By Peter Stahlecker, Managing Director, Suessen
I have had the privilege and opportunity to visit all India about four to five times a year for nearly 20 years now. Still (and contrary to the views of some of my Indian friends) I reside in Germany. In addition, I have had the chance to visit other countries in Asia many times, particularly also China. This is why I picked the title “outside view”.
In addition to being a JMD of Suessen, about two years ago I was given the opportunity and the honor to also direct the sales of Bräcker, Graf and of Novibra in India.
India has been good to all four companies, and large shares of our products are bought by our Indian customers! Particularly for Suessen’s EliTe Compact Spinning India turned out to be the largest market, and still today the largest share of new orders is coming from India only!
India has been good to me personally, too. Thanks to my Indian customers, I have been able to continuously sell our products. Our customers were very often instrumental and always helpful in developing new products.
What are the strengths of the Indian spinning industry? Two immediate strong points come to my mind whenever I think about my Indian customers – they are generally run by the owner and the technical management is excellent.
Let me explain by way of example how these two strong points apply to the advantage of the Indian textile industry. My example will be Suessen EliTe compact spinning, the product I am most familiar with.
When Suessen introduced EliTe in 2000, we did so in various countries. Initially, it was slow to catch on anywhere, but several Indian industrialists caught on, they grasped the advantages. There were numerous problems to be overcome, both from a technical and from a technological point of view. Without the help of the mills’ technical management and without the patience of the owners, we could not have succeeded!
Today, over 37,00,000 EliTe spindles are running in India, about 57,00,000 EliTe worldwide.
Initially, compact yarn was for shirting. This is where it started. Over time other woven products were added to the list of successful applications. There was, however, “universal consent” that compact yarn could not be used for hosiery applications. One Indian customer tried it anyway. I saw the first fabric, it looked horrible! My customer however did not give up – and today about 10,00,000 EliTe spindles are used in hosiery application all over India.
EliTwist is my last case. EliTwist is a compacted SIRO yarn. It has really excellent physical properties, often far superior to TFO yarns. Our Indian customers caught on quickly again, realizing the opportunities in this novel yarn. Today, about 5,00,000 EliTwist spindles are running worldwide, of which over 4,00,000 are in India.
EliTe and EliTwist are used in many applications, e.g., shirting, sheeting, polo shirts, sari blouses, trousers, socks, underwear, denim, etc. All different fibers are used: cotton (carded and combed), blends, rayon, PES, etc. The commercial count rage is from Ne 7/1 to Ne 300/1.
Thanks to our customers in India (and also elsewhere), Suessen has been by far the most successful supplier of compact equipment worldwide. Hence, Suessen also has more experience than anybody else. This allows us to share our thoughts with our customers, and they share with us, improving the overall know-how about EliTe compact.
What is the future of compact ring spinning? Based on my personal experience with EliTe, I see a very bright future. Even after more than 10 years of EliTe our customers find new applications, new ways of saving raw material and energy, new ways of utilizing EliTe, I have yet to see any textile product where, technologically speaking, EliTe was not superior.
You see, much, or all, what I have described has only been possible because of the two advantages our Indian customers. I see no reason why this drive to innovate, to make better products at competitive prices should slow down.
India is the second largest “textile country” in the world, and I would not be surprised to see her as No.1 within the not too distant future. As economists say, all the fundamentals are right. The problems (power shortage, bureaucracy, etc…) will surely be overcome. I personally see a very bright future for our industry.
And the companies I represent in India – Bräcker, Graf, Novibra and Suessen – will surely continue to work very hard to remain a part of the Indian success story.