed by request to hundreds of healthcare facilities.

Laundry professionals led by TRSA, the leading organization for companies that supply laundered garments, uniforms, linens and other reusable textile products to healthcare facilities, developed the 13-minute, user-friendly video.

Hygienically Clean Healthcare laundries use best management practices (BMPs) in laundering as verified by TRSA inspection and produce hygienically clean textiles as quantified by ongoing microbial testing. Following BMPs created by TRSA and guided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, “The Six C’s” enhances safety, improves patient care and reduces costs.

Hygienically Clean reflects the evolution of healthcare laundry certification in light of growing global concerns about infection control, documenting practices that ensure elimination of potentially harmful microbial content while adding quantifiable verification of continuous improvement in overall cleanliness.

In 2017, TRSA’s Hygienically Clean Healthcare certified members produced the popular training video, The Six C’s: Handling Soiled Linen in a Healthcare Environment, which is also available in USB flash drive format at no charge at www.trsa.org/soiledlinendrive.

Posted June 20, 2019

Source: TRSA

Denim Maker Candiani S.p.A. Clinches ITMA 2019 Sustainable Innovation Award 

BRUSSELS / SINGAPORE — June 20, 2019 — One of Europe’s largest denim producer, Candiani SpA has won the ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award, held in conjunction with ITMA 2019. Its innovative product, Candiani Re-Gen is a ‘circular denim’ fabric created from regenerated and recycled raw materials.

Fifty per cent of the Re-Gen fabric comprises Tencel x Refibra Lyocell made of pulp from cotton scraps and wood pulp using Lenzing’s efficient closed-loop process; the other 50% consists of post-industrial recycled Candiani fibres. Candiani’s fabrics are also dyed using green technologies, resulting in substantial reduction in the use of water and chemicals in the fabric production and jean washing process.

According to Mr Alberto Candiani, President of Candiani SpA, the fabric was created to commemorate Candiani’s 80th anniversary. He said, “We are a strong believer in sustainability. In creating the Re-Gen fabric, we leveraged Lenzing’s Tencel Lyocell fibres with Refibra technology, and combined it with our inhouse expertise to create an innovative product that is fashionable and environmentally friendly at the same time.”

Nominated for the award by ITMA 2019 exhibitor Lenzing Ag, Candiani SpA received the trophy from CEMATEX president Mr Fritz P. Mayer, at a presentation ceremony on the opening day of ITMA 2019.

Mr Mayer said, “We would like to congratulate both Candiani and Lenzing for their excellent collaboration. CEMATEX launched the ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award in 2015 as we would like to encourage greater industry collaboration and synergies, as well as spur more research and development efforts. Ultimately, we need innovation to drive our business and contribute to a more circular economy.”

The two other finalists of the ITMA Industry Excellence Award – Levi Strauss & Co, and Lee – were also praised for their efforts to introduce green innovations into their products and processes.

Winner of the first ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award in 2015, Levi Strauss & Co launched FLX Customisation Studio which revolutionalises in-store customisation by allowing customers to pick their denim finish and create a unique pair of jeans in less than two hours. The mobile studio uses sustainable garment finishing technologies and operates on 100% recycled water. It leverages ITMA exhibitor Jeanologia’s water recycling system, H2Zero.

Established denim jeans brand Lee leverages Tonello’s innovative garment finishing system for its denim jeans. The All-in-One System combines four technologies that drastically reduces the water needed in the finishing stages of jean manufacturing thus reducing processing time and total production cost.

Research & Innovation Excellence Award

The ITMA Research & Innovation (R&I) Excellence Award for Master’s students of R&I Pavilion exhibiting institutions is won by Mathias Zidda, Institut Für Textiltechnik, RWTH Aachen University for his thesis: Development of a gear driven 3D rotational braiding machine and its control concept. He receives prize money of 10,000 euros.

The first runner up is Ms Sarika Sunil Borikar of D.K.T.E. Society’s Textile & Engineering Institute (thesis: Sanitary Napkin: A Greener Approach), followed by Ms Pamela Massaccesi of Universidad De Buenos Aires (thesis: TUTTI – Reusable Food Wrapping).

The ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award is one of the components of ITMA Innovation Lab which brands a series of activities promoting research and innovation. Other components are the Research and Innovation Pavilion, Speakers Platform and the Innovation Video Showcase.

Posted June 20, 2019

Source: CEMATEX and ITMA Services

World’s Largest Textile And Garment Technology Exhibition, ITMA 2019, Sets New Record Number Of Exhibitors

BRUSSELS / SINGAPORE — June 20, 2019 — Since its launch in 1951, ITMA has enjoyed wide industry recognition as the world’s largest textile and garment technology exhibition. This year’s exhibition in Barcelona sees its reputation solidify further with the largest gathering of exhibitors in its history. The record number of exhibitors totaling 1,717 from 45 countries has set a new milestone.

Speaking at the press conference on the opening day of the 18th edition of the exhibition, Mr Fritz P. Mayer, President of the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers (CEMATEX), said: “The global economy is still facing challenges, accentuated by trade tensions and disruption. However, textile being the world’s oldest manufacturing industry has demonstrated its resilience over the years.

“This is also the spirit of our exhibitors who continually innovate and launch new technologies and solutions. We are glad that ITMA has been providing a reputable platform for textile machinery manufacturers to market their innovations. This has enabled us to record the largest number of exhibitors in ITMA’s history.”

The exhibits are showcased over 114,500 square metres of net exhibit space, a 9 per cent increase over the previous edition in 2015. The exhibition occupies all nine halls of the Gran Via venue, including the space under the linkway. To allow more companies to participate, many exhibitors were allocated lesser stand space than what they had originally applied for.

Mr Charles Beauduin, Chairman of ITMA Services, organiser of ITMA 2019 enthused: “The exhibition would have been larger if we had not turned away applicants due to a lack of space. Unfortunately, we could not accommodate a wait-list of about 250 applicants who booked some 8,200 square metres.”

He added: “ITMA has also evolved into a more international exhibition with a rich diversity of technology offerings from both East and West. Almost half of the total number of exhibitors are from non CEMATEX countries. This augurs well for the development of ITMA into a definitive textile and garment platform for the industry.”

International participation

Of the total number of exhibitors, over half are from CEMATEX countries; the balance comprising companies from other parts of Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas.

Reflecting the international composition of the participants, the largest number of exhibitors are from Italy (364 exhibitors), China (276 exhibitors), Germany (222 exhibitors), India (169 exhibitors) and Turkey (164 exhibitors).

CEMATEX countries continue to occupy the largest exhibit space, taking up 65% of the total net exhibit space. Italy booked 26% of the space, followed by Germany which booked 18%. The top non-CEMATEX countries are: Turkey with 9%, China with 8%, and India with 5% of the space booked.

Product sectors

Visitors can expect to source a wide range of integrated solutions across the entire value chain in 19 exhibit sectors. Printing, which has seen many advances being made in the last few years, is an exciting growth sector. Chalking up a 38 per cent increase in the number of exhibitors compared with the previous exhibition, it is one of the top five sectors at ITMA 2019:

  • Finishing – 325 exhibitors
  • Spinning – 281 exhibitors
  • Weaving – 182 exhibitors
  • Printing – 157 exhibitors
  • Knitting – 136 exhibitors

Nonwovens and technical textiles sectors due to their wide range of applications continue to be an important sector at ITMA 2019. Garment making, which has been impacted by digitalisation and fast fashion, is also making a bigger impact at ITMA.

Mr Mayer said, “We are extremely pleased to bring garment technology back in focus at ITMA. While ITMA has been traditionally strong in textile making technologies, we are glad that we are able to present garment making solutions from some of the world’s most renowned technology providers. There is an increase of 27 per cent in number of exhibitors as compared with ITMA 2015.”

Completing the entire value chain is the showcase on fibres, yarn and fabrics. The addition of innovative fabrics in the fibre and yarn chapter at ITMA further completes the sourcing experience for buyers.

Focus on innovation

The theme of ITMA 2019 is ‘Innovating the World of Textiles’. To support the innovation drive, CEMATEX has introduced the ITMA Innovation Lab.  A new umbrella branding of a series of activities, the Lab includes the Research and Innovation Pavilion, ITMA Speakers Platform, ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award and Innovation Video Showcase. Speakers from the industry have been invited to share their perspectives and experiences at the Speakers Platform which will be held from 21 to 25 June. A finance forum will also be held on 21 June.

Co-located events and industry engagement

To encourage the exchange of knowledge, collaboration and networking, several events are staged alongside ITMA 2019.

The ITMA-EDANA Nonwovens Forum and Textile Colourant and Chemical Leaders Forum have met with overwhelming response and seats have been added. Similar strong response has also been received by partner events, including the Better Cotton Initiative Seminar, European Digital Textile Conference, Tex-Summit Global, Planet Textiles, SAC & ZDHC Manufacturer Forum and Texmeeting by TEXFOR.

“The series of co-located events is part of ITMA’s outreach programme to engage industry partners and to create an inclusive platform for the global textile and garment community. We have over 190 international, regional and local organisations lending their support to our exhibition,” Mr Mayer said.

ITMA 2019 is held at Fira de Barcelona Gran Via venue till 26 June. The opening hours are from 10.00am to 6.00pm daily, except 26 June when the exhibition will end at 4.00pm.

Posted June 20, 2019

Source: CEMATEX and ITMA Services

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