For one hundred years, Vanguard Pai Lung’s (VPL) innovations in speed, precision and quality have set the pace for circular knitting machines. The company has been true to its motto ‘Knit Real Time, Real Fast’. After establishing its presence in key markets around the world, the company has now set sights on capturing the Indian knitting market.
VPL has been manufacturing precision, quality and innovative custom-designed knitting machines in the US since 1916. Combined with a full line of knitting machines, it also provides OEM parts, expert technical services and fabric design consultation throughout North America, Mexico, Central America and South America. The fabric scope includes, but is not limited to, T-shirts, fleece wear, sportswear, casual wear and industrial, medical, performance and packaging fabrics.
Vantex is the agent for VPL in India and Sri Lanka. The company was set up in 2017 and is headquartered in Tirupur.
In an exclusive interview to The Textile Magazine, Mr. Jansen Taylor, Head of Sales – India & Sri Lanka, gave detailed insights into VPL’s products, their strong points, the importance of the Indian market and future plans. Mr. Sundara Pandiyan Mani, Propreitor, Vantex, VPL’s India and Sri Lanka agent, was also present during the interaction.
Giving a brief history of Vanguard Pailung, Mr. Jansen Taylor said it is a 102-year-old company. The current owners since 2009 have been Mr. Bill Moody and Mr. James Wang. Prior to 2009, the company was a division of Fukuhara, another global leader in circular knitting machines from Japan. In fact, because of the partnership, Vanguard had an undertaking not to access Asian and European markets.
“From 2009, Vanguard and Pailung became partners and we were allowed to sell to the entire global market. After the new agreement we were analyzing the global market for a few years and then decided to participate in a few shows / exhibitions in India and was successful in creating a niche for ourselves in the Asian market.”
Entry into the Indian market
VPL showcased its knitting machine at the India International Textile Machinery Exhibition (ITME) held in Mumbai in December 2016. Later, VPL also participated in the Knit-Tech 2017 exhibition at Hi-Tech Tirupur Exhibition Centre, during February 10-13, 2017. Soon after the launch in the Indian market, it got Natroyal Group as the first customer.
Speaking about the range of products offered by the company, Mr. Jansen Taylor observed: “Our specialty at Vanguard Pailung are high speed, high production jersey machines, in both body size and larger diameter machines. The range of products for hosiery industry are 10” to 36” with both 3 feeds / 4 feeds machines. We make fleece machines with various diameters. We also make small diameter jersey machines (4 inch to 10 inch), small diameter (5 inch to 10 inch) rib machines, specially for medical and industrial textiles. We have a variety of frame sizes for the customer. We also offer a machine that instead of rolling a fabric will actually fold the fabric into a box. We are developing a collar machine and a flat knitting machine, as also a large diameter rib machine. The goal is to have it ready by June 2019 for presentation at ITMA Barcelona.”
According to Mr. Taylor, Vanguard Pailung machines are manufactured at the company’s factory in Monroe, North Carolina. Also manufactured are the cylinders, cams, scanners.
“A lot of people look at the name ‘Pailung’ and think that we get parts from Taiwan or China and just assemble the products. That’s not true at all. We are actually making all the parts. In fact, this is the reason why our machines perform so well. It is because we have complete control over the quality,” Mr. Taylor explained.
Key global markets
The key markets for the company are located in Central America. “That’s where the bulk of our machines are. That’s where our biggest customers are located. Honduras is the biggest market for us,” he disclosed.
For the company which also offers special machines for making medical textiles and meat packing, India is a key market. Reiterating the fact, Mr. Taylor said: “India is a very important market for us. We have just scratched the surface now. We are putting in a lot of effort into this market. Similarly, we have also put in a lot of effort and been successful in exploring the Bangladesh market.”
Is there any restriction on Vanguard entering certain markets where Pailung has a strong presence? To this, Mr. Taylor replied: “It’s actually quite the opposite. Pailung has its agents spread across 140-odd countries. We can go through Pailung’s agent there. A good example is Pakistan where we don’t have an agent. We operate through the Pailung agent there. We therefore have full access to all markets, through the agents.”
The Pailung brand name is already very well established globally. When asked whether Vanguard is looking to leverage on the Pailung name and network or whether it is interested in setting up its own independent network, Mr. Taylor observed: “The ‘Pailung’ name definitely helps. When you can hand someone your business card and it has that Pailung name, it automatically opens up a few doors for you. We want to work together with Pailung, but at the same time we want to be our own brand too. Ultimately it all boils down to the customer’s needs. If someone wants a Vanguard machine, we can supply it. If they want a Pailung machine, they can always supply one.”
Commenting on what makes Vanguard machines different from others, Mr. Taylor said: “We are definitely going to be leaning more towards the premium scale. Our machines will never be the cheapest. But our machines are the fastest. Our machines are designed for high speed and high production. We have several patents for different parts of our machines. Further, we have patents on the triple push sinkercam, which reduces vibration and heat, while also allows the machine to run faster. Remember, speed is the highlight with our machines. They can make over 1,000 kg per day. We have not heard of any other company’s machine doing that. We are constantly trying to improve.”
Speed- a highlight
The main highlight of the VPL machine is its ability to run at about 50% higher speed than other similar machines. Asked to reveal the technology behind the speed, Mr. Taylor said: “There is a certain technology that is linked to the way we manufacture our cylinders, the way we manufacture our needle cams, the actual needles that we use, the sinkercams that we are able to set on an angle, the motor that we use, the different parts, like the inverter, they are all very important. It’s a lot of little things that add up to be able to run the machine at that speed.”
He added: “It’s a bit like our office. It’s a combination of people doing their jobs that makes us successful. We have our sales division, we have our factory, we have our R&D department. When it comes down to the leadership, we have excellent leadership around there. And then there is the ability to work closely with an agent in a country 8300 miles away like India. All these factors go into making us successful globally.”
According to Mr. Taylor there are around 13,000 Vanguard Pailung machines in operation around the world. Dwelling on the company’s manufacturing capacity, Mr. Taylor observed: “Currently we just run one shift. If we get big orders from India or somewhere else, we will be able to expand capacity to another shift. We have the capacity to manufacture probably 30 machines a month per shift.”
India calling
Asked about some old Vanguard machines that can be found in India, Mr. Taylor explained: “The older machines. That’s an interesting story. Once we sell a machine to a customer we don’t really know what happens to it. People are constantly trading in used machines. If India is something like the United States where there is an abundance of used machines dealers then it is not surprising that there are some old machines doing the rounds. Just because Vanguard as a company wasn’t here earlier doesn’t mean that our machines have not made it here through a dealer.”
Asked whether the company has been able to crack some deals in India, Mr. Taylor stated: “My boss works really close with Natroyal. We have a really good relationship with them. We met them in Italy at ITMA Milan in 2015. We have a couple of trials going on with our machines here. We are all excited about the developments and look forward to our relationship further strengthening in the future.”
Replying to our query on what makes Vanguard machines the best suited to the Indian market, Mr. Sundara Pandiyan Mani said: “In India a lot of spinning mills are coming up with knitting machines. There are already several spinning mills that sell greige fabrics and also for contract knitter / job worker those who want to get high productivity at a lower cost. Almost 80% of the fabrics are from single jersey machines. So, they are producing single jersey and selling it as fabric, for which our machines are best suited. It is a very good market. Wherever we have gone to the customer, we have had good response because of the high productivity. Labour costs and other spares and maintenance costs will be reduced by using this machine up to 50%. Once we fully penetrate the market we would grow well in India.”
Referring to the trend of spinning units wanting to forward-integrate and set up knitting machines, Mr. Taylor remarked: “It is basically the fundamentals, such as high speed and high productivity, that make our machines probably the best suited for markets like India.”
What about aftersales service support? Mr. Sundara Pandiyan Mani said: “As far as emergency parts are concerned we have stock in India and are planning to increase once the substantial machines are coming up. Basically, our aim is to provide best service to the industry”.
Adding to this, Mr. Taylor said: “We have an inventory of 2 million dollars of spare parts in the US. In the future if the Indian market becomes very significant for us, we have no hesitation in having a substantial parts inventory in India like we have in Central America. We have a separate parts warehouses in Central America because that’s where all our machines are. We want the parts to reach quickly. There are some parts that have issues and the machines go down. We want that to be very minimal.”
With the apparel sector being encouraged and incentivized, Mr. Sundara Pandiyan expects it to grow exponentially in the near future. “Tirupur is already doing exports worth around Rs. 40,000 crores. Traditional spinners too are setting up knitting units. After the roll out of GST, there were some issues in various part of country, but things are gradually changing for the good.”
Excited about the future
VPL has also set sights on tapping another hitherto untapped market. Sharing details about the same, Mr. Taylor said: “Absolutely. India is a key market for us. There is another place where we actually gave a few machines. I don’t know the specific numbers. It’s not a significant number but we have a few machines in central Europe as well. Those machines are doing great. People seem to be happy. Our new ‘Titan’ brand – we have just put the first two in central Europe. We are excited about them. So, that’s going to be another emerging market for us as well.”
Mr. Taylor is really excited about VPL’s future growth in India. Speaking about the company’s expectations he commented: “I am positive. I think that once the trials with our machines are completed and the customers are satisfied, we know that we will be taking off big time in this market. As I had mentioned earlier, you can tell someone that the machine will run at a certain speed but until they see it, put their yarn on the machine, and have their fabric come off the machine, they won’t believe. It’s going to depend on how many people can see these machines, how many can put their hands on these machines, how many people are able to understand what’s going on, the amount of production these machines are doing. This market is going to be huge, without any doubt.”
By M.K. Prabhakar & Mohan Raj