By K. Gopalakrishnan
The brand Thies Textilmaschinen stands for more than 120 years of innovative machinery construction and advanced process engineering in the field of textile finishing. The range of products covers dyeing machines, flocking and bleaching units as well as tumbler and laboratory systems. A careful exploitation of the resources preserves the environment and strengthens the company’s competitiveness.
Founded by Bernhard Thies at the turn of the industrial age in 1892, Thies remains today a family-owned and operated company. An internationally active enterprise, employing more than 300 in its home base of Coesfeld, Thies offers to its customers and interested textile companies access to its research and dyehouse facilities in which to carry out trials.
The Thies product range includes jet & soft flow fabric dyeing machines, jiggers (high temperature and atmospheric), fully automated yarn dyeing machines and pressure dryers, loose stock bleaching and dyeing plants, laboratory and small-scale production dyeing machines, continuous and discontinuous tumblers, beam dyeing machines for yarn and fabric, heat recovery units, control technology for individual dyeing machines and total plants, fully automated plants and centralized overhead systems, dye house planning and design.
Thies has been registering a consistent growth over the last few years. Ms. Verena Thies, General Manager, Thies Gmbh, says: “2011 has been a better year compared to 2010 and 2009. Especially after ITMA at Barcelona there has been an increase in sales. We have great success with the new machine. It is installed in every major market in the world”.
Thies introduced at ITMA 2011 the new iMaster H²O high temperature fabric dyeing machine which offers low water consumption a liquor ratio of 1:3.7 for cottons, depending on the pick-up of water on the fabric; a significant reduction in process times; and improved quality in terms of both appearance and elongation of the fabric. It has been designed to handle a wide range of fabrics and knitted natural and synthetic fibers and blends, including viscose. Minimal rope lifting ensures improved shrinkage control and less rope curling for elastic fabrics such as cotton and Lycra.
The iMaster H²O has been specifically engineered to ensure that textile plants are able to adhere to the most stringent of international and local environmental protection regulations.
Thies stressed that for dyeing and finishing machinery, cost-efficiency and high productivity as well as treatment technology to produce good quality fabric are already the basic requirements, and development towards sustainability remains the top priority. “In Asia, in particular India, China and Bangladesh, environment-related regulations have become very strict. Asian dyehouses need sustainable technologies,” says Ms. Verena Thies.
In 2011, the Asian markets were a bit subdued. The Chinese market, in particular, was a bit slow and markets like Tirupur in India have slowed down due to government regulations. But things are improving. “Right now there are a lot of enquiries from China. We are very positive that China will see good numbers in the second half of the year. We have a good marketshare in most of the global markets – China, India, Bangladesh, Turkey, Russia and South America. We don’t depend on just one market”, she added.
Thies has been in the Indian market for over 20 years. In 2009, it established an office in India and also appointed Voltas as its agent for the local market. Ms. Verena Thies says: “India is the biggest textile market in the world. We have hundreds of installations at customer locations all across the country. We sold a good number of yarn dyeing and piece dyeing machines to Indian customers. We have our own company in India employing our own technicians and sales people. Our sales team is very efficient and knowledgeable and they come every year to the headquarters in Germany for training”.
Thies regularly conducts symposiums in India to educate the customers on emerging technologies and also engages with the Government to showcase its technology and the concepts of zero discharge. The company recently held a symposium in Tirupur and another one in Ludhiana. “We are trying to support our customers so that they can show to the government on how we try to protect our environment”.
To customers and interested textile companies, Thies offers access to its research and dye-house facilities for carrying out trials.
Historic milestones
1892 In July Bernhard Thies established the company, on the same site where the plant is still located.
1894 The company’s first patent is granted.
1929 The company builds the first pressure tank.
1950 The workforce grows to 159 employees.
1952 The experimental dyeing plant is installed, commission dyeing is part of our business.
1957 The workforce grows to 380 employees.
1967 Exports now make up to 65 per cent of total sales.
1968 The production program is expanded to include fabric dyeing machines.
1969 Thies has now a workforce of 460 employees. Thies AG, Switzerland, was established.
1976 Thies Corp, USA, was established
1978 The company builds the first open-width tumbler.
1989 Thies UK, Great Britain, was established.
1990 Thies S.A.R.L., France, was established.
1991 Thies S.R.L. was established
1992 Thies since 100 years. Thies Wolga GmbH, Russia, was established.
1998 1st fully automated yarn dyehouse – ZKS, Germany. Thies S.E.A., Thailand, as well as Thies Shanghai were established.
2000 1st HT-Jigger
2001 Thies Tekstil Makinalari, Turkey, was established.
2002 1st fully automated dyestuff weighing and dispensing system 2005 1st NT-Jigger
2006 1st HP batcher
2007 MPS Colourmatic launched 1st Lab Master
2009 Thies India was established
2010 1st iMaster H²O Certification Carbon Footprint