WATTWIL, Switzerland — July 29, 2015 — The Saurer Group, driven by the passion for its customers, is on an endeavor to further strengthen its operations in India, one of the most important ring spinning markets of today and tomorrow. July 28th saw the handover of the new plant from its developers, M/S Shah & Talati, to the local management team, thus marking the beginning of a new chapter for Saurer in India. The project, located in Vadodara, Gujarat, spreads across 85,000 m2 of land and houses world class production facilities for two premium ring spinning brands of Saurer: Zinser & Texparts. The new facility also includes a sourcing hub for the whole group and service stations for several units like Saurer Embroidery, and is built to cater to demands in the domestic as well as international export markets. The official inauguration ceremony is planned for a later date.

When asked about the significance of the new plant and its associated benefits for Saurer in the Indian textile market, Saurer Group CEO, Dr. Martin Folini said “The Indian market is one of the most important ring spinning markets in the world and with the establishment of our new facility in Vadodara, we would be in a better position to cater to our customer needs.” Being close to the customer is essential for speed and the Indian location does not only allow Saurer to supply the Indian market with new speed but also to the essential South East Asian markets. The Saurer Group, has always been driven by the passion for its customers, and consistently invests in innovations that foster customers’ profitability. Dr. Folini is very proud of the whole team who made this happen “When we announced the land purchase in November 2014 and set the target to move in and start production by end of July 2015, people looked at us in awe. Now the facility is handed over to us and the moving has started.

The new project would also see the Saurer Group contribute proudly to Prime Minister Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative.”

Ralph Knecht, GM of Zinser Ring Spinning unit, has been closely associated with the project. Providing a brief outline of the project, he said “The Indian textile market is highly sophisticated with challenging customers. The new project in India would allow us to blend German technology with Indian experience and provide our customers with the latest generation of world class products combined with our passion for innovation and quality.” He further added “Saurer products have always been well received in India. Domestic manufacturing combined with world class quality and much shorter delivery time will give us clear advantages.”

Referring to which Zinser products would be manufactured at the new facility, Knecht added “In the initial stage, the factory will manufacture the new Zinser models 71 and 72, both for conventional and compact ring spinning. With up to 1920 spindles, this will be the longest ring frame in the world. Next step would see all the variations of Zinser ring spinning machines and superior automation to be produced at the facility making Zinser the only ring spinning machine manufacturer with 4 ring spinning technologies: conventional short staple, compact short staple, conventional long staple and compact long staple. This is also complementing the already existing Zinser speed frame production in India allowing attractive packages including automation.”

Joerg Spahlinger, CEO, Saurer Components, is highly optimistic about the new project in India. When asked about how the new facility would provide for growth of Saurer Components, he said “The new factory in India would facilitate us to produce weighing arms and spindles with a doubled capacity and would also include the addition of a stamping facility within the premises. This would allow us to efficiently cater to all our customers and give us more flexibility.” Texparts is the clear technology leader offering highest quality weighting arms for all machine types and all processes, from speed frame and short staple to long staple weighting arms for worsted ring frames. Next to weighting arms, Texparts also manufactures high speed spindles in India, catering to the high end spinning market in India where spindle speeds >20.000 rpm are the rule rather than the exception.

Arun Mishra, General Manager of the Vadodara facility, expressed his excitement on the developments in Vadodara, saying “The continued support and dedication of Saurer’s top management along with that of the ‘Indigo Project Team’ has allowed Saurer to have the facility ready in record time!”

Vineet Goel, CFO Saurer India is delighted with the support and encouragement by the Indian teams and leadership leading to achieving the target date. Not forgetting the well planned and great work by Shah & Talati along with all the contractors for the achieving the timelines. Saurer believes in setting new standards and remains dedicated to provide breakthrough innovations to foster customer’s profitability.

Posted August 4, 2015

Source: Saurer
 

MILAN, Italy — July 29, 2015 —Orders of textile machinery for the second quarter of 2015 confirm the positive trend already under way during the first three months of the year. Raffaella Carabelli, President of ACIMIT: “Increased orders on the domestic market are an unexpected but welcome development: a good omen for ITMA 2015. Abroad, we’re very optimistic on Iran.”
 
For the second quarter of 2015, orders of Italian textile machinery, as compiled by ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, recorded a 15% increase over the same period of last year. The value of the orders index for this period amounts to 99.4 points.
 
Orders have made a definitive move in foreign markets (+21% over the same quarter for 2014), marking a fourth consecutive period of growth. Italy remains under observation, but is showing sure signs of a recovery. Indeed, domestic orders have risen 7% compared to the second quarter of 2014.
 
“This growth for the Italian market is somewhat unexpected” states ACIMIT President Raffaella Carabelli, “It’s highly likely that the incentives implemented by the Government may have contributed to this light recovery in our sector. The rest was certainly achieved by the healthy situation of various sectors downstream from our own.” With ITMA 2015 so imminently close, the global trade fair scheduled in Milan on November 12 – 19, businesses are waiting on the innovations that will be presented in Milan. “The recovery of our domestic market is certainly a good omen for ITMA, where 450 Italian exhibitors will be present – 27% of the total number of companies.”
 
As for foreign markets, official data from ISTAT confirm a recovery for the first four months of the year in various textile machinery importing Countries. India, for one, has resumed its growth trend (+6% over the first quarter of 2014), and there’s been a surprising rise in exports to Bangladesh (+187%), with EU markets also appearing to show good form. “We’re waiting for a recovery from China, where investments in machinery are still low compared to a year ago,” observes Carabelli. “But ACIMIT has mainly been targeting the market in Iran.”
 
“For years,” ACIMIT sources explain, “Iran was a benchmark for Italy’s textile machinery industry. International sanctions have effectively halted the flow of machinery exports towards Iran, penalizing many Italian manufacturers. The recent agreement on the nuclear issue opens up a window for a recovery in investments in textile technology by Iran’s textile sector, after years in which the process of industry modernization has been slowed by a regime of sanctions.” The negative trend for Italian exports was stopped in 2014. Sales of Italian textile machinery grew 170% compared to 2013, amounting to 14 million euros.

Posted August 4, 2015

Source: ACIMIT
 

BARTLETT, Ill. — July 31, 2015 — In 1990, Thomas Herrmann, the son of Walter Herrmann, who founded Herrmann Ultraschalltechnik GmbH in 1961, established Herrmann Ultrasonics Inc. in the Chicago area. Hermann Ultrasonics, Inc. is proud to recognize a milestone year in observance of their 25th anniversary.

Herrmann Ultrasonics has been focused on providing ultrasonic welding technology for various markets such as the medical, automotive, consumer, electronics, food and also the hygiene industry. The company has become the technology leader in ultrasonic welding by developing the most advanced products, providing ULTRASONICS ENGINEERING expertise and total solution offerings.
 
Continuous growth of its PLASTIC, PACKAGING and NONWOVENS divisions has allowed the company to establish Technology Centers throughout North America. The 20,000 sq. ft. facility, located in Bartlett, IL has been managed by Uwe Peregi since 2006. This modern and advanced facility allows Herrmann Ultrasonics to provide feasibility studies and trial runs in one of the three laboratories. Fast tooling delivery is standard due to in-house vertical integrated 3D tooling design and CNC manufacturing.
 
In honor of the significant occasion, Herrmann Ultrasonics will launch an anniversary edition of the proven HiQ MEDIALOG ultrasonic welding machine. This welder was inspired by Executive VP & General Manager Uwe Peregi and is mostly used by medical device manufacturers. A new look, cleanroom-friendly surfaces, additional safety features and exhausts to control particles contribute to the uniqueness of the HiQ MEDIALOG. The machine also includes the operator interface FSC, which meets the requirements of FDA CFR 21 part 11.
 
Herrmann Ultrasonics, Inc. is very proud of the growth and achievements in the North American market over the past 25 years. The company looks forward to remaining the technology leader in ultrasonics in the next decade and beyond.

Posted August 4, 2015

Source: Herrmann Ultrasonics
 

MILAN, Italy — July 28, 20975 — Datatex has announced that BTK textile in Shakhty, Russia, has gone live successfully with its full NOW ERP suite of solutions in in high-tech (smart) textile manufacture.

The selection of the Datatex solutions was made after receiving responses to its RFP from  the world’s leading ERP solutions, and included very detailed sessions of presentations, system demonstrations and question and answer sessions. From BTK textile part selection team was made out of consultants, executives and the group IT team.

The implementation process was more challenging than average as it involved a totally new business process which was being created while implementing so procedures could be modelled and modified in real time.

The system covers all customer related activities, all production planning and machine scheduling, production management and control up to the level of data collection from each machine including automated real time fabric inspection.

Datatex also was required to set up all required local Russian documents to accompany the sales and purchasing cycles which are now in full operation. The system and outputs are provided both in English and in the Russian language and characters.

NOW also manages inventory items at all levels at the required detail, standard pre-costing, actual costing of each order and detailed process quality assurance.

The on-budget and on-time project was successfully executed by a very professional BTK textile team of application engineers, IT team and a group of dedicated Datatex consultants who helped implement the system while guiding the business process definition process from its birth.

Commenting on the successful ERP implementation, Vered Dotan, Datatex head of operations said that this is a very good example for how an industry specific solution, implemented with total management commitment and a dedicated team leads to a running solution that not only manages all logistics and execution of the company’s activity but will also optimizes its process and business results. All this based on very strict customer service requirements and extremely tight quality demands of this specific industry. Vered added that BTK textile can now be proud of world class performance in all the above aspects.

Posted August 4, 2015

Source: Datatex
 

WESTLAKE, Ohio — July 31, 2015 — Q-Lab Corp., the worldwide leader in accelerated weathering and corrosion equipment and exposure test services, announced that 2015 marks the 10th anniversary of its representative office, Q-Lab China.  It also commemorates 30 years of sales in China through its extensive sales and distribution network.

Coinciding with these anniversaries, Q-Lab is proud to announce that Q-Lab China is now officially a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise. This achievement allows Q-Lab China to expand its ability to serve Chinese customers, providing faster response on replacement parts and calibrations through its ISO 17025 accredited facility.

Q-Lab first began selling its industry-leading testers (like the QUV accelerated weathering tester) into the Chinese market in 1985. Due to overwhelming demand, the company opened a technical support office in Shanghai in 2005, which has grown steadily in staffing ever since. Q-Lab China holds many seminars and webinars each year and its employees maintain an active and leadership role on dozens of local, technical GB standards committees.

Doug Grossman, President of Q-Lab Corporation, said, “The 10th anniversary of our office in China represents a tremendous milestone for the company. Over the past decade, we’ve reinforced our reputation as ‘the most trusted name in weathering’ in this important region. I am extremely proud of our China team, our distribution partners, and their accomplishments – they have made the name ‘Q-Lab’ synonymous with superb quality, unparalleled technical expertise, and exceptional service.”
 
Posted July 31, 2015

Source: Q-Lab Corp.