As manufacturers of textile finishing machinery, the company has taken the lead in offering innovative products, technologies and solutions that Indian textile companies can take advantage of. All this will be on display at ITME 2022
Ferraro SPA of Italy has carved a niche for itself in the segment of textile finishing machinery. The company is an instantly recognised name among the Indian textile fraternity. Ferraro’s team is looking forward to participating in the forthcoming India ITME 2022 trade show. In an exclusive chat, Commercial Director, Giovanni Pizzamiglio opined that overall the year 2022 has been a good one in terms of orders for new machines and their delivery and invoicing. “It was a positive first half of the year in continuity with 2021, but posed more difficulties in the second half of the year,” he said.
“This,” he added, “was due to general instability caused by rising energy prices, the Russia-Ukraine war, gas shortages and rising inflation.” Highlighting some of the key focus areas in terms of new products and technologies in recent times, he mentioned: “Alongside markets and countries that have continued with their more traditional focus on cotton, we have seen considerable development in the proposal of synthetic and blended fibres for new applications in the sportswear and technical textile market. For these segments, our proposal of solutions, such as Rotoclean, an oil-removing system for scouring knitted and woven fabrics, has met with considerable success and opened up new opportunities.”
India Focus
India has always been a key market for Ferraro. Pointing out the importance of the market, Pizzamiglio stated: “Ferraro is a pioneer in textile finishing with over 70 years of history and has built relationships with many Indian customers for decades. The Indian market has always been a priority for us as it alone accounts for about 8-9% of the units purchased for textile finishing worldwide. Thanks to our partnership with Batliboi Ltd., we have been operating with a structured and continuous presence throughout India for many years. In terms of results, after a period of marked slowdown during the pandemic, the Indian market has shown signs of strong recovery.”
“Keeping 2023 in mind, it is shaping up to be one of the most potentially interesting countries in terms of growth in production volumes and related technological investments,” he added. Batliboi has been the company’s strategic partner for the Indian market. Looking back at the relationship with Batliboi and how it has strengthened over the years, Pizzamiglio observed: “We have been working with Batliboi in the Indian market for several years now. The synergy between our companies has always worked very well as it combines the characteristics of a technologically excellent and reliable product – designed and built entirely in Italy – with the expertise and widespread presence of a large Indian company specialised in the textile market and synonymous with fairness and attention to the customer.”
“It is truly the case to say that in unity lies strength,” he added. Pizzamiglio is looking forward to Ferraro’s participation in India ITME 2022. “For us at Ferraro, the enforced absence from the Indian market was very painful. Fortunately, with the local presence of our agent and the intensive use of modern communication tools, we managed to stay close to our customers and the market as a whole. Compared to past editions, this year’s event is more heartfelt and we think it will be even more attended, which is why we are preparing with some new features, particularly suited to the Indian market. We are keeping the details under wraps for now but will soon release more information,” he said, keeping his cards close to his chest.
Innovation, Automation and Sustainability
The company has always been a frontrunner when it comes to offering products and solutions that offer support to its customers in achieving their sustainability goals. “Sustainability is now our main driver in designing and manufacturing new products. Our manufacturing plant has been equipped with solar panels capable of providing all the required electric energy for production and offices. More than that, Ferraro has been one of the first companies to join the consumption reduction campaign and 100% recyclable components programme set up by ACIMIT (Italian Association of Textile Machinery Manufacturers). It is called ‘Green Label’, designed to encourage textile machinery manufacturers to design and build machines that are more efficient in consumption and more recyclable,” he said.
“Thanks to these policies, Ferraro has achieved remarkable results that can be summarised as a reduction in overall energy consumption by 47%, a reduction in overall steam consumption by 62% and a reduction in overall air consumption by 37%. Never before has the theme of sustainability become such an integral part of our daily lives,” elaborated Alex Zucchi, CEO, Ferraro SPA, before adding, “It is even more of a protagonist in the current and future industrial development scenario. Today, every Ferraro machine responds to this labelling.” The company has also been a frontrunner when it comes to incorporating automation and digitisation in its products in a big way.
Listing the initiatives Pizzamiglio said: “On the innovation front, the focus is on the digitisation of all our machinery range with full integration in digital flows such as Industry 4.0, cloud technology and predictive maintenance for remote assistance.” In conclusion he reiterated the company’s focus on the Indian market. “Indeed India has a key role in the development of our strategy, pushing us to provide powerful yet reliable technology, equipped with the latest features, especially in the area of remote assistance and workflow integration and management. We are thinking of introducing some new machines with India in mind. As India has declared its intention to strength its positioning in worldwide ranking for textile production, we have prioritised the country in our plan of initiatives and focus,” he said.