New eco-standard for textile machinery

FRANKFURT - At the forthcoming ITMA 2011 in Barcelona, the VDMA Textile Machinery Association will introduce its BLUecoMPETENCE initiative for ecological design and energy efficiency says Adrian Wilson of Sustainable Nonwovens.

“Rising energy and raw material prices are obliging textile manufacturers around the world to optimise their cost structures and processes,” says the organisation’s chairman Fritz P. Mayer. “At ITMA, the German textile machinery manufacturers will present advanced technical solutions offering excellent value for money through production increases and savings in both energy and material.”

“Today, more than ever, new technical solutions are considered in respect of their ecological efficiency,” adds managing director Thomas Waldmann. “Customers are looking for support in their decision-making and BLUecoMPETENCE positions the machinery manufacturers as the technical problem-solvers in respect of the requirements of the society of today and of the future in saving energy, material and resources. For many years, sustainability and energy efficient machinery and processes have been the core business of the German textile machinery industry as the guarantors for economical production.  At ITMA, we will present a position paper in which, among other aspects, the determining factors for a comparable assessment of the energy efficiency of textile machines has been worked out. It will help with deliberations on efficiency criteria and CO2 footprint.

In the first half of 2011, exports of VDMA company machines was ?.6 billion Euros – an increase of 37% compared to 2010. The six most important export markets are China, India, Turkey, USA, Brazil and Italy. For the overall year 2011, VDMA predicts a sales increase of 30%.

Around 230 companies from Germany and Austria have registered for ITMA 2011 via the VDMA.